If You Could Only Buy Three Comics (Revisited)

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A couple of years ago, I wrote about cutting down the pull list by figuring out what I really liked reading, as opposed to what I just bought out of habit. This was followed up by a harsher test: if you could only buy three comics, what would you choose? At the time, I picked The Unwritten, Madame Xanadu, and The Unknown. Yes, at the time, The Flash wasn’t in my top three.

I found myself thinking about this again. Two of those series are gone, and I’m enjoying The Flash a lot more than I used to. What would my choices be today?

  • The Flash, definitely. While I didn’t care much for Flash: Rebirth, the ongoing series has proved to be a fun adventure.
  • The Unwritten. I think we’re approaching the half-way point with this series, which continues to be fascinating, thought-provoking, entertaining, and occasionally downright creepy as it explores the way stories shape the world. This book was one of my picks for the Read This Too! recommendation.

Those two are easy. The third one? That’s the hard part. The two contenders are:

  • Velocity. In the strictest sense of the question, I’d have to go with this one. It’s been a great story, and I want to see how it ends. But once that last issue comes out, I’d go with…
  • Lady Mechanika, which is shaping up to be a good steampunk mystery/adventure.

Actually, since Lady Mechanika is bimonthly and Velocity’s finale will probably come out between its issues, I could probably make a case for them sharing the third slot!

So what missed the cut, and why?

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Flash Cakes and the Flash Fury

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Remember those Hostess Flash Cakes? Shannon writes in:

Just thought I would share with you, we were in our local store and found Flash Cakes awhile back (we haven’t found them since though), and loved the whole idea. My boyfriend, Joe, is an Indy wrestler for RCW (a few others as well) and goes by the name Flash Fury. When we found the cakes on the shelf, he grabbed up a box up did a little pose with them for a picture, our friends at the wrestling shows love the picture. We are hoping to find more Flash cakes to take with us to the shows. We love them!

Great story, Shannon! Thanks for sharing!

Speed Reading

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First, some links to art!

More Flashy links:

More comics links

Flashpoint: Questions and Answers

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Over at The Source, Geoff Johns answers three questions about Flashpoint. Key items: “Flash will learn what the universe would be like if the world’s greatest super-heroes never became the world’s greatest super-heroes.” “You won’t just see the DC Universe shaken up, you’ll see characters you’ve never met who’ve come into existence because of the historical damage done to the past,” such as Element Woman [different from Element Girl?], Blackout, the Outsider [presumably not the Silver Age Batman villain, then], and the Resistance. [Interesting that “The Resistance” is a character, not an organization.] S!H!A!Z!A!M!

Most importantly: You don’t need to have read any specific stories to understand Flashpoint. “The Flash series and The Flash: Rebirth give you the foundation for Barry today, but even then Flashpoint #1 will tell you everything you need to know.” Familiarity with the normal DC Universe may help you appreciate the differences more, but “You’ll meet the world and characters as you enter the story.”

Head over to The Source to read the full answers.

If you have more questions, DC wants to hear them. They’re soliciting questions on The Source, on Twitter (post with the #Flashpoint hashtag), and on the Facebook pages for DC Nation and The Flash. They’ll pick the top questions and answer them on The Source as part of upcoming Flashpoint Fridays.

DC also unveiled a Flashpoint-style Green Lantern logo (at least I don’t remember seeing it before) and asked some leading questions:

  • Whatever *did* happen to the World’s Greatest Heroes?
  • Was Cyborg created to be their leader?
  • Who will the Resistance summon?
  • When do six become one?

Photo: Awwww

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This photo made the rounds at Tumblr last week, starting with a December post by theboywonder-. (Note: That link won’t work on some systems because technically, ending a hostname with a hyphen isn’t valid.) The poster explains:

Story behind this: Kid had lost his dad in the crowd, freaked out until he saw Flash and Wonderwoman, went up to Flash to ask for help because he knows him.

I saw @Ragnell’s tweet about her repost of the photo on Tuesday, retweeted it, and had a bit of discussion about it. Lia recognized the Flash as a poster who goes by the name AnthonyFlash on /co/, and added that he “seems embarrasssed by how much people love that photo.” That was it for the rest of the week until it hit @toptweets on Friday and just exploded.

