Category Archives: Fun

Super-Speed Shipping!

I could not believe I managed to spot these next to each other. I mean, Bart and Keystone?

It’s right up there with this one, which I also saw on the back of a truck:

Check out the design:

Red as the main color
Sans-serif capital italics (just like the longest-running versions of the Flash logo)
A lightning bolt that runs from the upper right to the lower left.

Hmm…

It got me thinking about commercial applications of super-speed. Not something that turns up often in the super-hero genre, but it shows up occasionally. Kapitalist Kouriers is the first one that comes to mind. They were a trio of Soviet defectors who decided to sell their services as couriers and, from time to time, heroes for hire.

Reposted from K-Squared Ramblings: Bart? Keystone? & Flash Transport.

New Speedster Names (Humor)

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Last night I logged into Twitter and found myself in the middle of a storm in which people were posting joke names for speedsters. It all started when Geoff Johns posted the following:

@GeoffJohns0: RT @Brainiacphive Hello. I have a name for you for a Flash character: Speed Date. #newspeedsters #

Well, people went with it! You can read them all at #newspeedsters until the posts drop off of Twitter search’s radar in a few weeks. Some of my favorites:

jonahlantern: this one is easy. Bad guy team. Jamaican, with ice powers on top of speed. Cool Runnings. #
blacaucasian: Runs Really Fast. Because he runs really fast. #
mgrabois: Usain Bolt # (a popular suggestion, but I think this was the first)
jester1436: Quickstep and Foxtrot #
MarkWaid: Charlie Hustle #
Knippenberg: Captain 23-Skidoo #
mattfraction: Th Flsh # (@shanajeanh remarked, “too fast for vowels?” #)
Mike2112McKone suggested several, including: Zip, Zap, Whoosh, Reverb, Skid and iSpeed.
Bart_Allen: All Day I Dream About Speed– another corporate sponsored speedster # (in response to my suggestion of Sprint – and in case you’re wondering, look at the first letters.)
ValVictory: Krackle and Pop as in the sounds of the speedforce # (I suggested “The Sounds of the Speed Force” it sounded like a band, and VV agreed, saying “Anyone play bass?”)
ValVictory: happy fun American run fast time man — That one is from overseas. #
ValVictory: Sir speeds a lot — The U.K. flash #
bobbynash: Fast Bastard #
housetoastonish: Speedy Alberto Gonzales – He’s Quick To Judge #

Stephen Wacker chimed in with a number of characters based on people in the comics industry.

Ran Didio. Slow-ey Cavalieri. Street Tomasi. Matt Traction. Slowing Gates. “On your Mark, get set, WAID!” #
I can’t stop….Drag Rucka. Ethan Van Slider. Slow Quesada. Richard Running. gRANt. Chasin’ Aaron. Axel Alonso. #

And here are my own humble contributions:

Mr. Zip, of course! (As in the panels from “The Return of Barry Allen.” I was really surprised no one had suggested it yet.)
The Running Man
Sprint(tm), the corporate-sponsored speedster
The Hot Flash
Zoom’s little brother, Vrooom
Greased Lightning
Spud Racer – the Mr. Potato-Head Flash.
Theed Racer, the Flash from Naboo
Race Windu. He’s powered by Force Speed instead of the Speed Force.

Failed Event Comics

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I’m not entirely sure who started it, but on Friday morning a lot of comics fans and pros on Twitter were posting joke titles with the #failedeventcomics tag. Here are my contributions.

Zero Power
The Dark Knight Strikes Out
Sinestro Corp Store
Crisis on Infinite Earths II: Crisis Harder
Violins United
Vibe: Rebirth
Retweet @CapnCarrot: Transformers Disassembled
Archie vs. Predator
Infinity Ganthet
Rain of the Soup, Man!
War of the Dogs

Speed Reading: Infantino, Fan Films, Johns at Meltdown & Isotope, and EVS

Two Artists and a Writer

NYC Graphic Novelists has an interview with Carmine Infantino. He talks about growing up in the depression, breaking into the fledgling comic industry, building the Silver Age, and his tenure as editor at DC. Update: There’s been some fallout from this interview, with Infantino feeling he was misrepresented.

