Category Archives: General

French Designer’s Flash Ballerina Shoes

Bleeding Cool reports on the results of French fashion designers taking inspiration from DC Comics characters. Among the results: €175.59 Flash Ballerina Shoes.

The imperfectly-translated writeup on the listing:

Why “Flash”? We liked the idea to create a ballerina inspired by “Flash”, to keep only the flash of lighting of his great male powers and to put it in women feet!” — Repetto.

More images of this odd fusion at the listing, plus more examples of comics couture at the Bleeding Cool article. The shoes are on the cheap side of a collection that includes €1663.88 Catwoman boots.

Search-Term Q&A

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Some more questions and answers pulled from the search statistics:

What happened to Tarpit in Flash: Blackest Night? – Probably nothing, since (as Captain Boomerang Jr. pointed out) his physical body is actually somewhere else. On the other hand, Captain Cold did freeze Iron Heights.

When does the new Flash Forward come out? – New episodes start Thursday, March 18. ABC will also be running a recap of the first half of the season on Tuesday, March 16, after Lost.

What is the song when Flash goes speed force? – I’m not really sure what you mean by this (unless it’s “What music plays during the climax of the Justice League Unlimited episode, “Divided We Fall”), but allow me to recommend the Jim’s Big Ego song, “The Ballad of Barry Allen.” It’s certainly more appropriate than Queen’s Flash Gordon theme.

Is DC: The New Frontier a sequel to The Golden Age? – No, but it’s a similar concept — enough so that when James Robinson was asked whether he might do a sequel, he said that New Frontier basically covered it.

Which Flash controls the speed force? – Depends on what you mean by “control.” Barry Allen generates it by running, all Flashes use it as fuel, and Wally West is able to manipulate it to perform feats like lending or stealing speed.

How can you speed if you are following someone else? – If they’re driving faster than the speed limit, then it’s entirely possible for you to do the same thing.

Why don’t people like Barry Allen? – Because not everyone has the same tastes that you do. Just as some people prefer the serious tone of the 1990s Batman animated series, while others prefer the zany adventure of Batman: the Brave and the Bold, different people like different takes on the Flash.

What will happen to Wally West? – He’ll probably be a recurring guest star in The Flash, and will almost certainly show up in an issue or two of DC Universe: Legacies. DC has scaled back on the big plans they had for the Flash this year, dropping a set of backup stories that would have featured Wally in The Flash and a Kid Flash series that would have featured Bart. Other than that, we probably won’t see much of him until the next big Flash epic, unless James Robinson pulls a surprise and puts him back on Justice League. In which case we can probably expect to see Irey or Jai killed and Wally’s legs amputated. @#*&^! Cry for Justice.

Edit: One More! – Panels at WonderCon 2010 – They haven’t released a programming schedule yet, but last year it was posted about two weeks before the convention. So we should see something online by mid-March. Update: They’ll post the schedule one day at a time, starting on March 10.

Answering Searchers’ Questions

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It’s always interesting to see what searches bring people to the site. Every once in a while I look through for questions, or implied questions, that aren’t already answered here.

Current Events

Why did Reverse Flash have a Brightest Day symbol?

We don’t know for sure yet, but the implication is that Brightest Day is related to characters who come back from the dead after or at the end of Blackest Night.

Is Jesse Quick back?

Well, she seems to be…but then she’s still appearing as Liberty Belle in Justice Society of America and the second features in JSA All-Stars, so it’s hard to tell. Maybe those take place earlier, maybe she goes back to the other costume, or maybe she’s just going to switch costumes depending on who she’s teaming up with that day.

Did Jay Garrick die in Smallville?

He only appeared in flashback, when Checkmate was rounding up the Justice Society and arresting its members on false charges. He was mentioned by other characters as if he was still alive. (Spoilers for Absolute Justice.)

Is DC working on an animated Flash movie?

If they are, they haven’t said anything about it. A Newsarama article more than a year ago included the Flash in a list of upcoming projects, but there’s been no mention of it since then.

Looking Back

What comes before Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge?

