Dan DiDio’s announcement

Dan DiDio announced today that the Kid Flash title and Wally West Flash backups would be put

ON HOLD

and that the Barry Allen Flash book would be

THE ONLY FLASH BOOK.

And then the internet EXPLODED!!! 

Ok… not really.  But a bunch of message board posters did overreact to the news. 

Dan DiDio did mention that  a bunch of new titles were going to come out of Blackest Night.  This shouldn’t surprise anyone, since the book is selling like hot cakes and might be the best crossover event story of all time?  (Civil War was pretty darn good too, so I won’t proclaim that for real until Blackest Night is completed.  Assuming I still feel that way when it’s over.)

Guys… it’s a simple business decision.  Nothing more.  Blackest Night is a better lead in to some new multiple comic titles than Flash: Rebirth.   With Flash: Rebirth being so late to be released, followed by the loss of momentum caused by this, it was only natural that DC would re-think its plans.  I’m certain it wasn’t just Dan DiDio sitting in a room deciding everything by himself.  I’m sure that DC’s brain trust is looking at what will generate the most cash for the company at this point (especially during this bad economy).  If the ongoing Flash series sells great, expect most of these DiDio announcements to be reversed.  That is, unless DC has NEW plans afoot.  There might just be a new Flash title that results as a more direct outcome of Blackest Night instead?  As Johns likes to often say: “Wait and see.”

There is no need to panic or freak out at this point.  Stay tuned for a new announcement from someone at DC very soon.  In the meantime, try not to embarrass yourself on the message boards until this happens.  DC doesn’t just cater to its fans, it has to answer to its owners too.  And believe me, they have to reach their profit goals just like any other company, Flash be damned or not.

Kid Flash fans, hang in there.  He’s alive and in the DC universe so he’s just a stone throw away from getting some love from a writer.  Probably this summer instead of this Spring or Winter at this point.

Christmas Vacation is coming

I work my rear all year-round so that I can get some valued time off around the holidays.  I do this so that I can spend some quality time with my kids.  They are still young and I find that I want to enjoy as much time with both, before they hit those terrible teenage years and learn to despise their dad like all teenagers eventually do.  I really don’t have a ton planned to do this year.  My wife has started working again, so that means that I will be “stay at home dad” for at least a few of the days; keeping things in order. 

I helped organize a 3 on 3 hockey team (6 forwards and a goalie) for my son to play in a local tournament.  I never played hockey as a kid, and I find that I get more enjoyment watching my son than anything else in my life at the moment.  He’s very skilled and completely into it.  His dream is to go to the NHL someday and I hope that I can help guide him there if this isn’t just a passing phase he is going through (which it probably is, who knows?).  I’m looking forward to this.   I’ve helped assemble a team with 1 extremely talented player, 2 very skilled ones, 1 skilled kid, and 3 kids that will really benefit from being in something like this to help built up their talent.  I would count my son among the “very skilled” ones.

My daughter and I will probably go see a movie together for some one-on-one time.   I’m not sure which movie we will go see.  I can tell that she’s old enough now to not only sit through an entire movie, she can now enjoy the entire experience.  From popcorn to slushies to mulitple trips to the bathroom, it will be the whole gambit of fun! 

I usually like to hear from old friends during the holidays.  It’s always a nice surprise to get a phone call out of the blue from someone I haven’t talked to in years.  The older you get, the more difficult it becomes to get alone time with your adult friends.  At least that is the way it has worked out with me.  You get the friend who can’t go anywhere without his wife, the one that is just too lazy to leave his house, the one that you really don’t want to hang with anyway, and the one that can do something with you but only on a certain day at a certain time if the stars align just right.

And then there are the comic book message board websites during the holidays.  I”ve been fortunate to make some great friends on the internet over the years.  I can honestly say that some of the people I know on the web are some of the kindest souls I’ve known.  It makes me sad that I’ll probably never meet most of them.  I fear the day that one will pass away and I won’t even know about it.   It’s my hope that one year the stars will align just right, and we’ll all meet and have one beer together at some comic convention and talk about all the stuff we’ve posted about and learn more about each other than you can in an email, message board, or blog.  That said, there are some real loony tunes out there too.   People that take things way too serious, that seem to thrive on causing misery or trying to get through peoples skin, thick or thin, to cause some emotional pain.  It’s those posters that seem to pop up during the holiday season for some reason. They just look to cause pain and aggravation.  It’s sad.

Anyway… to anyone who reads this:  have a great holiday this year and remember to find a little love and joy to spread.  The holidays can be a bit depressing at times for some, and being a little extra nice might go a long way in making the world a little better.  I don’t always talk about some of the nice things people have done for me or given to me over the years… but I NEVER forget them.

