Category Archives: Round-Ups

Speed Reading: Waid, Infantino, Fan Films, Barry & Iris, Showcase Auction and More

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Ain’t It Cool News interviews Mark Waid about his work on Flash, Fantastic Four, Irredeemable and more (basically his entire career). He’s got some really interesting things to say about the Flash. Eventually I’ll find time to read the whole thing and pick out some good quotes to post here.

Flash: CrossoverThe latest Fan Film Podcast episode focuses on The Flash: Crossover from Influence Films.

POP! lists Barry Allen and Iris West at #3 on its 25 Greatest Super-hero Romances (via Robot 6).

The Comic Treadmill looks back at the 1970s revival of All Star Comics, featuring the Justice Society of America on Earth-2.

The best-condition copy of Showcase #4, first appearance of Barry Allen as the Silver-Age Flash, is “off to a fast start” at Heritage Auctions, already up to $100,000 with three weeks to go.

Comicbook Rockstar talks about lunch with Carmine Infantino, comics legend and co-creator of the Silver Age Flash, and the veteran artist’s advice for writers.

Comic Bloc user CreativeArtist has a new animation based on Flash: Rebirth.

Pegasus News reviews a production of Based on a Totally True Story (by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa), a stage play about a playwright on the verge of making it big in Hollywood — who also happens to write the Flash comic book.

Update: The first installment of Q&A column Geoff Johns Prime is up at Comic Book Resources. He doesn’t say much about Flash: Rebirth beyond “wait and see.”

Speed Reading: Rebirth and Revamps

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The webcomic Comic Critics takes on Flash: Rebirth.

I’m Just Sayin’… is extremely unhappy with Flash: Rebirth #1, particularly in terms of characterization. I particularly like his point about Savitar, whose entire motivation was that he wanted to become one with the speed force. Watch out, though: the post starts with spoilers for the latest Spider-Man.

Rikdad looks at DC’s history of revamps starting with the transition from the Golden Age to the Silver Age.

The Absorbascon contemplates labeling of comics ages, concluding that the Iron Age ran from 1985-2005, and that we’re now in the Platinum Age — all about bringing back the brightness of the Silver Age that was thrown out for Iron.

Gentlemen of Leisure profiles the Flash with an emphasis on Barry Allen and his legacy.

Amalgam: Speed DemonLetterer and logo designer Todd Klein discusses the design of the Amalgam Comics logos, including the Flash/Demon/Ghost Rider mash-up Speed Demon.

Slightly off-topic: ICV2 talks about old pop culture icons — the ones who, rather than having a nearly-continuous history like Superman or Batman (or, really, the Flash, who despite a couple of breaks in publication has had a regular presence from 1960 onward), keep getting reinvented from time to time like Zorro, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers or the Phantom.

Speed Reading: Central City, Lightning Pants, Podcast

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centralcityWith Barry Allen returning, it’s clear that Central City is going to get a lot more attention. The Absorbascon has calculated the size of Central City based on depictions in Flash comics, determining that it covers 62 times the area of Manhattan and contains 100 million people. Actually, the Absorbascon has a running feature on the vastness that is Central City.

Comic Coverage looks at the earliest costume tweaks for the Flash: the disappearing lightning bolts on Jay Garrick’s legs.

The Views from the Longbox podcast is starting a series of additional episodes focused on Flash: Rebirth, Views from the Speed Force.

4thletter has an interesting question: What’s your deal-breaker? What would cause you to drop a book, or a writer, or a publisher, or even comics altogether?

Speed Reading: Strange Feelings, Amalgam, Animation and More

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Flash #133 (Turned into a puppet!)The Absorbascon presents Strange Feelings, with Barry Allen. If you thought it was odd to be turned into a puppet…

ComicBloc’s Creativeartist has put together a Flash: Rebirth animation — in Flash, of course!

Amalgam: Speed DemonThe AV Club gives Flash: Rebirth #1 a solid B, but the dissenting opinion “was reminded why I rarely read super-hero comics anymore.”

Panels on Pages asks, Remember Amalgam? Amalgam Comics was the special-event line tied to Marvel vs. DC, filled with mash-ups of Marvel and DC characters, like the Flash/Etrigan/Ghost Rider combination, Speed Demon.

Comics Should Be Good’s Greg Hatcher writes about the grail quest — or rather, the thrill of hunting for comics.

I know that searching online I could wrap up all of these in about an hour, especially if money was no object. But money is an object — part of the fun is trying to score these things for under five dollars — and more to the point, the search is part of the pleasure. Google-and-click just isn’t the same.

Mark Evanier has launched a project to Rebuild Len Wein’s Comic Book Collection, after the Swamp Thing and Wolvering co-creator lost his house in a fire earlier this month.

Quick Thoughts: Twitter Through 2009-04-19

Powered by Twitter Tools, tidied up a bit.

Speed Reading: Podcasts, Movie, Rebirth, and More

A few Flash-related posts I’ve found on the web over the past week:

Director Shawn Levy tells MTV’s Splash Page why he left the Flash movie. It turns out to be rather mundane: they wanted someone to focus entirely on The Flash, but he didn’t want to abandon Night at the Museum 2.

Podcasts

The Flash-back Podcast has moved to a new site. (Older podcasts are still at the original location.)

Meanwhile, Tom vs. the Flash tackles Flash v.1 #175, the second Flash/Superman race.

The latest Collected Comics Library Podcast focuses on the 1997 graphic novel, The Life Story of the Flash.

Rebirth Reactions

Comics Nexus wants to see the Flash mantle explored, not just one of the heroes who bears it, and characterizes the previous dynamic as:

Jay (the past),

Wally (the present),

Bart (the future)

and Barry (the aspiration, inspiration and reward).

4thLetter!’s David Brothers, in considering the end of 100 Bullets, sees Flash: Rebirth as “a signal that the DC Universe is moving in a direction that is pointedly Not For Me.”

Looking Back

Comic Coverage lists the Reverse-Flash among the Top 10 Comic Book Villains.

You Should Read Comics, looking at early Silver-Age Kid Flash stories, concludes that in his younger days, “Wally West was a narc.” On more recent topics, the blog tries to figure out what Dan Didio is trying to say when he answers questions about Hal Jordan and Barry Allen.

Slightly off-topic

Velocity: Pilot Season (200px)Comics Should Be Good reviews Velocity: Pilot Season #1, the 2007 book that was supposed to lead into an ongoing series from Top Cow.

Christopher Irving of Four Color Reality finds inspiration in Geoff Johns’ career in comics.

And while not Flash-related, I rather like Robot 6’s Grumpy Old Fan’s description of Bruce Wayne:

I think of Bruce Wayne as a frustrated marketer, spreading appropriate amounts of fear and respect virally through Gotham City, with Bat-symbols big as searchlights and small as stationery. In terms of both the real world and the comics, Batman relies on his outsized reputation.