Tag Archives: Anniversary

Happy Anniversary!: The Flash, Years Three

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As Speed Force marks its third birthday, we thought it would be kind of fun to take a look back at where each of the Fastest Men Alive were in the third year of their careers.  It ended up being really fun.

A lot can change in three years, but Speed Force is still the place for up-to-the-picosecond Flash news and analysis.  What about the heroes who inspired Speed Force?  Where were Jay Garrick, Barry Allen and Wally West exactly three years after their titles launched?  We’ll take a look at those three issues, and the creators involved.

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Milestones: 300, 500, 1,000…4,000?

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Speed Force has reached three milestones over the last few weeks:

  • 1,000 blog posts.
  • 500 followers on Twitter.
  • 300 Facebook fans.

Wow!

It seems like just a few months since I hit the 500th post, but it really was almost a year ago. For this post, I figured Ken Lashley’s cover to Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #5 would be appropriate, because documenting the Flash is what this site is all about. (Thanks, GCD!)

The 1,000th blog post was last week’s post on action figure updates by Devin “The Flash” Johnson. The 500th Twitter follower was @ImpulseDesigner, though I seem to have lost a few since then — it’s down to 498 now. I’m not sure who the 300th Facebook fan was, though.

Thanks to all the readers, and thanks especially to Devin for stepping in as Speed Force’s second major contributor!

Oh, and there are two more milestones coming up soon: We’re closing in on 4,000 comments sometime in the next few weeks…and two full years online in mid-June!

Speeding for a Year

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It’s hard to believe, but it’s been a year since I launched Speed Force!

Flash in Limbo

June 2008 was a very uncertain time for Flash fans.

Over the previous two years, DC had changed Flashes twice and creative teams four times. Sharp sales spikes with each relaunch were followed by sharp drops as readers rejected each new direction. Bart Allen was dead. Wally West‘s revived series, already on its second writer and artist, continued to shed readers at an alarming rate.

It had become clear that the Infinite Crisis relaunch had completely derailed the book.

And then there was Barry Allen. DC had announced his return in April when they released DC Universe #0 (which very heavily hints that it’s narrated by Barry Allen)…but after mearly two months, he hadn’t actually appeared on-panel anywhere. Fans weren’t even sure they believed DC when they said he was back for good.

Still, with sales continuing to drop and the apparent return of an earlier Flash, DC was obviously planning another relaunch. It was just a question of when the hammer would fall, and who would wield it.

There were two bright spots:

  • Barry Allen’s fans knew he was returning…sometime.
  • Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge was coming up, reuniting the fan-favorite team of Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins.

Jumping Into the Deep End

So what on Earth-Prime made me think that was a good time to launch a blog about the Flash?

Well, the idea had been kicking around in my head for a few months, just as a better place to post news. If I’d been on Twitter at the time, I might have just stuck with that. I had the domain already. I’d picked it up the previous year when I noticed it was available, and hadn’t figured out what to do with it yet.

The trigger was reading about the plans to release a Morrison/Millar Flash collection (or, rather, collections as it’s turned out). I installed a new copy of WordPress on a Sunday afternoon, picked a theme, wrote an intro post and then posted the news.

Running Commentary

Over the past year I’ve made more than 500 posts here. I’ve collected news (and on occasion broken it), reviewed more than a dozen comics, written opinion pieces and the occasional rant, promoted a book, reported on two conventions, done a couple of guest posts and participated in a group April Fool’s joke. I’ve gotten to know (virtually) a bunch of commenters and bloggers, some of whom I’d read or corresponded with before, many of them new. I’ve expanded the site onto Twitter and Facebook.

Meanwhile, as DC announced a new focus on the Flash in Flash: Rebirth, other people started launching Flash websites: Crimson Lightning returned from hiatus. Speedster Site launched a dedicated Flash forum. Tom vs. JLA transformed itself into Tom vs. the Flash, reviewing old Silver-Age Flash comics. The Flash-Back Podcast launched with an eye toward covering Flash: Rebirth, and there’s even a set of Flash: Rebirth Annotations.

It’s been a heck of a year, even if it has kept me really busy, between writing here and keeping up with everyone else. Thanks to all the readers, commenters, linkers, and fellow bloggers out there!

Flash: Celebrating #500

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Flash v.2 #150

Or rather, what would have been Flash #500 if the series had never been renumbered. Flash Comics starring Jay Garrick ran 104 issues, and The Flash starring Barry Allen picked up that same numbering with #105 in 1959 and ran through #350. The relaunch in 1987 with Wally West started over with Flash #1. If DC had started Wally’s series with #351, instead of Flash vol.2 #150 this book would have been Flash #500.*

So why post this cover?

Because this is my 500th post on Speed Force!

To celebrate, and inspired by Major Spoilers’ Ten Superhero Party Drinks, my wonderful wife came up with a Flash drink — two versions, one alcoholic and one not.

Flash drink

Recipe: Flash Drink

  • 4 oz Izze Pomegranate soda (or other red soda that goes well with cranberry)
  • 2 oz cranberry juice cocktail
  • 2 oz vodka (for non-alcoholic version, replace this with more cranberry juice)
  • 1 Lemon
  1. Peel zest from entire lemon in one long spiral with vegetable peeler.
  2. Cut jagged bits into lemon peel to give it a zig-zag or lightning bolt look.
  3. Cut lemon peel strip in half crosswise (use one half for each of two drinks).
  4. Mix all liquid ingredients cold and pour into glass.
  5. Place lemon peel decoratively in glass.

Ideally, you should have something else you can use the rest of the lemon for.

Enjoy!

*Yes, there was a Flash v.2 #0 in between issues #94 and #95, but all DC books that month were numbered #0, so it doesn’t figure into the sequence any more than annuals do.