Category Archives: Out This Week

This Week (Oct 29): Justice League

This week’s Flash appearances include Justice League of America — as Impulse! — a Justice Society of America trade paperback, and possibly DCU: Decisions and Trinity.

Justice League of America #26

Written by Dwayne McDuffie; Art and Cover by Ed Benes

The JLA stands helpless against the power of Anansi, the African spider god who has warped their histories. Vixen makes her final stand, brokering a deal with the powerful villain. But will she be forced to sacrifice the JLA and Animal Man? Or does her last-ditch effort mean something far worse?

[Note: Yes, that’s Impulse on the cover!]

Justice Society of America Vol.1: The Next Age (paperback)

Written by Geoff Johns Cover by Alex Ross; Art by Dale Eaglesham, Art Thibert and Ruy Jose

The book collecting the first four issues of JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA is now available in trade paperback! Determined to rebuild the Justice Society, Green Lantern, Flash and Wildcat initiate a recruitment program, tracking heroes across the world and bringing in the new Starman, Damage, Liberty Belle and more!

Also likely candidates for Flash appearances: DC Universe: Decisions #4 (conclusion of the miniseries) and Trinity.

This Week (Oct 22): Final Crisis

Final Crisis #4 of 7

Written by Grant Morrison; Art by J.G. Jones and Carlos Pacheco; Covers by J.G. Jones

It’s one month after the Anti-Life Equation was released worldwide. Millions now toil as slaves of Darkseid, while the Justifier shock troops of Apokolips lay waste to the planet Earth and hunt down its protectors.

The remaining free humans and superheroes are stationed around the world, besieged within the walls of ten very familiar ‘Watchtowers’, as they fight a desperate, losing battle against the triumphant forces of evil.

While Green Arrow and Black Canary attempt to deliver the secret of humanity’s last hope across America’s blasted wastelands, the Outsiders brave the horrors of the Blüdhaven bunker in search of Batman. The ultimate battle is coming…but which heroes will become villain – and vice versa? And what part do the Secret Society have to play in the dawning of this new Age of Evil?

Darkness is falling and death rules the day. Is this truly the end of the Age of Super Heroes? Don’t miss FINAL CRISIS #4: “How to Murder the Earth!”

40pg. | Color | $3.99 US

Tangent: Superman’s Reign #8 of 12

Written by Dan Jurgen and Ron Marz; Art by Wes Craig and Fernando Pasarin; Cover by Matt Haley

The Tangent Superman’s assault on the DCU Earth continues, and his quest to make the world “safe” for normal people is set to crush all metahuman resistance in its path!

32pg. | Color | $2.99 US

DC Universe: Halloween ’08

Written by Mark Verheiden, Mike Johnson, Brian Reed and others; Art by Trevor Hairsine, Duncan Rouleau and others; Cover by Gene Ha
The Horror! The Horror! Could this be the final Halloween for the DCU? Evil has won, and there are no treats! Witness tales of terror featuring Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Titans, El Diablo, Faust and others by past, present and future DC greats.

80pg. | Color | $5.99 US

Notes: It’s not clear whether the Flash appears in this book, but there’s a chance depending on what era of theTitans is spotlighted. Last year’s Halloween special featured a “Whatever happened to…” story about Ira West, Wally’s grandfather and Iris Allen’s adoptive father.

The Flash may also appear in Trinity, and Kid Flash often appears in Tiny Titans.

This Week (Oct 15): Flash #245 & Rogues’ Revenge #3

It’s a big Flash week, with both Flash #245 and Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge hitting the stores.

Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge #3

Written by Geoff Johns; Art and Covers by Scott Kolins

Captain Cold and the Rogues only want one thing – revenge. But with the Secret Society hitting the Rogues where it hurts, that revenge is being kept at an arm’s length. Not to mention, the subject of their revenge is now under Libra’s protection. It’s do or die time for the Rogues as this villainous mini-series concludes! Plus, what’s up with…Barry Allen?

40pg. | Color | $3.99 US

Note: This miniseries has been excellent. You can read my reviews of issue #1 and issue #2 here.

Flash #245

Written by Alan Burnett; Art by Paco Diaz and Drew Geraci; Cover by Brian Stelfreeze

Flash learns that nothing is safe anymore as Queen Bee causes an attack on his house and Linda. Guest-starring Black Lightning!

