Michael Rosenbaum Returns as the Flash in Justice League: Doom

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TV Guide reports on the voice cast of Justice League: Doom, an upcoming direct-to-home-video animated film inspired by Mark Waid’s JLA: Tower of Babel, in which Batman’s contingency plans to take down each of his colleagues if necessary are stolen and turned against them. Based on the cast list, it appears to have been adapted to better match the current “New 52” lineup, with Hal Jordan replacing Kyle Rayner (as he replaced John Stewart in Crisis on Two Earths) and Cyborg replacing Aquaman (who is in the new comics lineup, confusing the issue a bit).

The feature will reunite Justice League/Justice League Unlimited cast members Kevin Conroy as Batman, Susan Eisenberg as Wonder Woman, Carl Lumbly as the Martian Manhunter…and Michael Rosenbaum as The Flash. Joining them will be Nathan Fillion, reprising his role as Green Lantern Hal Jordan from Emerald Knights, Tim Daly, voice of Superman from the 1990s animated series and the more recent Superman/Batman: Public Enemies and Apocalypse features, and Bumper Robinson as Cyborg.

The Green Lantern Corps forum has more information including a list of villains (via TRKA): The Royal Flush Gang, Vandal Savage, Cheetah, Bane, Metallo, Star Sapphire, and Mirror Master (Alexis Denisof).

Flash #2 Variant Cover by Greg Capullo

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Robot 6 spotted the cover in, of all places, the Wall Street Journal’s article on DC Comics’ 52-issue sellout. The CBR blog notes that artist Greg Capullo (Batman) is also providing variant covers for Green Lantern #1, Justice League #3 and Action Comics #4.

The Flash #1 goes on sale tomorrow. The Flash #2 arrives on October 26.

Flash #1 Sets Sales Record

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Cosmic Book News reports that The Flash #1, due in stores tomorrow, is the best-selling* Flash title in 40 years, according to a statement Dan Didio made on Facebook:

Happy to say that the New 52 FLASH comic is the best selling issue of Flash in over 40 years.

In fact, the first month of DC’s “New 52” is settings records all around. In a market that rarely sees more than a couple of books a month exceed 100,000 copies, 11 DC books have passed 100K, 3 have passed 200K, and all 52 have sold out. Even unexpected series like Hawk & Dove, Batwing, Men of War and OMAC are getting second printings.

I’ve only seen sales figures going back to 1996, but the highest-selling issue of the last 15 years was Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #1 in 2006, selling an estimated 126,741 copies. The first issue of Bart Allen’s solo series was notable as the first major relaunch of the Flash in 20 years, while subsequent relaunches with Wally West’s surprise return (2007, ~79K), Barry Allen in Flash: Rebirth (2009, ~102K) and Barry Allen’s solo series (2010, ~100K) failed to match it.

Of course, the real question is: How much of the audience can they keep? First issues tend to sell a lot more than second, third and fourth issues, between speculators and people who just want to try out a new series. The real test is going to be how many people are still on board by the end of the first story arc.

*Sales figures in the comics industry are based on wholesale — how many copies are ordered by retailers — which is why they have numbers available now, before the books go on sale to readers.

Flash Launch: Francis Manapul Signings

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Flash co-writer/artist Francis Manapul will be signing at three Toronto-area comic shops on Wednesday, when The Flash #1 hits the shelves.

SEPTEMBER 28 (Wednesday)
Stadium Comics 10:30am-12:30pm
Paradise Comics 3-5pm
Beguiling 7-9pm

SEPTEMBER 30 (Friday)
Toronto Cartoonist’s Workshop 7-11pm
Gallery show of original artwork from The Flash #1.

Facebook Event

UPDATE: More details including addresses at Francis Manapul’s Tumblr blog.

Speed Reading (Updated)

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Some linkblogging for the weekend….

Flash links

More Comics Links

Wally West the #6 DC Character – Flashes in the Top 50, Final Rankings

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We’ve been following Comics Should Be Good as they count down the results of their Top 50 DC & Marvel Characters survey. Wally West ranks #6 on the DC list. He hasn’t been seen much since DC decided to re-focus The Flash on Barry Allen a few years back, but Wally remains a popular character — more popular among the survey respondents than the current headliner, though as we saw a few days ago, Barry made the top 10 as well.

I hope DC considers this when the time comes around for mid-season replacements or expanding the New 52. If there’s room for 12(?) Bat-books including spots for current and past Robins Dick, Jason, Tim and Damian… If there’s room for four Lantern books including spots for all four human Green Lanterns… If there’s room for four Super-books… Then surely there’s room for a second Flash series featuring Wally West, or at the very least a spot on a team book. Barry’s got the main Flash series, Bart’s in Teen Titans, and presumably Jay will be showing up in the Earth-2-set Justice Society of America series when it launches.

Here are the final rankings of the Flashes for this survey and the previous one in 2007.

Character 2011 Rank  2007 Rank  Points  1st Place Votes 
Jay Garrick (Flash) #45 #41 374 0
Bart Allen (Impulse/Kid Flash) #36 #42 545 6
Barry Allen (Flash) #9 #29 1604 27
Wally West (Flash/Kid Flash) #6 #3 2471 67

About the points: The way voting worked was that you listed your top 10 favorite characters, in order. Your first-place choice got 10 points, your second-place choice got 9 points, etc. According to CSBG, more than 1400 people voted in the survey.

Keep an eye on Comics Should Be Good as they count down the top five!