Merry-early-Christmas everyone!

Comic fans like to complain… about EVERYTHING.

It’s Saturday and I’ve got some time to kill before my son’s hockey practice.  So I jump on the web and start looking at a few of the comic book message boards.  I won’t tell which ones, because it really doesn’t matter.  There’s only one that I don’t go to anymore and all of them have something big in common:  Comic fans that like to complain about comics.

Why do comic fans like to complain so much?  Are they alone much of the time?  Have comics really become so bad that they need to constantly communicate that feeling of dissatisfaction?  We will never know for certain, we just have to learn to deal with the negativity that goes along with it.

Part of it is because of the nature of the internet, a place where you can post anonymously the most heinous insults towards others you will likely never meet in person.  Another cause is that it might be fun to argue with others on topics of lesser importance.  How worked up can you get over whether Thor or Superman is stronger?  Superman is by the way. 

In closing, I should add that I think that as much fun as it is posting on the internet, that posting with respect and concern for someone elses feelings is more important than just arguing for arguments sake.   In the end it doesn’t matter if Wally West is faster than Barry Allen, simply because the next writer could change that in a “flash.”

Are Wally West fans destroying Wally West?

The one million dollar question today is this:  Are Wally West fans destroying the character of Wally West?

I began posting on the DC message boards sometime in 2003.  I showed up one day to post that I would prefer that DC bring back Barry Allen as the lead Flash and that I was getting tired of reading stories featuring… well, not Barry.  DC shouldn’t have killed him in the Crisis on Infinite Earths back in 1985, plain and simple.

Apparently, I was not the only one that felt this way.  And even more interesting and much to my honest surprise, was that over the past 15 years or so Wally West had developed a very loyal following.  Many of them were extremely loyal and loud cheerleaders for the guy.  Who knew?  All this time I thought DC was just being stubborn?

After finding this out, I remember my first thought being that it would be nice if DC at least brought back Barry Allen in a Jay Garrick sort of way, at least that way I’d likely see him get into some in continuity stories again, but Wally West’s most vocal message board fans didn’t want to even think about that as an option.  I remember the first time I read this comment and I’ve seen it countless times over the years: 

“Barry Allen died a noble death, and should stay dead.”

This argument had been going on for long before I showed up, and it was interesting to discover that some animosity had developed between some people over the Flash’s identity behind the mask.  And when I say, animosity, I mean it. 

Jumping forward in time to the present, DC has since brought back Barry Allen behind the mask again.  He’s alive, and DC is reestablishing this Silver Age icon as the main Flash again.  This time, DC has spared Wally West a “noble death” and kept him around so that writers can pop him in or out of stories as they choose.  This is a much better deal than 23 years of not appearing in hardly any stories, in my opinion.  When you look at the big picture, and not just at the latest issue in the store, it is clear that Wally could have his own mini-series released, he could be the Flash in the Justice League of America, Justice Society, or even the Titans book on a regular basis.  DC could decide to put him as the lead Flash again in 5 years just to change things up again without some story being held over his head to keep him dead.  It’s a good deal, if his most vocal fans don’t screw it up.

Back to this post’s title:  Are Wally West fans destroying Wally West?

I fear that they might be doing just this.  It has become crystal clear to me that in this age of message boards, blogs, and comic convention face-to-face conversations, that DC and its writers and artists are very aware of what is being discussed.  I wish they’d just ignore us all and just do great work, but that’s not likely to happen any time soon. 

Many of  Wally West’s diehard fans are posting what a “crapfest” Flash: Rebirth has been and are nitpicking to self-conscious levels every development in the book.  From Wally’s new (barely new actually) costume, Irey’s name (it was Iris at first until changed), The Speed Force engine concept, Barry’s personality, The new Impulse, Wally’s panel count, the bowtie, the latness of issues being released, whether or not Wally is suddenly completely in Barry’s shadow or not, and the list goes on endlessly.

If I was the writer Geoff Johns… no wait, it’s bigger than that.  If I was DC management, I would easily come to the conclusion that nothing they do will please the most vocal fans of Wally West.  Nothing has thus far.  And you know what I’d do?  I’d “noble death” him.  Sure they’ll complain that whatever the story is was poorly written, that’s a given, but I’d take Wally West off the playing field at this point.  They’ve made it clear that no matter what is done with the character, it’s not going to be good enough for them.  He’s already ruined and tainted in their eyes and nothing short of reprinting Mark Waid’s Flash run is going to please them.  His mere presence is giving those fans unlimited ammunition to complain and eventually affect sales.  It’s a campaign of dissatisfaction that won’t end until the piece is finally taken off of the playing field.  

