Tag Archives: Flash: Rebirth

One Week to Flash: Rebirth #5, Dan Didio Talks Delays

So, who remembers what happened in Flash: Rebirth #4? 😀 All joking aside, it looks like we’ll finally get the next installment of the story in just over a week. Not only does DC still list Flash: Rebirth #5 with a November 18 date, it’s on also on Diamond’s upcoming releases list for books shipping next week. It’s extremely rare for anything to slip once it appears on that list (though I have seen it happen occasionally).

Here’s what the miniseries’ schedule looks like at this point:

Issue	Orig. Date	Actual Date	Gap	Delay
Flash: Rebirth #1	April 1	April 1	3 months*	On time
Flash: Rebirth #2	May 6	May 6	5 weeks	On time
Flash: Rebirth #3	June 10	June 10	5 weeks	On time
Flash: Rebirth #4	July 22	Aug. 26	11 weeks	5 weeks
Flash: Rebirth #5	Aug. 26	Nov. 18	12 weeks	12 weeks
Flash: Rebirth #6	Sep. 30	Dec. 23**	5 weeks	12 weeks

*Since Flash v.2 #247

**Well, currently-scheduled date, anyway.

All signs point to the next mini-series, Blackest Night: The Flash staying on track. Especially when you factor in Dan Didio’s comments on scheduling in his latest 10 Answers column:

…A lot of times the story drives how the books are produced. Certain books we have a certain level of leeway with because of how they fall within the rest of the DCU continuity. Books like Flash: Rebirth, books like Superman: Secret Origin, had long lead times and they still ran into some problems toward the end. But because of the consistency of the look and the consistency of the team and the consistency of the vision of that material, we’re willing to wait for those books because they don’t have an impact on other series that are rolling out at that time. [emphasis added]

But when we have other books like Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps, it’s essential for them to come out in conjunction with Blackest Night, and for those, we know to plan differently.

Both sides — Rebirth not holding up the rest of the DCU and Blackest Night: Flash needing to sync up with Blackest Night — would seem to factor into the decision to keep the Johns/Kolins miniseries on schedule even though it means launching before Rebirth ends (whenever that ends up being).

Just think: in a few weeks, the Flash franchise should be back on track!

Flash: Rebirth #5 Now Due November 18

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It looks like Flash: Rebirth #5 won’t be out next week after all. Reader Perplexio wrote in to point out that DC’s website now shows a release date of November 18.

The funny thing is, I checked it two hours ago and it still said November 11. It’s starting to feel like I should check it on an hourly basis!

No change on the release dates for Flash: Rebirth #6 or the first two issues of Blackest Night: The Flash.

The current schedule looks like this:

Flash: Rebirth #5	November 18, 2009
Blackest Night: The Flash #1	December 2, 2009
Flash: Rebirth #6	December 23, 2009
Blackest Night: The Flash #2	January 13, 2010

It’s beginning to look less and less likely that Flash: Rebirth will finish this year. With no comics shipping the week of December 30, even a one-week slip on issue #6 will push it into January.

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.

Frustrations with DC: One Year Later

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Actually it’s closer to a year and a half since I wrote about my frustrations with DC Comics, but it’s a good time to look back at them.

In June 2008, I listed three main problems I had with the current state of DC:

I’m tired of mega-crossovers.
Mishandling of the Flash after Geoff Johns left.
The wholesale slaughter of “redundant” and C-list characters to make a point.

So, what’s the current status?

Crossovers

DC is even more focused on mega-crossovers than before, with Blackest Night ballooning from a Green Lantern story into an eight-issue main miniseries, seven three-issue side miniseries, eight-issue arcs in both Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps, a month of eight in-series crossovers, a month of eight one-shots…

But frankly it doesn’t bother me, because of those 61 comic books, I only plan on reading three: the three issues of Blackest Night: The Flash. Realizing that I don’t have to buy the big event has saved me a lot of grief.

Mishandling the Flash

On the plus side: Geoff Johns is back on the title. Bart Allen is back as Kid Flash. Scott Kolins is back drawing Wally West. Most importantly, DC seems to be willing to stick with a direction at this point, and has committed to the point that they’ll actually launch two series, and every month will have new solo stories starring Barry Allen, Wally West, and Bart Allen.

On the minus side: Flash: Rebirth should have wrapped up in September, is currently scheduled to end in December, and individual issues are getting rescheduled often enough that I’m checking daily to see if the release dates have changed. The repeated delays have killed a lot of the story’s momentum, and have actually soured some fans on the relaunch. Plus they’re sidelining my favorite version of the character, though at least they aren’t taking him off the playing field entirely.

Killing Characters

The big crossover is all about dead characters rising from the grave as evil undead. Need I say more?

Has it improved?

Well, one item shows some progress, but it’s mixed. The other two haven’t changed at all…but I’ve gotten less attached to the DC Universe, so it doesn’t bother me as much. I’m not sure if that’s progress or not.

Flash: Rebirth to Conclude December 23

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Flash: Rebirth #6 (thumb) Once Flash: Rebirth #5 was pushed back to November 11, I don’t think anyone really expected the final issue to come out just two weeks later. Now DC has made it official, rescheduling Flash: Rebirth #6 for December 23. Merry Christmas, Flash fans! 😐

Dates for Blackest Night: The Flash have not changed.

Some interesting facts:

That’s 6 weeks after issue #5’s current release date.
It’s 12 weeks after the issue’s original release date (September 30).
Oddly enough, it’s 3 weeks after Blackest Night: The Flash #1 is scheduled to ship. (Thank you, DC, for not postponing it!)
It makes the miniseries 38 weeks, or almost 9 months, from start to end.
That makes it an average of 7.6 weeks between issues. The first three issues, which shipped on time, were 5 weeks apart.
Last year, the final issue of Wally West’s solo series, The Flash #247 was released on December 24. If this sticks, that means that two years in a row, a Flash series will have ended the Wednesday before Christmas.

Thanks to @kukheart for spotting this change. I’ve been checking daily, but he got there first today!

Flash: Rebirth #5 Now Due November 11

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Flash: Rebirth #5 Wow…this would be hilarious if it weren’t…actually, scratch that. It is hilarious.

DC’s website now shows Flash: Rebirth #5 as shipping on November 11, 2009. A week ago it was scheduled for November 4. A week before that it was October 28. Two weeks before that, it was October 14. And it was originally supposed to be out on August 26!

No change yet on the schedule for Flash: Rebirth #6 or Blackest Night: Flash #1. DC’s January solicitations should be up next Monday, though. There may be some leeway since January is a “skip month” for Blackest Night, though it’s not clear whether it’s only the primary miniseries or the side series like Blackest Night: Flash, Blackest Night: Wonder Woman and Blackest Night: JSA that are skipping. If we see BN: WW #2 and BN: JSA #2 on the schedule, but not BN: Flash #2, we’ll know something’s up.

I’m beginning to feel like I should start a betting pool for when Flash: Rebirth will actually wrap.

Update: Now it’s November 18.

Speed Force

Tracking the Flash – the Fastest Man Alive