Wait…What? The Flash and the Baby Raffle (Golden Age Hijinks)

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I’ve got a saved search set up at eBay that lets me know when Golden-Age Flash comics show up in my price range. It’s been a while since I actually bought one, though. Most of them are either too expensive or contain stories I’ve already read, either through reprints or through my own small Golden-Age collection.

Anyway, several books showed up in this morning’s email, and I checked them against my want-list and already-read list. Then I looked up the one that I didn’t recognize, Flash Comics #45. Comics.org has a synopsis of the Flash story, “Blessed Event:”

Jay wins a baby in a raffle and it immediately becomes a headache for himself [trying to explain it to Joan], and to the Flash, when the baby turns out to be a midget crook!

Leaving aside the silliness of an adult dwarf being able to pass as an infant (a premise that doesn’t seem to have gone away, being the basis of the 2006 Wayans Brothers film, Little Man), consider the fact that Jay Garrick wins a baby in a raffle.

Seriously. Even in 1943, who thought that raffling off children to the hero was a good idea for a setup?

Midget Joe in his second appearance. It’s probably an oversimplication.

But then, this is the same series where the Flash’s dimwitted sidekicks buy a restaurant and accidentally turn people invisible when they use an alien plant in their salads. (To top things off, it ties into the otherwise-serious origin of the Thinker.) The Silver Age had its share of goofy stories, but it’s got nothing on the Golden Age for sheer silliness.

Believe it or not, “Midget Joe” (as his name is given) actually comes back in Flash Comics #61, one of the issues I’ve read. The criminal escapes from prison, then hides out in a children’s hospital ward. Unfortunately for him, the Flash is performing magic tricks to cheer up the patients, but the hero doesn’t recognize him at first…

Flash in Wednesday Comics Preview

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At The Source, DC has posted the first page of the Flash strip from Wednesday Comics by Brenden Fletcher and Kerl Kerschl! The story stars Barry Allen, Iris West and Gorilla Grodd.

As you can see by the layout, each page is basically the size of four standard comic book pages.

Wednesday Comics starts tomorrow and will run weekly for the next 12 weeks.

This Week (July 8): Wednesday Comics Launch

It’s another light week, with just one Flash appearance coming out (and one Kid Flash)…but it’s the first issue of Wednesday Comics, DC’s experimental newspaper-sized weekly series that runs through the summer.

Wednesday Comics #1

In July, DC Comics gives a fresh twist to a grand comics tradition with Wednesday Comics, a new, weekly 12-issue series by some of the greatest names in comics today!

Wednesday Comics is unique in modern comics history: Reinventing the classic weekly newspaper comics section, it is a 16-page weekly that unfolds to a sprawling 28” x 20” tabloid-sized reading experience bursting with mind-blowing color, action and excitement, with each feature on its own 14” x 20” page.

Spearheaded by DCU Editorial Art Director Mark Chiarello, whose past editing credits include Batman: Black & White, DC: The New Frontier and Solo, each page of Wednesday Comics spotlights the continuing adventures of DC heroes, including:

Batman, Wednesday Comics’ weekly cover feature, by the Eisner Award-winning 100 BULLETS team of writer Brian Azzarello and artist Eduardo Risso
Adam Strange, by writer/artist Paul Pope (Batman: Year 100)
Metamorpho, written by New York Times best-selling writer Neil Gaiman with art by Eisner Award-winner Michael Allred (Madman)
The Demon and Catwoman, written by Walter Simonson (Thor, Manhunter) with art by famed DC cover artist Brian Stelfreeze
Deadman, written by Dave Bullock and Vinton Heuck, art by Dave Bullock
Kamandi, written by Dave Gibbons (Watchmen, Green Lantern Corps) with art by Ryan Sook (Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Arkham Asylum: Living Hell)
Superman, written by John Arcudi (The Mask) with art by Lee Bermejo (Joker)
Wonder Woman, written and illustrated by Ben Caldwell (Dare Detectives)
Green Lantern, written by Kurt Busiek (Trinity, Astro City) with art by Joe Quiñones (Teen Titans Go!)
Teen Titans, written by Eddie Berganza with art by Sean Galloway
Supergirl, written by Jimmy Palmiotti (Jonah Hex) with art by Amanda Conner (Power Girl)
Hawkman, written and illustrated by Kyle Baker (Plastic Man, Special Forces)
Sgt. Rock, written by Adam Kubert (Superman: Last Son), illustrated by legendary comics artist Joe Kubert
The Flash, written by Karl Kerschl (Teen Titans: Year One, The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive) and Brenden Fletcher, illustrated by Karl Kerschl
Metal Men, written by Dan DiDio with art by Ian Churchill (Supergirl)

Wednesday Comics will arrive in stores folded twice to 7” x 10”, with the first issue set to reach stores on July 8.

7” x 10”, 16 pg, FC, $3.99 US

Booster Gold #22

Written by Keith Giffen; co-feature written by Matthew Sturges; Art by Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund; co-feature Art by Mike Norton; Cover by Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund

“Day of Death” part 2! Booster Gold travels back in time to prevent the Black Beetle from killing the New Titans, but who will save Booster Gold from the Black Beetle — and what role will Deathstroke play?

And in the all-new Blue Beetle co-feature, Jaime must battle a flying robot army from destroying all of the people in El Paso!

40pg – $3.99 US

Note: This slipped my notice the first time through, but Booster Gold is going back to the time when Wally West was on the team as Kid Flash. Also: Newsarama has a preview of the issue.

Speed Reading: Gearing Up for Wednesday Comics

Wednesday Comics

The Weekly Crisis wants to know: Will you be buying Wednesday Comics?

