Category Archives: Timely

How Soon Will We See a Digital-First Flash Comic?

Flash TV logo on a tablet

DC’s new digital-first Sensation Comics series starring Wonder Woman got me thinking about the publisher’s digital-first strategy. In addition to continuity-free stories about Superman, Batman, and now Wonder Woman, it’s also their platform of choice for media tie-in comics to their games and TV shows: Smallville, Batman ’66, Injustice: Gods Among Us, Scribblenauts, Infinite Crisis, Arrow…

There’s an excellent chance that, with the Flash TV show launching in October, we’ll see a TV-continuity digital-first Flash series by the end of the year.

Double Your Flash!

If so, this would be the first time in years that we’ve had two Flash series running concurrently, unless you count the Rogues-heavy miniseries tied to Forever Evil, Blackest Night, and Final Crisis. (And really, isn’t it awesome that DC has been doing Rogues miniseries with so many of their big events lately?) Flash and Impulse ran together from 1995-2002, and All-Flash ran alongside Flash Comics from 1941-1948, during which time the Flash also had a regular solo spot in Comic Cavalcade.

Admittedly, the Arrow tie-in comic only ran during the first season of the show, but maybe the Flash’s higher profile among comics readers will translate to better sales?

Digital What?

For those of you who haven’t looked into DC’s digital-first comics, they typically release three chapters a month at 99 cents through services like ComiXology, Kindle, iTunes, Google Play, and DC’s own branded portal. Each month’s chapters are then collected in a $3.99 print edition. The comics are designed around a horizontal page layout to make them fit better on tablets and widescreen monitors, with two digital pages stacked vertically to make each printed page. (It typically ends up being about 30 pages of story instead of 20.)

You can read on a tablet, a phone (panel-by-panel view can be awkward for converted comics, but these are designed for, well, digital first), or a desktop/laptop through the ComiXology or DC websites. Or you can wait a month or two for the print edition, or a bit longer for the trade paperback.

It’s WALLY WEST in Superhero March Madness! Vote Now!

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Thanks in no small measure to the followers here at Speedforce, Barry Allen not only defeated Nightcrawler in SUPERHERO MARCH MADNESS, but did so with the largest vote total to date! Now, another Flash steps into the spotlight as WALLY WEST faces-off with AQUAMAN today!

DC MARVEL SUPERHERO MARCH MADNESS is set up with four regions – in two of the regions there are direct DC vs Marvel matchups from Day 1. The other two regions are “in-house” battles (DC vs DC, and Marvel vs Marvel), to assure that at least one representative of each publisher arrives safely in the final four. That’s why we find Wally going against another DC hero here. YOUR VOTES can help Wally over the top…and we may even see both Barry and Wally make it to the Final Four with your help!

While you are there, you may be interested in some of the other battles, including Hawkeye versus Green Arrow! But for now, here’s the link directly to the face-off that includes Wally:

http://www.tmstash.com/dc-vs-marvel-superhero-march-madness-day-6-flash-wally-west-vs-aquaman/

Thanks to all who dropped by to support Barry! If we see that again from Flash fans, then Wally has a really good chance of finding his way into the second round. Tell your friends, tell your enemies, tell EVERYONE to drop by and VOTE!

Barry Allen in DC vs Marvel Superhero March Madness!

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As previously reported, there is a DC vs Marvel Superhero March Madness bracket challenge going on at TMStash.com, and now it is Barry Allen’s turn…and he needs your votes! Barry is facing off with Nightcrawler of the X-Men in Day 5 of the contest, which has already seen some major upsets including Batman’s defeat in Day 1 by Power Girl! There have already been a lot of SpeedForce.org followers showing up to vote in Superhero March Madness, and this vote is a big one for Flash fans! You can check out the brackets at TMStash.com, or follow the link below to go straight to Barry versus Nightcrawler:

http://www.tmstash.com/dc-vs-marvel-superhero-march-madness-day-5-flash-barry-allen-vs-nightcrawler/

And, stay tuned for Saturday’s Day 6 competition, which will include Wally West! For today though, Barry Allen is looking to YOU for help – be sure to tell your friends and VOTE!

DC vs Marvel Superhero March Madness!

