Tag Archives: Relaunch

DC: Back to Square #1

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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I guess the first rule of Flashpoint has been rescinded.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.

Geoff Johns Leaving The Flash after Flashpoint (UPDATED with commentary)

While DC still isn’t saying much about what happens after Flashpoint (“The first rule…”), they’ve just made an announcement about the Flash:

But like issue #12 was the final issue of THE FLASH by Johns, the final issue of FLASHPOINT will conclude Johns’ run on FLASH titles for the foreseeable future.

Geoff Johns wrote a long run on The Flash (vol.2) starring Wally West in the early half of the last decade, then returned in 2009 for the miniseries Flash: Rebirth and Blackest Night: The Flash, and the short-lived series The Flash (vol.3) starring Barry Allen, culminating in the Barry Allen-centered Flashpoint.

So what is coming up for The Flash after Flashpoint?. We don’t know much (see that first rule again), but DC’s subscription service says The Flash #1 is coming in September (thanks to Deron Morgan for asking them!). This may fit in with the rumors of a line-wide post-Flashpoint renumbering, or it may simply be the logical choice to launch The Flash (vol.4).

UPDATE: Some Thoughts

I’m of mixed feelings on this. On one hand, I’ve been disappointed with the relaunched series. There’s quite a bit about the Rebirth-era Flash that I haven’t liked, and my favorite aspect, in fact, was the fantastic art by Francis Manapul. So bringing in someone new — perhaps someone more interested in telling stories about a speedster than telling me how wonderful this particular speedster is — is probably something I’d welcome.

Plus with his job as Chief Creative Officer, chances are that Geoff Johns has been awfully busy, which may have contributed to the now-infamous delays.

That said, what stands out the most for me about The Flash vol.3 are the missed opportunities. I wanted to read “Murder in Gorilla City.” I wanted to read those backup stories featuring Wally West (I’m still waiting to see him “kick ass,” as Geoff Johns promised a year and a half ago) and those Kid Flash solo stories by Sterling Gates. I wanted to read about Abra Kadabra’s other enemies scattered across the centuries. I thought “Mara Thawne” was a cool name for a villain. Presumably, we won’t even see The Flash: Secret Origin, which Geoff Johns has said on several occasions that he wants to do.

Most of all, I wanted to believe (wasn’t convinced, but wanted to believe) that everything I didn’t like about Geoff Johns’ take on The Flash was part of a long-term plan that would have some sort of payoff. For that to happen, he had to be committed to the character long-term.

Now we know that Flashpoint is the endgame. That’s a lot for the next four issues to live up to.

On the Value of Relaunches

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More importantly, the more DC has to promote the next Flash #1, the less it has [available] to devote to (let’s just say) hyping a new Icon series. If DC would put some of its series on hiatus, as opposed to cancelling one volume so a new one can begin a few months later, it would acknowledge the reality of cancellation-proof series and let more attention linger on the stragglers. Who knows — given time, maybe some of them could become cancellation-proof too.

— Robot 6’s Tom Bondurant in his Grumpy Old Fan column.

As he points out, The Flash is one of DC’s “foundational” series, which have been in almost continuous publication since the Silver Age. We all know it’s coming back.

Flash Sales for September 2010

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ICv2’s sales estimates for September are out. The Flash #5 sold 62K copies and was ranked 14 for the month. While that is a drop in raw numbers, it’s worth considering that comics sales are down overall in the third quarter…and that the book actually climbed in the rankings. In fact, it seems to be holding steady in terms of rankings, between 10 and 15 for every issue since the first.

Issue Rank Month Units Sold % Change
Flash v.3 #1 2 April 2010 100,903
Flash v.3 #2 12 May 2010 76,560 (-24.1%)
Flash v.3 #3 11 June 2010 68,799 (-10.1%)
Flash v.3 #4 15 July 2010 64,832 (-5.8%)
Flash v.3 #5 14 September 2010 62,063 (-4.3%)

Remember That Twitter Contest?

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Way back in April, DC ran a Flash trivia contest on Twitter for a signed copy of The Flash #1. A new question each day for a week, with winners chosen from the first few correct responses. I won one of the days with the answer to a question about “Flash of Two Worlds,” and immediately sent in my mailing address.

And waited.

And waited.

After about a month, one of the other winners contacted me through Comic Bloc trying to get us all together to write to DC and ask what was going on. DC wrote back, assuring us that the signed books would be out within a few weeks.

Eventually, September rolled around, along with a second or third round of, “Hey, what happened?” This time, they assured us all that the books would be sent out by the end of the month.

Guess what?

Last Friday (October 8), I came home and found an envelope from DC Comics! In it was not only a copy of The Flash #1, but a copy of the Blackest Night hardcover to make up for the long wait time!

When I checked in on Comic Bloc, it turned out that they’d sent Blackest Night to some of us, and Flash Rebirth to others.

I remember last year telling someone that I wasn’t planning to read Blackest Night because I had no interest in it, but I’d read it if someone else bought it for me. It’s weird that not only did someone end up buying it for me, but it was DC themselves! I guess they really want me to read this book! 😀

Another funny thing: Back in July, I got Francis Manapul to sign my copy of The Flash #1 at Comic-Con International. So now I have two signed copies: one signed by the writer, and one signed by the artist!

Flash Ranked #15 for July 2010

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ICv2’s July sales estimates are up. The Flash #4 takes the #15 spot by units sold, with an estimated 64,832 copies sold to retailers.

OK, back to the charts for the last few relaunches. Let’s see how volume three is doing. (In case you’re wondering, I only plan on doing the detailed relaunch-by-relaunch-by-relaunch comparisons through the end of the first story arc.)

Issue Rank Month Units Sold % Change
Flash:TFMA #1 7 June 2006 120,404
Flash:TFMA #2 25 July 2006 77,487 (-35.6%)
Flash:TFMA #3 30 August 2006 70,633 (- 8.9%)
Flash:TFMA #4 25 Sep 2006 66,663 (- 5.6%)
All-Flash #1 22 July 2007 78,955
Flash v.2 #231 26 August 2007 72,898
Flash v.2 #232 32 Sep 2007 56,969 (-21.9%)
Flash v.2 #233 41 Oct 2007 51,152 (- 10.2%)
Flash v.2 #234 44 Nov 2007 46,435 (- 9.2%)
Flash: Rebirth #1 2 April 2009 102,429
Flash: Rebirth #2 4 May 2009 86,183 (-15.9%)
Flash: Rebirth #3 10 June 2009 83,086 (-3.6%)
Flash: Rebirth #4 14 Aug 2009 78,107 (-6.0%)
Flash v.3 #1 2 April 2010 100,903
Flash v.3 #2 12 May 2010 76,560 (-24.1%)
Flash v.3 #3 11 June 2010 68,799 (-10.1%)
Flash v.3 #4 15 July 2010 64,832 (-5.8%)

So: still dropping (as most series do), but it seems to be leveling off. I’m not sure how this compares to standard attrition for a new series at DC or Marvel. The drop-off rate seems about the same as Flash: The Fastest Man Alive, though perhaps it will level off at a higher point.

That said, the numbers are still solid (if still below F:TFMA), and the rankings are very good.