Category Archives: Flash News

Geoff Johns and EVS Talk Flash: Rebirth at IO9 and Newsarama

A couple of new interviews popped up over the weekend with Flash: Rebirth‘s writer and artist.

First IO9 interviews Geoff Johns. The answer that I found most intriguing from this interview was this:

Is the tone similar to Green Lantern: Rebirth? Because Green Lantern has a tone of, I don’t want to say “space opera,” but it’s been very grandiose and the stakes have never been small.

Green Lantern is to Space as the Flash is to Time.

The backdrop is, big and epic. But it’s a little bit more character-focused, though, the difference being, I gotta get into Barry Allen’s history more because he’s more of an unknown to people.

Let’s look at that again: “Green Lantern is to Space as the Flash is to Time.”

Next is the Blog@Newsarama Q&A with Ethan Van Sciver.

EVS: The reader can draw his own conclusions, but again, I don’t think it’s cynicism on Barry’s part, but a sense that something is very wrong. We’re not seeing the Barry we’re used to here, and there’s a reason for that.

I’m reminded of the fact that Bilson and DeMeo said the same thing about Bart at the beginning of Flash: The Fastest Man Alive. Of course, no one listened to them.

Blackest Night: Flash Miniseries Coming

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SpeedsterSite points to this video montage from Emerald City Comicon, which includes clips from the DC Nation Panel in which Ian Sattler announces several tie-in miniseries to this year’s big event, Blackest Night. Pop Culture Zoo describes the panel in detail.

Blackest Night is an 8-issue miniseries, plus stories running through Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps, plus at least six three-issue miniseries.

August sees the launch of the launch (leaked a few days ago) of the following 3-issue minis:

Blackest Night: Batman
Blackest Night: Superman
Blackest Night: Titans

Apparently at the panel, Sattler confirmed three more 3-issue miniseries starting in November:

Blackest Night: Justice Society of America
Blackest Night: Wonder Woman
Blackest Night: Flash

Well, there’s no shortage of dead speedsters to become Black Lanterns, or dead Rogues for that matter — plus the events of Flash: Rebirth seem to be adding to the supply.

This might relate to this bit from Ethan Van Sciver’s interview at Speedster Site:

SS: Also, if Rebirth ships on time, we’ll be done by September. Will we have a Flash ongoing title directly following by the end of the year, or will we have to suffer like we did at the end of Flash #247?

EVS: And you’re incorrect about September, but I can’t announce why yet! Don’t worry, it’s a good thing.

Update: CBR has posted their own write-up of the panel.

EVS Talks Flash at Word Balloon

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The Word Balloon podcast interviews Ethan Van Sciver about Flash: Rebirth and Blackest Night. The post has a few excerpts in which he talks about Barry Allen’s origin pre-figuring the Marvel-style accident-based origin (of course Jay’s fits the same pattern), about returning to draw Bart Allen years after his run on Impulse, about the Flash Museum and Central & Keystone Cities’ obsession with the Rogues, and about the challenge of drawing a monthly comic.

I’m really going to have to listen to this when I get home (or maybe at lunch if I can find a USB cable).

Geoff Johns Talks Flash: Rebirth at IGN

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There’s an extensive 4-page interview with Geoff Johns up at IGN in which he talks about everything from story structure and theme to specific character motivations.

One segment on the first page really bothered me, though, when he said of the retcon that inserts a serious tragedy into his childhood:

We’ve never really visited Barry Allen’s past before he got hit by the bolt of lightning. And so some of what Rebirth is going to do is delve back into the past and reveal some things about it that previously weren’t there.

Never visited it? Really?

Apparently he’s never read any of the Silver Age or Bronze Age stories that flashed back to Barry’s childhood, or in which he caught up with his childhood sweetheart Daphne Dean, or visited both still very much alive parents…or Mark Waid’s The Life Story of the Flash.

He goes on to explain:

IGN: Why did you think it was important to bring some tragedy into his back-story?

Johns: What we’ll find out is we’ll see what drove him to adopt such a strong sense of justice. I really want to explore what drove Barry Allen to adopt his uncanny sense of wrong and right. You’re not just born with that. Barry Allen strove for that and was somewhat obsessed with it. Also, it’s about why he got into forensics. What led him to that area of work? Why not become a cop or a prosecutor? Why forensics? That’s something I really wanted to explore – what drove Barry Allen to this life that he chose? What made him Barry Allen before he was hit by the bolt of lightning?

Funny… here I thought Hunter Zolomon was supposed to be a villain. Apparently he was actually an author avatar.

Flash: Rebirth #1 Sells Out, 2nd Printing April 29

Geoff Johns Talks Flash: Rebirth at CBR

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CBR interviews Geoff Johns once more about Flash: Rebirth, now that the first issue is on the shelves. It’s cryptic, but two remarks that stood out for me are:

“Barry Allen was a man before his time in a lot of ways. Now is his time.”

and

“Barry Allen is a wrench being thrown into the Flash Universe and that’s what the series is about.”

He also talks about Barry’s emotional state, Wally’s and Bart’s roles, and the nature of the Superman/Flash race coming up. Read the rest at CBR.

Speed Force

Tracking the Flash – the Fastest Man Alive