Tag Archives: Violence

Speed Reading: Spotlight, Uni-Formz, Gratuitous Storytelling and More

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More weekend linkblogging!

Crimson Lightning has finished the month-long Rogue Spotlight on Abra Kadabra.

That F—ing Monkey reviews the Flash Uni-Formz action figures in great detail.

At Newsarama, Jill Pantozzi considers possible super-hero dads. Her favorite pick? A certain redheaded speedster who might be familiar to readers of this blog.

Other Comics

Collected Editions looks into the question: will the Young Justice cartoon series bring us any new YJ collections? They’ve also updated the DC Trade Paperback Timeline.

Multiversity Comics discusses gratuitous storytelling in recent comics, particularly DC and Marvel. *cough*Rise of Arsenal*cough*

Comics Should Be Good compares various artists’ approach to super-heroic posture.

Comics Nexus notes a trend in current DC Comics and concludes that Geoff Johns must be stopped. Is the tendency to tie everything together good for comics…or is it hurting them in favor of media adaptations? There’s a follow-up post, too, which amounts to, we really don’t think he’s the problem, honest!

Speaking of Geoff Johns, IGN interviews DC’s Chief Creative Officer about Brightest Day and the Rebirth of the DC Universe.

Speed Reading: What If? Cool Moments, and Death

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More linkblogging! This rounds out a week’s worth of Flash-related pages I’ve stumbled across.

Kid Flash has a cameo up in this Adventure Comics #1 preview over at The Source.

Robot 6’s Grumpy Old Fan considers several major creative decisions by DC over the last 25 years, including making Wally West the Flash after Crisis on Infinite Earths, and considers what might have happened if they’d gone differently. In the case of the Flash, if they’d gone for a new, unrelated character instead of Barry’s former sidekick, the 90s focus on legacy characters might never have happened.

Four Color Media Monitor dissects interviews on Flash: Rebirth and Barry Allen given by Dan Didio and Geoff Johns, comparing their statements to the miniseries’ emphasis on death.

Comics Should Be Good highlights another Cool Comic Book Moment from The Flash detailing a pivotal moment from Flash vol.2 #78 — second-to-last chapter of The Return of Barry Allen.

Super-Speed Violence

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Four Color Media Monitor considers the dark side of Flash as multidimensional CSI — namely, the level of violence in the CSI shows.

And Geoff Johns certainly has a reputation for scripting graphic violence. I didn’t notice it so much on his initial Flash run, despite the fact that he opened with an entire morgue full of murder victims, but it became clear as I read more of his work — JSA (though I only really read “Injustice Be Done” and the first arc of Justice Society of America — which has Baroness Blitzkrieg, who super-speeds through people causing them to explode), Infinite Crisis (Superboy Prime screaming “You’re ruining everything!” as he dismembers and beheads C-list members of the Titans with his bare hands on-panel), etc.

I do think violence — even graphic violence — has a place in storytelling, but not necessarily in every story. In something like Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge, or Irredeemable, it fits. You’re dealing with hardened criminals or ax crazy super-beings, and that’s the point.

But I don’t think it’s a good fit for the Flash. In all his incarnations, the character has primarily been about the wonder of speed. And while super-speed can certainly make violence very effective (or ineffective, depending on who the fast one is), and has many practical uses, what do most people think about when they think of the Flash?

Running.

That’s not battle. That’s not a fighting technique (discounting Baroness Blitzkrieg, anyway). That’s adventure.

Sure, adventures often involve fighting, or death-defying stunts, or overcoming a powerful villain of one sort or another. But the violence isn’t the point of the adventure — it’s an element of risk.

I said last week that I liked the idea of Barry as an interdimensional detective, and I do — in the sense that I want to read about him solving bizarre crimes. But I don’t want to see it turn into Powers. I’m already reading Powers, and I want something different from The Flash.

I’d like to think that Geoff Johns, as he brings to an end the story of Superboy Prime in Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds and gives us the final word on death in the DC Universe in Blackest Night, will keep The Flash (post-Rebirth) more about adventure than about death and dismemberment.