Captain Cold Story Moved Up

Old news, but I missed it with all the Christmas/New Year/catching up with family from out of town/etc.:

Flash co-writer Brian Buccellato posted in a couple of forums last week that the Captain Cold arc originally scheduled for issue #7 has been moved up to #6, replacing the stand-alone CSI mystery originally solicited.

From the CBR thread:

Speaking of Captain Cold…

I wanted to give you all a heads up that we’ve moved the Captain Cold storyline up to ISSUE #6. Rumor has it that the folks REALLY wanna see the Snart. Done and done. 🙂

Jingle Bells!

In response to questions, he adds:

Hey guys… as it stand now, the Captain Cold arc is gonna be 3 issues. As far as the original #6 with the mystery… not sure when we are gonna get to that one. We still want to do it, though. 🙂

Personally, I’m kind of disappointed, since I was really looking forward to reading about the history of Central and Keystone Cities, and a straight CSI story would really take advantage of the fact that DC chose Barry Allen for this universe’s Flash. (To be honest, I was more intrigued by the 150-year-old cold case than by the Captain Cold story.)

Still, I can understand the decision. If there’s anything DC learned from “The Wild Wests” and “Lightning in a Bottle,” it’s that the Flash audience wants to see Rogues. And then there’s the “Eh, it’s just filler” attitude that many readers have toward done-in-ones. I can imagine DC might be afraid of losing momentum on the book.

Here’s hoping that they’ll be able to fit in the cold case story sometime soon!

(via The Rogues Kick Ass)

2011: The Year in Francis Manapul Flash Artwork!

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It’s hard to believe that Francis Manapul’s first issue of Flash appeared in April, 2010. Over less than two years, and 13 total issues, Manapul has already left an indelible mark on the character’s artistic history, pushing to join the ranks of inimitable long-term Flash artists alongside names like Carmine Infantino, Irv Novick, Greg LaRocque, Mike Wieringo and Scott Kolins.

Using innovative layouts and inventive portrayals of sound and perception, Manapul has brought readers deeper into the world of the Flash. To celebrate a year that saw Manapul take over writing the Flash title with Brian Buccellato – a then-unexpected extension of his Flash run – we present the finest in Francis Manapul Flash artwork from 2011! Drawing from The Road to Flashpoint and the first four issues of the New 52 story Mob Rule, there’s far more than we could fit into one post. Check out the highlights after the jump…

Continue reading →

Results: Favorite Flash Stories of 2011

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The results are in! Here are readers’ favorite Flash stories from 2011, as voted on at twtpoll:

Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato’s current New 52 storyline, “Mob Rule,” is the clear winner, with Flashpoint taking a solid second-place spot and the DC Retroactive: The Flash 1980s special a respectable third. the 1990s Retroactive book and Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost round out the top 5, with the rest of the stories — including the second half of the Geoff Johns’ run on the regular series — barely represented at all.

Full results after the jump. Continue reading →

Flash #4 Variant Cover by Eric Basaldua

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Comicvine’s page detailing The Flash #4 includes Eric Basaldua’s variant cover for the issue. DC seems to have stopped promoting the alternate covers beyond naming the artists in the solicitations. The last one I saw on an official site or press release was the variant for issue #1.

It’s been interesting to look at the different approaches various artists take to the new costume, as well as to compare the mostly story-focused, stylized and representational covers from regular artist/co-writer Francis Manapul to the more standard “Flash running/stopping” covers used for the variants. Of course, I have no doubt that many of the variant covers were assignments to “draw a Flash cover,” rather than to draw a Flash cover for a particular story or even issue.

Speed Force: Top Posts of the Year (2011)

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It’s been a great year for Speed Force, with Greg and Lia coming on board to join Devin and myself as regular contributors. Plus of course the Flash’s profile was raised with this year’s DC mega-event, Flashpoint, bringing in more people curious about DC’s super-speed hero.

Before we continue, I’d like to give a huge thank-you to Devin, Greg and Lia for their work on this site. I’d also like to thank everyone who contributed guest posts, and everyone who’s read and commented.

So, without further ado, here are the top posts of 2011! Continue reading →

First Pics of New 52 Flash Action Figure Via CBR

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Salutations Speed Readers,

Comic Book Resources (CBR) released the first pictures of Wave 2 of the offshoot brand, DC Universe All-Stars to be released later next year in an interview with Associate Marketing Manager for DC Universe, Young Justice and Superman Danielle McLachlan, Mattycollector.com Marketing Manager Scott Neitlich, Batman Associate Marketing Manager Derick Deller and Warner Bros. Marketing Manager John Friberg.

Mattel announced a few months back that as of Wave 20 (featuring White Lantern Flash and Professor Zoom) DC Universe Classics will no longer be sold at retail. DC Universe Classics will instead become Mattel’s DC Universe Club Infinite Earths Subscription program. They will continue to release more varied characters from the rich history of the DC Universe using the subscription while their new retail line, DC Universe All-Stars is Mattel’s attempt to keep familiar characters in the store that parents will be more likely to recognize. Essentially any figure with a ‘Bat’ an ‘S’, or a ‘Lantern’ on it, as opposed to that “funky guy with the bandages” and ‘Captain Freeze’ that mom likely knows nothing about.

Mattel’s new 52 Flash:

Not the largest picture, but we can see most of the details that we need to, including the fact they definitely skimped on the details with these figures as opposed to the DC Direct Prototypes we saw a few months back:

Mattel seems to be going for a less artist specific look than DC Direct which is usually the case. The result of which is the Mattel version looking more like Wally West than the new Barry Allen. I’m also seeing much more detail on the DC Direct version of the figure with the inclusion of the chin strap, modified wings and lightning accents on the torso. Mattel nailed the boots and raised emblem but missed the mark on the mask and wings. Hopefully both of these prototypes will see some changes before their final releases.

What do you guys think of the prototypes so far? Will you be picking up Mattel’s version of the Flash, DC Direct’s or both? Let us know in the comments below and as always thanks for reading,

–Devin “Flash” Johnson