Five Years Ago in The Flash…Review of Flash #241

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flash 241As part of our SpeedForce.org celebration, we’re taking a look back to the issue of The Flash that came out the same month that this site started. Back in 2008, we were right in the middle of the “Fast Money” story arc. Wally West has seen the people of Keystone City turn against him, pushed by the villain Spin, who has brought Grodd in to help him in the battle. As for the kids…Iris and Jai have been taken captive by people working for “Boss Dark Side”. That brings us to issue #241 of The Flash, with an August cover date but released June 18th, 2008. (NOTE: Thanks to John at Capitol Comics in Raleigh NC for helping me find a spare copy of this issue for the review when I could not find my own copy in my back issues).

FULL SPOILERS AHEAD!

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Photo Challenge! Speed Force Fifth

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Flash Stuff

Speed Force turns five years old tomorrow (hard to believe, huh?), and one of the ways we’re celebrating is with a photo challenge. (See, I told you we had something in store for our Instagram page.)

To participate, follow @SpeedForceOrg on Instagram and post a photo of your favorite Flash item tagged #speedforce5th.

It can be a comic book, a toy, a statue, a costume, a poster, a piece of original art, a DVD, a shirt or towel, a game piece, anything. It can be official or custom-made. It can be something you own, or something you’ve seen.

We’ll post the highlights next Friday. (Please post your own photos only.)

If you aren’t on Instagram, don’t worry — we’ve got something else planned that you can participate in too!

Wow, five years. Big thanks to Devin, Greg, Lia and Ed for joining me on this journey, to everyone who’s guest-posted, to my wife and son for putting up with me spending time on it, and to all of you for coming along with us!

When you get home from “Man of Steel” this weekend, check on Speed Force. We’ve got a lot more in store as we celebrate our fifth anniversary!

What Does “Man of Steel” Mean for a Flash Movie?

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Superman vs the Flash

With Man of Steel opening this week, it’s no secret that the future of DC Comics’ super-heroes on screen is tied to the success of the new Superman film. The question, of course, is what form might that future take? With the success of The Avengers, there’s been a lot of talk about a possible Justice League movie, but of course Marvel didn’t launch the Avengers on its own: They launched four solo films featuring different heroes, then brought them together. If “Man of Steel” does well, DC could jump straight into the team movie, or they could do a Marvel-style slow build — and Mike Ryan at Huffington Post suggests that Flash might be the ideal viewpoint character to tie them together.

DC has had a Flash movie officially in development for almost a decade now. Back in 2004, Warner Bros. announced David Goyer was writing a script and would direct. It’s since been through multiple directors and writers. Early treatments would feature both Wally West and Barry Allen, while later treatments focused exclusively on Barry Allen. The last real news came in 2010, when DC announced the Green Lantern script team would be writing a Flash film based on Geoff Johns’ work. Of course when the Green Lantern movie performed less than WB had hoped, everything non-Superman or Batman went on the back burner again. We’ve heard a few rumblings since then, but little else. Everything’s riding on “Man of Steel”: If it succeeds, we can count on more DC movies. If not, we can expect more years of development hell.

But if it does succeed… Continue reading →

Flash Fan Film: Iris

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A short Flash fan film called “Iris” has been making the rounds lately. It’s a deceptively simple concept: Barry Allen and Iris West have an important conversation, and works out as a great character piece.

A second film is in the works, and I’m definitely looking forward to it. Continue reading →

Black Flash in Ame-Comi Girls & Smallville Haunted TPB

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Two items from DC Comics’ September solicitations, both from their digital-first line:

AME-COMI GIRLS #7
Written by JUSTIN GRAY and JIMMY PALMIOTTI
Art by HORACIO DOMINGUES, EDUARDO FRANCISCO and RUBEN GONZALEZ
Cover by EDUARDO FRANCISCO
On sale SEPTEMBER 4 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T • DIGITAL FIRST

Meet the Hellions—a team of misfit Ame-Comi Girls out to have fun and save the world. It’s not easy for Black Flash being the only undead, crime-fighting teenager in school. But when she meets Red Raven and her badass besties, she may have finally found a place to fit in.

The Black Flash statue was originally a repaint of the Jesse Quick-as-the-Flash statue. I find it interesting that the Ame-Comi comics have expanded to include the repaint characters. Presumably the chapters featuring her will appear digitally in August. Does anyone know if Jesse Quick/The Flash has had a spotlight story in this series?

SMALLVILLE SEASON 11 VOL. 3: HAUNTED TP
Written by BRYAN Q. MILLER
Art by JORGE JIMENEZ
Cover by SCOTT KOLINS
On sale OCTOBER 16 • 144 pg, FC, $14.99 US

In these stories from issues #9-12, mysterious speed storms have struck across the globe, and a familiar face returns to help Clark to stop them. Then, Lex moves against Tess to reveal what she knows about The Man of Steel, and the secrets of Earth-Two Chloe are revealed!

This collects the full story that quest-starred Bart Allen as Impulse and Jay Garrick as the Flash of the Justice Society in the Smallville universe.

Smallville: Haunted