Tag Archives: Barry Allen

Did the Flash Save Comics?

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This essay was originally posted on K-Squared Ramblings in 2008.

When the New York Daily News broke the news about Barry Allen’s return, they brought up the hero’s key role in launching the Silver Age of Comics. Superheroes had fallen out of favor in the early 1950s, and comics were exploring genres like westerns, horror, romance, etc. When DC successfully relaunched the Flash in 1956, there was an explosion of new super-hero titles.

The Daily News quotes former Flash scribe Geoff Johns as saying, “Without Barry Allen, we’d still be reading comic books about cowboys.”

I don’t think that’s precisely true. Not to discount Barry’s contribution—it’s entirely possible, even likely, that super-heroes would have remained a background genre. But for one thing, we’re looking at half a century of ephemeral pop culture. For another thing, let’s consider: why were comics going after the western, crime and horror genres when super-heroes failed? Because that’s what was popular in movies and television at the time.

I’d guess that, without the Flash revitalizing super-heroes, we would have seen more science-fiction comics in the 1960s, more police comics in the 1970s, sitcom comics in the 1980s, and so on. Comics genres would probably have followed along with trends in pop culture instead of becoming heavily focused on a single genre.

We wouldn’t be reading cowboy comics today; we’d be reading reality comics.

Perhaps the presence of multiple genres would have eventually gotten rid of the “but, you know, comics are just for kids” mentality. (Not that it’s worked for cartoons or video games yet, but video games are still relatively new, and cartoons have similarly been dominated by the musical fairy tale and slapstick comedy short.)

Eh, who knows? Maybe they’d be all about pirates.

Review: The Flash #6

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Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Francis Manapul

The long-awaited conclusion of “The Dastardly Death of the Rogues” is here! And while it doesn’t exactly end with a bang, it does race to a satisfying finish. Mysteries are revealed, conflicts are resolved, and events that seemed unrelated turn out to be connected, with teases for upcoming events.

It’s been a fun story, one I really didn’t expect going into this series. I do think it could have been told just as effectively in less time — maybe 4 parts instead of 6. This storytelling style isn’t going to lose much when DC drops the page count from 22 to 20 next year.

Francis Manapul’s artwork is amazing, as always. I really can’t add more to what I’ve already said about it, so I’ll focus on the story, and since this is the conclusion, it’ll be hard to say much without spoilers…

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Flash #11 Solicitation and Cover

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Newsarama has a preview of DC’s February solicitations, including…

THE FLASH #11
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art and cover by FRANCIS MANAPUL
1:10 Variant cover by SCOTT KOLINS

The road to FLASHPOINT is paved with good intentions, but the Flash is about to learn the truth behind those good intentions — and the secret of Hot Pursuit!

On sale FEBRUARY 23 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

Notes: This probably isn’t actually coming out on February 23, since DC just rescheduled Flash #10 for that date. But I’ve got to say, @SpeedsterSite is right: that’s a damn good cover by Francis Manapul!

I guess I’d better update my gallery of Dead Flash Covers.

DC Direct Flash Collectibles For The Month of November

Finally some more Flash love on the collectibles end of things. This month we have three Flash pieces being released through DC Direct. Unfortunately two of them are basically just repaints and the other is an expensive statue of Barry Allen.

The first one, available today, is from the third series of JLA Classified Classics, Zoom (The Flash’s chief nemesis).  I was inclined to think that this was Hunter “Sheisajeweltoyoouuuuu.” Zolomon rather than Eobard “As long as I kill Iris, everything will be alright.” Thawne due to the way the eyes were colored and because they simply named him “Zoom”. But then I noticed the direction of his belt. Not a real issue or anything as Hunter has been out of the picture for some time now. Still makes me lament Johns-Era Wally though.

JLA CLASSIFIED: CLASSIC SERIES 3: ZOOM Action Figure

“The JLA CLASSIFIED: CLASSIC line expands with four all-new figures! Consistent in style and scale to Series 1 and 2, Series 3 features some of the most requested characters

from DC Comics.

The Zoom figure stands at 6.75″ high, features multiple points of articulation and includes a display base.

4-color clamshell blister card packaging.”

Unfortunately I am not a huge fan of the style of these figures. I know that they are part of a artist-specific collection using Ed McGuinness’ art style as a template but I’m just not a fan of the overly muscled character designs and action figures. Especially on my Speedsters. I guess I already own the JLA Classified Flash so it would be cool to have Zoom to go along with him, but I won’t be rushing out to get it or anything.

Later on in the month we have the release of a Flash Two-Pack featuring repaints of Jay Garrick from DC First Appearances Series 1 and Wally West from Justice League of America Series 3 repainted to be Barry Allen:

DC ORIGINS: SERIES 2: THE FLASH ACTION FIGURE TWO-PACKS

Trace the history of some of the most popular DC Comics heroes with these special two-pack action figure sets!

Each set includes two full-sized figures packaged together – one based on art from the character’s early appearances and the other based on art from the modern era.

One two-sided collectible trading card featuring each character will also be included in each package.

The Flash figures feature multiple points of articulation and include display bases and character-specific accessories. The Modern and the Classic figures stand at 6.75″ high and 6.5″ high, respectively.

4-color clamshell blister card packaging.

These guys will be available the 17th, but frankly I am unimpressed with this offering. To be fair the Wally figure actually looks better when repainted to look like Barry and the paint jobs look to be really slick. But really two repaints? Not to mention Zoom might as well be a repaint too.

The only truly original offering this month will be on the 24th with the release of a Barry Allen statue that looks pretty slick but as I mentioned previously I have zero interest in it:

DC CHRONICLES: THE FLASH Statue

SCULPTED BY TIM BRUCKNER

The Fastest Man Alive kicks up a dust cloud as he slides into the DC Chronicles statue series!

This statue features The Flash of the Silver Age, Barry Allen, in his classic costume.

The DC Chronicles statue line has a consistent base, and the retro-style logo on the base further gives the piece a sense of the period from which it originated.

This limited-edition, hand-painted, cold-cast porcelain statue measures approximately 6.75″ high x 5″ wide x 3.5″ deep and is packaged in a 4-color box with a 4-color Certificate
of Authenticity.

Manufactured to order.

This baby retails at $99.99 and looks to be an outstanding piece. But if I were to purchase any Barry statue it would definitely be this:

Now that is what I call a statue!

Anyone plan on picking up Zoom, the 2-Pack, the statue, or all three?

Look forward to hearing from you all and thanks for reading.

-Devin “The Flash” Johnson

White Lantern Barry Action Figure Announced at NYCC 2010

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Sorry this is a bit late, but for those who don’t already know DC Direct showed off pics of a slick White Lantern Barry Allen last week at New York Comic-Con 2010:

Photo courtesy of Toynewsi.com

My first impression of it was “Wally West!” and then I quickly remembered that Wally had nothing to do with Brightest Day and that we haven’t even really seen him (except for the one-off appearances in Magog and Secret Origins) since Flash Rebirth ended. My reaction obviously had to do with the belt and the way it’s been designed.

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