Tag Archives: ComiXology

Flash vs. the Rogues on sale at ComiXology

ComiXology is holding a DC Super-Villains sale with a whole bunch of digital back-issues discounted to 99 cents. This includes 8 issues of the early Silver Age Flash starring Barry Allen, and six of the early 2000s Flash starring Wally West.

The Silver Age choices are Flash #106, 106, 110, 113, 117, 125, 140, and 155, and include the first appearances of Mirror Master, Pied Piper, Trickster, Weather Wizard, Captain Boomerang and Heat Wave, as well as the first full-on Rogues team-up.

The choices for Wally West’s series are a bit odd: rather than highlighting Geoff Johns’ Rogue Profiles (five in that series, two in the Barry Allen relaunch), they simply discounted Flash #177-182. These issues feature characters ranging from well-known (Captain Cold & Gorilla Grodd) to obscure (Chunk, Fallout, Peekaboo) to not-even-a-Flash-villain (Deadline).

The choices make a bit more sense when you consider that they just happen to be the contents of two trade paperbacks: “Flash vs. the Rogues” and “Flash: Rogues.”

Also on sale: Salvation Run, which while not primarily a Rogues series does feature them prominently in several issues.

Incidentally, I recently discovered that Salvation Run was inspired loosely by an unproduced Elseworlds story co-written by George R.R. Martin — yes, that GRRM — and John Miller, in which the super-villains were exiled to another world and stayed there. The story would have taken place over decades, as the villains learned to live on the new world, fought wars, and eventually built the beginnings of a society. It sounds like it would have been awesome.

Thanks to @RedWolfArtist for alerting me to the sale.

Salvation Run #1

This Week: Digital Flash Year One & Impulse in the 30th Century

This week’s digital releases at ComiXology include Flash #64-65 and Impulse #25-26.

Flash #64-65 conclude the Mark Waid/Greg Larocque “Flash Year One” story telling Wally West’s origin, focusing on his first summer as Kid Flash. Impulse #25-26 finish up the story revealing the future world Bart Allen left behind when he came to the present, and the family who stayed to protect him. But when he returns to our time, Max Mercury has mysteriously vanished!

This Week: Completing the Messner-Loebs Run on Flash (digital back-issues)

This week’s digital back issues at ComiXology include Flash #60-61 and Impulse #21-22. This means we’ve reached a milestone: for the first time in nearly two decades, the entire William Messner-Loebs/Greg LaRocque run on the Wally West series (Flash #15-61) is available to read without digging through the back-issue bins. Mark Waid gets a lot of credit for Wally West’s character arc, but all the groundwork is laid here, as Messner-Loebs shows Wally growing from the selfish jerk he is in the early issues to a someone more mature (if not entirely grown up).

Flash #60 follows up on the Icicle storyline as the Flash and his allies go up against a mercenary known as the Last Resort…who just happens to be Wally’s roommate Mason Trollbridge’s estranged son. Flash #61, Messner-Loebs’ farewell issue, features a surprise wedding as Wally West’s mother gets remarried. Naturally, her late husband shows up, with a date. And the minister gets delayed by a supervillain. You know, the usual.

In Impulse #21, the time-lost Legion of Super-Heroes visits the time-displaced Bart Allen, hoping he and the cosmic treadmill can send them home. In Impulse #22, Bart talks Jesse Quick into helping him find a missing Max Mercury.

» Flash v.2 on ComiXology
» Impulse on ComiXology

In related news, ComiXology has upgraded the digital versions of Flashpoint and all its tie-in issues to CMX-HD, enabling sharper images on the new iPad and other high-definition devices.

This Week: Flash #0, Road to Flashpoint TP and Digital Flashbacks

Flash #0 Cover

This week sees the release of Flash #0, the Zero Month issue featuring the New 52 origin of Barry Allen.

At last, it’s the origin of The Flash!
The loss of his mother put Barry Allen on the road to becoming a hero, but only when he gains his powers will he understand her most important lesson.

Writing and art by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato.

Check out the preview on Facebook.

