Quick Thoughts: Reprints, Tropes and Cons

Some links and observations for the day.

Links

Comics Should Be Good looks at DC Super-Stars reprints from the 1970s — including a Flash book which re-drew a Golden Age story. Hmm, I have a new blog post idea: comparing the original and redrawn versions of “Deal Me From the Bottom” and “City of Shifting Sand” from All-Flash #22 (yes, they did this twice!)

If you dare, read TV Tropes on Super Speed. (Beware, this is TV Tropes, so you run the risk of a tab explosion if you read it!)

San Diego Thoughts

Twitter has been full of people talking about flying to San Diego today, or starting long drives. Living 2-3 hours away, it’s easy for me to forget that a lot of people need a full day of travel before and after the con. I mean, I’m planning to drive down after lunch. I could do the entire con taking only 2½ days off work, but for many people, it’s a full week.

I find it highly amusing that @WizardWorld has been heavily pushing Chicago Comic-Con on Twitter today…the day before Comic-Con International. Certainly it makes perfect sense to capitalize on people thinking about cons who might not be going to this one, but might go to yours. And heck, I started getting excited about the build-up to CCI during the week before Wizard World Philadelphia and HeroesCon. It just seems funny for some reason.

Expanded from some of my Twitter posts today.

This Week (July 22): Lo3W, Green Lantern, Rogues’ Revenge HC

Yes, it’s finally here! Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds concludes this week! Also: Rogues’ Revenge is collected in hardcover along with some past Johns/Kolins Rogue Profiles, a guest spot in Green Lantern, and Tiny Titans.

Wednesday Comics #3

This week features the third issue of the 12-part weekly Wednesday Comics, including a new Flash/Iris West segment by Karl Kerschl and Brenden Fletcher

7” x 10”, 16 pg, FC, $3.99 US

Team books and crossovers after the cut!

Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #5

Written by Geoff Johns
Art by George Pérez & Scott Koblish

Covers by George Pérez
This is it! The time-stopping finale to this Final Crisis tie-in arrives as Superman, Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl battle Time Trapper while Prime and the Legion of Super-Villains engage in an all-out war with the Legions! Leading into the all-new Adventure Comics #1!
5 of 5 · 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US

Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge HC

Written by Geoff Johns
Art and cover by Scott Kolins

In the face of Final Crisis, superstar writer Geoff Johns (JSA, Action Comics) and artist Scott Kolins (Solomon Grundy) revive the most ruthless Rogues Gallery of them all! At times, they’ve been laughed at, ridiculed and hunted — but The Flash Rogues Gallery has had enough. The team of villains decides to remind the world why they’re not to be messed with in this hardcover collecting their return in Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge #1-3 as well as a couple of their greatest hits from The Flash #182 and #197.

144 pg, FC, $19.99 US.

Green Lantern #44

Written by Geoff Johns
Art and cover by Doug Mahnke & Christian Alamy
Variant cover by Rodolfo Migliari

“Blackest Night” continues! As Hal Jordan and Barry Allen investigate a bizarre crime in Gotham City, they come face to face with one of their oldest allies — J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter! But their old friend is not there for reunions; he’s come for much more. Meanwhile, Sinestro seeks to rebuild his army and take his revenge on the being who would usurp it — Mongul! preview at IGN.

This issue will ship with two covers. For every 25 copies of the Standard Edition (with a cover by Doug Mahnke & Christian Alamy), retailers may order one copy of the Variant Edition (with a cover by Rodolfo Migliari).

On sale July 22 – 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

Tiny Titans #18

Written by Art Baltazar and Franco
Art and cover by Art Baltazar

School’s over, but the Tiny Titans can’t leave yet — they’re stuck in detention! How did that happen? Meanwhile, elsewhere in the school, Principal Slade’s got some dirty jobs…and Darkseid’s gotta do them!

32 pg, FC, $2.50 US

Flash Comics for October 2009

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Well, there’s no Flash book for October (or is there?), but the crimson comet does co-star in this month’s The Brave and the Bold…plus there’s Blackest Night, a Halloween special, and the usual assortment of team books. Here are the Flash’s upcoming appearances according to Newsarama.