32pg. | Color | $2.99 US

Note: Rather than being a lame-duck arc, the first issue of this storyline was surprisingly good. With any luck, that will continue.

Team books and more after the cut. Continue reading →

This Week (Oct 8): Going Ape

This week, two Flash stories are reprinted in the DC Goes Ape collection.

DC Goes Ape

Written by Otto Binder, John Broome, Gardner Fox and others; Art by Carmine Infantino, Wayne Boring, George Papp, Ross Andru, C.C. Beck, Jim Starlin and others; Cover by Arthur Adams
You’ll go bananas for this new title collecting simian stories from Superboy #76, Superman #138, The Flash (vol.1) #127, Detective Comics #339 and 482, Hawkman #16, Wonder Woman #170, Strange Adventures #201, Shazam #9, Super Friends #30 and The Flash (vol.2) #151!

168pg. | Color | Softcover | $19.99 US

Notes: The two Flash stories are:

“Reign of the Super-Gorilla” (Flash v.1 #127, 1962), in which Gorilla Grodd imbues himself with “neo-magnetic radiation,” making everyone within a 100-mile radius think he’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. Everyone but the Flash, that is. He easily takes over Gorilla City, then moves on to Central City…where the citizens decide to run him for state governor.

“Territorealis” (Flash v.2 #151, 1999), a flashback told at the beginning of the Dark Flash Saga. Kid Flash mistakes another intelligent Gorilla for Grodd himself, then has to help him return to Gorilla City in order to prevent an invasion. In a way, it serves as a prologue to the “JLApe” storyline that ran through that summer’s annuals.

DC has a long tradition of using intelligent apes as characters (Grodd, Monsieur Mallah, Detective Chimp, etc.), but I have to wonder whether the timing of this collection might be influenced by the Marvel Apes miniseries currently in stores.

This Week (Oct 1): JLA & Collections

This week, the Flash appears in Justice League of America #25 and collected editions of Justice and Countdown to Final Crisis. He may also appear in DCU: Decisions #2 and Trinity #18.

Justice League of America #25

Written by Dwayne McDuffie ; Art by Ed Benes; Cover by Ed Benes

Vixen and Animal Man journey into the sacred Tantu Totem to solve the mystery of their altered powers. But Anansi, the African spider god responsible for these changes, has only begun reshaping the powers and histories of the Justice League, as eight-year-old Bruce Wayne shoots the burglar who killed his parents, Wonder Woman retires from the JLA after the tragic death of her husband, Superman, and The Green Lantern Corps quarantines Earth after one of their number destroys an American city. With the team’s history changing before Vixen’s eyes, is the JLA we now know gone forever?

Notes: Totally off-topic, I know, but speaking of Anansi, I’d like to recommend Neil Gaiman’s novel, Anansi Boys. It’s set in the same world as American Gods (in which Shadow does encounter a version of Anansi), but neither book requires the other.

Continue reading →

This Week (Sep 24): Salvation Run & Kingdom Come

There’s no new Flash comics this week, but Salvation Run is being collected, and Kingdom Come is being reprinted.

Salvation Run

Written by Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges; Art by Sean Chen and Walden Wong; Cover by Joe Corroney

The hit 7-issue miniseries spinning out of Countdown to Final Crisis is collected in this new trade paperback. Exiled to a distant hell planet, the villains of the DCU split into two warring factions led by Lex Luthor and The Joker!

Notes: While Salvation Run tended to focus on Luthor and the Joker, each issue was told from the point of view of one of the Flash’s Rogues, the first group of villains to be exiled to the planet for murdering Bart Allen.

Kingdom Come – New Edition


Written by Mark Waid; Art and Cover by Alex Ross

Eisner Award-winning artist Alex Ross provides an amazing new cover painting for this new edition of KINGDOM COME, which features a deluxe foldout cover only on its first printing! (Subsequent printings will not include the foldout.)

Written by Mark Waid and illustrated by Ross, this is the unforgettable, best-selling tale of a world spinning inexorably out of control. Waid and Ross weave a tale of youth versus experience, tradition versus change, and what defines a hero. KINGDOM COME is a riveting epic that pits the old guard – Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and their allies – against a new, uncompromising generation of heroes.