This Week (July 16): Flash #242 and Rogues’ Revenge #1

For the first time in years, we’ve got two Flash books per month, as the three-part Rogues’ Revenge launches. DC has scheduled it for the same week as the regular Flash series, so we’ve got two out this week.

The Flash #242

The Flash takes the twins to Gorilla City on their first international mission, and the round-the-world trip becomes an adventure in itself! Plus, the upheavals at Keystone News result in a huge discovery — one that could blow the Wests’ cover for good!

Written by Tom Peyer; Art and cover by Freddie E. Williams II

Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge #1 of 3

The critically-acclaimed Flash team of writer Geoff Johns and artist Scott Kolins reunites for a tale of villainy and twisted justice tying in to Final Crisis! Captain Cold and the Rogues were accessories to the murder of Bart Allen. They’ve become what they never set out to be — wanted! Wanted by the good guys, by former Rogue Pied Piper, and by the Secret Society of Super-Villains. But just as they try to disappear underground, good, old-fashioned revenge yanks them back. And where is the Flash during all of this? It’s a Crisis — take a guess.

Don’t miss the 5-page preview at Newsarama.

Written by Geoff Johns; Art and covers by Scott Kolins

Countdown to Final Crisis Vol.2

The second of four volumes collecting DC’s explosive weekly series! In this volume, featuring Countdown #38-26, Karate Kid ventures to Oracle for answers, Jimmy Olsen attempts to join two exclusive clubs, and more!
Written by Paul Dini, Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, Adam Beechen, Tony Bedard and Sean McKeever; Breakdowns by Keith Giffen ; Art by various; Cover by Ed Benes

Tangent: Superman’s Reign #5 of 12

A hero falls! Now, the remaining forces for good from both the Tangent and DCU Earths are forced to go deeper underground. Also, the secret power behind the Tangent Superman’s throne is revealed!

Written by Dan Jurgens and Ron Marz; Art by Jamal Igle and Robin Riggs; Cover by Brad Walker and Livesay

Rogues’ Revenge Preview

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Newsarama has posted a 5-page preview of Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge #1, due in stores on Wednesday.

One of the best things about Geoff Johns’ run on The Flash was his handle on the Rogues. During his time on the book, he did five “Rogue Profile” issues, each with one of the villains as the viewpoint character. He’d get inside their heads, show how they thought, why they ran around with high-tech mirrors, or freeze guns, etc. When he left the book, I’d kind of hoped he’d drop in once a year or so to do another Rogue issue between the regular writers’ story arcs. Obviously, it didn’t happen

The preview pages show that Johns’ characterization is still spot-on, and the art by Scott Kolins shows a team of villains who have been through hell. (Actually, they have been through hell, but that was a while back, between Underworld Unleashed and “Hell to Pay.”)

(Thanks to Craig M.D. for pointing this one out.)

Lightning Strikes Through Window — on Video

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lightning strike on camera, originally uploaded by SLOWLORIS.

In case you haven’t seen this already…Washington artist Jessica Lynch was filming a rainstorm from her second-floor window last week, when she was struck by lightning. Incredibly, not only was she uninjured, but the camera got the whole thing on video.

Lynch sells T-shirts online at Slow Shirts, and has started offering lightning-bolt temporary tattoos with orders. Wired has an interview.

There is no indication that she gained super-speed from the experience.

More Digital Flash: Xbox and Unbox

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ComicMix reports that the 1990 Flash TV series starring John Wesley Shipp has been added to the DC Comics Network on Xbox Live Marketplace. This means you can watch episodes on your Xbox 360.

It was a fun show, one that had its cheesy moments and its dramatic moments, elements that worked and elements that didn’t. I never could understand why Amanda Pays disappeared into occasional-guest-spot limbo after the show ended.

When it finally came out on DVD in 2006, I rewatched it for the first time in years. I was happy to find that most of the things that bothered me about the pilot episode this time through were the same things that had bothered me when I was a teenager watching it for the first time.

I did a little digging around, and found that while the show doesn’t seem to be on iTunes, (it seemed like a good bet, with all the DC animation added recently) it is available as a download from Amazon Unbox. I also managed to find two seasons of Justice League, one season of Super Friends, and Justice League: The New Frontier on Unbox (but, oddly, no sign of Justice League Unlimited).

(Thanks to Esteban Pedreros for reminding me I need to post this!)

Flash Sales: 1996-2002

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Following up on yesterday’s graph showing Flash Sales from 2001-2008, I did some more searching and found a site with figures going back to 1996. More importantly, this one also has relative rankings.

Sales — but not ranking — dropped heavily in 1996 and early 1997. Of course, this was in the middle of the speculator crash, so the entire comics industry was doing pretty badly at the time. (Also, the first issue in these stats might have been higher, since #119 was a Final Night tie-in.)

They stayed in the low-to-mid 40,000s for the next few years, during the Grant Morrison/Mark Millar run and the return of Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn. Highlights during this period include:

  • #130, the first Morrison/Millar issue.
  • #135, part of the “Three of a Kind” crossover with Green Lantern and Green Arrow.
  • #1,000,000, part of the DC One Million crossover. Oddly, it didn’t jump much the previous month, when Waid and Augustyn returned with #142.
  • Small spike for #150, conclusion of Chain Lightning and a milestone issue.
  • Larger spike for #152, start of the Dark Flash saga.
  • I’m not sure what made #157 catch on, unless it was the striking cover showing Linda’s grave.

Sales started dropping as soon as Waid and Augustyn wrapped up the main part of their run (#159), and the book went into a series of done-in-ones.

Geoff Johns took over for a 6-part arc, “Wonderland,” with #164. I was surprised to find that sales dropped through the whole arc, but DC decided to give him the regular gig anyway. They kept dropping through “Blood Will Run,” bottoming out with the conclusion in #174. Oddly enough, that was also the highest rated issue since he’d taken over. The next year and a half held steady around 30,000. And the post-2002 climb is shown in yesterday’s post.

This shows an interesting contrast to DC’s current tactic of changing the creative team every time sales come in lower than the month before.

Other Observations

These years also cover most of Impulse‘s 90-issue run. At the start of this period it was selling in the mid-to-low-30K range, dropped to around 20K in 1998, and down to 15K from 2000-2002.

This also includes the overlap period between regular Annuals and Secret Files.

For three months in 1999, there were four Flash-related books each month: Flash, Impulse, and the miniseries Flashpoint and Flash/Green Lantern: The Brave and the Bold. The latter miniseries outsold Flash for the first two months, then dropped below it for the next four issues.

The actual figures from CBGXtra appear after the cut. Continue reading →