The Brave and the Bold #28

Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Art and cover by Jesus Saiz

J. Michael Straczynski (Amazing Spider-Man) and Jesus Saiz (OMAC PROJECT) continue their series of unlikely pairings with a match that spans the decades! When an experiment meant to alter the speed of light goes awry, Barry Allen finds himself face-to-face with some surprising allies – World War II’s legendary Blackhawks! But Barry isn’t the Flash they know, and he’s not even the kind of hero they need to help fight history’s most grueling war! What must Barry sacrifice to serve his country – and his world?

On sale October 21 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

Team books and events after the cut. Continue reading →

No Flash Comic in October?

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DC’s full solicitations for October are up at Newsarama and elsewhere, and there’s no sign of a Flash book the month after Flash: Rebirth is scheduled to wrap. And the Flash: Blackest Night miniseries won’t start until November, after the first round of tie-in miniseries are finished. Will readers see a month without a Flash book?

I suspect not, and here’s why:

With Comic-Con International just two days away, DC may be keeping the news of the Flash relaunch in reserve for a big announcement at the convention.
With Flash: Rebirth #4 running 3 weeks behind, and #6 scheduled for the last week of September, it’s likely that issues #5 and #6 will be pushed back, with the miniseries wrapping in October instead.

Of course, the Flash won’t be completely missing in any case: the Scarlet Speedster is co-starring in Brave and the Bold, and there are the various team books and Blackest Night. I’ll post a full run-down later tonight.

Also worth checking out: DC has announced the contents of the upcoming November trade paperback collection, The Flash vs. the Rogues: they’re all stories from the early Silver Age, many of them first appearances: Showcase #8, The Flash #105, 106, 110, 113, 117, 122, 140 & 155. Oddly, the cover they’re using with the solicitations is from a 2007 issue of the short-lived Flash: The Fastest Man Alive.

Bigger than Flash: Rebirth

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Newsarama’s Vaneta Rogers interviews Ethan Van Sciver about Blackest Night and Flash: Rebirth. I found one segment particularly interesting:

Flash is the same way [as Green Lantern]. Throughout 60-70-some years of DCU history, there have been lots of little pieces and hints and clues about what the speedsters are or where they come from or what they mean. A plucky couple of creators could get together and put those clues together to mean something much bigger. And that’s what we’re attempting to do.

So Flash: Rebirth is what Green Lantern: Rebirth was in the sense that we’re trying to get all of our ducks in a row here and prepare for the much, much bigger story that will come from it. And that’s got to include every single Flash character.

I find this interesting for a couple of reasons.

The first is that linking all the speedsters together and examining what’s behind their existence is exactly what Mark Waid did with the speed force back in Terminal Velocity and Dead Heat. So in a sense, what he’s talking about has already been done.

The second is that there definitely are further implications to the power of speed, particularly when time travel is added to the mix. There’s that “Green Lantern is to Space as the Flash is to Time” analogy that Geoff Johns made a while back. There’s the nature of Zoom’s powers as a shifting timeline that mimics super-speed — a theory which had been tossed around by fans as an explanation for the Flash’s own powers. And then there’s the suggestion in the novel Flash: Stop Motion that super-speed is simply one aspect of a power based on quantum mechanics.

And of course the implication that they have a big story planned for the future that involves the entire Flash family.

Also, regarding the upcoming Flash: Rebirth #4:

Major heroics and fireworks on the part of Jay Garrick and Bart Allen, who have never been made to look this kick-ass before. They’re going to really get their moment to shine in Issue #4. It’s fantastic stuff. It’s a big action issue. It’s good. It’s scary.

Covering San Diego (2009)

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In a few days I’ll be off to Comic-Con International in San Diego. It’ll be my 20th year attending the con. Now I feel old.

Anyway, I’ll be posting about my experiences at the con in several places:

Frequent updates on Twitter: @SpeedForceOrg
Flash news here at Speed Force
Photos on Flickr: KelsonV
Other stuff at K-Squared Ramblings

Here’s a list of my past convention reports and photos, including San Diego 2003–2008, Wizard World Los Angeles 2007–2008, and WonderCon 2008–2009. I’m also almost done with the Convention Tips list, which should wrap up Wednesday morning.