Tag Archives: Wally West

This Week: DC Universe Presents Kid Flash (with Preview), Plus Digital Flash & Impulse Back-issues

The New 52’s Kid Flash gets the spotlight in this week’s DC Universe Presents #12. CBR has a preview of the issue

KID FLASH stars in his first solo adventure, racing against time as he deals with the prehistoric trouble the TEEN TITANS brought back from MYSTERY ISLAND!

Written by Fabian Nicieza
Art by Jorge Jimenez
Cover by Ryan Sook

Meanwhile, ComiXology’s digital back-issue releases continue with Flash #49 (1990) and Impulse #9.

Flash #49: RIPFlash #49 is the second part of a three-parter leading up to the big Flash #50. Vandal Savage is dying, and he’s going to take the worldwide drug trade with him…no matter the collateral damage. But before he goes, he issues a very special challenge to the Flash: Wally West vs. a bullet…without his speed.

Needless to say, this cover made my gallery of Dead Flash Covers.

» Flash vol.3 on ComiXology

Impulse #9: XS guest stars when Speed Runs in the Family!Impulse #9 is a prelude to the Dead Heat crossover with The Flash. Bart Allen gets a surprise visit from a strange girl who turns out to be his cousin Jenni Ognats (A.K.A. XS) from the future. She’s been stranded in the past on a mission for the Legion of Super-Heroes. Can Bart help her get home? Can she blend in at a 20th-century middle school? And can either of them find the missing Max Mercury?

XS’ trip to our era takes her into “Dead Heat,” then one more issue each of Impulse and Flash, then Legionnaires Annual #3, in which she briefly meets her grandfather Barry Allen while jumping through time trying to make her way home.

» Impulse on ComiXology

I’m beginning to wonder about the Flash/Impulse schedule at ComiXology. After months of three Flash issues a week, they’ve slowed to one and added Impulse. Going sequentially, the next Flash will be an anniversary issue, and the next Impulse is part of a crossover with The Flash. Meanwhile, we’ve got the current Flash #12 coming out next week and The Flash Annual #1 the week after. Meanwhile on the print side, August sees three Flash reprint volumes: Flash Archives vol.6, Flash Chronicles vol.3, and Flash Omnibus by Geoff Johns vol.3. Could ComiXolgy be gearing up for a “Flash 201” sale sometime in the next few weeks?

Flashback covers via comics.org.

This Week: Flash Chronicles Vol.3, Digital Flash(back) #48, Impulse #7-8

Following on the heels of last week’s Flash Archives vol.6 for the hardcover collector, DC has the next volume of the softcover series reprinting the Silver Age Flash starring Barry Allen: Flash Chronicles vol.3

In this third collection of 1960s adventures in chronological order, the Fastest Man Alive battles Rogues including The Trickster, Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, Gorilla Grodd and more. • Collecting THE FLASH #113-118.

Written by John Broome and Gardner Fox, art by Carmine Infantino, Joe Giella, and Murphy Anderson.

The Flash Chronicles Vol. 3 at Amazon

The surprise comes with this week’s back issues from ComiXology. For the last few months, DC has been releasing three issues a week of the Wally West Flash series. Last week, they only released two, and this week, they’re only releasing one…but we’ve also got two issues of Impulse featuring Bart Allen!

Flash #48 by William Messner-Loebs and Greg LaRocque. The Elongated Man guest stars in part one of this three-parter leading up to the big Flash #50. A flood of cheap drugs is causing a devastating crime wave, and the clues point to the return of Vandal Savage…as well as his arch-nemesis, the Immortal Man. Flash v.2 on ComiXology.

Impulse #7–8. The first is a one-shot by Martin Pasko, Nick Gnazzo, Mark Stegbauer, in which Impulse battles the one-shot villain Gridlock. The second features the return of regular writing & art team Mark Waid and Humberto Ramos for an Underworld Unleashed crossover in which Bart faces off against the new improved Blockbuster, who bartered his soul for intelligence…but is even less happy now than he was before.

Impulse on ComiXology.

This Week: Flash Archives Vol.6, Digital Flash(back) #46-47

Flash Archives Volume 6

This week sees the release of the long-awaited (well, by me anyway) Flash Archives vol.6, featuring Silver Age Flash tales from the mid-1960s.

