Category Archives: Interviews

Interview: Paul Ryan Talks Flash

Today’s guest post is the second in a series of interviews by Greg Elias on The Art of Speed.

With a Flash resume spanning a presidential election, trips to Hell, living clothes and a cosmic death-race, Paul Ryan’s work on the title is some of the most diverse of any artist to ever pencil those pages.

Starting with issue 119, a crossover with the Final Night mini-series, Ryan was paired with Flash scribe Mark Waid. From the Presidential Race storyline through Hell to Pay, Ryan was present for the return of The Top, Wally’s temporary relocation to Santa Marta and the raging comeback of the undead Rogues.

When Waid took a break from Flash in 1997, well-known writers Grant Morrison and Mark Millar took over for a year’s worth of stories. The tone of the book changed with the reintroduction of temporal challenges, mystical concepts and sci-fi elements reminiscent of the Silver Age Flash, as well as the expansion of more recent tropes like the Speed Force and Wally’s childhood.

Ryan also illustrated Legends of the DC Universe: Crisis on Infinite Earths, by Crisis architect Marv Wolfman, which tells the story of Barry Allen’s time on Earth D.

Previously an artist over at Marvel Comics, Ryan co-created the New Universe series DP7 and spent a notable, lengthy run on Fantastic Four. Most recently, he has illustrated The Phantom comic strip.

Recently collected for the first time, Emergency Stop and The Human Race showcase much of the second half of Ryan’s run on Flash.

Ryan answered our questions via email, revealing some of the process and his favorite Flash.

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Interview: Greg LaRocque on “Flash: The Return of Barry Allen”

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Today’s guest post is the first in a series of interviews by Greg Elias on The Art of Speed.

In 1988, Wally West was powerless, penniless and nearly homeless. With Flash #15, the creative team of writer William Messner-Loebs and artist Greg LaRocque began their memorable take on the title. Throughout their run, Loebs and LaRocque established the touchstones of Wally’s life in Keystone City, including many of the character’s major themes and a supporting cast that remains vital. LaRocque was also on board when writer Mark Waid took over, starting with issue #62 in 1992. Wally West continued to bloom under Waid, reaching new levels of confidence and self-assuredness each month. Wally’s road back from that low point played out over five years and 64 issues.

Each and every benchmark during that time, including the landmark issue #50 and introduction of a new Flash costume, was seen through the eyes and pencils of LaRocque. Previously associated with a highly- regarded body of work on Legion of Super Heroes, his style would end up defining the Flash for longer than any artist since Carmine Infantino or Irv Novick.

Perhaps no storyline is more closely identified with the development of the Wally West character than 1993’s The Return of Barry Allen. Within, Wally is faced with the shocking apparent return of his deceased uncle and mentor, Barry Allen, the second Flash. This was LaRocque’s last stand on the title – his final run with the character he had drawn from the depths of poverty and doubt. We asked LaRocque about his work on the story, focusing on the construction and the subtleties of putting together a super-speed coming-of-age.

Q: One of the things that defines The Return of Barry Allen is the super-speed action sequences. You’ve got Johnny Quick and Max Mercury in the mix, along with Wally West, Jay Garrick and “Barry Allen”. Given the larger cast, and each character having the same power (and somewhat similar costumes), what were some of the challenges in constructing these memorable scenes? Was there an attempt to define each character’s own “style”?

GREG LAROCQUE: That is best demonstrated in the construction scene when Max Mercury teaches Zoom a lesson in technique. Mark wrote it out for me in the script & it was a challenge to visually portray the different ways the cast displayed their skills. With Max, he was all about grace & fluidity, like water, like mercury. Zoom ran & moved effortlessly because he was the fastest & gloating. Jay & Johnny were the traditional full speed ahead runners.

Quick note on Wally. I never drew him running. He GLIDES like an ice skater.

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Interview: Tom Peyer Talks Flash

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Here’s a Speed Force first: An original interview (Not a link! Not a reprint!) with outgoing Flash writer Tom Peyer!

SPEED FORCE: You started your run by introducing a new villain, Spin, who has the power to make people’s anxieties into reality. Did you envision him as a single-use villain, or a recurring one?

TOM PEYER: You never really know if a villain is recurring until he or she recurs. I didn’t plan to kill him — but even that doesn’t always stop a villain from coming back. I was just thinking of him one story at a time.

SF: While the Flash has had many enemies over the course of his career, few have had the staying power of the original Rogues. A few years ago, they were practically regulars in the book. If they had been available when you took over as writer, would you have used them early on, or held them in reserve for later stories?

PEYER: Well, we did use Grodd. But the Mirror Masters and Captain Colds had appeared a lot in recent years, so it felt like creating Spin was the right approach. Plus, I wanted to grind my axe about cable news, and the Weather Wizard didn’t quite fit. But if I’d wanted to write a polemic against the Weather Channel… oh, don’t get me started.

SF: How did you approach balancing the story between the Flash and his kids? Do you think that the family dynamic ultimately resulted in more or fewer story possibilities? Continue reading →