Tag Archives: Marv Wolfman

Flash Fact: Long Beach Comic & Horror Con 2013

Mark Waid at LBCHC 2013I spent Saturday at Long Beach Comic and Horror Con, which despite its name is still, five years on, one of the most comics-focused “comic con” events I’ve been to. Among other things, I caught the Young Justice Voice Acting panel with a dozen cast members and Greg Weisman, a discussion panel between Marv Wolfman and Scott Lobdell and a spotlight on Mark Waid (see photo). Wolfman and Waid are always fascinating, and Lobdell turned out to be really interesting as well. Brian Buccellato was supposed to be there as well, but I never saw him. Artist’s Alley was huge, though, and I never quite managed to do the full systematic pass that I intended, so it’s entirely possible that all my trips through the area missed him.

Some interesting Flash-related bits:

Jason Spisak, when asked about getting into his character, remarked that Wally West’s lines in the script always look like he’s a “total douche,” but what he had to do was think: His friends keep him around. There’s got to be something endearing to him that they want to have around. He’d find that and make it come through in his acting.

Speaking of Young Justice, the game studio that did Young Justice: Legacy still has the license. If the game does well enough, they’d like to do a sequel…set during what would have been season three.

Young Justice Cast at LBCHC 2013
Mark Waid, when asked what story felt like he’d finally made it, said “The Return of Barry Allen.” That’s interesting, since the story was about Wally West reaching the point where he felt like he’d finally made it. He also said that his record at making good cliffhangers is due to the fact that he writes them before figuring out how the character’s going to get out (which makes for a few stressful days at the beginning of the next script). If he doesn’t know how, the audience isn’t going to guess!

Scott Lobdell compares the New 52 Kid Flash’s personality to Woody Woodpecker.

Check out my full write-up at K-Squared Ramblings or go straight to the photos.

Heroes Con Mini-Report: New Teen Titans Panel, George Pérez & Nick Cardy

I visited North Carolina on Friday to attend Day One of the 30th Charlotte Heroes Convention.  Billed as “comics-first…atmosphere, where fans can mingle directly with professionals and exhibitors,”  a massive collection of creators and vendors were on hand for the anniversary edition.  What drew me was the presence of George Pérez (Crisis on Infinite Earths, The New Teen Titans, decades of greatness).

I picked up the above commission at the convention, where Pérez was joined by Crisis and Titans partner Marv Wolfman.  The two, along with Pérez’s main Titans inker Romeo Tanghal, took part in a New Teen Titans panel at the outset of the convention.  For a report from the panel, as well as an encounter with Nick Cardy, follow the jump!

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WonderCon: Marv Wolfman & Brian Buccellato

Marv Wolfman and Brian Buccellato
Marv Wolfman and Brian Buccellato signing at the DC Comics booth.

The first round of my WonderCon photos are up on Flickr.

There wasn’t really any Flash news today. Someone asked about a Superman/Flash race at the DC All Access panel, and they said that there were no current plans, but all Flash questions should be directed to Dan Didio at a later panel.

Now to get some sleep before day two!

More SDCC Linkblogging

Stuff!Yeah, I know it’s been two weeks, but coverage is still trickling out.

High Five Comics has posted their con report.

I write about the Gaslamp Crush — the bottleneck in Downtown San Diego just outside the convention center which has become a sort of geeky version of the Las Vegas Strip.

The Source posts highlights of DC Comics’ photos from Comic-Con

CBR TV talks to Geoff Johns.

Gamer Live has a video interview with Marv Wolfman talking about DCU Online.

Mark Evanier considers the role of other media at Comic-Con.

How John Byrne Would Have Brought Back Barry Allen

Wonder Woman v.2 #109Last week, comic book writer and artist John Byrne posted about how he would have brought Barry Allen back if he’d had the opportunity during the 1990s, as he hinted when responding to speculation about the cover for Wonder Woman v.2 #109. (IIRC, the Flash in the issue was either a clone or a robot. It’s been a long time since I’ve read it.)

Simple, really. It’s very, very, very hard to “kill” a character who can travel in Time. How old was Barry when he “died” in CRISIS? For all we know, he could have been 106.

My idea was to simply have Barry pop into existence in the “current” DCU, returning from one of his trips thru time to find he’d “missed his target” because of disruptions caused by CRISIS. He would then live out whatever life (nature and duration) the Powers that Be would allow.

This is similar to the way Mark Waid did bring Professor Zoom “back” for “The Return of Barry Allen” and the way a young time-traveling Hal Jordan spent some time in the then-present DCU for “Emerald Knights.” It’s also not far from the loophole Marv Wolfman placed in the character’s death in Crisis on Infinite Earths. The main difference is that in Wolfman’s plan, it would be Barry Allen during his final run, rather than a Barry from earlier in his career.

Byrne goes on to add:

(I also had an idea that, since Wally was being The Flash, Barry would take on another identity for a while, knowing that sooner or later he had to go die in CRISIS. But when the moment came, Wally would bushwhack him, take his place, and that would actually have been Wally we saw die.)

Interestingly, Peter David did essentially the same thing in his final Supergirl arc, “Many Happy Returns,” in which the Earth-1 Supergirl’s rocket gets diverted and lands on Post-Crisis Earth. After a few adventures, the Post-Crisis Supergirl gets in the rocket and takes her place, leading to a story of a 1990s heroine in a Silver-Age world. It doesn’t end well, for either of them.

Flash: Terminal VelocityFound in this week’s Lying in the Gutters, which also features another Flash-related story, short enough I might as well just quote the whole thing:

The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre in Pawtucket, Rhode Island is having an online auction to raise funds for its non profit theatre. One of the items is a “Flash: Rebirth” coupled with a TPB of “Flash: Terminal Velocity,” signed by the late great Mike Wieringo.