Category Archives: Timely

Velocity Returns in May

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Wally West isn’t the only red-headed speedster out there. Velocity, winner of Top Cow’s first Pilot Season, will finally be getting her own series this May.

Well, sort of.

Velocity has been a member of Cyberforce since it launched in the early 1990s, and has had two solo books: a 1995 miniseries by Kurt Busiek and Anthony Chun, and a one-shot in 2007 by Joe Casey and Kevin Maguire. The one-shot was part of Top Cow’s “Pilot Season” event: they released several “first issues” of potential series and asked fans to vote on which one should be picked up. Velocity won, and Top Cow went on to prepare a series. Joe Casey returned, and ChrisCross took over as artist.

That series never actually launched, though. Casey wrote three issues, ChrisCross drew one full issue and several covers, but the book was delayed several times and finally scrapped due to creative differences. With their newly found free time, Joe Casey and ChrisCross went over to DC and did Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance.

Return

Top Cow has announced a new Velocity miniseries starting in May, written by Ron Marz and drawn by Kenneth Rocafort (who did variant covers for the unlaunched series).

Carin Taylor is the fastest woman in the world. At least, she’d better be if she wants to save her own life and the lives of her Cyberforce teammates. When a former Cyberdata scientist — and test subject — seeks revenge against the members of Cyberforce, only Velocity can save her friends before the clock literally runs out.

Ron Marz remarked to UGO:

I’ve been getting to use the supernatural side of the Top Cow Universe as my playground for a while now, so I jumped at the chance to write one of my favorites from the superhero/tech side.

In some ways it does fulfill the promise of Pilot Season, in terms of the character finally getting a book, but it’s an entirely new creative team. And it’s a four-issue limited series, not an ongoing. I guess after two and a half years Top Cow wanted to test the waters again. Kind of a shame, given how rare it is to find and ongoing speedster comic that’s not The Flash (or Sonic the Hedgehog), but it’s probably sensible not to rely too much on the buzz from 2007.

Happy Birthday Bill Messner-Loebs

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I learned on Comic Bloc that today is William Messner-Loebs’ birthday! He wrote The Flash vol.2 for about four years from Flash #15 (1988) through Flash #61 (1992), during which he laid the groundwork for Wally West’s characterization in the 1990s and beyond. He also had a two-year run on Impulse, taking over from Mark Waid in Impulse #29 (1997) and handing the reigns to Todd Dezago after Impulse #49 (1999).

Geoff Johns, DC’s New Chief Creative Officer

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The big DC news yesterday was the announcement of the new executive team for DC Comics. Jim Lee and Dan Didio are promoted to Co-Publishers, succeeding Paul Levitz, and Geoff Johns is promoted to Chief Creative Officer.

So for the most part, it looks like the “corporate overlords” at Warner Bros. like what DC has been doing and want to keep the same people in charge. That, and make sure the writer behind their most popular books isn’t even tempted to leave! (Though it’s clear that Geoff Johns is so fascinated by DC’s universe and characters, I can’t imagine what would lure him away.)

In a statement on The Source, Johns assures fans that he’ll still be “writing Green Lantern, The Flash, Batman: Earth One and Brightest Day.” In addition, he’s in charge of figuring out how to bring DC’s world, including Wildstorm and Vertigo, into other media: “film, toys, television, video games, animation and beyond.”

Flash: Rebirth Original Art on eBay

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Do you want to own a piece of Flash: Rebirth? Now’s your chance. Ethan Van Sciver has posted two pieces of original art from the miniseries on eBay: the Flash: Rebirth Cover and a Flash: Rebirth splash page featuring Jay Garrick and Bart Allen smacking down the Reverse Flash.

Both auctions end on Thursday, February 18. So far the cover is up to $267.00, and the splash page is up to $108.50.

Lia Brown reports that this isn’t the first time original art from the series has made it to the online auction site, though this appears to be the first time the artist has put it up for auction there himself.

Update (Friday): The cover sold for $2,310 and the splash page went for $1,152.

Flashy Convention Appearances (Spring 2010)

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Some upcoming convention and signing appearances by Flash-related people:

Emerald City Con (March 13-14 in Seattle, Washington) has added long-time Flash writer Mark Waid. Geoff Johns and Impulse artist Humberto Ramos are already on the guest list. — @emeraldcitycon

MegaCon (March 12-14, Orlando Florida) has Ethan Van Sciver — @MegaConvention

WonderCon (April 2-4, San Francisco, California) has the Flash: Rebirth team of Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver.

C2E2 (April 16-18, Chicago, Illinois) has the Flash: Rebirth team of Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver. (Note: This means they will not appear at Anaheim Comic Con the same weekend.) — @c2e2

Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con (June 11-13, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) has Ethan Van Sciver. — @WizardWorld

Florida Supercon (June 18-20 in Miami, Florida) recently confirmed John Wesley Shipp, the lead in the 1990 Flash TV series, for the convention. — @FLSupercon

Justice Guild feat. The Streak on sale at Mattycollector.com 2/16

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As previously reported by Kelson, in a effort to fill in the gaps of characters not yet made in the Justice League Unlimited toy line, Mattel is releasing the Justice Guild of America Set on 2/16 for sale exclusively at Mattycollector.com for $30.00.

Justice League and Justice League Unlimited devotees will remember the Justice Guild of America from the Season 1 episode “Legends”. The Justice Guild was the closest the show got to featuring the original Justice Society of America, as the creators of the show were not allowed to feature any of the original members due to the nature of the story. To that end they created several analogs that were a direct homage or in some cases a combination of characters.

The Streak was obviously based on Jay Garrick, the very first Flash (and the primary reason I’m featuring and purchasing this set). The Green Guardsman and Black Siren were Alan Scott (Green Lantern I/Sentinel) and Dinah Lance (Black Canary I). And Tom Turbine and Catman were amalgamations of the original Atom/Golden Age Superman and Batman/Wildcat respectively. Unfortunately for Batman and Wildcat fans we won’t be getting Catman, but every other member of the group is present and accounted for (well except for mascot, Ray Thompson, himself a tribute to classic comic book writer, Roy Thomas and celebrated author, Ray Bradbury).

Again, the set goes on sale at Mattycollector.com for $30.00 on 2/16 so be sure to swing by there and grab yours before they are all gone. And yes there is a limited stock.

-Devin “The Flash” Johnson