Tag Archives: Dark Flash

Speed Reading: Flash History – Blitz, Showcase, Hell to Pay and JLApe

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Some recent sightings of Flash history around the web.

4thletter!’s 4×4 Elements series looks at what made “Blitz” work.

Two more Flash moments appear in Comics Should Be Good’s list of 75 Memorable Moments in DC History: Barry Allen’s sacrifice in Crisis on Infinite Earths and the first Superman/Flash race.

Bleeding Cool noticed a similarity between the universe-changing conclusion of Spider-Man’s “One More Day” and a story point in Flash’s “Hell to Pay,” and asked, “Where was the outrage when Wally West did the same thing?” Hmm, on one hand you have someone who makes a deal with the devil to retcon away 15 20 years of stories and create a new status quo that has lasted three years so far. On the other hand, you have someone who makes a deal with the devil for the sake of a story, and he finds a way to beat the Devil at his own game the next issue. Yeah, they’re totally the same.

Random Happenstance’s series on 1999’s JLApe event continues with a summary of the Flash installment, featuring Max Monkey and Chimpulse.

The Hooded Utilitarian, after reading Flash: Rebirth, decides to go back and read some Silver-Age Flash starting with Showcase #4.

These Are The Greatest Wally West Stories Ever Told

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Comics Should Be Good has posted the results of their reader poll for the Greatest Wally West stories ever told. It’s technically a top ten list, but they included eleven stories because the #10 winner was essentially a prologue for one of the other winners.

It’s interesting to break down the results by writer:

  • 7 by Mark Waid (including the top three)
  • 2 by Geoff Johns
  • 2 by William Messner-Loebs

In a way it’s surprising that Geoff Johns, DC’s current superstar writer, isn’t more heavily represented, but it also makes sense. Mark Waid’s run on The Flash was very much about Wally West and his journey through young adulthood (Messner-Loebs’ run even more so!), while Geoff Johns’ run tilted a bit more toward the Rogues.

Head over to Comics Should Be Good for the full list!

Spotlight: Arrobasilver Flash Jewelry and 10% off for Speed Force Readers!

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A few years ago I was browsing eBay (like I frequently do) in hopes of finding cool Flash collectibles when I stumbled upon an awesome piece of Flash fashion:

A sterling silver Justice League/The Flash-themed class ring! Thinking this ring popping up was a random one of a kind occurrence, I quickly snatched it up. When the ring arrived a week or so later it came with a catalog for Arrobasilver.com. I looked up the website and didn’t really see anything else Flash-related at the time, although they did have class rings for every member of the Big Seven. Nevertheless I still subscribed to their newsletter because A) The ring was gorgeous, had a great heft to it and was extremely detailed. And B) I wanted to know if and when they added new Flash stuff to their catalog.

Fast forward a year or so and I get a newsletter with an announcement for these designs:


Traditional Red and Yellow


“Dark Flash” Silver on Red


Red on Silver


And last but not least “Professor Zoom” Red on Black.

Pretty nice huh? One doesn’t have to be ultra-brazen to wear these out in public, but they still have a distinct look and unique flair to them. They run for $54.99 USD plus shipping, and with the amount of creativity, and craftmanship that goes into these pieces I’d say they are worth at least double that. Not only that but they are officially licensed by DC Comics and Warner Bros and that authenticity shows.

By the way when I asked Arrobasilver for permission to feature them they were kind enough to give Speedforce.org an exclusive promo code to knock 10% off of these bad boys. Just enter GA001 when checking out. Also stay tuned for some exciting news concerning Arroba Silver and Speedforce.org in the next few days.

Oh and one more thing:

***Slightly Off-Topic***

For those random non-Flash fans that show up here from time to time, Arrobasilver does much more than just Flash Rings. They have over 20 Green Lantern Ring designs alone that you can check out HERE, as well as other Justice League-related rings including a swanky Captain Marvel (Shazam) Ring they just released a few weeks ago. Remember: GA001 gets you 10% off exclusively so take advantage of this unique opportunity while you have the chance.

Remember, some exciting news is coming up in the very near future concerning Speedforce.org and Arrobasilver so keep an eye out.

–Devin “The Flash” Johnson

EVS Talks Flash: Rebirth at Word Balloon

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I finally finished listening to last week’s Word Balloon Podcast with Ethan Van Sciver this morning. During the 90-minute interview, he talks about Flash: Rebirth, the personal issues that caused the delays, redesigning Wally West’s costume, bringing back Impulse, the balance of power between writers and artists, and Cyberfrog.

Some points that Flash readers will find interesting:

Last spring, Ethan Van Sciver started experiencing chest pains and was told that if he didn’t do something about his health, he was going to have a heart attack. So he embarked on a complete lifestyle change, which threw off his work schedule, slowing down Flash: Rebirth. The final issue, originally scheduled for September 30 of last year, will be out in two weeks on February 24.

It was his idea to make Iris “Irey” West II the new Impulse. He wanted the character back, and deliberately made Iris and Jai younger than they had been previously because of that (and because he didn’t like them as tweens). He also made an effort to draw Bart Allen as Kid Flash looking a bit more like he appeared as Impulse: round face, big feet, slightly exaggerated features. On a related note: Geoff Johns has plans for Jai.

He had a really hard time redesigning Wally West’s costume. The way he put it was that it’s easy to design a speedster costume, but it’s hard to design a Flash costume. Whereas with Sinestro Corps War and Blackest Night he basically had free reign with new designs, this time he kept getting notes and had several designs rejected. The final version was quite literally a composite of other Flash costumes: EVS wanted the straight cowl from the TV series & Dark Flash, to make it look like a knight’s helmet (in line with his Barry = King Arthur and Wally = Lancelot metaphor), Geoff Johns came up with using the animated-style emblem, etc. To this day, Van Sciver isn’t happy with the way it turned out.

There’s a lot more in there — it is an hour and a half long — and it’s worth listening to if you have the time. There’s also a discussion at Comic Bloc that’s gotten into the writer/artist balance.

Related note: Daniel Way interviews EVS in connection with Cherry Capital Con.

Art from the Flash Game that Never Was

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With the success of Batman: Arkham Asylum, Super Punch has a round-up of links to Roger Robinson’s art for BottleRocket’s 2007 Flash video game that never got off the ground. I really like the menu art, and the two sets of storyboards show some interesting design choices, including a mask design reminiscent of Walter West, the “Dark Flash”. (via Comics Alliance)

Captain Cold - BottleRocket Game