Flash: The Road to Flashpoint

There’s also the trade paperback of The Road to Flashpoint, the second half of the Geoff Johns/Francis Manapul run from 2010-2011.

Make way for Hot Pursuit – the latest speedster to come out of the Speed Force!
Collects THE FLASH #8-12!

Written by: Geoff Johns, Scott Kolins
Art by: Francis Manapul, Scott Kolins

After a few hiccups, DC’s digital back-issues program seems to have shifted from three issues of Flash (1987 series) each week to two issues of Flash and two of Impulse. This week features the digital re-release of Flash #58-59 and Impulse #19-20. At this rate, the entire William Messner-Loebs/Greg LaRocque run will be available next week!

Flash #58 and Flash #59 continue the story of the Icicle’s fortune, as his grandchildren take Wally West to court over the contested will. But what does Pied Piper have to say about this wealth…and the forgotten legacy of Invasion? Power Girl guest-stars as Wally and Mason Trollbridge try to uncover the secret of a rogue agent stalking another of the Makhent family.

Impulse #19: it’s the speedster’s nightmare! Then in Impulse #20, Bart tries to learn how to live normally by learning to play baseball. Hilarity ensues.

Flash (1987-2009) on ComiXology
Impulse on ComiXology

Digital Flashbacks: Flash vs. the Icicle and the Magic of Impulse

This week’s digital backissues at ComiXology include Flash #56-57 and Impulse #17-18.

Flash #56-57 feature a classic murder mystery, as it’s revealed that the Golden Age villain, the Icicle, had a rather large (legitimate) fortune when he died, and his will left a large amount to…the Flash? Wally West and his friends visit the Makhent mansion for the reading of the well, and one of the other heirs is found murdered in the middle of a snowstorm.

Impulse #17-18 take a break from the seriousness of the Max Mercury flashback with a pair of done-in ones. First: Bart Allen teams up with Zatanna. Do you really need to know anything else? And second, ~~what do hyperactive speedsters dream about?~~ Bart is trapped in a series of virtual reality scenarios.

Flash (1987-2009) on ComiXology
Impulse on ComiXology

This Week: Origin of the Shade, Digital Flash(back) “Nobody Dies” & Impulse: Ghosts of the Past

The final issue of The Shade arrives in stores this week.

The Source has a preview and commentary from writer James Robinson, artist Gene Ha, and editor Wil Moss.

Once a normal family man with a wife and two children living in London, Richard Swift was forced against his will into a life of the supernatural. What mistake did he make that would be his undoing and send him down a path of no return? Don’t miss this special issue of the critically acclaimed series that explored The Shade’s mysterious origins!

I expect it’ll be a bit more sophisticated than the Golden-Age explanation of his powers…

Seriously, I’ve been enjoying this series. It’s the kind of thing that could have (more) easily been done without the New 52, and I’m glad that they went through with it anyway, even if it required a few changes.

In the digital realm, ComiXology is adding The Flash #54-55 and Impulse #15-16 to their back-issue catalog.

Flash #54, “Nobody Dies” frequently shows up in lists of favorite single-issue stories from the Wally West series. It’s the one where Wally West watches a flight attendant get sucked out of an airplane and decides he’s going to jump out after her even though he can’t fly. CSBG featured the story in its “Almost Hidden” series, and Comics Bulletin has Messner-Loebs’ remarks on the story.

Flash #55 is a War of the Gods tie-in issue, and features the Flash racing against both Mercury and Hermes. (In the DCU at the time, the Greek and Roman pantheons were separate.) Also, IIRC, Wally and friends play Dungeons and Dragons.

Impulse #15 concludes the “Faith and Trust” two-parter in which Bart’s friend Carol finds her family caught in the middle of a double heist by the Trickster and White Lightning. Impulse #16 is one of the more powerful issues of the series. Max Mercury’s relationship to Helen Claiborne is revealed, along with a secret shame from Max’s past. These three issues together were among the most serious of the Mark Waid/Humberto Ramos run (though there’s always room for humor when the Trickster is around). Not surprisingly, the next few issues were all broad comedy.

Flash (1987-2009) on ComiXology
Impulse on ComiXology