We saw a license plate this morning that read:
NOT KYLE
Okaaay… a Green Lantern fan, perhaps?
Category: Comics
An Earlier Identity Crisis
With Identity Crisis just finished, and news breaking about DC Countdown, Crises are in the news in comics right now. That makes this exchange from The Flash 80-Page Giant #1 (1998) all the more interesting.
The setup: The DCU version of comic book writer Mark Millar is interviewing the Flash to get ideas for his next script. Apparently DC Comics exists in the DCU, but they publish stories about “real world” heroes. As you can see, they don’t know all the details—like their secret identities—and have to fill in the gaps themselves.
What I’m Reading
Top ’o the pile:
- Flash — I run a website devoted to this series. Under Mark Waid and now Geoff Johns, this series has delivered good stories with a strong sense of legacy, but without requiring you to know every nuance of the character’s history. Johns has made a career out of revitalizing forgotten or deteriorated characters (Hawkman, the JSA, Hal Jordan, etc.), and he regularly turns that talent to the Flash’s Rogues Gallery.
- Fallen Angel — covered in August. On hiatus until February, this series just wrapped up a major storyline answering questions about the origins of Bete Noir and the Fallen Angel.
- Powers — covered in August. The new dynamic is setting up plenty of conflict, as the status quo continues to change. In addition, both leads have picked up dangerous secrets.
- Girl Genius* — covered last year. You really can’t go wrong with the Phil Foglio/mad scientist combination!
- Planetary* — covered in August. Archaeologists of the Impossible, uncovering the secret history of the 20th century. It looks like it’s getting ready to start the push toward its big conclusion.
- Astro City* — Super-heroes from a human perspective. Sometimes it’s a look at the everyday lives of people who happen to dress in costumes and fight crime. Sometimes it’s a look at the lives of the ordinary people who live in a city where super-powers are the norm. Always a refreshing take on just what lies behind the archetypes.
* On those rare occasions that a new issue actually comes out.
Continue reading
The Flash on Film
Well, it’s official. As reported all over the place, David Goyer is signed on to write, direct and produce a Flash movie. This isn’t just a rumor like the Jack Black Green Lantern, this was announced in Variety.
Goyer’s got experience with superhero films. He wrote all three Blade movies, and the upcoming Batman Begins. He spent several years co-writing the current JSA comic book, in which the original Flash is a regular.
Variety states that the movie will focus on the original Flash, Jay Garrick, though other sources have stated that Goyer wants to use the current Flash, Wally West…and Blade: Trinity‘s Ryan Reynolds is rumored to be in the *ahem* running.
OK, I’m not going to hold my breath about this. Film projects get sidetracked or abandoned all the time—just look at how long it’s taken the next Superman film to get off the ground. As for whether it’s likely to be good or not, Goyer has a hit and miss record. He co-wrote Dark City, one of my favorite films. (It was the first DVD I ever bought. I didn’t even have a DVD player at the time.) On the other hand, I’ve heard almost nothing good about Blade: Trinity. I assume he hasn’t even started the script, though, so it’s way too early to get into the “This will rock!”/“This will suck!” debates.
Not that I expect the rest of the net to wait…
Update June 2005: I’ve added a page on the movie to Flash: Those Who Ride the Lightning: Flash Feature Film.
Backwards!
A while back I found a site called The Hembeck Files, which reprints old DC-themed comic strips by cartoonist Fred Hembeck alongside related essays about comics. I just found one I hadn’t seen before, dealing with Zatanna and Professor Zoom. Zatanna performs magic by saying the words of her spells backward… and the accompanying essay is written in an appropriate format. (Ugh!)
Identity Crisis Conclusion (spoilers)
I went out at lunch and picked up Identity Crisis #7. Looking back at the series, it was very satisfying dramatically, though of course there were many things happening in it that I didn’t like. Even the revelation of the killer’s ID didn’t feel like a cheat. There was no sense of an Armageddon 2001-style last-minute change, and no one showed up out of left field in the final chapter.
On to specifics. Spoilers abound! Continue reading
Proto-Autobots
I found this ad from 1972 while looking through old comic books. At first I just found it interesting in a proto-Transformers sort of way, but then I looked more closely at it:
It actually uses the phrasing, “more (car) than meets the eye!”