Karl Kerschl is running a contest: He’s hidden an image of The Abominable Charles Christopher in a panel of the Flash story in Wednesday Comics (he’s not saying which week). When you spot it, email him a photo of yourself pointing to the yeti, and you’ll be entered in a drawing for an original sketch.

When Worlds Collide’s Timothy Callahan is wildly enthusiastic about the series, and compares it to Solo. He also notes that the reasons he liked Solo and is looking forward to Wednesday Comics — get a bunch of top-tier artists and writers and let them loose on DC’s characters — is exactly why Solo sold so poorly.

Speaking of Solo, I didn’t buy every issue, but I did pick up three or four. I bought the ones by artists I wanted to read. Darwyn Cooke, Sergio Aragonés, I forget who else.

Hal & Barry as Butch & Sundance

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Newsarama’s Vaneta Rogers has an interview with Geoff Johns on…Everything related to Blackest Night. At one point he talks about writing Barry Allen and Hal Jordan.

The biggest surprise is how easy it is to write when Hal and Barry are together. These two know each other so well, and there’s such a strong tie to them…it’s like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. And something happens to Hal when he’s with Barry. It happens to me when I hang out with my friend, Matt. He’s so organized and punctual that a little part of my brain shuts off. I don’t need to worry about the time or where we’re going. I feel like that happens to Hal when he’s around Barry. Hal goes with the flow a little more, while Barry’s taking up the slack of figuring out where to go. I have more Barry and Hal scenes written down because they just keep writing themselves. Introvert and extrovert. Saint and sinner. Time and space.

The “saint and sinner” characterization has actually been brought out in the text of Flash: Rebirth, and he’s talked before about the Flashes being connected to time in the way Green Lanterns are connected to space.

As I recall, though, Butch and Sundance’s partnership didn’t end very well…

Another bit I found interesting was where Johns talks about background characters.

There are Black Lanterns in the background, and if you know who they are, that’s fun, but it’s not always important to this story. It’s like, who is Dengar in Empire Strikes Back? He’s a bounty hunter in the background, and you don’t go, “You know what? I can’t figure this movie out because I don’t know who that guy is! I’m outta here!”

I think that’s a good comparison, because some comics fans actually do that! Maybe it’s just being detail-oriented. Or maybe it’s a consequence of the way that reading comics, for many fans, is not a matter of just following individual stories, but following a universe. Continuity over everything. So fans expect to recognize everyone, and find it confusing when they don’t.

Any other thoughts as to why that might be?

Downtown San Diego Shows During Comic-Con 2009

Downtown

Plays and Movie Screenings

Rocky Horror Picture Show screening Wednesday 11:00pm at the Lyceum Theatre
Repo! The Genetic Opera screening Saturday 12:00am* at Gaslamp Stadium Theaters.
Godspell Thursday-Sunday at the Horton Grand Theatre
Jazz Queens Cast Blue Shadows Thursday-Saturday at the Lyceum Space Theatre
Lebowski Fest, Sunday 6pm at House of Blues.

Comedy

Demetri Martin Saturday at the Spreckels Theatre
Brian Posehn & Doug Benson, Friday 8pm Balboa Theatre
Tim and Eric Live, Friday 12:00am* at 4th and B. (Also, Awesomecon on Saturday)

Music

Richard Cheese Wednesday at 7:00pm at the House of Blues (main stage)
Modern Day Moonshine on Thursday at 7:00pm at the House of Blues (Voodoo Stage, free)
West of Memphis on Friday at 7:00pm at the House of Blues (Voodoo Stage, free)
Private Domain on Saturday at 7:00pm at the House of Blues (Voodoo Stage, free)
Sci Fi & UCP Present Bear McCreary: the Music of Battlestar Galactica Thursday-Saturday at the House of Blues
Van Hunt Sunday at 7pm at House of Blues (Delta Room)

I know there’s got to be more going on, but for some reason the only downtown events I could find online were at House of Blues.

Nearby

The Fantasticks Tuesday-Sunday at the Lamb’s Players Theatre Coronado (just across the bridge)
First Wives Club Wednesday-Sunday at the Old Globe Theatre (Balboa Park, near the zoo)
Cyrano De Bergerac Friday at the Old Globe/Lowell Davies Festival Theater
Twelfth Night Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at the Old Globe/Lowell Davies Festival Theater
Coriolanus Wednesday at the Old Globe/Lowell Davies Festival

All Over Town

There is, of course, lots of stuff going on in other parts of San Diego, so if you’re willing to do some driving, take a cab, or are already staying outside of downtown, check out Sign on San Diego’s Comic-Con Guide. Actually, check it out anyway. They’ve got local restaurants, bars and nightclubs,

Theater Scouting

I’ve been to the Spreckels Theatre, the Lyceum, and the Voodoo Stage at the House of Blues (just last month). The Spreckels is a medium-sized theater hidden inside an office building at Broadway and 1st near Horton Plaza. The Lyceum is actually below Horton Plaza, with a sunken entrance at the north end of the mall (pictured above, with the obelisk). The House of Blues is just north of Broadway on 6th and takes up the entire width of the block. The Voodoo Stage is actually a small raised platform

I’ve also walked past the Horton Grand Theatre several times, and keep forgetting I’ve already taken photos of it. It’s on 4th next to the Horton Grand Hotel.

*Several events are listed as being 12:00am on (for example) Friday a certain day. I suspect in most cases they mean midnight at the end of Friday evening. Taken literally, it would mean 12:00am Friday morning, or Thursday evening.

Speed Force

Tracking the Flash – the Fastest Man Alive