Tag Archives: XS

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.

Flashpoint #1 Preview (and XS)

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For those who missed the preview in DC’s Free Comic Book Day offering this weekend, you can catch several pages of the 8-page preview online at USA Today and at Comics Nexus.

The pages at USA Today answer another question that has had speedster fans confused since Saturday: a possible new speedster in the Flash Family panel. Fans had been debating whether she was a horribly mis-colored XS or a new character. The USA Today pages have been corrected, making it clear that yes, she’s meant to be XS.

Good to know, though I have to wonder how getting a character’s skin, hair and costume all wrong made it as far as the printed copy of a high-profile promotional book. (Though I suspect DC put far more effort into the Green Lantern part of the book, because, let’s be honest: a big summer movie trumps a big summer comic book every time.)

[Update: DC Women Kicking Ass has the panel in question, with the printed FCBD and corrected online versions. (via Bleeding Cool)]

Along with the preview, USA Today interviews Geoff Johns, Andy Kubert and others about the event.

Geoff Johns talks Speed Force, XS, Wally’s Costume and More

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CBR has posted their latest Geoff Johns Prime question and answer column. in it the Flash: Rebirth author talks about Blackest Night, Flash, Superman and a lot more.

Some Flash items that stood out:

Wally’s Costume

Back in June, Ethan Van Sciver said that Wally West’s new costume debuts in Flash: Rebirth #6, but Geoff Johns says here that it appears in #5. If that’s correct and not a typo, then I feel a lot more confident about the schedule for Blackest Night: Flash not being pushed back to avoid spoiling the costume debut.

He goes on:

And it’s very much a Flash costume. It’s tweaked, but it’s certainly not crazy. It’s not blue and white. It’s Flash. We never wanted to completely change it. We just wanted to accentuate what makes Wally’s costume, Wally’s costume. It will feel very familiar.

Hmm, hard to say, but I’m going to guess two things:

  • Barry keeps the straight-across belt and Wally keeps the V-shaped belt.
  • Wally loses the top of his cowl, making his hair visible.

XS

There are very big plans for XS in the future of the Flash universe. “The Flash” book and the “Kid Flash” book start next year

I think this is great. I haven’t read much of the DnA Legion of Super-Heroes, but I liked her appearances in Impulse during and around “Dead Heat.” Jenni and Bart really connected during that story, and I can see a lot of potential with two teenage speedsters who have spent significant amounts of time in the future. Plus it’s got to be a big change for Bart to go from having one blood relative around (Iris) to three (Iris, Barry and Jenni).

On the other hand, I hope XS will still be tied to the Legion of Super-Heroes, and I hope her Flash appearances are in addition to the “new” female speedster hinted at in San Diego and Long Beach.

Hey, wouldn’t it be weird if she ends up in the Justice League? (Okay, not going to happen, but she would be an “interesting” choice, wouldn’t she?)

The Speed Force

His longest Flash-related answer is to a question about why he changed the nature of the speed force in Flash: Rebirth. It’s several paragraphs long, but the part that stood out for me was this:

And literally if [Barry] builds up enough energy, just like anything else that builds up energy, boom, there’s a discharge somewhere or somewhen. A stray lightning bolt from the Speed Force that…strikes somebody that shares the same sense of justice that Barry Allen has.

This picks up from something suggested during William Messner-Loebs’ run on the book, in which he suggested that Barry Allen might somehow have subconsciously willed the accident that gave him super-speed to repeat itself with Wally. It explains the mysterious behavior of the speed force “noticing” people, though it doesn’t quite explain, for instance, Savitar — who certainly didn’t share Barry Allen’s sense of justice. Maybe he did before he gained his powers. Or maybe he gained them through a discharge from Thawne’s “negative speed force?”

(Personally, I think that these changes overcomplicate a plot device that was designed to simplify speedsters’ origins, but that’s just my opinion.)

Flash Movie

Geoff Johns says that he’s “working on The Flash” and Shazam but can’t say anything more at this time.

Quick Look: Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #3

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This will be less of a full review and more of a first reaction to the issue.

I’m sure some people won’t believe this, but I actually felt more lost reading the first half of this book than I did reading Final Crisis itself. It’s been months since the last issue came out, and I’ve never been very familiar with the three incarnations of the Legion of Super-Heroes. The only time I read them on a monthly basis was the “Five Years Later” period that started around 1989 or so — and it’s not represented in this story! I have read the occasional issue of other series, particularly the “Reboot” Legion with its connections to Impulse. After a while I just went with it.

That settled out later in the issue, especially as it began to focus on XS and the various lightning-powered Legionnaires as they learned about the legacy of Barry Allen’s brief sojourn in the 30th Century. Geoff Johns attempted to clear up some of the questions of whether Bart Allen was from an alternate universe, and while I think the answer ended up being more complicated than was necessary (since they had already established that sometimes time travelers will end up in an alternate universe), I suspect it’s in the service of setting up threads that will tie into either Flash: Rebirth or the inevitable Flash ongoing that spins out of it.

And speaking as a Flash fan, the conclusion of this issue was fantastic.

Spoilers after the cut: Continue reading →

XS in Legion of Three Worlds

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CBR has an interview with Geoff Johns on Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds, and hints at certain… flashy elements to the story.

“If people liked Bart Allen, they should probably read the book. XS is in it.”

And while he wouldn’t come right out and say whether or not the five-issue miniseries absolutely, positively marked the return of the speedster formerly known as The Flash, Johns teased, “Obviously, one of the big things in ‘Lightning Saga’ that we still haven’t addressed is the lightning rod and what that’s all about. That will be a central focus of the series.”

An image caption also indicates that XS (Jenni Ognats, Bart’s cousin and Barry’s granddaughter) will appear in Flash: Rebirth. While that’s entirely possible, given the apparent scope of the story — and I think it would be great to have the entire Allen/West clan involved — I have to wonder whether the caption writer was misreading an ambiguous paragraph early in the article, which explained XS’ ties to Barry Allen, then added that “The popular character will be showcased… [in] The Flash: Rebirth.“