I like Wally West, but I don’t want these fans to taint him any more than they already have.  I don’t want him killed.   I don’t want the piece removed from the board.  I want to see him in a new costume where he stands on his own two feet and DC is able to build on the last 23 years of stories with him.  And I want to see Barry Allen running along side next to him.

I’m beginning to believe this won’t be possible.  I hope I’m wrong and that things start to turn around after the regular series begins.

Wally West fans are destroying Wally West and they have no idea they are doing it.  Instead of smoozing the writer and asking nicely to have more Wally in the book,  they’ve decided to insult him and his writing.  It’s like watching a train wreck in slow motion.

The Comic Bloc

A few of my friends have asked me why I left the Comic Bloc message board.  I’ve had a few messages come my way that have said “you’ll be back” or “When things calm down in the Flash forum, you’ll return.”  I can honestly say that I don’t plan to go back and that my view of the place has been tainted further since my leaving.

How is this?

Well, let’s just say that I made the mistake of “lurking” a bit over there since I left.  My Goodbye thread, which was intended to just say goodbye to some friends, went from a troll infected mad house within minutes and then quickly evolved into a derailed jokefest where even Geoff Johns himself showed up at the end to make a snarky comment about how awesome it was that the thread was being derailed (at least that’s how I took it). 

Yeah… this is a place that I want to go back to, the day right after NEVER.

There is no doubt in my mind that I was a member about 2 years too long.  I take some responsibility for my unhappiness there too.  I am very vocal about my opinions, and tend to heat up when the debates unfold.  By doing so, those in opposition in a typical Republican vs Democrat fashion, get worked up more than they should.  I’m guilty of this.  In my mind, looking back, I might have fed the beast by just being there.

I have always felt that the board there is controlled by members and moderators that were always Wally West fans first.  It was like that from my first post there and it would have been nice to see at least one single moderator posting on the board how they much they love Barry Allen and are glad to see him return.  I challenge Magicspoon to get a mod with this opinion.  He won’t do it because he’s a Wally fan first.  Always has been and always will be. 

To be fair, a moderator of the Flash forum should probably be someone that doesn’t read the book, and not someone that has an opinion either way on the matter.  The problem with this is that this type of person would likely not show up to check on things enough simply for lack of passion.

Nope.  I don’t plan to ever return to the Comic Bloc.  I left, was semi-mocked by Geoff Johns himself, and no longer feel any wish to go there anymore.

It would have been nice to just leave, say a few goodbyes, go back and read a few comments from my friends and move on.  Instead I got trolled out the door, derailed, and mocked.

The Comic Bloc is not a message board for me.  Barry Allen fans beware!

The Flash: Blackest Night #1 (REVIEW & SPOILERS)

Blackest Night Flash fits in with the rest of the special tie-in issues of DC’s Blackest Night event in the sense that it continues the fun and takes us on a more intimate journey for specific characters.  In this case, my favorite, the Flash.

Scott Kolins returns to the art chores on this series.  The last time he worked on the Flash during the Rogues Revenge limited series, he returned to the character that I feel pushed him to the top list of the best artists in comics.  “Blitz” remains one of my favorite Flash stories and Scott Kolins has a lot to do with that with his talented storytelling techniques. 

We continue with Barry Allen’s reintegration to the DC universe.  He’s had a difficult time initially, no thanks to negative speed force powered Professor Zoom, having a happy return.  He’s had to adjust to dead friends (Ralph, Sue, etc…), status changes, and his own current placement among DC’s heroes.  History has been rewritten for Barry Allen in a new Star Trek movie way (In the new Star Trek movie, history is changed to allow new writers to go in completely different directions, without being handcuffed to the past) with some big events changed that have helped to flesh out his personality and give him more direction for writers.  He’s not the generally happy guy that was featured in 70′s Flash stories, with Iris always complaining about him being late.  At least not yet.  Nope.  This Barry Allen is going to have to recover from his years out of the spotlight, find his proper place again, and adjust to the new rules of engagement in regard to the Speed Force.

I liked Blackest Night Flash quite a bit.  Only Geoff Johns can write a book about my favorite character and somehow get me wondering more about the Flash Rogues than Barry or Wally.  It shows his love for those rascally rogues and I hope that never changes.  That being said, Barry Allen was still properly featured as the lead in this first issue and the interactions fit with the current perceived plans for the character. 

I give this a B+.  I wasn’t blow away by this story, but it was a nice start to a more personal Blackest Night adventure for the Flash and his Rogues. 

-Heater