Tag Archives: Barry Allen

The Flash Gets an Updated Origin in Flash #0…and then it’s War

Newsarama interviews the Flash creative team about the upcoming Flash #0, which will update Barry Allen’s origin, and what’s coming in the second year of the New 52 Flash.

Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato have been re-introducing the Rogues one at a time through Flash #6-12, building toward a major event in Flash Annual #1 in August. After that, Flash #0 will retell the Flash’s origin. Together, the Annual and the #0 issue will answer a number of readers’ questions, like: How did the Rogues get internal powers? Who raised Barry after his mother was killed and his father framed?

Manapul: In issue #0, people are finally going to see what happened after he lost his parents, and what happened right after he got hit by lightning. The Barry Allen we’ve been writing since we took over the book last year has a past that hasn’t been revealed, and it’s an important part of why he does what he does. So we’ve addressed a lot of those things head-on in the #0 issue.

They also make the point that the New 52 Barry Allen is very different in personality from the pre-Flashpoint Barry Allen, and one of their goals with the new origin story is to solidly ground him in this timeline.

Manapul: Well, we’ve created a lot more emotional ties to this particular timeline for Barry Allen. There’s no way he could ever see himself going back in time to screw up time or to save his mom or anything like that. So we’re giving him a very strong emotional anchor in this timeline to hold that line, to never go back to the past.

Again and again they return to the theme of moving forward, rather than backward, including in the way they look, well, back at the Flash’s origin.

Buccellato: … I know the story of his mother was told in Flash: Rebirth, and that’s a valid reason for his choice to become a hero. But we felt like we needed to go a little bit deeper.

…

Like Francis said, our Barry is more forward-moving and less reflective and looking back. So we needed to show why he’s that way and why we did this subtle shift in Barry’s personality and motivation.

Francis Manapul confirms that he’s back on art for #12, #0, and beyond, and Brian Buccellato confirms that amidst all the creative changes of the New 52, they’re sticking around. “We have a big plan for what we’re doing on the Flash…”

So what does come next? All we know is it will spin out of the Flash Annual, and one hint: “War is coming to Central City.”

Read the full interview at Newsarama.

This Week: Flash #10 (with Preview), Digital Flashback #31-33

Out this week:
Flash #10

THE FLASH vs. THE WEATHER WIZARD!
The Flash may survive…but will BARRY ALLEN?

Written by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato
Cover by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato
Art by Marcus To and Ray McCarthy
Preview at Complex.

Marcus To and Ray McCarthy are handling interior art for issues #10-11 to give Manapul & Buccellato a bit of a breather before they take over again with #12.

Digital back-issues on ComiXology:

Flash (1987-2009) #31-33
Written by William Messner-Loebs
Art by Greg LaRocque and Larry Mahlstedt

Some real transitional issues. Flash #31, “Comfort of a Stranger,” re-introduces the Pied Piper as a member of the supporting cast and introduces Linda Park. (She appeared briefly in #28 in her role as a TV news reporter.) In Flash #32, Wally West leaves New York for Keystone City and finds super-villains already waiting for him. Flash #33 guest-stars the Joker…or does it?

» Flash v.2 on ComiXology

Impulse TPB & Flash Chronicles vol.4 coming in 2013

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DC has posted a list of collections for Spring 2013, including this surprise:

Impulse Vol. 1: Runs in the Family TP
Writer: Mark Waid
Artists: Humberto Ramos, Wayne Faucher and Brad Vancata
Collects: IMPULSE #1-6, 8-9 and 12-13
$19.99 US, 240 pg
March 2013

It’s been 15 years since DC first tried collecting Impulse in Reckless Youth. That book collected Bart Allen’s three-part debut from Flash #92-94, plus the first six issues of his solo series. A few years back, during Flash: Rebirth, they capitalized on Ethan Van Sciver’s name by releasing the oddly titled The Flash (Featuring Impulse): Mercury Falling, which collected Impulse #62–67.

These issues feature the first appearance of White Lightning, guest appearances by XS of the DnA Legion of Super-Heroes, and several stories focusing on Bart’s circle of friends at school.

So, what’s missing?

Impulse #7 is a fill-in by Martin Pasko, Nick Gnazzo and Mark Stegbauer in which Impulse battles a villain called Gridlock.
Impulse #10-11 are part of the “Dead Heat” crossover with The Flash, and were previously collected (again, over a decade ago) in Flash: Dead Heat. Dead Heat is also out of print, but I’m encouraged by the fact that DC has been re-releasing the Wally West series digitally, and the fact that they’re actually reprinting something by Mark Waid here.

Update! (July): The book is now available for pre-order.

Also coming next year:

The Flash Chronicles Vol. 4 TP
Writers: John Broome
Artists: Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella
Collects: THE FLASH #119-124
$14.99 US, 160 pg
April 2013

This brings the Chronicles series of Silver Age reprints up to 1961, and the Flash Chronicles v.1-4 line up with Flash Archives v.1-3. This collection features the Mirror Master, the Trickster, the Top (with the now-infamous Atomic Grenade!) and Captain Boomerang (launching the Flash into space), as well as well-known stories “Land of the Golden Giants” and the classic “Flash of Two Worlds!”

