Category Archives: Flash News

Faces of Evil: Rogue Profiles Go Global

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In January, DC’s villains will take over the entire line for Faces of Evil. Each regular DC title will spotlight a villain for the month — much like the Rogue Profiles that Geoff Johns did during his run on The Flash, or the “New Year’s Evil” specials from 1998. The project was inspired* by the de-motivational posters DC has been running this year, and by the Final Crisis slogan, “The Day Evil Won.”

This might explain why December’s Flash #247, the conclusion of “This Was Your Life, Wally West,” was not solicited as the final issue of the series even though we know the book will stop for Flash: Rebirth. Even if Rebirth starts right on time in January, they could still run a one-shot focusing on, say, Zoom. Though I’d rather see a villain who hasn’t already had a spotlight issue in recent years.

Of course, I’m still holding out for the book to reach #250. So few series reach that milestone, and it would be sad for it to stop two issues short.

*Cynically, it occurs to me that this allows an extra month to finish Final Crisis before the entire line shifts from just before to just after the world-changing event.

Flash Sales Still Falling through August

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ICv2 has posted August sales estimates, and the overall market is down for the seventh month in a row. Worse, Flash #243 dropped below 30,000 units for the first time in 5½ years, selling just 29,647 copies. That was Flash #196 (March 2003), half-way through Geoff Johns’ storied run on the book, just before the Blitz storyline and the slow rise from 30K to 50K by the end of Rogue War.

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%)

(Link via The Beat.)

Last month, it looked like sales were leveling out near 30,000 — right where most of Geoff Johns’ original run hovered. But they dropped more between July and August than they did between June and July. No doubt the announcement that Flash would be rebooted didn’t help, as readers decided to wait until the relaunch instead of reading a “lame duck” title.

Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge #2 fared better, but still dropped 12.9% from its first issue.

07/2008: Rogues Revenge #1     —  62,482
08/2008: Rogues Revenge #2     —  54,404 (- 12.9%)

The Beat’s analysis of July’s sales was underwhelmed with Rogues’ Revenge’s performance, opining:

The notion that not even Geoff Johns’ commercial Midas touch can reignite interest in The Flash, for that matter, suggests that what the franchise needs right now, above all, is some rest.

Only time will tell, but I expect that the next few months of Flash sales are going to be dismal, even if the quality of the Alan Burnett/Paco Diaz/Carlo Barberi arc turns out to be stellar.

No Black Flash Trade Yet

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Contrary to previous reports, it turns out that “The Black Flash” isn’t getting the collected edition treatment just yet. Now that DC’s December solicitations are out, they’ve officially solicited the January 21 release of The Flash: Emergency Stop. It’s confirmed at a $12.95 trade paperback covering Flash vol.2 #130-135 — only half of the Grant Morrison/Mark Millar run.

So what does that include?

  • “Emergency Stop” — Flash vs. the Suit, with a time travel mystery.
  • A one-shot fighting the Mirror Master.
  • A one-shot focusing on Jay Garrick.
  • The third part of the “Three of a Kind” crossover with Green Arrow and Green Lantern.

See also my overview of the whole run.

The surprise here isn’t that it’s only half the run. 6 issues is typical for a collection these days, and since the whole run is 12 issues, that makes it easy to cover the whole thing in two books.

The surprise is that with “Three of a Kind,” they included 1/3 of a 3-part story. At least it should flow reasonably well, since it was told with its own framing sequence, but it’s still an odd choice.

Update: “The Black Flash” will appear in Flash: The Human Race, shipping in June 2009.

Flash Comics for December 2008 – Updated

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The preview of DC’s December 2008 solicitations is are up at Newsarama and CBR. Here are the Flash-related books listed so far.

Update: Full solicitations are up. Read on!

The Flash #247

Written by Alan Burnett
Art by Carlo Barberi & Drew Geraci
Cover by Brian Stelfreeze

“This Was Your Life, Wally West” concludes! As Flash stands alone without his powers or family to support him, only one question remains – is this end of the Fastest Man Alive?

On sale December 24 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

Notes: Surpisingly enough, the solicitation doesn’t actually say that it’s the last issue.

Team books and events appear after the cut. Continue reading →

Gone in a Flash

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We’ve known since the EVS spotlight at San Diego that the current Flash series will stop for Flash: Rebirth, though DC hasn’t yet announced the last issue. A good bet: #247, the final issue of Alan Burnett’s 4-part storyline, which should hit in December. Final Crisis, if it doesn’t get delayed too much, should also finish up in December, and they’ve talked about Rebirth starting in January.

The only real question has been whether Rebirth will be followed by one Flash series or two (and really, two is just wishful thinking), and whether it will start with #1, #248, or #351.

Now, Lying in the Gutters is reporting (with a “green light” for the rumor’s reliability):

…yes, “The Flash” will also disappear, replaced by the previously announced “Flash Rebirth” mini-series, before kicking off again with a new Flash series. With a new Flash.

Well, for some definition of “new,” anyway. (Unless DC pulls a fast one on us all and dusts off Mackenzie Ryan?)

I’m honestly not sure this is really news, but people seem to be talking about it.

(Thanks to Rockin’ Rich for pointing this out.)

Final Crisis #4 Delayed Again

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Accodring to DC’s website*, Final Crisis #4 has been pushed back another two weeks to October 15.

Now, it could be worse: This was the planned “skip month,” after all, where they planned a 2-month gap between issues #3 and #4. Of course, they were supposed to have the various tie-in one-shots in between — Submit, Resist, Superman: Beyond, and Rage of the Red Lanterns — and only one of those has come out so far. (And it’s the one that ended up running two issues instead of just one.)

Interestingly enough, this schedule makes October 15 a big week for Final Crisis, as it will have:

  • Final Crisis #4 (of 7)
  • Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #2 (of 5)
  • Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns
  • Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge #3 (of 3)

*While there are many things that annoy me about DC’s new website design, one thing I really like is that they’ve finally gotten on top of keeping the schedule (a) accurate and (b) up to date.