Tag Archives: Peter David

Speed Reading: Rogues Rebellion, Arrow & More

Some recent Flash-related articles…

Brian Buccellato talks about Villains Month, Rogues Rebellion, Forever Evil, Zero Year, and more at CBR. In addition to co-writing the main Flash series, he’s solo writing the Grodd and Rogues one-shots and the Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion miniseries.

EW reports that Arrow is casting Barry Allen and will begin shooting the Flash’s first episode on September 30.

Scott Lobdell talks about Kid Flash’s origin at Newsarama.

Mark Waid, who has been accused by some comics retailers of trying to put them out of business with his digital comics efforts (particularly Thrillbent), has bought a comic store to prove that he’s not anti-print.

Ron Marz talks about hanging onto ideas for the right time, describing how a concept for an unused Hourman revamp in the early 1990s eventually inspired the story structure of the Velocity miniseries.

Plus a few links from early August that made it to Twitter and Facebook but somehow never made it onto the blog:

In a reprint column, Peter David rounds up a discussion on comic book villainy.

Lots of people talk to Newsarama about the Flash’s lasting appeal (including me!)

Brian Buccellato’s Top 8 Flash Rogues.

Kid Flash appears in the twelfth Who’s Who Podcast episode.

Peter David Stroke Update: How You Can Help

Peter David Suffers Stroke

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Writer Peter David suffered a stroke this weekend. He’s lost control of his right arm and can’t see out of his right eye, but is mentally acute (he wrote the first report himself) and joking with hospital staff.

Among many other works, Peter David wrote the entire original run of the Young Justice comic book, which might actually give him the record for the most issues featuring Impulse. More recently, he wrote the animated Young Justice episode “Bloodlines,” which this blog’s readers voted as favorite Flash story of 2012 just last week.

Best wishes to Peter David and his family, and hopes for a speedy recovery.

Young Justice: Three Generations of Flashes

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There’s been a lot of speculation among Young Justice fans about the fact that Kid Flash/Wally West has been missing from the five-years-later second season, and that the Flash has barely appeared (and hasn’t spoken). Did Wally West die during the gap? Did Barry Allen die, with Wally West stepping up to become the new Flash like he did in the comics?

One thing is known: An upcoming episode by Peter David will feature three Flashes: Jay Garrick, Barry Allen and Wally West. Geoff Pierson will provide the voice of Jay Garrick.

I haven’t found a definitive source for the airdate, but it appears to be the June 2 episode, “Bloodlines.”

Update: I meant to add this, but it seems to have gotten lost in editing. What we don’t know: When the episode takes place, or whether Jay, Barry and Wally all appear together or separately (or even in different time periods).

Set your DVRs, folks. This is going to be bigger than Wally’s spotlight in “Coldhearted.”

Image: Character design by Jerome K. Moore.

Thanks to @CraigRMacDonald for the reminder and the link to Charles Skaggs’ post which directed me to Peter David’s post, and to Kyer for remarking on the “Bloodlines” title.

Writing Speedsters

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Today’s guest post is by Adam Komar.

Speedsters make me nervous, because if you play them accurately, they’re impossible to beat… The moment someone sees him coming, it’s too late. You shout, “It’s the Flash!” and you haven’t even got “It’s” out before you’re done… I could deal with Impulse because he was easily distracted. — Peter David

This quote and the mentality behind always is why speedsters are written the way they are. In case you’re not aware of how speedsters are written, I’ll sum it up in one word: Poorly. You can argue that point, but I’ll have to throw a slew of campy villains at you that the Flash has faced off against over the years and the ridiculous scenarios he’s been in to deal with them.

I’m not saying the quote is entirely wrong. There is a degree of difficulty in dealing with someone who can run from the horizon to you before you can blink. But impossible? Impossible is a word used by people who lack the creativity to resolve their issues. That may sound harsh, but it’s true.

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How John Byrne Would Have Brought Back Barry Allen

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Last 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.

Found 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” #1 coupled with a TPB of “Flash: Terminal Velocity,” signed by the late great Mike Wieringo.

Speed Force

Tracking the Flash – the Fastest Man Alive