It’s a Rogues Gallery parade in these tales from THE FLASH #142-150, as the Scarlet Speedster battles The Trickster, Weather Wizard, Mirror Master, Mr. Element, The Reverse Flash, Captain Boomerang and Captain Cold! Plus, a tale guest-starring Green Lantern!

Stories and art by John Broome, Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino, Joe Giella, Frank Giacola. Introduction by Paul Kupperberg. 240 pages – $59.99

If the price seems a bit steep, Amazon has it on 31% discount.

If you prefer your Silver Age reprints in cheap paperpack form, hang on until next week for The Flash Chronicles Vol. 3. The Chronicles are shorter as well as being behind the Archives, so vol.3 only brings us up to Flash #118.

Flash #46: Flash vs. Vixen by Grodd's Command!Also out: digital back-issues of the post-Crisis Flash #46-47. Comixology has been releasing three issues a week for several months now, which makes me wonder whether…

  • it’s a typo (Update: the comics are up now and it’s only #46 & #47)
  • they’re slowing down
  • they plan to release Flash #48-50 all in one week.

Flash #46-47 feature parts 2 and 3 of the three-part story in which Gorilla Grodd leads the animals of Keystone City in a revolt against the humans. Vixen guest-stars, teaming up with the Flash to stop the rebellion.

Flash (1987-2009) on ComiXology

This Week: Flash #11, Digital Flash(back) #43-45, Life Story of the Flash

This week sees the release of Flash #11 and the arrival of Heat Wave, as the series builds toward August’s Flash Annual. A 3-page preview is available, which led to some heavy discussion here last week. Marcus To and Ray McCarthy provide guest art for the second of two issues, with Manapul and Buccellato taking over again next month.

THE FLASH #11
Written by FRANCIS MANAPUL and BRIAN BUCCELLATO
Art by MARCUS TO
1:25 B&W Variant cover by FRANCIS MANAPUL

• The New 52 debut of HEAT WAVE!
• THE FLASH is on a crash course with THE ROGUES!

This week also brings three new digital back-issues at ComiXology from The Flash (1987-2009). All three are by William Messner-Loebs and Greg LaRocque.

  • Flash #43: The Trouble with Kilg%re – The stories of Linda’s possession and Kilg%re’s return collide head-on, with the Flash caught in the middle.
  • Flash #44: Balance Sheet – Wally West saves a mugging victim, but can’t move him safely to reach an emergency room. What’s a speedster to do?
  • Flash #45: Dog Days – Flash teams up with Vixen as Grodd leads the animals of Keystone City in a rebellion against the humans. Part 1 of 3.

And finally, ComiXology has a digital copy of The Life Story of the Flash, a 100-page combination prose/graphic novel written as if it were the in-universe biography of Barry Allen by his widow, Iris Allen. Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn wrote it, with art by Gil Kane, Joe Staton and Tom Palmer. Interestingly, DC has given ComiXology the “DC Presents” reprint as the basis for the digital copy. Definitely recommended, even if most of it’s been erased by now.

This Week: Digital Flash(back) #40-42

Flash #40

This week’s digital backissues at ComiXology include Flash v.2 #40-42, featuring a two-part Dr. Alchemy story and the first part of a Kilg%re two-parter.

In “Philosopher’s Stone” and “Elemental Conflict,” Wally West consults the reformed but quirky scientist Al Desmond to help Linda with her spiritual possession (Seamus, the medieval Irish bard who showed up unwanted while they investigated the Celestial Ranch cult last time). But there are two sides to Desmond’s personality, one of which is Dr. Alchemy. This story made an interesting reveal about the nature of the two Al Desmonds, one which seems to have been forgotten or at least glossed over by later Flash writers.

In “Mechanical Failure” (though I prefer the “Night of the Mechanical Zombies” tagline from the cover), we catch up with Wally’s old flame Dr. Tina McGee, now working with her husband Jerry on an artificial intelligence project. But her colleagues don’t seem to be acting quite themselves, and no one will believe her when she tells them something seems wrong about them….

Flash #40-42 will be available on ComiXology Wednesday morning.

*Breaking News* Wally West Figure Finally Announced! ****UPDATED****

Hey Speed Readers,

Unless you’ve been living underground for the last six months or so you have to be aware that SDCC 2012 officially began today and while there isn’t a ton of Flashy news on the collectibles front, one awesome thing stands out!

Wally West will finally be released as a Mattel Action Figure: 

 Picture via Actionfigureinsider.com

Continue reading