My first post on San Diego Comic-Con is up. Flash report: A dozen or so people in Flash T-shirts around the hall…plus every single member of the DC Booth staff. (This probably doesn’t mean anything — they’ll probably all be in GL shirts tomorrow, Wonder Woman on Friday, Superman on Saturday, and Batman on Sunday. But I found it interesting.) I also spotted Ethan van Sciver as he drew a sketch for the last person in the line.
Newsarama’s Vaneta Rogers spoke with Ethan van Sciver at Wizard World Chicago last week about his upcoming projects, including Green Lantern: Blackest Night with Geoff Johns and an untitled Wonder Woman project with Gail Simone. They also discussed the rumors of an upcoming Flash project with Geoff Johns.
The artist had just come from a DC panel where Dan DiDio seemed to always turn to him to answer any question about The Flash. We asked: Why is that?
“Because he’s a sadist, deep down. He even told me that. He said, “I just like to see you squirm.’ I honestly have no idea. He likes to get the rumors going,” Van Sciver said.
We talked about the rumor mill and how most fans think his upcoming “secret project” with Geoff Johns is either Aquaman or The Flash.
“Aquaman’s leading the pack?” Van Sciver said in obviously feigned surprise….
The mysterious van Sciver/Johns project — whether it’s Flash, Aquaman, or something else — will be announced in San Diego later this month.
Ethan van Sciver is no stranger to the Flash, having worked with Geoff Johns on the 2001 graphic novel The Flash: Iron Heights (now collected in the second edition of Flash: Blood Will Run, released earlier this year). He also worked on Impulse with Todd Dezago, where he helped create Inertia, and did several covers for The Flash in 2004 and for The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive in 2007.
Saturday’s Wizard World Chicago panel, DCU: Crisis, added a few more tidbits of Flash news to the many hints from the DC Nation panel on Friday.
Didio looked at Ethan Van Sciver, teasing about his involvement. EVS deadpanned, “Yeah, good stuff. I wish Geoff were here.” Didio followed up, “Which Flash would you talk about?” Van Sciver shot back, “Why not all of them?” Didio pretended to be incredulous “In the same book?” Van Sciver drove it home with, “Why not?”
Rumors of a Van Sciver/Johns Flash series were already floating around. But all Flashes? They might have to come up with a team name at this rate! (Blog @ Newsarama points out the reason Geoff Johns missed the panel: He was close friends with Michael Turner, and left the con for Los Angeles when he learned of the artist’s passing.)
CBR’s write-up adds:
DiDio didn’t want to comment on a rumor that Peyer and Williams would leave “The Flash” and a the series would be restarted with a new #1…
Well, we already know that Peyer and Williams are off the book. And it certainly looks like a relaunch of some sort is in the cards. But another #1?
Personally, I think if the series relaunches with Barry Allen, it would make more sense to pick up with #351 — right where his series left off. If Wally keeps the central spot, it should stay with his numbering. If it’s going to be a combined Flash book, I’d like to see them take a cue from Spider-Man and pick up where the numbering would be if the series had never been renumbered.
Let’s suppose that “This Was Your Life, Wally West” is a 4-parter, which would make it finish the same month as the end of Final Crisis. That would take the series to #247. So we’d have 350 issues of Jay’s and Barry’s series, plus 247 issues of Wally’s, plus 13 of Bart’s, bringing it to 610 issues total, with a relaunch picking up at #611. Or if you include All-Flash #1, Flash v.2 #0, and Flash v.2 #1,000,000, all of which fit into the normal monthly schedule, it would pick up with #614. Okay, so neither of those has the magic of a #500, but very few comic books have reached numbers this high.
Comic Book Resources and Newsarama have posted their write-ups on today’s DC Nation Panel at HeroesCon. Newsarama’s coverage includes a breakdown of the question-and-answer session, including some tantalizing hints about the future of the Flash. (The article notes that these are paraphrased.)
Q: What’s coming up in The Flash?
Ethan VanSciver: “No comment” on what’s coming up, but the artist added, “I love the Flash, Absolutely love the Flash.”
Dan Didio – How much?
EVS – Enough to spend some time with the Flash.
Q: Is the Flash that Ethan wants to spend time on Barry?
EVS: Uhhh.
DD: Enough said.
There have been rumors of a Geoff Johns/Ethan van Sciver project for months, and speculation that it might be a Flash series starring Barry Allen.
Johns and van Sciver are, of course, well-known today for their work on Green Lantern, and Green Lantern: Rebirth — the series which brought Hal Jordan back from limbo and reinstated him as DC’s main Green Lantern — seems particularly relevant. They also teamed on the 2001 graphic novel The Flash: Iron Heights, which introduced a half-dozen new villains to the Flash mythos (focusing on Murmur) and established Keystone City’s equivalent to Arkham Asylum. The opening sequence featured a flashback to Barry Allen, police scientist, testifying at Murmur’s trial.
For several years, Iron Heights has been difficult to find, but it’s now been included in the second edition of Flash: Blood Will Run.
Q: Will a Flash die in Final Crisis?
DD: Quite the opposite.
Well, we’ve known since the end of April that Barry Allen was returning from the dead as part of Final Crisis, so this doesn’t give much away. Interestingly, CBR’s write-up has this as “No, quite the opposite.” That single word makes a difference. That phrasing implies that not only does Barry return, but no other Flashes die. That would indicate that Wally, Jay, and yes, even Barry are safe — at least in Final Crisis itself.
Were any readers at that panel? Can you clarify how Didio phrased this?
Update: The Pulse’s coverage doesn’t try to paraphrase the response, but mentions, “one fan joked that it would mean that Wally West would have more kids.”