Category Archives: Opinion

“Hot” Iris

With the release of the Flash #1 preview, there’s been renewed talk about Iris Allen’s youth. After all, she lived long enough in the future to have children, watch them grow up, and have grandchildren, and when she came back with Bart, she looked visibly older: graying hair, crow’s feet, etc.

The question came up a lot when Flash: Rebirth launched last year, and I recall Ethan Van Sciver mentioning in one of his podcast interviews that he tried to draw her somewhat older, but that she and Barry didn’t look right together, so he and Geoff Johns decided to make her look closer to his age.

Now, there are a lot of reasons one can give for her looking 30 instead of 50 or 60: better medical care in the 31st century, the fact that she’s been transplanted into a new body at least once (don’t ask!), and the suggestion made in Flash: Rebirth #5 that exposure to the speed force keeps people young. This had actually been established before with Jay and to a lesser extent Joan Garrick.

Of course, it doesn’t explain why Iris would appear older in Flash vol.2 and Impulse, then younger in Flash: Rebirth and Flash vol.3, but since then, DC has established Superboy Punches, the “New Earth” rearrangement of history in Infinite Crisis, and Flash: Rebirth‘s alterations of Barry Allen’s past — including how and when he and Iris met.

But let’s not forget: When she returned after an extended absence during Geoff Johns’ run on Wally West’s series, Iris made her entrance looking like this: Continue reading →

Sidekick Corner: Ignition

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So as I am the new kid around here I wanted to name my posts something that can identify them different to our glorious leader and I feel that right now being the new kid on the block sidekick is a good way to identify myself. Kelson is the guy that channels the speed force. I am impulse to his wally at the moment. I might change the name later but for now I think it is a nice way to let you know when I am speaking.

So this is the place that I will be looking at The Flash and his universe at the characters and events that have shaped each person that has worn the lightning.

Ignition: the end of one age, the birth of a new one.

So today I wanted to look at the Ignition storyline that begins with Issue 201 and what the story meant to the character of the Flash and the Flash universe in general.

Ignition is an interesting issue from the perspective of serialised super hero story telling. It is a great example of how you can make large scale changes to the status quo and still maintain the integrity of the character and honour the audiences expectations.

This is the reboot that I feel the people involved with “One More Day,” the Spider-Man story that was intended to create a new paradigm for the character. But where they failed with “One More Day,” Geoff Johns succeeded: execution. Geoff Johns took the subplot that ran through the Flash starting in the last half of Mark Waid’s run (the fear of loss) and used that theme as the reason for the changes made in this story.

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Resolutions for 2010

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In trying to put together my list of comics-related New Year’s resolutions, just about everything seems to stem from two main principles:

Hobbies should be fun!
Don’t procrastinate!

Sometimes they can be at odds, and when they are, I’m going to try to come down on the side of fun.

So, for 2010 I resolve to…

Read more books that I like.
Clear out the ones I don’t.
Not stress out over fandom.
Post when I have the time and inclination.
Not worry about not posting when I don’t.

Yes, that last item does mean that I’ll probably be posting here a little less often, but rest assured: Speed Force is staying around!

I’ll post more details soon, but it’s midnight and I really need to sleep. (It’ll help me with that not-stressing-out item!)

Last Year’s Resolutions (2009)

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Happy New Year, everyone!

A year ago, I posted a list of comic book resolutions. Let’s see how I did in 2009:

1. Only follow books that I like, and skip the ones that are just “important.”

Success! The only book that I picked up solely for “importance” was Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds, which was a holdover from the previous year.

2. Read through my backlog of unread comics and graphic novels.

Not so great. I caught up on a few, but I’ve been getting behind even on new comics. At least it’s helped me figure out which books I really want to read.

3. Keep up with properly boxing new comics, instead of letting them pile up for months.

Success (mostly). Once I admitted to myself that yes, I needed another long box, I got things under control. I do have a small pile sitting on top of the boxes, but those are new comics from the last month that I still need to read.

4. Go through my collection looking for stuff I don’t want anymore and actually get rid of it.

Failed. I was convinced that if I got on this, I wouldn’t need the new long box, but I never quite got around to it.

5. Not let myself get caught up too much in flamewars.

Success for 51 weeks…and then there was last week. Oops.

6. Update Flash: Those Who Ride the Lightning more often.

Failed. I’ve kept up with time-critical updates, like upcoming comics and variant covers, but haven’t had the time to really go in and give it the overhaul it needs. Mostly because I’ve been spending it on the blog instead.

Stay tuned for this year’s resolutions!

Cooling Off

First off, I’d like to apologize for the meltdown in yesterday’s post. I’m still extremely disappointed in DC’s decision to cancel the Kid Flash series and Wally West backups, but instead of flying off the handle, I should have made a terse, neutral news post, then waited a few hours before writing a more considered opinion piece.

Well, it’s too late to stuff all the feathers back into the bag. As much as I’d like to delete it and start over, a lot of people have already read it, and I’d rather keep the original available so that people can read what I actually said, not what someone else said that I said.

So, about the future. Over the last few years, I’ve been slowly losing interest in super-heroes in general and the DC Universe in particular, to the point that right now, the only DCU books I’m reading are Flash: Rebirth and Blackest Night: The Flash.

Meanwhile, I’ve spent four years in “wait and see” mode with The Flash as DC has changed direction seemingly every 6 months. I’m frustrated. So frustrated that I’m getting bitter about what used to be my favorite book.

You know the kind of fan who constantly writes angry rants about how he hates the current version of a book or TV series? The fan who stands up in panels at conventions and complains about books he doesn’t like? The fan who puts “Only Bob is the real Ultraguy!” in his forum signature? The fan who shows up to say “You should be happy that your favorite book is being canceled! Now you can enjoy my favorite book! Isn’t it great?” You know, that guy?

I don’t want to be “that guy.”

So I think I need to take a step back for a bit.

I’ve got a few informational and linkblogging posts lined up for the rest of the week, but I think unless major news hits, I’m going to sit things out until after Christmas (I’ve got enough holiday stress already) while I figure out what I want to do, both as a reader and as a blogger.

Flash in 2010=100% Barry Allen – Kid Flash Series & Wally West Backups Canceled

So…DC’s latest 20 Questions with Dan Didio video has some bad news for fans of the extended Flash family. He answered my question about the Flash and Kid Flash books, explaining that they’ve decided to go back to “the original game plan” and focus on a single Flash book starring Barry Allen.

Wally West’s backup stories, by Geoff Johns & Scott Kolins? “On hold.” [Edit: This may be the result of DC restructuring the second features.]

The Kid Flash book by Sterling Gates? “On hold.”

He goes on to say, “Your Flash fix will be Barry Allen, pure and simple, for 2010.”

Warning: Rant Ahead

Edit: The rest of this post is a rant, bashed out in the heat of the moment immediately after watching that video. If I’d had the sense to wait until I’d cooled down, I wouldn’t have written it.

To clarify what I did write, it’s not just that Barry’s getting the limelight that has me pissed off. I’ve had a year and a half to get used to that. What really has me steamed is that DC announced ongoing stories starring Bart and Wally, then changed their minds and yanked that away.

I picked up Flash: Rebirth hoping that it would convince me to like the idea of new Barry stories. It hasn’t. If it had, this news would have still been disappointing, but wouldn’t have gotten me so angry.

Anyway, onto the original post…

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