At the 2010 Comic-Con International, Geoff Johns announced that DC would be launching a second Flash book called “Speed Force” in 2011 “for all you Wally fans and Bart fans.”
With DC relaunching its entire super-hero line in the wake of Flashpoint this September, the question is: Will Speed Force be among them, or has it been scrapped like the Johns/Kolins Wally West backup stories in Flash vol.3 or the Sterling Gates-written Kid Flash ongoing book that was supposed to accompany it?
Newsarama’s Vaneta Rogers interviews Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato, the art team from Flash vol.3 who will be taking over both writing and art on September’s new series.
I’ve only had time to skim it, but the things that stand out to are:
Head over to Newsarama to read the full interview.
DC’s don’t-call-it-a-reboot is the perfect opportunity to give Wally West a costume that’s recognizably The Flash, but different enough from Barry Allen’s costume that even a casual reader can tell them apart at a glance, even if the artists miss a few details. Especially since several elements of Wally’s new costume from Flash: Rebirth (the raised yellow outline around the chest circle, and the V-shaped belt) have been incorporated into Barry’s new outfit.
Yes, I’m talking about the Dark Flash costume, worn by Walter West, a version of Wally from an alternate reality. It wouldn’t have worked in the post-Crisis continuity because of what the experience meant to “our” Wally (he didn’t want to be reminded of what he could have become), but in a revised history, it doesn’t need to have the same associations.
Brighten it up again, make it crimson and gold (like Wally’s current costume), and I think it’ll do the trick.
Assuming, of course, that DC has a place in the New DCU for an adult Wally West, and has neither erased him from history or reverted him back to Kid Flash. (I’m trying very hard to stay positive here.)
DC has announced ten of the new titles and their creative teams launching as part of their massive universe-wide revamp this September, including The Flash #1.
Rising superstar Francis Manapul, fresh off his acclaimed run on THE FLASH with Geoff Johns, makes his comics writing debut in THE FLASH #1, sharing both scripting and art duties with Brian Buccellato. The Flash knows he can’t be everywhere at once, but what happens when he faces an all-new villain who can? The cover to issue #1 is by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato.
Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato on art? An all-new villain in the first issue?
DC just found a way to keep me reading!
Obviously Manapul as a writer is an unknown quantity, but I love his art on the book, and the way Buccellato colors it. And assigning him the book now seems like a clear vote of confidence from DC upper management, further supporting the idea that he wasn’t solely responsible for the delays in Flash vol.3. I’d hazard a guess that a big part of it was Geoff Johns being tied up with preparations for the universe-wide reboot. That’s got to have been time consuming.
Update: Francis Manapul, addressing concerns about the team’s writing experience, posted the following on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/#!/FrancisManapul/statuses/76339587789766656
As far as what’s in store for the Scarlet Speedster:
https://twitter.com/#!/FrancisManapul/status/76343324516159488
Buccellato adds:
https://twitter.com/#!/BrianBooch/status/76344568219570176
Update: Here’s why I’m calling this Flash vol.4.
Update: Bob Wayne’s second letter to retailers insists: “this is the launch of the New DCU. It is not a ‘reboot.’ I think you will soon discover why that is.” My take, based on what I’ve seen in today’s announcements, is that they’re basically doing what they did after Crisis on Infinite Earths, just in a more coordinated manner. The key difference being, it seems that this isn’t going all the way back to the beginning for every character. We’ll have to see what that means for the Flash. I just hope it means we won’t be reading updated versions of old stories every few months.
(More reports & commentary: CNN, Comics Alliance, The Beat, Comics Should Be Good, Robot 6, Comics Nexus, Newsarama, Firestorm Fan.)
The USA Today article about DC’s upcoming reboot includes a drawing of the Justice League with Jim Lee’s new costume designs…but not the entire image. Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Superman and Green Lantern are all visible, but the Flash and Batman are both off-panel, but it turns out that the article thumbnail on the newspaper’s home page shows the Flash’s mask.
I got the impression somewhere on Twitter that the full image appears in the print version of the article.
Update: I was in such a rush to post this that I forgot to comment on it. The only thing that really stands out in this picture is the chin guard (which was my least favorite element of the Walter West Dark Flash costume). The seams will get lost in the detail when drawn by most artists, and the earpieces change all the time anyway.
Update 2: SpeedsterSite found a copy of the full Jim Lee Justice League image. Here’s the Flash:
Oh, look, there’s that yellow outline around the circle, which Ethan Van Sciver so carefully added to Wally West’s costume in order to distinguish him from Barry Allen.
Update: You can see more of the costume in Francis Manapul’s cover for Flash #1.
USA Today confirms that DC is in fact relaunching everything at #1 in September, and Geoff Johns and Jim Lee are relaunching Justice League.
It looks like it’s a bit more than simply a coordinated jumping-on point like One Year Later or the post-Zero Hour #0 issues or a more thorough reboot. Jim Lee has “spearheaded the redesign of more than 50 costumes to make characters more identifiable and accessible to comic fans new and old,” and Dan Didio says, “This was a chance to start, not at the beginning, but at a point where our characters are younger and the stories are being told for today’s audience.”
Further details about individual series and characters will follow on The Source over the next week.
I guess the first rule of Flashpoint has been rescinded.
More importantly: DC will begin releasing comics digitally on the same day as the print editions go on sale.
As for what this means for the Flash franchise…I don’t want to jump to any conclusions, but I’m beginning to suspect that one of my worst-case scenarios for Flashpoint is actually going to happen.
Update: Newsarama posts a letter DC sent to retailers about the revamps, including the following explanation:
We have taken great care in maintaining continuity where most important, but fans will see a new approach to our storytelling. Some of the characters will have new origins, while others will undergo minor changes. Our characters are always being updated; however, this is the first time all of our characters will be presented in a new way all at once.
More details will be announced over the next month, with full September solicitations on June 13.
Updates: CBR has a round up of what we know so far. USA Today has an interview with Geoff Johns, Jim Lee and Dan Didio. More breakdowns at Weekly Crisis, Comics Alliance. The Beat has a round-up of creator & retailer reactions.