Geoff Johns ~~will appear at a Blackest Night launch party at Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles on Tuesday, July 14~~. Update: The Tuesday event at Meltdown has been canceled. He will also be signing at Isotope Comics in San Francisco on Saturday, July 18.

The Green Lantern Spotlight Podcast has an interview with Ethan Van Sciver. It’s long at 99 minutes, but it’s worth a listen. He talks about everything from deadlines and inking to why he’s drawing Iris Allen younger to designs for Black Lanterns.

Review

The Captain’s JLA Blog reviews “Speed Demons”, the Superman: The Animated Series episode that guest-starred the Flash and introduced the scarlet speedster to the DC Animated Universe.

The Flash-Back Podcast reviews The Return of Barry Allen.

Fan Creations

Flash endorses Green Lantern for Mayor! (via Robot6)

The Heretics Blog has a collection of fan films, including the Flash getting a speeding ticket.

Speed Reading: Secret ID, Impulse Alumni, and More

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At CBR, Geoff Johns wants your questions! Submit questions for the next Q&A by Monday, June 29.

Scans_Daily demonstrates how Barry Allen kept his secret identity. Or, rather, didn’t.

Comic Bloc has Noah Van Sciver’s comedic recap of Flash: Rebirth #3.

An old post turned up on my other blog a few days ago, reminding me of those “world’s fastest man” commercials for MovieTickets.com. Remember those, with the superhero who had wings on his head, a round symbol on his chest, yellow boots, and a lightning motif (but the website was still faster)? Okay, so the costume was blue, but still…

Beyond the Flash

I’ve written a guest review of Perhapanauts: First Blood at Collected Editions. Perhapanauts, an adventure series about strange creatures like Bigfoot, chupacabras etc. created by Impulse alumni Todd Dezago and Craig Rousseau.

Robot 6 reports on Katelyn Rae Rochelle, first winner of the Ringo Scholarship. The Ringo is named after the late Mike Wieringo, who co-created Impulse during his run as Flash artist.

Lots of sites have linked to this guide to comic book message boards. Seems pretty accurate for the boards I visit from time to time. The DC Message Boards really are that scary, and Newsarama is only marginally better.

Tickets are now available for the Long Beach Comic-Con coming up in October. I’m going to have to figure out which day I want to go!

Speed Reading: Panels, Moments and Flash Facts

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Some Monday morning linkblogging…

Images

Mark Waid reminds us all that Barry Allen discovered Earth-2 on June 14, 1961.

Groovy Superhero has a scan from Futurama Comics #34, in which Fry gets a job at Speed Force Burgers. It’s very fast food, and the employees’ outfits may look a bit familiar to this blog’s audience…

Friday’s Full Frontal Nerdity comic strip features a reference to Barry Allen’s return from the dead.

Weekly Crisis has a couple of moments of the week from Flash: Rebirth #3.

Comic Book Resources’ CBR Live has a bunch of photos from Saturday’s grand opening of Earth-2 Comics in Northridge, featuring co-owner Geoff Johns and a bunch of other Los Angeles-area comics personalities.

UPDATE: CBR has posted a photo parade from the Earth-2 grand opening which looks like a different set of pictures than the CBR Live stream.

UPDATE: What Were They Thinking?! is back online after almost a month!

Commentary

4thletter! is tired of re-runs in his comics.

UPDATE: The Annotated Flash: Rebirth has posted notes on Flash: Rebirth #3.

Flash Fact?

Researches now think that ADHD is linked to faulty perception of time: as far as hyperactive kids are concerned, time really does move too slowly. Comics Alliance likens this to being the Flash. Though maybe Impulse is a better comparison…