Dick Giordano 1932-2010

If you’ve been following any comics news sites over the past week, you’ve probably read that legendary artist Dick Giordano passed away last weekend. I don’t really have much to add to what others have said elsewhere online, but he contributed to more than 70 issues of The Flash from 1970 to 1984.

Funny story: my first introduction to the artist was on the cover of Captain Carrot #14, a funny-animal superhero book which featured the first part of an homage to the classic JLA/JSA team-ups. In addition to the faces of the Zoo Crew on one the left side of the cover and the Just’a Lotta Animals on the other, the bottom of the cover featured funny animal versions of the creative team and others at DC, labeled as Owl Gordon, Duck Giordano, and so on. So I knew his name long before I knew his work!

This Week (March 31): Blackest Night and More

Definite and probable Flash appearances this week:

Blackest Night #8

The extra-sized conclusion to the most talked-about event in comics is here, and the results will change the course of the DC Universe for years to come. Earth has become the final battleground for life versus death, but how will our heroes fight back against the darkness of sentient space itself? And what does the future hold for Green Lantern, The Flash and the rest of the worlds greatest heroes and villains? Find out here as the stage is set for the next epic era of DC Comics!

8 of 8 · 40 pg, FC, $3.99 USWritten by GEOFF JOHNS
Art and cover by IVAN REIS, OCLAIR ALBERT & JOE PRADO

1:25 Variant cover by RODOLFO MIGLIARI · 1:100 Sketch variant cover by IVAN REIS

Justice League of America #43

Following the decision that occurred in JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRY FOR JUSTICE and the events of JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE RISE AND FALL SPECIAL #1, the World’s Greatest Heroes must come to terms with who they are and what they represent. Meanwhile, an all-new danger threatens the existence of everything past and present in the exciting finale of “Team History.”

Written by JAMES ROBINSON; Art by MARK BAGLEY and ROB HUNTER; 1:25 Variant ; Cover by MIKE MAYHEW; 6-page preview

The Brave and the Bold: Demons and Dragons TP

Brave and Bold Demons and Dragons TPA new paperback collecting THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #13-16, along with tales from THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD (Vol. 1) #181, THE FLASH (Vol. 2) #107 and IMPULSE #17!

168 pg, FC, $17.99 US
Written by Mark Waid & Alan Brennart
Art by Scott Kolins and others
Cover by Scott Kolins

Notes: This starts out with the Jay Garrick/Batman team-up where they go up against the Samuroids. The additional stories include a Flash/Captain Marvel team-up and an Impulse/Zatanna team-up, both written by Mark Waid.

SpeedsterShow Podcast

While catching up at the SpeedsterSite forums, I found a thread announcing the first episode of the SpeedsterShow Podcast. It actually launched a week ago, but I missed it because I haven’t been keeping up with forums much lately.

Listen to Kuhan, West, Prime, and Ben as they discuss the highs, but mostly lows, of Flash Rebirth and Blackest Night: Flash and how they feel about the future of the Flash ongoing! Also, old news…

In addition to the podcast website, it’s also on iTunes.

Now I know what the soundtrack for my commute is going to be for the next day or two.

April Plans

With the new Flash series launching, it’s time for me to catch up on Flash: Those Who Ride the Lightning. There’s nothing like making a list to help keep track of goals, and there’s nothing like making that list public to help stick to them. So, here’s what I intend to get done over the next month:

Before the April 14 relaunch:

Bring the write-ups up to speed on the following characters who’ve changed as a result of Flash: Rebirth.

  • Flash/Barry Allen
  • Iris Allen
  • Professor Zoom
  • Jesse Quick
  • Max Mercury
  • Impulse/Iris “Irey” West
  • Jai West

By the end of April:

  • New image for Flash Barry Allen
  • New image for Impulse Irey West
  • New image for Jesse Quick
  • Update appearance lists

It’s going to be a busy month. I’ve also got a vacation, one or two conventions (WonderCon next weekend for sure, but I still haven’t made up my mind about Wizard World Anaheim), promoting the Design Your Own Flash Ring Contest (thankfully, Devin’s handling the actual contest!), and all kinds of other stuff.

I guess I just need to focus.

Design and win your own Flash Ring

Update: Crisis on Two Earths

I finally watched Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths this week. It was entertaining, though I can’t help but think it would have worked better if they’d kept it in DCAU continuity, instead of the weird DCAU/DCU hybrid it ended up being. Lots of fun character spotting, and Owlman & Superwoman basically made the movie.

I’ve updated the Animated Flash (since this one is virtually identical to the Justice League Unlimited version) and added a profile on yet another Johnny Quick. Tomorrow the disc goes back to Netflix.