That was kind of weird, waking up to hundreds of retweets and replies on Saturday morning!

Flash & Flashpoint Comics for May 2011

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DC’s May solicitations are up!

The Flash #13

Written by GEOFF JOHNS and SCOTT KOLINS
Art and cover by SCOTT KOLINS
1:10 Variant cover by ANDY KUBERT

THE ROAD TO FLASHPOINT concludes! His name is Eobard Thawne. He is the fastest man alive. He is the Flash of the 25th Century. You know who he is and how he got his speed. But you don’t know the rest of the story. Find out how Thawne went from Flash to Reverse-Flash and what his mission is next in this unlucky thirteenth issue on the Road to FLASHPOINT!

On sale MAY 4 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T

Note: I don’t have my comics here to check, but isn’t this cover the final splash page from the Reverse-Flash spotlight in Flash #8?

Flashpoint #1

Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art and cover by ANDY KUBERT
1:25 Variant cover A by ANDY KUBERT
Variant cover B by IVAN REIS and GEORGE PÉREZ

Not a dream, not an imaginary story, not an elseworld. This is Flash Fact: When Barry Allen wakes at his desk, he discovers the world has changed. Family is alive, loved ones are strangers, and close friends are different, gone or worse. It’s a world on the brink of a cataclysmic war – but where are Earth’s Greatest Heroes to stop it? It’s a place where America’s last hope is Cyborg, who hopes to gather the forces of The Outsider, The Secret 7, S!H!A!Z!A!M!, Citizen Cold and other new and familiar-yet-altered faces! It’s a world that could be running out of time, if The Flash can’t find the villain who altered the time line!

Welcome to FLASHPOINT!

On sale MAY 11 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T

Booster Gold #44

Written by DAN JURGENS
Art and cover by DAN JURGENS and NORM RAPMUND

Dan Jurgens returns to BOOSTER GOLD just in time for this FLASHPOINT prelude. Booster Gold returns to Rip Hunter’s lab after the events of TIME MASTERS and finds that this world isn’t the same one he left behind.

On sale MAY 18 • 32 pg, FC $2.99 US • RATED T

DC Comics Presents: The Flash #1

Written by JOHN BROOME and ROBERT KANIGHER
Art by CARMINE INFANTINO, JOE GIELLA and others
Cover by ANDY KUBERT and JOE KUBERT

Spotlighting tales of time travel and the Rogues, these tales from SHOWCASE #4 and 14, THE FLASH #125, 130 and 139 pit The Scarlet Speedster against “The Giants of The Time World,” “The Conquerors of Time,” along with Mirror Master, Captain Boomerang, The Top, Captain Cold, The Trickster and The Reverse Flash!

On sale MAY 11 • 96 pg, FC, $7.99 US

Note: This is a pretty good set of time travel stories that haven’t been reprinted in years. (More on Silver-Age Flash reprints.) The cover shown here is the Andy & Joe Kubert variant cover from Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #1.

And coming up later this summer:

Brian Bolland: Cover to Cover HC

Written by BRIAN BOLLAND
Art and cover by BRIAN BOLLAND

Artist Brian Bolland, best known for his work as illustrator of the best-selling title BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE, is the subject of this new hardcover collecting his covers for DC Comics. Featuring highly detailed and meticulous craftsmanship combined with dramatic takes on the world’s best-known Super Heroes, Bolland’s work has been featured on GREEN LANTERN, BATMAN, WONDER WOMAN, THE FLASH, ZATANNA and the Vertigo series THE INVISIBLES and ANIMAL MAN. This spectacular collection includes rarely seen and never-before-published art, along with commentary from Bolland.

On sale AUGUST 31 • 208 pg, FC, 8.625” x 11.625”, $39.99 US

Note: Bolland had a long run as the cover artist on The Flash when Geoff Johns took over the book in 2000, from Flash #164 (“Wonderland”) through Flash #187 (“Crossfire”), and did the highly-recognizable Showcase homage for the cover of the collected Flash: The Return of Barry Allen.

As a reminder, we’re keeping track of the Flashpoint creative teams as they’re announced or leaked.