Happy Anniversary!: The Flash, Years Four

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As Speed Force marks its fourth birthday, we decided to take a look back at where each of the Fastest Men Alive were in the fourth year of their titles. Happy Speed Fourth!

Flash fans know a lot can change in four years, but Speed Force is still the place for Flash news, commentary and analysis. But what of the heroes throughout the history of Flash comics? Where were Jay Garrick, Barry Allen and Wally West exactly four years after their first solo titles launched? After the jump, we’ll take a look at comics out on and around their fourth anniversaries, and the stories and creators involved.

Continue reading →

This Week: Digital Flash(back) #25-27 – The Porcupine Man

It looks safe to say that DC and ComiXology have settled into a pattern, releasing three issues of the 1987-2009 Flash series each week. Among this week’s releases are Flash #25-27, featuring the middle segment of the “Porcupine Man” storyline that ran from Flash #24-28.

After the events of Invasion!, Wally West has been left powerless. In Flash #24, a team of scientists tries to re-create the accidents that gave him and Barry Allen their super-speed. It works…but his control is gone. In the moment he starts running, he cuts a swath of destruction across North America, then disappears. The next few issues follow scientists Tina and Jerry McGee and Wally’s neighbor Mason Trollbridge as they follow his trail and search for Wally West, only to find rumors of a legendary creature of the southwest desert: the Porcupine Man.

» Flash (1987-2009) on ComiXology.

Update: I didn’t notice it in the blog post, but ComiXology has also added a digital edition of DC Presents: The Flash #1, a reprint book from 2011 containing a collection of Silver-Age time-travel stories.

Spotlighting tales of time travel and the Rogues! Collects [ed. note: stories from] SHOWCASE #4 and 14, THE FLASH (1959-1985) #125, 130 and 139, pitting The Scarlet Speedster against Mirror Master, Captain Boomerang, The Top, Captain Cold, and more! NOTE: some issues are available individually online.

It’s a bit of an odd choice: wouldn’t it make more sense to digitize the original issues and then bundle them, rather add content from The Flash somewhere other than The Flash? I guess this way is easier since DC has already restored these stories, and they don’t have to take the time to restore the other story from each issue. (Most Silver-Age Flash issues contained two short stories instead of one full-length story.)

Showcase #4 (including “The Man Who Broke the Time Barrier”) and Flash #125 (“Conquerors of Time”) are already on ComiXology. Flash #139 (“Menace of the Reverse-Flash”) is a full-length story, so the only thing missing is the cover. That leaves one story each from Showcase #14 (“Giants of the Time World” is in this collection, but Dr. Alchemy’s first appearance isn’t) and Flash #130 (“Who Doomed the Flash?” is collected, but not “Kid Flash Meets the Elongated Man”) needed to get a full set in the library for the series itself.

Upcoming Flash Collections: Move Forward (New 52 vol.1) & Showcase Presents vol.4

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Showcase Presents: The Flash vol.4

DC Comics’ full solicitations are up for September 2012 monthlies and the next few months of collections.

THE FLASH VOL. 1: MOVE FORWARD HC

Written by FRANCIS MANAPUL and BRIAN BUCCELLATO
Art and cover by FRANCIS MANAPUL
On sale NOVEMBER 7 • 192 pg, FC, $24.99 US

In this first DC COMICS – THE NEW 52 collection of THE FLASH, Mob Rule wages a campaign of crime across Central City, plunging the city into darkness! The only way The Flash can save his city is to make his brain function even faster than before – but as much as it helps him, it also comes at a steep price.
Collects issues #1-8 of the original monthly series.

DC first told us about this collection back in January, but didn’t announce a firm release date at the time. Collecting Flash v.4 #1-8 covers the opening “Mob Rule” arc, the two-parter with Captain Cold, and the one-shot in the Speed Force introducing Turbine.

The Flash: Move Forward is available for pre-order now.

SHOWCASE PRESENTS: THE FLASH VOL. 4 TP

Written by JOHN BROOME, GARDNER FOX, E. NELSON BRIDWELL, CARY BATES and FRANK ROBBINS
Art by CARMINE INFANTINO, ROSS ANDRU and others
Cover by CARMINE INFANTINO and JOE GIELLA
On sale OCTOBER 24 • 528 pg, B&W, $19.99 US

The Flash faces Heat Wave, Gorilla Grodd and Captain Cold, and meets Green Lantern, Superman and the Golden Age Flash!
Collects THE FLASH #162-184.

Let’s take a quick look at what’s in here. Barry Allen and Iris West’s wedding…Reverse-Flash…oh, no, it’s the Mopee story!…a three-Flash team-up with Wally West and Jay Garrick…the Stupendous Triumph of the Six Super-Villains with the now-iconic, frequently-homaged cover of the Rogues standing over the Flash’s dead body…the second Superman/Flash race (the first was in the pages of Superman)…the Giant-Head Flash…Cary Bates’ first Flash story, introducing Earth-Prime…the Samuroids…and the Most Tragic Day. They stories 1966-1968, as the Flash inches its way from Silver-Age goofiness toward the more serious (but still odd) Bronze Age.

Showcase Presents: The Flash vol.4 is also available for pre-order.