Category Archives: Timely

Dick Giordano 1932-2010

If you’ve been following any comics news sites over the past week, you’ve probably read that legendary artist Dick Giordano passed away last weekend. I don’t really have much to add to what others have said elsewhere online, but he contributed to more than 70 issues of The Flash from 1970 to 1984.

Funny story: my first introduction to the artist was on the cover of Captain Carrot #14, a funny-animal superhero book which featured the first part of an homage to the classic JLA/JSA team-ups. In addition to the faces of the Zoo Crew on one the left side of the cover and the Just’a Lotta Animals on the other, the bottom of the cover featured funny animal versions of the creative team and others at DC, labeled as Owl Gordon, Duck Giordano, and so on. So I knew his name long before I knew his work!

Watch Episodes of The Flash TV Series on WB.com For FREE!

UPDATE: The show is no longer available at wb.com, but is now on CW Seed.

WB.com has episodes of the 1990-91 Flash TV series on it’s website to watch for free!

The Flash TV series is a favorite of mine from back when I was just a little guy. My dad was a huge fan of sci-fi tv series, and we used to flip back and forth from The Flash to the Simpsons way back in the day. A few years later my sister would let me rent out the old Flash series from Erol’s, as they carried two VHS of the series, The Flash and The Flash II: Revenge of The Trickster. I found both to be highly entertaining and watched them numerous times with captive eyes. I believe a third one was released later on but I never got a chance to watch it.

At this point in my collection I had only one Flash action figure with which I could act out his adventures with. It was made by Toy Biz and had an action feature that made his arms move when you wound the mechanism on it’s back. I believe these were the immediate successors of the Super Powers Collection Action figures and even had a knock-off quality when compared to them. I had a slew of X-Men action figures so they pulled double-duty as villains. Fun times.

When they finally released the The Flash on DVD back in January of 2006, I was there at Best Buy first thing in the morning to pick it up. I was not disappointed. Well except for the mixed up episodes and the reports of some discs not working correctly. But the show had high production values, a cool suit, a solid cast, and cameos from some future Hollywood mainstays (Angela Bassett and Richard Belzer). Like many first seasons of series it had it’s ups and downs. Many of which are showcased at Crimsonlightning.com, which ran a regular feature reviewing each episode of the show. Although I have to disagree with their review of Sins of The Father, personally that’s one of my favorites. I love the dice scene and the quick change costume scene towards the end. Pure Awesome.

Despite it’s low points the show was the first time that we really had a serious portrayal of a mainstream comics character in live action on TV and it was decently faithful.

I would love to see a live action Flash series (or better yet movie) in this day and age, but we will have to settle for this show in the meantime. We Flash fans have been doing a lot of settling though lately. I can only hope that with DC putting the spotlight back on The Flash in the DC Universe, we will see The Flash take the spotlight in other media as well.

If you missed it up top you can watch free episodes of The Flash here. Feel free to come back and leave some thoughts for us on the series and any memories you may have of it.

Credit: Dustin Fletcher for the link.

Also Speedforce.org and Arrobasilver.com’s Design and Win Your Own Flash Ring Contest is in full swing! So feel free to check out the page and send your entry in today! There is little over a month remaining in the contest and we have some great entries so far. Keep ’em coming!

Devin “The Flash” Johnson

Outrun: the Guardians’ New Speedster

Image Comics has been running ads for Guardians of the Globe, a spinoff miniseries from Invincible, spoofing the style of Marvel’s “I am an Avenger” ads. They started last week with joke ads showing team members like Spawn, Harry Potter, and Barack Obama, and are revealing the real members of the team this week. Today’s addition: Outrun, a new speedster with a somewhat morbid tagline that has CBR wondering whether she’ll live through the miniseries.

My speed creeps into every aspect of my life. I only hope I can make a difference before I burn out. — Outrun

Actually, she sounds kind of like Barry Allen in the first issue of Flash: Rebirth: driven to do everything she can for fear that her time will run out soon. (What is it with speedsters and death? Is it the metaphor of burning the candle at both ends? Barry’s death in Crisis on Infinite Earths? “Live fast, die young?”)

The six-issue miniseries by Robert Kirkman, Benito Cereno and Ransom Getty starts in August.

(Thanks to Vinny Piccolo for the link.)

UPDATE (March 26): Now that the full roster has been revealed — including an Australian who uses exploding boomerangs as weapons (where have I seen that before?) — Newsarama has an interview with Kirkman about the project.

Design and Win Your Own Flash Ring Contest!

About a week ago I did a feature on ArrobaSilver and the fantastic superhero-themed jewelry they produce. They mentioned to me that they wanted more input from real comic book fans about designs for their pieces (which include DC Comics themed rings, pendants, earrings, and cufflinks) . To that end I proposed to them this:

Speedforce.org’s very first contest sponsored by ArrobaSilver!

I know there are a tons of fans out there who would love to have their own custom Flash memorabilia and now is the perfect chance to get a custom-designed, high-quality, ultra-detailed officially licensed Flash ring for free!

The Ring Design can be hand-drawn, digitally produced or even a model. Be creative but stay within reason. Using the many ring designs available on ArrobaSilver.com as a base to build off of is a surefire way to guarantee entry.

The contest begins this Monday, March 15, 2010 at 12:00:01 p.m. Eastern Time, and ends Monday, April 26, 2010 at 11:59:59 a.m. Eastern Time. So you guys have a little over a month to get your designs together and email them to: DesignYourOwnFlashRing@yahoo.com

Official Contest Rules after the break:

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Julie Benz Speeds Into No Ordinary Family

ABC has announced casting for the Greg Berlanti television pilot, No Ordinary Family, a drama about a family with super powers. Julie Benz (Dexter, Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel) and Michael Chiklis (The Shield, Fantastic Four) play the lead couple. While the announcements don’t say what powers Chiklis’ police artist character has, Benz will be playing a scientist who develops super-speed.

If the name Greg Berlanti sounds familiar, IESB pegged him last week as the leading contender to direct The Flash.

Update: I missed the article when I posted this at lunch, but Rich Johnston reviewed a draft of the script last month. He described the script as “patchy,” but “a much more interesting exploration of possibilities of superfiction than The Cape. And leagues ahead of…Heroes.”

Happy Birthday Greg LaRocque

It turns out that today is Greg LaRocque’s birthday! LaRocque drew The Flash vol.2 through all of William Messner-Loebs’ run and the beginning of Mark Waid’s, finishing up with the well-regarded story, The Return of Barry Allen. He pencilled the book for five years, from Flash vol.2 #15 in 1988 through Flash vol.2 #79 in 1993, with only a handful of fill-in issues by other artists, making him the longest-running artist on Wally West’s series.

Along the way he designed Wally West’s shiny costume, which debuted in the above Flash vol.2 #50. In my opinion, he’s still the artist who made it look the best. As Scott Mateo points out on Comic Bloc, when LaRocque drew Wally and Barry together, you could easily tell them apart even at a glance. The artist talks about the redesign in his interview in The Flash Companion.

It’s interesting that LaRocque and Messner-Loebs worked together on the book for roughly four years, and their birthdays are only a few days apart!