Hey Speed Readers,
Just a quick reminder (that I wanted to get up a lot earlier) Young Justice, featuring Kid Flash (Wally West) and Impulse (Bart Allen) as cast members will be returning from it’s mid-season hiatus tomorrow morning. The show has been on hiatus since June so many fans (like the team here at Speed Force) have been anxiously awaiting it’s return. Especially since this seems to be the only place that Wally West (and the Flash family) is getting any kind of love these days.
This week sees the release of Flash #0, the Zero Month issue featuring the New 52 origin of Barry Allen.
Writing and art by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato.
Check out the preview on Facebook.
There’s also the trade paperback of The Road to Flashpoint, the second half of the Geoff Johns/Francis Manapul run from 2010-2011.
Make way for Hot Pursuit – the latest speedster to come out of the Speed Force!
Collects THE FLASH #8-12!
Written by: Geoff Johns, Scott Kolins
Art by: Francis Manapul, Scott Kolins
After a few hiccups, DC’s digital back-issues program seems to have shifted from three issues of Flash (1987 series) each week to two issues of Flash and two of Impulse. This week features the digital re-release of Flash #58-59 and Impulse #19-20. At this rate, the entire William Messner-Loebs/Greg LaRocque run will be available next week!
Flash #58 and Flash #59 continue the story of the Icicle’s fortune, as his grandchildren take Wally West to court over the contested will. But what does Pied Piper have to say about this wealth…and the forgotten legacy of Invasion? Power Girl guest-stars as Wally and Mason Trollbridge try to uncover the secret of a rogue agent stalking another of the Makhent family.
Impulse #19: it’s the speedster’s nightmare! Then in Impulse #20, Bart tries to learn how to live normally by learning to play baseball. Hilarity ensues.
Flash (1987-2009) on ComiXology
Impulse on ComiXology
The final issue of The Shade arrives in stores this week.
The Source has a preview and commentary from writer James Robinson, artist Gene Ha, and editor Wil Moss.
Once a normal family man with a wife and two children living in London, Richard Swift was forced against his will into a life of the supernatural. What mistake did he make that would be his undoing and send him down a path of no return? Don’t miss this special issue of the critically acclaimed series that explored The Shade’s mysterious origins!
I expect it’ll be a bit more sophisticated than the Golden-Age explanation of his powers…
Seriously, I’ve been enjoying this series. It’s the kind of thing that could have (more) easily been done without the New 52, and I’m glad that they went through with it anyway, even if it required a few changes.
In the digital realm, ComiXology is adding The Flash #54-55 and Impulse #15-16 to their back-issue catalog.
Flash #54, “Nobody Dies” frequently shows up in lists of favorite single-issue stories from the Wally West series. It’s the one where Wally West watches a flight attendant get sucked out of an airplane and decides he’s going to jump out after her even though he can’t fly. CSBG featured the story in its “Almost Hidden” series, and Comics Bulletin has Messner-Loebs’ remarks on the story.
Flash #55 is a War of the Gods tie-in issue, and features the Flash racing against both Mercury and Hermes. (In the DCU at the time, the Greek and Roman pantheons were separate.) Also, IIRC, Wally and friends play Dungeons and Dragons.
Impulse #15 concludes the “Faith and Trust” two-parter in which Bart’s friend Carol finds her family caught in the middle of a double heist by the Trickster and White Lightning. Impulse #16 is one of the more powerful issues of the series. Max Mercury’s relationship to Helen Claiborne is revealed, along with a secret shame from Max’s past. These three issues together were among the most serious of the Mark Waid/Humberto Ramos run (though there’s always room for humor when the Trickster is around). Not surprisingly, the next few issues were all broad comedy.
This week sees the release of The Flash Omnibus by Geoff Johns vol.3, wrapping up the initial Geoff Johns run on the Wally West Flash series.
A third massive FLASH HC from superstar writer GEOFF JOHNS! • THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE clashes with his Rogues Gallery, including CAPTAIN COLD, THE PIED PIPER, TRICKSTER and MIRROR MASTER! • Collects THE FLASH #201-225 and WONDER WOMAN #214!
