Full sales estimates aren’t available yet, but the November top 10 list shows that Flash: Rebirth #5 took the #9 spot (The Comics Chronicles, via Robot6). That’s lower then the debut issue (ranked #2 for April), but considerably higher than Flash: Rebirth #4, which had dropped to #14 for August.
DC Comics took seven of the top ten slots…four of them written by Geoff Johns: Blackest Night, Green Lantern, Adventure Comics and Flash: Rebirth.
Quick note: Comic Bloc poster oddballuk spotted another Blackest Night: The Flash #1 preview on DC’s website that has two more pages than the one posted on IGN on Monday: Blackest Night: The Flash #1 Preview (PDF)
Artist Ethan Van Sciver dropped in at Comic Bloc this morning (for the first time since July) to apologize for the lateness of Flash: Rebirth and to answer fans’ questions. A couple of items that stand out are, first, on inking one’s own pages:
The allure of inking one’s own work is simply to work in a different medium (drawing with ink, as I do, is smoother…the effect of putting solid blacks down instead of scratchy pencils is often more pleasant.) and to be sure that the final product meets with my approval.
And second, on conventions:
Conventions are not “vacations.” They are a vital function of what we do, to promote the comics and meet fans. I do not ride roller coasters, lie on beaches, or relax in any sense. They are work.
That’s something worth remembering. For you or me as fans, a convention might be a vacation. But for someone who makes comics for a living, it’s a promotional event, it’s professional networking, it’s a trade show.
Of course, the sentence that will probably interest the most readers is this: “Issue 6 is more than halfway finished.”
No, it’s not your imagination. It’s only been two weeks since the last Flash comic book, and here we have another one! Blackest Night: The Flash is starting before Flash: Rebirth finishes.
I’ve gotten conflicting information about whether new comics are arriving on Wednesday as usual or on Thursday due to last week’s holiday. DC’s website and whoever answered the phone at my local comic shop on Monday said December 2. IGN’s Blackest Night: Flash preview lists December 3…as does Diamond’s shipping list. If it is Thursday, it’s going to cut into my review-writing time. Wednesday night is clear. Thursday night, it looks like stuff might finally happen in FlashForward.
Anyway, onto the comics!
Written by Geoff Johns
Art and cover by Scott Kolins
Variant cover by Francis Manapul
The Flashes of Two Cities – Barry Allen and Wally West – battle the undead Rogues. Will the legendary speedsters be able to handle the Black Lantern Rogues’ revenge?
Plus, witness the resurrection of Barry’s greatest enemy, the Reverse Flash in this hyper-speed miniseries event reuniting the fan-favorite Flash creative team of Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins!
This issue will ship with two covers. For every 25 copies of the Standard Edition (with a cover by Scott Kolins), retailers may order one copy of the Variant Edition (with a cover by Francis Manapul).
1 of 3 – 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
Written by Sean McKeever and Marv Wolfman
Art by Fernando Dagnino, Joe Bennett, Rick Leonardi and others
Cover by Andrew Robinson
The Teen Titans join forces with The Titans and The Vigilante in this new title collecting the “Deathtrap” storyline from TEEN TITANS ANNUAL 2009, TITANS #12 and 13, TEEN TITANS #70 and VIGILANTE #5 and 6.
192 pg, FC, $14.99 US
IGN has posted a 5-page preview of Blackest Night: The Flash #1, due in stores this Wednesday. Here’s the final cover by Scott Kolins, complete with logo, next to Ethan Van Sciver’s cover for Flash: Rebirth #1:
Interestingly, Francis Manapul’s alternate cover turns out to be the one DC used in the solicitations for issue #3 — which means we have no idea what the real covers for #3 are going to look like!
A couple of things that come to mind reading this:
Head over to IGN to read the preview!
Well, of the 261 votes, the overwhelming consensus was that Flash: Rebirth #5 was good…but those responses were split between those who thought it was “absolutely” worth the wait and those who thought three months was too long. Those who thought the delay was excessive edged out the rest with 47% of the total vote to 35% for those who thought it was worth it.
Those who found it disappointing (or worse) or had already given up on the miniseries made up a sizable minority at 16%.
The latest poll: Which will end first, Flash: Rebirth or Blackest Night: The Flash?