Straight from The Source, it’s Ivan Reis’ variant cover for The Flash #1, due in stores and online at the end of September.
It reminds me of the Flash Secret Files 2010 cover, only with the new transformation sequence added to the new costume design.
DC has also revealed the third variant cover, a sketch version of Francis Manapul’s main cover for the book. Continue reading
Today’s guest post is by Shaun Rosado of Shauncastic!
The sound of thunder, a crack of lightning and in a flash everything is different. No, I’m not talking about Flashpoint; DC Comics’ current take on a “Flash-centric” Event. I’m talking about the Flash as a character and the profound difference he’s made in comics. Ever since I was a child, I always felt a deep connection to the Flash. Perhaps it was the sense of the character’s long history, reaching all the way back to World War 2 with Jay Garrick as the original Flash. Perhaps it was the idea that when I was at my most impressionable the Flash TV show had just begun and would capture my imagination. Or perhaps it’s because the Flash is the most important character of the DC Universe.
Yeah. You read that right. I typed it. The Flash is the THE most important character of the DC Universe.
Of course, I don’t expect to get away with saying something like this without a little backup.
So let’s take a moment and just go over the finer points of my argument. When the Flash began way back in the 40s, he was a character that was given his own book nearly as soon as he was established. In January 1940, Flash Comics began as a variety comic that would feature new characters and give them a chance to flourish. Some of the most famous of these characters would be Johnny Thunder, Hawkman, Hawkgirl and Black Canary. This began an eerie precedence of the Flash establishing ideas and characters that would last and break out of his book time and time again. The book ran nearly the entire span of the Golden age, ending just a few months shy of the “official” end date.
But this is not a sprint and the above argument certainly does not win the Flash the title of Greatest Character Ever. This is a marathon…and as we all know, the Flash is the Fastest Man Alive. Continue reading
Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato, the creative team behind DC’s new Flash, talk to Comic Vine about the new series and unveil a page of exclusive artwork from the second issue. The duo answers questions about villains new and old, the challenges in handling both writing and art duties and the application of “super-speed thinking” as seen in the solicitation for issue #2.
CV: Does Barry always think at super-speed or does he have to activate the Speed Force?
FM: This is something we’ll be dealing with in our first arc. We know he physically taps into the Speed Force, but we haven’t quite seen the extent of what he could do if his mind tapped into it as well. This is a pretty major theme we plan to tackle, which has lent it self extremely well to visual experimentation.
Today’s guest post is by José Luis, an aspiring comic book artist in Ecuador whose blog can be seen at Mastering Art.
Let me start stating that although this seems to be a non-crucial matter, bordering into the banal realm, for me is a very serious topic. For everybody who thinks otherwise, well, I guess they should be a little more respectful for what people consider important in their lives. Yeah, I feel very passionate for my comics, heck; I’m planning a career out of it. My favorite character since I was 12 (I’m 33 now) has been Wally West, the Flash, the fastest man alive. Let me assure you that this is not an anti-Barry thread. Au contraire, this is an open letter to the editors and writers of DC Comics that maybe could help clarify our feelings for this special character and why we want him back.
Granted, I didn’t get the chance to read Barry as the Flash until I was 18 and read all silver age Flash comics, and I loved it! But by then I was a teen from the 90s and grew up reading Wally! For me what I felt more passionate about was that he was just a normal guy, with his own problems in growing up. I think we all can identify with that. Barry on the other hand, had his own character flaws, like being late for instance, but he was practically the ideal superhero who just wanted to help out those in need. Remarkably yes, but I guess if we get superpowers we wouldn’t be doing that particularly. So, it is easier to identify with Wally. I remember when Wally became Kid Flash. He grew up under the tutelage of his idol, this perfect hero, and to tell a long story short, Barry Allen died, after 20 years of continuity, a hero’s death, saving the universe, the way a true hero could and would want to die. Ok, this was shocking and Wally was a great character by then, he even had his own costume as Kid Flash. It was HIS costume, not Bart’s (grandson of Barry who in the DCnU launch will be donning Kid Flash’s costume). Why do I emphasize on that? Well, I remember perfectly when he got his costume through a machine that can produce someone’s thoughts (I guess it was the 60s so bear with me). He by then had his own identity! He, as a character, has been around since Barry Allen, and I remember him growing up as a kid, as a sidekick, as a member of the Titans, and through his doubts and motivated by his love and respect for his uncle Barry who he loved as a father, he donned the costume of the Flash to HONOR him! It was the right thing to do and IT WORKED! Continue reading
I understand DC’s decision to pick a single Flash. They want to make a fresh start (sort of — more about that in part 2). They don’t want incoming readers to be intimidated by 70 years of history. And they want a world in which super-heroes have only been around for a few years. But there’s value in the legacy concept, and I’d argue that it’s helped The Flash and its readership.
We Flash fans have been extremely lucky. From 1940 to 2005 we’ve had three great versions of the character. We’ve had solid, long-running creative teams. Gardner Fox wrote most of the Golden Age and half the Silver Age. John Broome wrote the rest of it, with Robert Kanigher straddling the two eras. Cary Bates authored the entire Bronze Age, and I’d wager that nearly everyone reading this has experienced the incredible Flash runs by Mark Waid and Geoff Johns in the 1990s and early 2000s. We’ve had amazing artists like Joe Kubert, Carmine Infantino, and Mike Wieringo, and more recently Francis Manapul.
And unlike fans of Superman or Wonder Woman, we’ve never had to deal with DC outright erasing the stories we know and love. Because Barry Allen and Jay Garrick were different characters, DC was able to build a shared history in Crisis on Infinite Earths, and because they had promoted Wally West to the lead spot, they could start at the beginning of a hero’s (solo) career, again without wiping out what had gone before. Continue reading
Today’s guest post is by Shawn Coots, a.k.a. @BitterWallyWest.
I don’t need to tell you what an amazing character Wally West is. If you’re reading this article, I assume that you, too, witnessed the most organic evolution of a comic-book character first-hand. Thanks to Mike Baron, Bill Messner-Loebs, Mark Waid, Geoff Johns and several others, we have 247 issues of an amazing book that I’ll always cherish. You’ve read the news by now; those days are gone. So, what are WE going to do about it?
I attended a DC panel at SDCC this year, asking the question so many others have asked before. Where is Wally West? Between @speedstersite and myself, we finally solicited the painful answer. Wally has been shelved indefinitely, in order to make the character of Barry Allen unique. Here’s the part of the story where I’ll avoid pointing out the many contradictions behind this strategy and simply say, there are no bad characters, only bad (or limited) writing decisions.
Unfortunately, the rampant fanboy-ism of posting long-winded and bitchy complaints on message boards solves nothing. As fans, we don’t own or curate these characters, DC Comics does. I can’t stress this enough. So how do we get what we want (which is Wally West in his own series, by the way)? I’m getting there. Continue reading