A few months ago, Dan Didio said that “we’re leaving every door open” after Convergence. It’s easy to read that as suggesting that all those old versions of the characters are now officially out there somewhere in the multiverse….
…except they aren’t. Not according to Convergence #8 anyway.
Spoilers for Convergence #8 below
Some Friday linkblogging:
Former Impulse writer Todd Dezago is working on a Casper the Friendly Ghost miniseries. Update: Newsarama has an interview.
Again with the Comics considers other times that DC’s heroes have had to face undead former allies.
Being Carter Hall posts a sketch of Hawkman and the Golden Age Flash by classic artist Sheldon Moldoff.
Silver Age Comics looks back at the Great Price Increase of 1961.
Grumpy Old Fan considers the essential difference between Marvel and DC and how it impacts continuity, long-form storytelling and relentless pursuit of imperfection.
Comic Book Heroes profiles the Flash.
Update: The Nerdy Bird has located a sexy Flash costume (and a scary Batman one). Update 2: The first woman in the SDCC Flash Sighting post appears to be wearing this costume.
Update: Custom Paper Toys’ paper JLA figures will be available at Arby’s (via Robot 6)
Some Friday morning linkblogging…
Remember that interview with Carmine Infantino last week? The legendary artist was unhappy about how he was portrayed in the article, and has fired back a complaint at the interviewer. The Beat has the whole story.
CBR goes in-depth with Ethan Van Sciver, talking with the artist about everything from Cyberfrog and Impulse to Green Lantern: Rebirth, Blackest Night, and Flash: Rebirth.
The Half Hour Wasted podcast devotes its latest episode to Ethan Van Sciver. Despite the name, it’s actually over two hours long, and the artist talks about topics as varied as his recent trip to South Africa, balancing previews against spoilers (apparently none of the solicited covers for Flash: Rebirth issues 4-6 are the “real” cover — I’m guessing that the cover for #5 is mostly the same image, only with Professor Zoom instead of the Black Flash), redesigning Sinestro, and much, much more.
CBR presents the second monthly Geoff Johns Prime question-and-answer column.
Marc Guggenheim will attempt to re-imagine the campy Battlestar Galactica spin-off Galactica 1980 as a comic book.
Comics in Crisis has Attack of the Cartoon Heroes part 2, including a Justice League clip.
Castle Vardulon presents: the amazing single-sentence continuity error from Flash v.1 #133.
Comics Should Be Good looks at DC’s June 1965 covers, including Flash v.1 #153, featuring Professor Zoom and the Mightiest Punch of All Time!
Silver Age Comics looks back on Neal Adams’ Brave and the Bold run, including his take on guest stars like the Flash.
A nifty series of superhero illustrations, with several nice Flash pieces in part 2.
Blog@Newsarama has an interesting idea: What if the JLA membership were chosen by DC’s sales rankings?
Newsarama’s Vaneta Rogers has an interview with Geoff Johns on…Everything related to Blackest Night. At one point he talks about writing Barry Allen and Hal Jordan.
The biggest surprise is how easy it is to write when Hal and Barry are together. These two know each other so well, and there’s such a strong tie to them…it’s like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. And something happens to Hal when he’s with Barry. It happens to me when I hang out with my friend, Matt. He’s so organized and punctual that a little part of my brain shuts off. I don’t need to worry about the time or where we’re going. I feel like that happens to Hal when he’s around Barry. Hal goes with the flow a little more, while Barry’s taking up the slack of figuring out where to go. I have more Barry and Hal scenes written down because they just keep writing themselves. Introvert and extrovert. Saint and sinner. Time and space.
The “saint and sinner” characterization has actually been brought out in the text of Flash: Rebirth, and he’s talked before about the Flashes being connected to time in the way Green Lanterns are connected to space.
As I recall, though, Butch and Sundance’s partnership didn’t end very well…
Another bit I found interesting was where Johns talks about background characters.
There are Black Lanterns in the background, and if you know who they are, that’s fun, but it’s not always important to this story. It’s like, who is Dengar in Empire Strikes Back? He’s a bounty hunter in the background, and you don’t go, “You know what? I can’t figure this movie out because I don’t know who that guy is! I’m outta here!”
I think that’s a good comparison, because some comics fans actually do that! Maybe it’s just being detail-oriented. Or maybe it’s a consequence of the way that reading comics, for many fans, is not a matter of just following individual stories, but following a universe. Continuity over everything. So fans expect to recognize everyone, and find it confusing when they don’t.
Any other thoughts as to why that might be?