Tag Archives: Flash: Rebirth

Flash: Rebirth #6 in February?

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The Flash: Reschedule saga continues, but this time with some potentially good news. While DC’s website still lists a March 24, 2010 release date for Flash: Rebirth #6, Diamond Comics has posted on their shipping updates page that the title will appear on February 24, 2010. Still later than the January 27 date we had before, and still arriving after Blackest Night: The Flash wraps (though by only a week!), but much more reasonable than the 4-month gap between issues previously announced.

Thanks to PyroTwilight at Comic Bloc for the news!

Weekend Update: Rebirth Schedule & Secret Files

Some Flash news broke over the weekend. In case you missed the original posts…

First, Ethan Van Sciver reports that Flash: Rebirth #6 should be out sooner than March after all — he’s almost done with the art, and expects to finish this week!

Second, the Flash Secret Files 2010 solicitation is up. It’s due March 24.

I’ll be back this evening with a run-down of likely Flash appearances in the full March solicitations.

Flash: Rebirth #6 — Sooner Than We Think!

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Flash: Rebirth #6 (thumb)Gee, you go away for one Christmas party, and news starts breaking fast and furious!

So, a couple of days ago, DC rescheduled Flash: Rebirth #6 from January 27 to March 24. On Saturday, Ethan Van Sciver stopped by Comic Bloc to let fans know what was going on:

This March date is strange. The book will be finished this week. I think you’ll see it get bumped back to January in a few days. [Emphasis added.]

The artist has previously stated that he sends the pages to the colorist in batches (of three, IIRC) as he finishes them, so they’ve already started coloring the book.

Meanwhile, Flash Secret Files has been solicited…with that same March 24 release date. Could someone at DC have mistakenly updated the website with the date for the Secret Files book?

Van Sciver also remarked on the delays, saying that it’s been taking him two months to draw each book, plus he had some health problems around the time that issue #3 came out.

(Thanks to Wayne Lippa and @MrEPCOT for letting me know about EVS’ posts!)

Flash: Rebirth #5 Still Above 70K

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A couple of weeks ago I posted that Flash: Rebirth #5 took the #9 spot in November’s sales rankings. Since then, ICv2 has posted full sales estimates for the month.

Issue Rank Units Sold Change
Flash: Rebirth #1 (of 6) 2 102,429 +286.6%
Flash: Rebirth #2 (of 6) 4 86,183 -15.9%
Flash: Rebirth #3 (of 6) 10 83,086 -3.6%
Flash: Rebirth #4 (of 6) 14 78,107 -6.0%
Flash: Rebirth #5 (of 6) 9 73,875 -5.4%

It looks like the drops may be leveling off. The drop from #3 (the last issue to ship on time) to #4 (the first issue to be several months late) was sharper than expected, but this drop was smaller — and in fact the sales ranking went up!

The book continues to outsell the 2007-2008 relaunch by a factor of two, and is holding above Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge, which sold in the 54-62K range. On the other hand, it seems to be dropping at a comparable rate to Flash: The Fastest Man Alive. Maybe it’s more typical (and less cause for concern) in a miniseries than in a regular series. Update: The Beat has more analysis of DC’s November sales.

Whatever the case, I’m really curious about the numbers for Blackest Night: The Flash.

Delayed! Flash: Rebirth #6 Now Due March 24

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Flash: Rebirth #6 (thumb)Wow. Comic Bloc’s SNW1 has been checking more often than I have (or at least has better timing), because he spotted this: DC’s website now lists March 24, 2010 as the release date for Flash: Rebirth #6.

Think about that for a moment. Let that sink in. Assuming no further schedule changes (and so far, Blackest Night: Flash hasn’t changed), this means:

  • Blackest Night: The Flash will finish a month before Flash: Rebirth does.
  • Flash: Rebirth will have spanned just one week less than 52 did.
  • There’s a good chance that Flash Secret Files will also be out by the time Flash: Rebirth finishes. (Presumably we’ll find out on Monday when DC’s March solicitations go up.)
  • That April date for the Flash: Rebirth hardcover is looking mighty optimistic.
  • The book will be out one week before WonderCon, for which EVS is drawing the program cover/T-shirt (Edit: this was posted just two days ago).
  • On the plus side, those of us who were hoping The Flash might launch immediately after Rebirth’s conclusion might actually get our wish.

It’s worth noting that 4 people out of 106 did vote for March 2010 in the When Will Flash: Rebirth Finish? poll last month.

Update (Dec 20): The book may be coming out sooner than March after all.

Update 2: It’s been rescheduled to February 24, 2010.

Geoff Johns: Already the Longest Run on Flash Since 2005

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Something just occurred to me: Between Flash: Rebirth and Blackest Night: The Flash, DC has scheduled 9 Flash comics in a row by the same writer. This hasn’t happened since 2005, when Geoff Johns finished his previous run on The Flash. We’re looking at the most creatively-consistent period the Flash has had in four years, even though we haven’t seen a single issue of the regular series!

The Flash has historically had very stable writing teams. The Golden Age was mostly Gardner Fox; the Silver age mostly John Broome. Robert Kanigher contributed to both. The Bronze Age was almost entirely Cary Bates. William Messner-Loebs did several years in the late 1980s, Mark Waid had the 1990s sewn up, and Geoff Johns took the first half of the 2000s.

But since 2005, the longest run had been just 8 issues by Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo.

It’s nice to finally have some stability back for the Flash. Even if we didn’t already know Geoff Johns would be sticking around for the new series, it already feels like a minor miracle.