Speeding to San Diego: Plans for Comic-Con

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Death Star Cannon View at the San Diego Convention Center

It’s that time of year again! Comics and other pop culture fans of all stripes are descending on San Diego, California this week for Comic Con International.

Speed Force will be there: I’ll be on the floor myself three days out of four, and of course we’ll be monitoring the news coming from the con.

If you want a fan’s eye view of the con and can’t wait for the blog updates, keep an eye on…

  • Live updates at @SpeedForceOrg on Twitter. That’s where I’ll be posting live during the day.
  • Photos on Flickr, posted nightly if I have time, or by the end of the weekend. (Here are my galleries of photos from past conventions.)

Flash news will go up here on Speed Force as time permits, and my full convention write-up will go on K-Squared Ramblings as usual.

Amazingly, this will be the tenth San Diego Comic-Con I’ve reported on online. Check out my past convention coverage (write-ups, photos and more) if you’re interested in how the con (and my approach to it) has changed.

This Week: Digital Flash(back) #37-39

This week’s digital backissues on ComiXology include Flash #37-39. After witnessing an ancient Atlantean sorcerer fight off terrorists on live television, a depressed Wally West decides he just might be able to find himself at the Celestial Enlightenment Ranch. But reporter Linda Park isn’t convinced the spiritual retreat, or its leader, is on the level, and goes under cover to expose the truth. She expects to find it’s just a scam to separate rich people from their trust funds. She doesn’t expect to find herself possessed by the spirit of an 800-year-old Irish bard.

Flash #13 Launches Gorilla Warfare (Solicitation & Cover)

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DC’s October solicitations are up, including…

THE FLASH #13
Written by FRANCIS MANAPUL and BRIAN BUCCELLATO
Art and cover by FRANCIS MANAPUL
1:25 B&W Variant cover by FRANCIS MANAPUL
On sale OCTOBER 24 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T

  • “GORILLA WARFARE” starts here!
  • Gorilla Grodd’s army attacks Central City, and The Flash is forced to team up with the Rogues!?

Impulse TPB Gets Release Date & Description

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Impulse #1

Thanks to Collected Editions for spotting this: The Amazon listing for Impulse Vol. 1: Runs in the Family features a new description and a release date of March 5, 2013. If the date is not a placeholder (and doesn’t change), the collection should arrive in comic shops the previous Wednesday, February 27.

The teenage grandson of the Flash, Impulse was born and raised in a “video game” virtual environment in the 30th century. But when the rash teenager was transported back to the 20th century, his entire life changed. This humorous book profiles Impulse’s earliest adventures in rural Alabama under the tutelage of elder speedster Max Mercury. Oblivious to the concept of actions having consequences, the reckless youth must come to terms with both his incredible powers and the absurd situations that their use can result in, all the while trying to cope with the insanity of high school. In this new edition of Impulse’s adventures, the teen speedster meets teen villain White Lightning, Blockbuster, and, from the 30th century, Legion of Super-Heroes member XS.

DC’s announcement last month indicates that the book will collect Impulse #1-6, 8-9 and 12-13.

Speed Reading

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Some weekend linkblogging…

Flashy Links

Flash #10 Reviews

Other DC

More Comics

The Flash Gets an Updated Origin in Flash #0…and then it’s War

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Newsarama interviews the Flash creative team about the upcoming Flash #0, which will update Barry Allen’s origin, and what’s coming in the second year of the New 52 Flash.

Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato have been re-introducing the Rogues one at a time through Flash #6-12, building toward a major event in Flash Annual #1 in August. After that, Flash #0 will retell the Flash’s origin. Together, the Annual and the #0 issue will answer a number of readers’ questions, like: How did the Rogues get internal powers? Who raised Barry after his mother was killed and his father framed?

Manapul: In issue #0, people are finally going to see what happened after he lost his parents, and what happened right after he got hit by lightning. The Barry Allen we’ve been writing since we took over the book last year has a past that hasn’t been revealed, and it’s an important part of why he does what he does. So we’ve addressed a lot of those things head-on in the #0 issue.

They also make the point that the New 52 Barry Allen is very different in personality from the pre-Flashpoint Barry Allen, and one of their goals with the new origin story is to solidly ground him in this timeline.

Manapul: Well, we’ve created a lot more emotional ties to this particular timeline for Barry Allen. There’s no way he could ever see himself going back in time to screw up time or to save his mom or anything like that. So we’re giving him a very strong emotional anchor in this timeline to hold that line, to never go back to the past.

Again and again they return to the theme of moving forward, rather than backward, including in the way they look, well, back at the Flash’s origin.

Buccellato: … I know the story of his mother was told in Flash: Rebirth, and that’s a valid reason for his choice to become a hero. But we felt like we needed to go a little bit deeper.

…

Like Francis said, our Barry is more forward-moving and less reflective and looking back. So we needed to show why he’s that way and why we did this subtle shift in Barry’s personality and motivation.

Francis Manapul confirms that he’s back on art for #12, #0, and beyond, and Brian Buccellato confirms that amidst all the creative changes of the New 52, they’re sticking around. “We have a big plan for what we’re doing on the Flash…”

So what does come next? All we know is it will spin out of the Flash Annual, and one hint: “War is coming to Central City.”

Read the full interview at Newsarama.