Kid Flash Goes Solo in DCU Presents #12

More Flash news from The Source: Kid Flash stars in DCU Presents #12, a solo adventure written by Fabian Nicieza and illustrated by Jorge Jimenez, with a cover by Ryan Sook.

In a special one-shot issue of the fan-favorite anthology series, DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS, Kid Flash will race against time as he deals with the prehistoric trouble the Teen Titans brought back from Mystery Island.

“The Teen Titans survived the Culling and are in for some Prehistoric adventures in both SUPERBOY and TEEN TITANS number tens on the aptly named Mystery Island. And when all is said and done, they will be taking home some souvenirs,” editor Eddie Berganza revealed to THE SOURCE. “Helping Kid Flash have a yabba-doo time with the visiting Dino teens (in back-ups in both TEEN TITANS #11 and #12 with a prologue and epilogue that connects to DC PRESENTS #12) are writer Fabian Niceza and artist Jorge Jimenez. As this story unfolds, we will see which species is really set for extinction!”

I’ll have to check to be sure, but I think this is Bart Allen’s first full-length solo story since the end of Flash: The Fastest Man Alive five years ago, and his first as Kid Flash (not counting the issue of Impulse during “World Without Young Justice” in which he dressed up in one of Wally’s old costumes). Bart did have at least one short story in one of DC’s Halloween specials as Kid Flash. (IIRC, he was caught in a fight between Mirror Master and Bloody Mary.) Edit: Of course he starred in Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost just last year.

Marcus To & Ray McCarthy Guest Artists on Flash #10-11 (Updated)

DC announced on The Source today that Batwing artists Marcus To and Ray McCarthy will be drawing The Flash #10 and #11, focusing on Weather Wizard and Heat Wave.

“FLASH #10 spotlights the reimagined Weather Wizard and his twisted family tree, and we’re thrilled to welcome artist Marcus To and inker Ray McCarthy on board to tell the tale,” Editor Matt Idelson told THE SOURCE. “Marcus shares studio space with regular FLASH artist Francis Manapul (we’ve enjoyed hearing his snarky comments in the background of our calls with Francis), so we’re keeping things in the family, as it were… and as you can see from the double-page spread below, Marcus is gonna blow through this book like a hurricane! Issue #10 is going to be a blast, but just wait until July’s scorching issue #11, where — fittingly for the height of summer — you’ll be re-introduced to the very nasty, very crispy Heat Wave!

Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato return as the regular artists with issue #12. On Twitter, they confirmed that they are still writing (or, more precisely, have already written) the scripts for those issues, and Marcus To is working from Francis Manapul’s layouts. The story is still building toward the Flash Annual.

https://twitter.com/#!/FrancisManapul/status/201003204253724672

He’s definitely earned that breather after putting out nine issues in a row (well, eight so far, but there’s been no word of delays on #9) right on time while serving as both writer and artist!

Update! Newsarama has more info, including an interview with Marcus To.

Back Brian Buccellato’s FOSTER Anthology on Kickstarter

Last month I wrote about Flash co-writer Brian Buccellato’s Kickstarter campaign to launch a collection of short stories set in the world of his creator-owned horror/crime thriller, Foster. Response has been great, and he’s met the initial goal…and now he’s expanded the project.

More pages, more artists and writers…and of course, more money. The goal now is to raise $7,000-$7500 by May 20. If you haven’t backed the project yet, and you like what you’ve seen of Foster, now’s your chance. If you have backed, consider increasing your pledge.

» Foster Anthology on Kickstarter

This Week: Digital Flash Back Issues – Wally West #7-12 & Adventure Comics #461-466

DC and ComiXology have added six more issues of the 1987 Flash vol.2 starring Wally West, all at the 99-cent price point.

These issues introduce Red Trinity and Blue Trinity, two teams of ex-Soviet speedsters, as well as Chunk, who would go on to become a regular supporting cast member. Issue #12 begins the Vandal Savage/Velocity 9 story that straddles the transition from Mike Baron to William Messner-Loebs.

70 issues out of 249 (including #0 and #1,000,000) are now available digitally, including the complete first year. Mike Baron’s run is almost complete, with just two more issues to go. It’s not clear whether DC has a regular schedule for these digital back-issues, but the last time they added to this series was January’s addition of #1-6. This suggests that they’ll be adding six issues every few months, starting at the beginning and working forward, filling in around the issues released as part of the Flash 101 promotion last year.

» The Flash (1987-2009) on ComiXology

They’ve also added six issues of Adventure Comics from its 1970s run as an anthology book. Issues #459-466 featured eight Flash solo stories starring Barry Allen. During the heavily serialized Bronze Age, these were throwbacks to the more goofy done-in-one Silver Age stories. I didn’t even know about them until I read one of Mark Waid’s interviews in The Flash Companion, then I started tracking them down on eBay. I’ve read the lot of them, and wrote about the stories here a couple of years back. ComiXology has Adventure Comics #461-466 online at $1.99 each.

Only a handful of the Silver/Bronze Age Flash series are available, most posted during the Flash 101 sale mentioned above.

» The Flash (1959-1985) on ComiXology
» Adventure Comics on ComiXology

Flash Annual Cover: More Revamped Rogues Revealed! (via Newsarama)

Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato are featured in a new interview over at Newsarama where they discuss the title’s next steps on the road to the one-year mark of the New 52.  Within, the cover for the upcoming Flash Annual, due in September, is revealed.  It features the first looks at new versions of Mirror Master, Heat Wave and a re-imagined Golden Glider, alongside Captain Cold, Turbine and the new Weather Wizard, forming a Gauntlet of Super Villains for the New 52 Flash.


Check out what the duo had to say about thematic ties to Flashpoint, the new, “crispy” Heat Wave, Weather Wizard: Drug Lord and the reintroduction of the Pied Piper (and much more!) after the jump…

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Planned Downtime on Thursday Wednesday

Heads up!

You’ve probably noticed a few site outages here at Speed Force over the last few months. Well, here’s warning for another one. My webhost will be upgrading the network this Thursday evening after 10:00 pm PDT.

DreamHost is allowing four hours for the planned maintenance, but they expect actual downtime to be “minimal.”

With luck, the improvements will prevent the sort of unplanned downtime that’s been a problem lately.

In the event of an extended outage (this week or any other time), you can usually find me on Twitter at @SpeedForceOrg, and you can catch up on recent posts on the SpeedForce Tumblr. If you don’t see anything about it in one of those places, please let me know – it’s possible I’ve missed an alert and don’t know yet.

UPDATE It looks like either I misread the announcement or Dreamhost swapped the LAX & Irvine plans (judging by the URL on the now-404ed original post, I’m guessing the former). In any case, the site was down for about half an hour Wednesday evening during the maintenance window. The funny thing is that I spent three hours tonight working on a network migration for my job. Now there’s timing!