For those of you who have been waiting for pictures of the San Diego Comic Con exclusive Professor Zoom, you need not wait any longer. Our very own friendly neighborhood webmaster and Flash historian, Kelson Vibber attended SDCC 2011 and managed to snag an exclusive DC Direct/Graphitti Designs Flashpoint Professor Zoom action figure. Let’s take a closer look:
Whenever I first arrive on the exhibit hall at a new Comic-Con, I find myself at the DC Comics booth. Whether it’s to check out the signing schedule, or the demonstrations, or the displays, or even just see what this year’s decoration theme is. (It’s the New 52 first-issue covers, blown up to about 8 feet tall.) Continue reading
We’re back with our look at the “Death of Iris Allen” story from the 1979-1980 issues of Flash! This issue marks the penultimate chapter of a year’s worth of Flash stories by writer Cary Bates that changed the core of the title and the future of DC Comics’ super-speedster. Links to research and artwork are included throughout this post. For previous weeks, click here!
UP TO SPEED: Flash has been lured into the future with the false hope of discovering his wife’s killer. Masquerading as Flash in the present, Professor Zoom incarcerates Chief Paulson for his role in the confiscated heroin smuggling operation that has made Barry Allen a moving target. Zoom also clashes with, and easily defeats, Green Lantern. On his return trip, Flash materializes onto an exploding Cosmic Treadmill…
DC has released previews of several Flashpoint issues coming out next week, including Flashpoint: Reverse-Flash and Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost #1.
They also offer a little more information on The Source. Flashpoint: Reverse-Flash has a new, more intriguing catchphrase: “The man I’d give anything to kill has to live…or I die.” Writer Scott Kolins adds, “Flash’s arch nemesis sets up Flash’s greatest trial in this issue.”
As for Kid Flash Lost, Bart Allen also remembers the original timeline, and brings in Hot Pursuit to help…but is this the same Hot Pursuit? Sterling Gates explains:
KID FLASH LOST is a FLASHPOINT mystery, as Bart and the mysterious character known as Hot Pursuit try to unravel what has happened when the world they wake up in is not their own. Bart will deal with many of the character threads set up in Geoff Johns’ “Road to Flashpoint” storyarc even as he confronts the greatest danger the 31st century has ever seen.
One thing that makes these two tie-ins unusual is that they both focus on the main-timeline versions of the lead characters. It sounds like the Reverse-Flash book is a mix of origin story and creating the Flashpoint world, while Kid Flash will be facing the same kinds of questions that the Flash is facing in the main series, and Booster Gold is facing in his own book.
On a side note: it’s interesting to see that they brought back the One Year Later–era Flash logo for the Reverse-Flash one-shot.
Collected Editions spotted a number of late-2011 DC collections last week, including Flash Vol. 2: The Road to Flashpoint, on Amazon’s schedule for November 1. Since Amazon gets its books on Tuesdays, that means the collection is likely to hit comic shops on the previous Wednesday, October 26.
Vol. 1: The Dastardly Death of the Rogues contained issues #1-7 (and the story from The Flash Secret Files 2010). DC has stated that they’re ending The Flash at #12, though they’ve solicited #13 as the conclusion of “The Road to Flashpoint,” and it’s still on their website. It looks like this volume will cover either Flash #8-12 or Flash #8-13. If the latter, the main story will be bracketed by two Reverse-Flash specials.
Comic-book futures are constantly changing. We’ve seen four* major versions of the Legion of Super-Heroes, many different “true” versions of the near future, and a half-dozen variations on the eras that brought us villains like Abra Kadabra and the Reverse-Flash. Given the latter’s newfound obsession with changing history in Flash: Rebirth, it seems highly appropriate that his origin tale rewrites itself repeatedly over the course of the issue. It’s fascinating to watch the twists and turns as his life starts down one path, then stops, backs up, and takes another.