Get on the Cosmic Treadmill of Introduction!

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I remember staring at the Greg LaRocque cover for Flash #48 for the better part of an afternoon, terror frozen in time while a flare of hands stopped a hail of bullets.

Weekly trips to the general store turned into transparent check-ins for the latest issue of Flash.  Galvanized by the TV show, fandom took over.  After receiving and wearing-out a copy of The Greatest Flash Stories Ever Told, I saw the avenues and inroads throughout Flash’s fictional history.

I had fallen in love with the concept of moving faster than humanly possible, and the implications and consequences therein.  Challenging the limits of time and reality, while remaining grounded in a world of human limitations…what more could comics offer?

As I grew up, I was especially thrilled by something I had managed to overlook: the prose piece in the Greatest Flash Stories, “The Final Flash Storyline”.  I sought out each original installment at once.

Those waning days of almost unending tribulation and tragedy, spent in the constant specter of death, were unlike any other hero story I had read.  Written by longtime Flash scribe Cary Bates, the issue-by-issue cascade of the Final Flash Storyline broke my heart.  It also provided context, and weight.

The new world of The Flash’s protégé, carrying on in his name and dealing with a different set of challenges, made it simple for me to stay dyed crimson in the comic book wool.  What an amazing hook.

Along the way, I immersed myself in Kelson’s unparalleled Those Who Ride the Lightning site, a major source of information and reading material when I was putting together the bulk of my Flash collection.  I was of course very excited, as a fan, when the Speed Force blog launched.  Concentrated Flash news!

I hope I’m able to do justice to the standard set by Kelson, and Devin.
With a few interviews on the board, I’m looking forward to working and collaborating on some projects for this space, including:

  • Annotations for the contents of the upcoming Trial of the Flash reprint, and related reading
  • Reviews and analysis of the Flashpoint event and tie-ins
  • More interviews with creators, and others linked to the generation of Flash stories, artwork and other media

You can follow me on Twitter, www.twitter.com/gregislands.
Many thanks to Kelson!

Flash #9 Ranks…#9 for February Sales

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ICv2’s February sales estimates are out based on Diamond’s rankings, and The Flash climbed back into the top 10 to score an impressive #9 ranking in units sold.

Issue Rank Month Units Sold % Change
Flash v.3 #1 2 April 2010 100,903
Flash v.3 #2 12 May 2010 76,560 (-24.1%)
Flash v.3 #3 11 June 2010 68,799 (-10.1%)
Flash v.3 #4 15 July 2010 64,832 (-5.8%)
Flash v.3 #5 14 September 2010 62,063 (-4.3%)
Flash v.3 #6 15 November 2010 57,673 (-7.1%)
Flash v.3 #7 12 December 2010 56,304 (-2.4%)
Flash v.3 #8 18 December 2010 53,975 (-4.1%)
Flash v.3 #9 9 February 2011 55,980 (+3.7%)

The issue actually sold more copies than the previous one for the first time since the relaunch! Some possible reasons for the climb:

  • Start of a new story arc.
  • Promoted as a Flashpoint lead-in.
  • Theme cover.
  • Return of the regular creative team.
  • Return of the speedster guest cast (Wally, Jay, Bart)

Or perhaps the book has reached its level. The next question: what kind of boost will Flashpoint bring to the book?

(Thanks to Esteban of Comic Verso for the link!)

Speed Reading

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It’s been a busy weekend, so I haven’t had a chance to put together my weekly linkblogging round-up until now. Enjoy!

Flashy (and other) Art (mostly from The Rogues Kick Ass and The Fastest Fan Alive)

Other Flashy Stuff

Other Comics Stuff

Vintage Flash TV Show Action Figure Prototype on eBay

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As reported earlier on Fastest Fan Alive, a vintage Flash TV Show Prototype Action Figure has been found on eBay:

 

From the seller’s description:

Awesome and ultra rare early 1990s Toy Biz The Flash 9″ prototype action figure. The figure, which was based on The Flash TV show, was never produced making this one of the rarest figures or prototypes around. The figure is in excellent condition (I would call it VF+) with some minor paint wear, probably due to the fact that as a prototype, it was not handled very carefully in transit. The shoulder and hip joints are just a metal peg inserted into a hole in the limb and tend to be loose, but hold together well making it display beautifully. It appears to be made of some type of resin. This has been in my collection for over 15 years and has been kept in a smoke free environment.

Wow! As a nut for anything from the old Flash TV Show this just takes the cake. I’d seen an uncolored version of it on the Action Figure Insider Forums a few years back but I never imagined I’d see a fully colored piece. Yet alone for sale.  Unfortunately for me the bidding starts at $1,999.99, which is a bit out of my price range. It would be nice though. In any case the auction ends in 1 day and 11 hours, so good luck to anyone trying to bid. In case you missed the link above you can find the auction HERE.

 

Thanks for reading,

–Devin “Flash” Johnson

Cover: Heat Wave in Flashpoint: Legion of Doom

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Heat Wave may have been missing from the Citizen Cold cover, but the Rogue is not missing from Flashpoint. In an interesting counterpoint, both of them are facing a group of hands at the bottom of the cover. Heat Wave seems to have dealt with them a bit differently…

DC announced this title today as part of their gigantic Flashpoint Friday. It’s not clear yet whether this is the 15th miniseries or one of the one-shots (since they also announced Flashpoint: Hal Jordan), or whether DC replaced one of the previously-announced miniseries.

Flashpoint: Citizen Cold vs. the Rogues

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The just-released-today cover for Flashpoint: Citizen Cold #1 features Central City’s new hero facing off against a group of gloved hands and weapons representing the Rogues. Long-time (and even short-time) Flash readers should recognize most of them.

From left to right:

  • Weather Wizard, one of the classic Rogues Gallery.
  • Tar Pit, introduced during Geoff Johns’ first run on The Flash. A small-time criminal who could project his mind into inanimate objects, then got stuck in a lump of tar.
  • Fallout, also introduced during Geoff Johns’ first run. A tragic story of a man who was turned radioactive in a nuclear accident, and locked up because the radiation killed his family. Iron Heights actually hooked him up to the prison’s power grid.
  • The Trickster. It could be either the classic one (I really miss James Jesse) or the new one, but given that Scott Kolins co-created the new one, I’m guessing it’s Axel.
  • Mirror Master. Another classic Rogue, and another case where it could be either the original or the second criminal to use the name and costume. This one’s a tougher call.

In the main timeline, Geoff Johns has thoroughly established Captain Cold as the leader of the Rogues. It’ll be interesting to see how this dynamic changes in the altered timeline with Citizen Cold as their enemy.

Update: Heat Wave is missing from this cover…but not from Flashpoint!