Rogues’ Revenge concludes a sort of trilogy, which you can follow in these collections:

It also takes place after the end of Flash vol.2 and during the first three issues of Final Crisis.

What year did the Flash superhero gain lightning?

That depends on what the lightning in question is:

The symbol dates back to Jay Garrick’s first appearance in 1940.
Lightning in the Flash’s origin goes back to Barry Allen’s first appearance in 1956.
Lightning effects used to convey speed were used occasionally in the early 1990s, became more prominent when Mike Wieringo worked on the book (1993-1994), and really became established during Terminal Velocity (1995).

Slightly Off-Topic

What is Dan Didio’s twitter name?

As far as I’m aware, Dan Didio isn’t on Twitter.

Who was the female speedster in Heroes?

The character’s name was Daphne Millbrook, and she was played by actress Brea Grant.

Flashforward novel how did it know the pope’s name?

It’s off-topic, but I get a lot of these since I posted a review of the novel.

Author Robert J. Sawyer explains in this video interview that he looked at the list of past popes’ names for those that had good reputations and might be “ready for a comeback.”

DC 75th Anniversary Store on Amazon

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I was looking something up on Amazon tonight and saw the following item in the sidebar: “Now Open: DC Comics 75th Anniversary Store.”

Well, with a name like that, I had to look. It led me to the DC Comics Collection: Movies and TV category, which has probably been around for a while, but I suspect the following branding is new:

The big push right now, of course, is for Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, but they have a lot of the other direct-to-video movies and TV shows, plus video clips, interviews, and even links to a few actual comic books. (Well, trade paperbacks, anyway).

Cool stuff, but I can’t help but think that someone’s missing…

Comic-Con Int’l 1-Day Tickets On Sale Tomorrow

Answering Questions from Searchers

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Every once in a while I see something in the search terms that people have used to reach this site that makes me wish I could contact them and answer their questions. So I figured I’d try something new: The following are questions (or implied questions) pulled from this week’s site statistics.

Interestingly enough, they settled into three broad categories.

Costumes

What does Wally West’s new costume look like? (There are lots of variations on this one!)

Short answer: We haven’t seen it yet. But according to Geoff Johns, Ethan Van Sciver’s design is “Very clean, very familiar, yet unique!”

What is the difference in the Flash costumes?

Barry Allen: belt is straight across, boots always have wings, eyes are always visible (well, except in this week’s Brave and the Bold issue).
Wally West: 1986-1991: same. 1991-2009: belt is V-shaped, boots sometimes have wings, eyes sometimes covered, costume is sometimes shiny.

Jay Garrick, of course, has a completely different costume with blue pants, red boots, no mask and a silver helmet.

How to make a Golden Age Flash costume. (Several variations on this, also.)

Here’s a two-part series describing exactly how to do it:

Future of the Flash

Will Flash Rebirth ever finish? (Yes, that’s exactly how it was phrased.)

Yes. The next issue is scheduled for November 11, and the whole thing should wrap up on December 23, 2009. The schedule could still slip, of course.

Why is Flash Rebirth being delayed?

Artist Ethan Van Sciver has accepted at least some of the blame for being a slow artist. He intended Flash: Rebirth as a project that would help him learn to draw faster.

Will Wally West be back in 2010?

Yes. Wally West will star in a second feature in the new Flash comic book, written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Scott Kolins.

More immediately, he will appear in both Blackest Night: Flash and Blackest Night itself, alongside Barry Allen.

Powers

Who is the fastest Flash?

Whoever’s currently starring in the main book.

How Flash got super speed.

Lab accidents, mainly. Jay Garrick inhaled chemical fumes (originally identified as “hard water,” but later sometimes identified as “heavy water,” which still doesn’t make sense, but radioactivity makes a little more sense than high mineral content). Barry Allen was struck by lightning and simultaneously splashed with chemicals. Wally West was struck by a repetition of Barry’s accident.

What force is involved in lightning flashes?

Electromagnetism.

Is it possible to run as fast as a speed force?

I’m not entirely sure what this question is asking.

Speed Force

Tracking the Flash – the Fastest Man Alive