Written by Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka
Art by Howard Porter, Alberto Dose, Various
Cover by Michael Turner
Order on Amazon (40% discount)
I still think we’ll see a fourth volume featuring Johns’ work on Barry Allen sometime. 6 issues of Flash: Rebirth, 3 of Blackest Night: The Flash, 12 of The Flash vol.3 and 5 of Flashpoint, plus the half-issue story from The Flash Secret Files 2010 add up to around 600 pages, close to the size of this volume.
In digital backissues, we get five issues of Flash and two of Impulse.
Flash #50 features the conclusion of the Vandal Savage storyline interrupted a few weeks back by the republishing of “Dead Heat”…and the debut of Wally West’s redesigned costume. Flash #51-53 are a series of done-in-one stories. The Flash battles a former Soviet hero cut adrift by the collapse of the USSR, then works off his debts to the IRS as a tax collector, sent after a man who summoned a team of demons to cheat at his taxes. (Hey, the Joker once sold his soul for a box of cigars.) Flash #53 is notable less for the Superman team-up than for Pied Piper coming out of the closet.
Jumping ahead to Flash #80 fills in the missing chapter of “Back on Track,” the remaining parts of which went online during the Nightwing 101 sale last month. Magenta threatens Keystone City, and only Wally West can stop her — but not as the Flash.
Impulse #13 tells the story of one of Bart Allen’s friends who becomes a daredevil in order to be popular. Impulse save him time and again, but that only feeds the cycle. Impulse #14 is the first part of a two-parter starring the Trickster and White Lightning, both of whom are trying to steal the same precious artifact, with Bart’s best friend Carol gets caught in the middle.
This week it’s The Flash #12. The regular art team returns as all the individual stories of the Rogues come together, leading into next week’s Flash Annual #1.
Written by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato
Art by Francis Manapul
In the digital realm, ComiXology is releasing four issues of “Dead Heat”, the Flash/Impulse crossover from 1995. Flash #108-109 (Mark Waid and Oscar Jimenez) and Impulse #10-11 (Mark Waid and Humberto Ramos) cover chapters 1-3 and 5 of the 6-part story, and I’m sure we’ll see chapters 4 and 6 next week. With any luck, they’ll jump back and release Flash #50 soon as well, since they left of with one heck of a cliffhanger in Flash #49 last week.
Savitar, an old enemy of Max Mercury’s, has returned. Obsessed with speed, he has found a way to divert all of the Speed Force’s energy to himself and his followers. But there’s one speedster still in the running, someone who recently connected himself more closely to the speed force than even Savitar: Wally West. Jay Garrick, Johnny Quick, Jesse Quick, Max Mercury, Impulse and XS team up to stop Savitar, but more than one speedster won’t make it out alive!
Following on the heels of last week’s Flash Archives vol.6 for the hardcover collector, DC has the next volume of the softcover series reprinting the Silver Age Flash starring Barry Allen: Flash Chronicles vol.3
In this third collection of 1960s adventures in chronological order, the Fastest Man Alive battles Rogues including The Trickster, Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, Gorilla Grodd and more. • Collecting THE FLASH #113-118.
Written by John Broome and Gardner Fox, art by Carmine Infantino, Joe Giella, and Murphy Anderson.
The Flash Chronicles Vol. 3 at Amazon
The surprise comes with this week’s back issues from ComiXology. For the last few months, DC has been releasing three issues a week of the Wally West Flash series. Last week, they only released two, and this week, they’re only releasing one…but we’ve also got two issues of Impulse featuring Bart Allen!
Flash #48 by William Messner-Loebs and Greg LaRocque. The Elongated Man guest stars in part one of this three-parter leading up to the big Flash #50. A flood of cheap drugs is causing a devastating crime wave, and the clues point to the return of Vandal Savage…as well as his arch-nemesis, the Immortal Man. Flash v.2 on ComiXology.
Impulse #7–8. The first is a one-shot by Martin Pasko, Nick Gnazzo, Mark Stegbauer, in which Impulse battles the one-shot villain Gridlock. The second features the return of regular writing & art team Mark Waid and Humberto Ramos for an Underworld Unleashed crossover in which Bart faces off against the new improved Blockbuster, who bartered his soul for intelligence…but is even less happy now than he was before.