Recent Acquisitions Part 1

As you all should be aware of by now, I’m a die hard Flash collector and I’ve been collecting Flash memorabilia for some time now. This includes action figures, statues, plush toys, hats, t-shirts, shoes etc etc. A few months ago I moved, and as a result a lot of my collection isn’t on display anymore. Furthermore I’d fallen behind on collecting due to various reasons and I had a lot of catching up to do.

In the last couple months I’ve been focused on filling in a lot of the holes that I hadn’t had a chance to fill until now. And with The Flash getting renewed focus in the DC Universe I didn’t want to fall too far behind and miss my chance to acquire a lot of stuff that are being made in very limited quantities.

To that end I present to you part 1 of my Recent Acquisitions. These were all picked up in the last month or so from various sources (including retail, surprisingly) and I’ve made great progress on getting back on track as far as my collection goes. There are quite a few things that are present in my collection that have yet to be showcased online, but it’s called “Recent Acquisitions” for a reason and I’m only trying to show what I’ve gotten in the last month or so. So without further ado, my Recent Acquisitions:

Click for Larger View

From left to right we have:

Batman: Brave and the Bold Action League feat. Batman vs. The Top

Batman: Brave and the Bold Action League feat. Batman vs. Gorilla Grodd

Batman: Brave and the Bold “Gotham City Battle” feat. Batman vs. Gorilla Grodd

Justice League Unlimited Fan Collection Captain Cold and Captain Boomerang I (Since Justice League Unlimited is exclusively sold through Target, I had a huge headache tracking these down. Partly due to that and partly due to my own carelessness. But I will get into that soon.)

C3 Minimates Flash Variant (based on the Timmverse design)

DC Direct’s 1:6 SCALE Golden Age Flash

Justice League Unlimited Fan Collection The Streak (A Mattycollector.com exclusive, now SOLD OUT)

DC Universe’s 3¾ Scale Infinite Heroes Barry Allen (I got the Mattycollector.com exclusive variant a few months back as well. Also SOLD OUT)

DC SuperFriends Stuffed Flash Plush

Not bad at all if I do say so myself. Especially since acquiring these guys took a little more leg work than usual. After my Local Comic Book Shop closed up shop around ’07 or so, I’ve had to use the internet to acquire most of my collectibles. Every once in a while I would run into something at retail but very rarely have I not used an online source to obtain most of my stuff. This time around however was a nice mixed bag.

I picked up the two Brave and the Bold Action League sets along with the Infinite Heroes Barry Allen at Target.

I got the larger Brave and the Bold set at Toysrus.com. This was the very last place I expected to find this. Paid a lot less than people have it for on eBay.

The Streak as mentioned previously was a Mattycollector.com exclusive that was sold along with the majority of the Justice Guild (which I may sell off at a later date).

The Golden Age Flash 1:6 Scale Figure was purchased from Superherotoys.com.

And Captain Boomerang, Captain Cold, the C3 Flash minimate variant, and the SuperFriends Plushy were all procured through eBay.

Captain Cold was without a doubt the figure that gave me the most trouble tracking down. When I first heard about the Target Exclusive Captain Cold and Captain Boomerang set being released and available I scoured Targets everywhere to no avail. I finally had to resort to the secondary market (eBay) to pick it up. I lucked out and found a great deal on both overall. They were loose and out of package (I don’t keep my stuff MOC so that isn’t an issue for me) and the prices on both were reasonable. They were both from the same seller so I even saved on shipping. Mission Accomplished right? Not quite. In my efforts to clean and organize my room and collection I had Cold and Boomerang sitting on a shelf, with a large trash bag underneath that I was using to throw out useless clutter. Captain Cold must have fallen into the trash bag or something, because when I went to find it later for my recent acquisitions picture a week ago I could not find it anywhere.

So back to eBay we go. Now it had been several weeks since my initial purchase and prices on Captain Cold had skyrocketed. That is if you could find one (at the time) anyway. Being a Target Exclusive made the action figure set virtually impossible to find at retail so people were jacking up the prices online accordingly. I’m not going to say exactly how much I paid for the second Captain Cold but I will say I was not happy. But thinking about how awesome he is going to look with the rest of the Justice League Unlimited Rogues that I have puts a smile on my face.

And there you have it. Part 1 of my Recent Acquisitions. Part 2 and 3 will be on the way shortly. I plan on writing some reviews on some of these guys in the near future as well. If there is a particular collectible you would like spotlighted please don’t hesitate to let me know. Also with this part out of the way I am now able to free them from their plastic prisons and add them to my display. Look for updated pictures of my collection in the near future. I also have some old collection pics on my facebook. The link to the gallery is HERE

Devin “The Flash” Johnson