Category Archives: Flash News

Flash: Rebirth Launches in April

The very last question in Newsarama’s 20 Questions with Dan Didio:

Last question – something that wasn’t mentioned as one of the pieces of 2009, but yet, fans know it’s coming – what’s the timetable for Flash: Rebirth by Geoff and Ethan Vansciver?

DD: Flash comes back in April. The reason, and I’ll be very frank here – we’ve got so much going on with [Batman] “Battle for the Cowl” that I didn’t want Flash to get lost in the shuffle, so to speak. So April will see Flash: Rebirth #1, and by that point, we’ll also be talking about the big plan for the Flash universe, and the other Flash characters.

Now we know.

I’m looking forward to hearing more about the plans for the Flash franchise, though it’s going to be frustrating to wait. Keeping them under wraps has caused an awful lot of anxiety for fans of Wally West, contributing to the friction among the still-fractured Flash fan base.

“The Human Race” Finishes Collecting the Morrison/Millar Run

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More Flash news from Collected Editions: Fall 2009 will also see the release of the trade paperback, Flash: The Human Race. No doubt this will collect Flash #136-141, containing “The Human Race” (Grant Morrison & Mark Millar, with art by Paul Ryan & John Nyberg) and “The Black Flash,” (Mark Millar with art by Pop Mhan & Chris Ivy), rounding out the Morrison/Millar run on The Flash starts with January’s release of The Flash: Emergency Stop.

Frankly, I’m surprised they went with “The Human Race” as the title. I think “The Black Flash” is a more well-remembered (and well-regarded) story, particularly given the character’s recent appearances in The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive — Full Throttle.

Now if DC will just start filling in some of the missing stories from the Mark Waid/Brian Augustyn run…

Update: Amazon now shows a release date of June 9, 2009.

Sales Slide in September

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ICV2’s sales estimates for September show yet another drop in Flash sales.

02/2008: Flash #237     —  37,719 (-  9.0%)
03/2008: Flash #238     —  35,606 (-  5.6%)
04/2008: Flash #239     —  33,741 (-  5.2%)
05/2008: Flash #240     —  31,944 (-  5.3%)
06/2008: Flash #241     —  30,810 (-  3.6%)
07/2008: Flash #242     —  30,325 (-  1.5%)
08/2008: Flash #243     —  29,647 (-  2.2%)
09/2008: Flash #244     —  29,180 (-  1.6%)

A couple of things worth noting: 1. Most regular super-hero series do drop slowly from month to month, with occasional jumps back up as big events bring new readers in to replace those who have left. (See “standard attrition.”) By that measure, the last couple of months don’t look so bad… but the series dropped horrifically from #230-237, leaving it at the dismal position of #82 on the rankings. 2. Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge has been outselling the regular series by roughly 2:1, though there was no issue in September.

Impulse: Mercury Falling to be Traded

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Collected Editions has obtained DC’s advance TPB solicitations for Fall 2009, including a big surprise in speedster collections:

The Flash (featuring Impulse): Mercury Falling

It’s been years since any of Impulse was collected (Impulse: Reckless Youth
), and that was only the first few issues. Mercury Falling, which ran from Impulse #62-66, was the major epic from the Todd Dezago/Ethan Van Sciver run on the book, and featured Inertia’s master plan, Max Mercury facing almost certain death, and Bart being forced to confront the fact that his mentor and guardian might not be around much longer, while desperately trying to find a way to save him.

It actually ties in quite well thematically with the recent stories in Flash and Rogues’ Revenge.

The title is a bit odd, considering that the Flash doesn’t appear in the story at all (that I remember), but it follows the same pattern as other recent collections of lesser-known characters, like JSA Presents: Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. Get the main franchise with the recognized name out there first, then add the original title of the book.

Update: Amazon now lists this as being released on May 12, 2009.

Flash Comics for January 2009

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Actually, there aren’t any Flash comics for January 2009, since the current series ends with #247 and Flash: Rebirth isn’t starting until March. But DC’s January Solicitations do list team books and events which will probably feature one Flash or another, and include the official announcement of The Flash Archives Vol.5, to be released in March 2009. Plus there are several collections that include Flash stories, and even an appearance by Impulse! Continue reading →

“No Momentum” on Flash Movie

Speed Force

Tracking the Flash – the Fastest Man Alive