Tag Archives: Costume

Rebirth Responses: Costumes and Identities

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Flash: Rebirth has certainly gotten people talking! I’m still building a list of reviews, but here are some sites discussing major changes in costumes and identities. Beware spoilers!

High Five! Comics talks about that “new hero” who “step[s] into an old speedster’s boots” in Refrigerator Busting : You Know What the Speed Force Needs More Of?

Comics Alliance is thrilled that Impulse is back.

Blog@Newsarama discusses Flash Fashion.

Film Fodder considers the problem of superheroes sharing a name and looks at the broader implications of bringing back old characters instead of actually creating new ones.

Answering Questions from Searchers

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Every once in a while I see something in the search terms that people have used to reach this site that makes me wish I could contact them and answer their questions. So I figured I’d try something new: The following are questions (or implied questions) pulled from this week’s site statistics.

Interestingly enough, they settled into three broad categories.

Costumes

What does Wally West’s new costume look like? (There are lots of variations on this one!)

Short answer: We haven’t seen it yet. But according to Geoff Johns, Ethan Van Sciver’s design is “Very clean, very familiar, yet unique!”

What is the difference in the Flash costumes?

  • Barry Allen: belt is straight across, boots always have wings, eyes are always visible (well, except in this week’s Brave and the Bold issue).
  • Wally West: 1986-1991: same. 1991-2009: belt is V-shaped, boots sometimes have wings, eyes sometimes covered, costume is sometimes shiny.

Jay Garrick, of course, has a completely different costume with blue pants, red boots, no mask and a silver helmet.

How to make a Golden Age Flash costume. (Several variations on this, also.)

Here’s a two-part series describing exactly how to do it:

Future of the Flash

Will Flash Rebirth ever finish? (Yes, that’s exactly how it was phrased.)

Yes. The next issue is scheduled for November 11, and the whole thing should wrap up on December 23, 2009. The schedule could still slip, of course.

Why is Flash Rebirth being delayed?

Artist Ethan Van Sciver has accepted at least some of the blame for being a slow artist. He intended Flash: Rebirth as a project that would help him learn to draw faster.

Will Wally West be back in 2010?

Yes. Wally West will star in a second feature in the new Flash comic book, written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Scott Kolins.

More immediately, he will appear in both Blackest Night: Flash and Blackest Night itself, alongside Barry Allen.

Powers

Who is the fastest Flash?

Whoever’s currently starring in the main book.

How Flash got super speed.

Lab accidents, mainly. Jay Garrick inhaled chemical fumes (originally identified as “hard water,” but later sometimes identified as “heavy water,” which still doesn’t make sense, but radioactivity makes a little more sense than high mineral content). Barry Allen was struck by lightning and simultaneously splashed with chemicals. Wally West was struck by a repetition of Barry’s accident.

What force is involved in lightning flashes?

Electromagnetism.

Is it possible to run as fast as a speed force?

I’m not entirely sure what this question is asking.

Baltimore Impulse Sighting

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Last week at the Baltimore Comic-Con, this eight-year-old Impulse fan was among the attendees:

Impulse Costume Impulse Costume Kid Meets Mark Waid

Caleb’s father wrote in to say that he’s been a big fan of the Flash ever since seeing him on the Justice League cartoon, and that they’ve read all of The Flash and Impulse together. They met several writers and artists who have worked on the series, including Mark Waid (pictured), Todd Dezago, Craig Rousseau, and Pop Mhan. Caleb/Impulse also made an appearance on Todd Dezago’s Perhapablog last week in his con write-up.

Update: Caleb returns to Baltimore Comic-Con in 2010…as Kid Flash.

Geoff Johns talks Speed Force, XS, Wally’s Costume and More

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CBR has posted their latest Geoff Johns Prime question and answer column. in it the Flash: Rebirth author talks about Blackest Night, Flash, Superman and a lot more.

Some Flash items that stood out:

Wally’s Costume

Back in June, Ethan Van Sciver said that Wally West’s new costume debuts in Flash: Rebirth #6, but Geoff Johns says here that it appears in #5. If that’s correct and not a typo, then I feel a lot more confident about the schedule for Blackest Night: Flash not being pushed back to avoid spoiling the costume debut.

He goes on:

And it’s very much a Flash costume. It’s tweaked, but it’s certainly not crazy. It’s not blue and white. It’s Flash. We never wanted to completely change it. We just wanted to accentuate what makes Wally’s costume, Wally’s costume. It will feel very familiar.

Hmm, hard to say, but I’m going to guess two things:

  • Barry keeps the straight-across belt and Wally keeps the V-shaped belt.
  • Wally loses the top of his cowl, making his hair visible.

XS

There are very big plans for XS in the future of the Flash universe. “The Flash” book and the “Kid Flash” book start next year

I think this is great. I haven’t read much of the DnA Legion of Super-Heroes, but I liked her appearances in Impulse during and around “Dead Heat.” Jenni and Bart really connected during that story, and I can see a lot of potential with two teenage speedsters who have spent significant amounts of time in the future. Plus it’s got to be a big change for Bart to go from having one blood relative around (Iris) to three (Iris, Barry and Jenni).

On the other hand, I hope XS will still be tied to the Legion of Super-Heroes, and I hope her Flash appearances are in addition to the “new” female speedster hinted at in San Diego and Long Beach.

Hey, wouldn’t it be weird if she ends up in the Justice League? (Okay, not going to happen, but she would be an “interesting” choice, wouldn’t she?)

The Speed Force

His longest Flash-related answer is to a question about why he changed the nature of the speed force in Flash: Rebirth. It’s several paragraphs long, but the part that stood out for me was this:

And literally if [Barry] builds up enough energy, just like anything else that builds up energy, boom, there’s a discharge somewhere or somewhen. A stray lightning bolt from the Speed Force that…strikes somebody that shares the same sense of justice that Barry Allen has.

This picks up from something suggested during William Messner-Loebs’ run on the book, in which he suggested that Barry Allen might somehow have subconsciously willed the accident that gave him super-speed to repeat itself with Wally. It explains the mysterious behavior of the speed force “noticing” people, though it doesn’t quite explain, for instance, Savitar — who certainly didn’t share Barry Allen’s sense of justice. Maybe he did before he gained his powers. Or maybe he gained them through a discharge from Thawne’s “negative speed force?”

(Personally, I think that these changes overcomplicate a plot device that was designed to simplify speedsters’ origins, but that’s just my opinion.)

Flash Movie

Geoff Johns says that he’s “working on The Flash” and Shazam but can’t say anything more at this time.