Flash #7 Variant Cover by Darwyn Cooke

DC’s blog, The Source, has revealed Darwyn Cooke’s variant cover for The Flash #7. It’s an homage to the classic first appearance of the Reverse-Flash in the 1963 Flash #139 (cover via GCD).

It’s a fantastic cover, both in its own right and as an homage…but I think it would be a better fit for the following issue, which actually focuses on Professor Zoom, rather than this one, which is a spotlight on Captain Boomerang.

(Thanks to Wayne Lippa for spotting this one!)

Update: Converted to RGB so those of you on Internet Explorer can actually see it, since it’s the only web browser in major use that can’t display CMYK-based JPEGs.

Flash #6 Arrives Next Week (and Quick Thoughts on Flash #5)

The Flash #6 is on Diamond’s shipping list for next week, so we’ll finally get to read the end of the first story arc of the series!

So far, there haven’t been any more changes in the schedule of issues #7-10.

On a related note, at this point I don’t think I’ll have time to write a full review of The Flash #5, so I’ll just say that I liked it, and appreciated the fact that everything I disliked about the previous issue turned out to be a lie. Follow-through on one plot point was a bit underwhelming, though.

Speed Reading

Some recent articles from Quick Time: Boomerangs Across the Multiverse, The Dark Flash Saga…and a brand-new reference site focusing on Jesse Quick and Hourman.

That Fing Monkey provides a Flash Field Guide to help you identify comics’ premiere speedsters, and tells the tale of a Flash jersey.

NPR’s Monkey See columnist discovers that the Flash and Flash Gordon are not the same person, and asks readers: what long-running misconceptions have you had?

Speaking of other things called Flash, I recently attended Adobe MAX, a tech/design conference put on by Adobe Systems. Oddly enough, it had a few things in common with Comic-Con, though it had an entirely different sort of Flash fans. (That said, I did see one guy at the device lab with a super-hero Flash T-shirt, and on the last day of the conference, I drew a tiny Flash logo on the community chalk board.)

IO9 reveals 10 insane facts comics taught us about American history. (The ISB analyzes the Future Lincoln assassination seen in The Flash.)

Captain Comics considers a 30th Century Justice League: who would Barry Allen team up with in the future?

(The) Flash Now Available on iPad

Yeah, I know the joke’s been done to death, but you can now get the first issue of The Flash: Rebirth through ComiXology and view (the) Flash on the iPad.

As I understand it, the way DC has approached its digital comics is to start a series at a certain point, then release a new issue each month, keeping the back catalog available.

Curiously, it’s listed as issue #1 of 5 (the series was extended to six issues early on), suggesting that DC is simply reusing the original solicitation text. That’s just fine in most cases, but things do change occasionally.

(Spotted by 3 Million Years.)

Trial of the Flash in 2011

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The Collected Editions blog has spotted news of a new Showcase collection that, surprisingly, isn’t from the 1960s: Trial of the Flash, collecting the epic 2-year storyline that ran through the end of Barry Allen’s original series.

The story ran at least 25 issues, not counting the setup years earlier with Professor Zoom killing Iris, so a giant collection like the Showcase books is probably the best way to reprint it, even if it will be black and white.

Interestingly, the last time I remember seeing a reprint of a Flash story from the 1980s was in the original Greatest Flash Stories Ever Told…almost 20 years ago! Head over to Collected Editions to read more.

»Pre-Order from Amazon.

DC Direct Flash Collectibles For The Month of November

Finally some more Flash love on the collectibles end of things. This month we have three Flash pieces being released through DC Direct. Unfortunately two of them are basically just repaints and the other is an expensive statue of Barry Allen.

The first one, available today, is from the third series of JLA Classified Classics, Zoom (The Flash’s chief nemesis).  I was inclined to think that this was Hunter “Sheisajeweltoyoouuuuu.” Zolomon rather than Eobard “As long as I kill Iris, everything will be alright.” Thawne due to the way the eyes were colored and because they simply named him “Zoom”. But then I noticed the direction of his belt. Not a real issue or anything as Hunter has been out of the picture for some time now. Still makes me lament Johns-Era Wally though.

JLA CLASSIFIED: CLASSIC SERIES 3: ZOOM Action Figure

“The JLA CLASSIFIED: CLASSIC line expands with four all-new figures! Consistent in style and scale to Series 1 and 2, Series 3 features some of the most requested characters

from DC Comics.

The Zoom figure stands at 6.75″ high, features multiple points of articulation and includes a display base.

4-color clamshell blister card packaging.”

Unfortunately I am not a huge fan of the style of these figures. I know that they are part of a artist-specific collection using Ed McGuinness’ art style as a template but I’m just not a fan of the overly muscled character designs and action figures. Especially on my Speedsters. I guess I already own the JLA Classified Flash so it would be cool to have Zoom to go along with him, but I won’t be rushing out to get it or anything.

Later on in the month we have the release of a Flash Two-Pack featuring repaints of Jay Garrick from DC First Appearances Series 1 and Wally West from Justice League of America Series 3 repainted to be Barry Allen:

DC ORIGINS: SERIES 2: THE FLASH ACTION FIGURE TWO-PACKS

Trace the history of some of the most popular DC Comics heroes with these special two-pack action figure sets!

Each set includes two full-sized figures packaged together – one based on art from the character’s early appearances and the other based on art from the modern era.

One two-sided collectible trading card featuring each character will also be included in each package.

The Flash figures feature multiple points of articulation and include display bases and character-specific accessories. The Modern and the Classic figures stand at 6.75″ high and 6.5″ high, respectively.

4-color clamshell blister card packaging.

These guys will be available the 17th, but frankly I am unimpressed with this offering. To be fair the Wally figure actually looks better when repainted to look like Barry and the paint jobs look to be really slick. But really two repaints? Not to mention Zoom might as well be a repaint too.

The only truly original offering this month will be on the 24th with the release of a Barry Allen statue that looks pretty slick but as I mentioned previously I have zero interest in it:

DC CHRONICLES: THE FLASH Statue

SCULPTED BY TIM BRUCKNER

The Fastest Man Alive kicks up a dust cloud as he slides into the DC Chronicles statue series!

This statue features The Flash of the Silver Age, Barry Allen, in his classic costume.

The DC Chronicles statue line has a consistent base, and the retro-style logo on the base further gives the piece a sense of the period from which it originated.

This limited-edition, hand-painted, cold-cast porcelain statue measures approximately 6.75″ high x 5″ wide x 3.5″ deep and is packaged in a 4-color box with a 4-color Certificate
of Authenticity.

Manufactured to order.

This baby retails at $99.99 and looks to be an outstanding piece. But if I were to purchase any Barry statue it would definitely be this:

Now that is what I call a statue!

Anyone plan on picking up Zoom, the 2-Pack, the statue, or all three?

Look forward to hearing from you all and thanks for reading.

-Devin “The Flash” Johnson