Tag Archives: Flash Companion

Flash Companion Podcasts

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Flash Companion author Keith Dallas has appeared on several podcasts in the last few months.

May 1: TwoMorrows Tune-In #8

May 14: Views from the Longbox Episode #39: The Keith Dallas Conversation Part 1

May 28: Views from the Longbox Episode #40: The Keith Dallas Conversation Part 2

July 9: Alter Ego Comic Cast #107 with Keith Dallas and Jim Beard

Also, it turns out that while TwoMorrows will have copies to sell next week at Comic-Con International in San Diego, it probably won’t hit stores until July 30.

Flash Companion Preview: Cary Bates Interview

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The following is a 1-page excerpt from the upcoming book, The Flash Companion. The full interview appears in the second section of the book. It is printed here with permission of the book’s main author, Keith Dallas.

The Flash Companion is scheduled for a July 23 release.

Cary Bates: A Scarlet Speedster for the Seventies (excerpt)

By Jack Scott

SCOTT: Was [the serialized storytelling] your decision or a DC editorial decision to change how the Flash stories were being written? I’m wondering if there was a DC mandate to become more like its competitor Marvel Comics.

BATES: I don’t think going the serial route was an official mandate or anything. It just seemed like a natural way to proceed at the time, dictated by the story-lines more than anything else. It first began the last couple of years Julie [Schwartz] was editing the book, in the form of 2-4 issue arcs (like the Golden Glider stories). And with Ross [Andru] and Ernie [Colon], who were more Marvel-oriented guys, the full-on serialized mode pretty much became the status quo. Although I do recall a temporary return to more self-contained stories for awhile, when Mike Barr was editing and Carmine [Infantino] first returned to the book.

SCOTT: Speaking of the co-creator of Barry Allen/Flash, Carmine Infantino returned to pencil the book with issue #296 in 1981. How did it feel to get to work with one of the original creators of the book?

BATES: As I’ve mentioned, when I was growing up, Carmine’s distinctive artwork made a huge impact on me as a fan (and an aspiring amateur artist), so it was a great thrill to finally be working with him on Flash. Carmine and I always got along well, but when I first met him, he had given up his drawing board to serve as DC’s editorial director, although he still laid out most of the covers for other artists. In 1976, after Warners hired Jennette Kahn to take over that job, Carmine went back to penciling, and for a year or two he was working almost exclusively for Jim Warren on books like Creepy and Eerie. Ironically, it was here where our first collaborations took place, as I was writing occasional Warren stories for Louise Jones, who was the editor at the time. I think Carmine and I must have done 3 or 4 one shot horror stories that have long since been forgotten.

SCOTT: How far did you plot out stories? Continue reading →

Flash Companion Preview: Lost Gold

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The following is an excerpt from the upcoming book, The Flash Companion. The full article appears in the first section of the book. It is printed here with permission of the book’s main author, Keith Dallas.

The Flash Companion is scheduled for a July 23 release.

Lost Gold: The Unpublished Golden Age Flash Stories

By John Wells

The abrupt cancellation of Flash Comics left Julius Schwartz with no chance to burn off the inventory of completed material he’d assembled for future issues. Instead, each page was stamped “Written Off 9-30-49,” filed away and ultimately marked for destruction in the late 1960s. Unpublished samples of all five features in Flash Comics survived to the present. Most remarkably, there were five Flash stories — three preserved in their entirety! They are:

“Journey Into Danger”: A criminal discovers a formula capable of accelerating speed and motion — but not the means of controlling it. In an effort to force Jay Garrick to give up his own formula for slowing down energy, the Farmer unleashes his speed solution on an unsuspecting Keystone City and the Flash himself (published in The Flash #205: April, 1971).

“The Tale of the Three Tokens”: A stranger gives common objects to Jay and two other men that prove instrumental in saving each of their lives during the Thinker’s attempt to use a stolen time machine (published in The Flash #214: April, 1972).

“Strange Confession”: After the Flash’s third encounter with the Thorn, her “sister” Rose confesses to Jay Garrick that she and the villainess are one and the same. Her evil personality kidnaps Joan Williams in retaliation, and the Flash ultimately asks Green Lantern to transport Rose to the curative Transformation Island at the suggestion of Wonder Woman (pages 11 and 12 published in Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane #113: Sept.-Oct., 1971. Later published in its entirety in Robin Snyder’s fanzine The Comics [Vol. 6] #10: Oct., 1995.).

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Flash Companion Arrives July 23

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In just three weeks, The Flash Companion will hit the shelves — just in time for San Diego Comic-Con. Written by Keith Dallas and published by TwoMorrows, the book covers the entire history of the Flash from 1940 to the present.

I’ll let the official summary speak for itself (with a bit of reformatting):

The Flash Companion details the publication histories of the four heroes who have individually earned the right to be declared DC Comics’ “Fastest Man Alive”: Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, Wally West, and Bart Allen.

With articles about legendary creators Shelly Mayer, Gardner Fox, E.E. Hibbard, Julius Schwartz, Robert Kanigher, John Broome, Ross Andru, Irv Novick and all new interviews of Harry Lampert, Carmine Infantino, Cary Bates, Alex Saviuk, Mike W. Barr, Marv Wolfman, Mike Baron, Jackson Guice, Mark Waid,  Kolins, among others, The Flash Companion recounts the scarlet speedster’s evolution from the Golden Age to the 21st century.

Also featured are “lost covers,” never before published commission pieces by Flash artists throughout the decades, a Rogues Gallery detailing The Flash’s most famous foes, a tribute to late artist Mike Wieringo by Mark Waid, a look at the speedster’s 1990s TV show, and “Flash facts” detailing pivotal moments in Flash history.

Written by Keith Dallas, with a cover by Don Kramer (Detective Comics, JSA) with colors by Moose Baumann (Green Lantern).

Dallas recruited a number of fans from the Comic Bloc Forums to help write articles, conduct interviews, and contribute artwork and photos. I contributed three articles to the Rogue Profiles section: Abra Kadabra, the Reverse-Flash, and Zoom.

I’ve had a chance to read some of the other articles and interviews, and I’m really excited about this book. It’s going to be a fascinating read and a great resource for Flash fans.

Over the next few weeks, with the author’s permission, I’ll be posting an excerpt each week up until the release date.

One more item: This is small press, and I’m not the main author on the book, so I’m not getting paid for the articles I contributed (unless you count the comp copy). But I do have an Amazon Affiliate account, so if you order through this link, I’ll actually get paid a little in a roundabout way.