This Week (May 6): Rebirth #2, Mercury Falling

Can you believe it’s been a whole month since Flash: Rebirth #1 launched? It has, and this week, the second issue of the miniseries that will change the Flash forever (for whatever “forever” means in comics). Also of note is the second-ever Impulse collection, Flash: Mercury Falling, featuring art by Flash: Rebirth‘s very own Ethan Van Sciver, written by Todd Dezago (Perhapanauts).

The Flash: Rebirth #2

Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Ethan Van Sciver
Covers by Ethan Van Sciver

What’s happened to the Speed Force? One of the world’s most powerful speedsters is dead, and Barry Allen must discover who — or what — is responsible! But the reborn Barry is a man haunted by a dark secret in his past. A secret that drives him to push far beyond his limits. A burden that, if he’s not careful, could send him right back into oblivion! Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver’s reinvention of the Scarlet Speedster picks up the pace — we dare you to keep up!

This issue will ship with two covers. For every 25 copies of the Standard Edition (with a cover by Ethan Van Sciver), retailers may order one copy of the Variant Edition (with a cover by Ethan Van Sciver).

A 6-page preview is available at The Source.

2 of 5 · 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

The Flash Presents: Mercury Falling TP

Written by Todd Dezago
Art by Ethan Van Sciver, Eric Battle, John Stokes, Prentis Rollins and others
Cover by Ethan Van Sciver

In this classic story from Impulse #62-67, featuring art by Ethan Van Sciver, Max Mercury discovers that his connection to the speed force has been severed. Now, it’s up to Impulse to save his mentor and surrogate father.

Order from Amazon or read about it at Speed Force

144 pg, FC, $14.99 US

Justice League of America: The Second Coming HC

Written by Dwayne McDuffie
Art and cover by Ed Benes
In this new hardcover collecting Justice League of America #22-26, Red Tornado discovers the culprit behind his recent malfunctions — and the ensuing confrontation leads to a massive battle between the JLA and one of their oldest adversaries. Meanwhile, Vixen and Animal Man struggle with their own super-abilities and challenge Anansi, a deadly being who warps the histories of every JLA member. It’s DC’s heaviest hitters as you’ve never seen them before!

144 pg, FC, $19.99 US

As usual, there’s a good chance of a Flash appearing in Trinity this week.

Preview: Flash in Wednesday Comics

Quick Review: Blackest Night #0

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I made it out to one of my local comic stores on Saturday for Free Comic Book Day, and picked up several books (some free, some not). As a Flash fan and long-time DC reader, I grabbed Blackest Night #0, the prelude to this year’s huge event.

Now, some background: Geoff Johns is really hit-or-miss for me. I loved his run on The Flash and Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge, but JSA and Justice Society of America just doesn’t click with me, I couldn’t stand Infinite Crisis, and I’ve never been particularly interested in Green Lantern no matter who’s writing it. (I’m not sure why — you’d think sci-fi space action would be right up my alley.)

Anyway, Blackest Night #0 left me with a resounding “meh.” There wasn’t anything wrong with it, it just wasn’t terribly compelling. It did its job, or at least one part of it, which was to establish which major characters had died recently, show that death in the DC Universe is not always permanent (by focusing on two characters who have come back fro the dead), and introduce the Green Lantern Corps and the groups based around the other colors. for those who might not be keeping up with Green Lantern. But it didn’t catch my interest for picking up the main story, which is what I’m sure DC really wanted it to do.

For some contrast, one of the other books I picked up was the trade paperback, Powers Vol. 12: The 25 Coolest Dead Superheroes of All Time (not free, obviously!). I haven’t read Powers in several years, and I suspect I may have missed a few issues between when I stopped reading and the beginning of this volume. I opened it up when I got home to take a quick look at the first few pages and get an idea of how much time had passed, and couldn’t put it down.

Speed Reading: Waid, Infantino, Fan Films, Barry & Iris, Showcase Auction and More

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Ain’t It Cool News interviews Mark Waid about his work on Flash, Fantastic Four, Irredeemable and more (basically his entire career). He’s got some really interesting things to say about the Flash. Eventually I’ll find time to read the whole thing and pick out some good quotes to post here.

The latest Fan Film Podcast episode focuses on The Flash: Crossover from Influence Films.

POP! lists Barry Allen and Iris West at #3 on its 25 Greatest Super-hero Romances (via Robot 6).

The Comic Treadmill looks back at the 1970s revival of All Star Comics, featuring the Justice Society of America on Earth-2.

The best-condition copy of Showcase #4, first appearance of Barry Allen as the Silver-Age Flash, is “off to a fast start” at Heritage Auctions, already up to $100,000 with three weeks to go.

Comicbook Rockstar talks about lunch with Carmine Infantino, comics legend and co-creator of the Silver Age Flash, and the veteran artist’s advice for writers.

Comic Bloc user CreativeArtist has a new animation based on Flash: Rebirth.

Pegasus News reviews a production of Based on a Totally True Story (by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa), a stage play about a playwright on the verge of making it big in Hollywood — who also happens to write the Flash comic book.

Update: The first installment of Q&A column Geoff Johns Prime is up at Comic Book Resources. He doesn’t say much about Flash: Rebirth beyond “wait and see.”

Flash Signings for Free Comic Book Day

United States

Arizona

Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver sign at Atomic Comics in Mesa

California

Mark Waid and Marc Guggenheim sign at Collector’s Paradise in Winnetka from noon-3pm
Mark Guggenheim will also appear at Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles from 4-7pm.
Todd Nauck (Young Justice) signs at 4 Color Fantasies in Rancho Cucamonga

Florida

Paul Pelletier signs at Heroes Haven in Tampa

Maryland

Greg LaRocque signs at Super Villains Comic Shop in Baltimore

New York

Todd Dezago (Impulse) signs at Excellent Adventures in Ballston Spa

Canada

Ken Lashley (Flash: The Fastest Man Alive) signs at Comic Connection in Hamilton, Ontario

Notes

Humberto Ramos (Impulse) canceled an appearance at Comicpalooza this weekend.

The FCBD website has a list of more creator signings on Saturday. I may have missed some Flash-related names.

Review: Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #4

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Legion of Three Worlds #4

Yes, it’s actually here! This issue is a lot more story-focused than the last few, which I remember being more about showing the war between the Superman and the three Legions of Super-Heroes on one side and Superboy Prime and the Legion of Super-Villains on the other.

First: the art. It’s George Frelling Pérez. Do I really need to say anything more? Didn’t think so. The book looks fantastic.

The big events:

1. Following through on last issue’s resurrection of Bart Allen. We get a touching reunion between Bart and his cousin Jenni Ognats (XS of the reboot Legion), and Geoff Johns once again shows that he’s found Bart’s voice at last. (Quoting Disney’s Aladdin in the 31st century: absolutely perfect.) We also get some mumbo-jumbo about why Bart returned as a teenager instead of an adult, which doesn’t really make any sense (or fit with what we saw during 52 and Flash: The Fastest Man Alive, but then it’s not as if that’s been particularly consistent to begin with.)

2. Another hero returns from the dead, revealing that the Legionnaires in The Lightning Saga had at least two objectives to their time travel mission.

3. A major character’s true identity is revealed again, and it’s not the same identity as last time. (Shades of Monarch, there.)

Overall, I found it a better read than the earlier issues of the series, because it was much less scattered. I do get a sense that Geoff Johns is treating the “other” legions as expendable, making it possible to kill off “major characters” and still keep the “originals” around.

A couple of spoilery notes behind the cut: Continue reading →