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Superman vs. Thor! Wonder Woman vs. Jean Grey! Hal Jordan vs. Tony Stark! You’ll find Barry Allen AND Wally West in the brackets as well…DC vs Marvel Superhero March Madness has begun at TMStash.com!

All the battles are decided by YOU! Voting has begun on Day 1, which ends tonight (March 17) at 11 PM Eastern Time USA. There will be battles every day (usually 4 battles per day) through April 6th (with a couple of Sundays off to prepare podcast wrap-ups). There are four regions, each named after a prominent writer for either DC or Marvel – two of the regions feature “in-house” battles (all DC or all Marvel), which assure that at least one character from each publisher will make the final four. The other two regions are featuring head-to-head DC/Marvel battles from Day 1!

The champion will be revealed on a LIVE STREAMING podcast April 6th! To find out more, here is a link to the entire bracket:

DC vs Marvel FULL BRACKETS

And, here is a link that will direct you to all four Day 1 matchups – vote NOW…and just be warned that there are already UPSET ALERTS going out on a couple of those face-offs!

DAY 1 MATCH-UPS

As of this writing, Thor is actually leading Superman…and there is almost a dead heat between Batman & Power Girl, as well as between Captain Marvel & Nova! YOUR VOTES will matter!

Poll: Favorite Flash Stories of 2013

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Gorilla Warfare, Reverse Flash, Villains Month/Forever Evil — plus guest spots in Smallville, Justice League Beyond, and of course the Arrow TV show. What was your favorite Flash story of the year?

Update: The survey is closed — here are the results!

Gorilla Warfare (Flash #13-#17)	2%	(2 Votes)
Flash vs. Trickster (Flash #18-19)	1%	(1 Votes)
Reverse Flash Saga (Flash #20-24)	15%	(18 Votes)
Flash #25: Zero Year	31%	(38 Votes)
Flash #26: Flash out of Water
Villains Month: Reverse Flash	1%	(1 Votes)
Villains Month: Grodd	1%	(1 Votes)
Villains Month: Rogues	4%	(5 Votes)
Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion	3%	(4 Votes)
Smallville Season 11: “Haunted” guest-starring Bart Allen and Jay Garrick
Justice League Beyond: “Flashdrive” introducing Danica Williams	2%	(3 Votes)
Justice League Beyond: The Flash (Danica Williams origin)	1%	(1 Votes)
Injustice: Gods Among Us Chapter 13 (Flash spotlight)	2%	(2 Votes)
Arrow: The Scientist / Three Ghosts	16%	(19 Votes)
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox	12%	(15 Votes)
My collection of back-issues	9%	(11 Votes)

There’s a clear winner, and a sharp division between the top five and the rest:

The “Zero Year” flashback in Flash #26 took the top spot handily with twice as many votes as the next one down. Is it the farewell to the Francis Manapul/Brian Buccellato team? Or do we Flash fans just like our Barry/Iris moments?
Arrow‘s “The Scientist” and “Three Ghosts”, guest-starring Barry Allen, came in next, another strong showing for a pre-Flash story.
The Reverse Flash story to which Manapul and Buccellato had been building for their whole run on the series came in third.
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, the first animated feature to focus on the Flash (even if Warner Bros. was afraid to brand it anything other than Justice League), made a solid fourth-place showing, though not as strong as I was expecting.
Back-issues took a surprisingly high slot with more than twice as many votes as the next item on the list — a reminder that there are still a lot of Flash fans out there who like the characters, but not the current direction.

Two choices pulled in no votes at all: Flash #26, which hit stores during the second day of the survey — no surprise, since most people hadn’t had a chance to read it by the time the survey closed, and I actually considered leaving it off because of that. Smallville Season 11: Haunted, a digital-first comic now available in print that focused on Bart Allen and introduced the Smallville universe’s Jay Garrick. Maybe Flash fans are just tired of characters getting killed off.

One problem with the survey: I had to relaunch it after it had been up for about an hour and a half because I realized I’d forgotten to include Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. (Seriously, how did I do that?) I had to decide whether it was better to relaunch the poll and lose about 40 votes, hoping most of them would see the notice and resubmit their votes, or leave out the Flash’s premiere animated movie. I’m still not sure I made the right call, but it’s a thoroughly unscientific survey.

The Flash Podcast Launches