Once Upon a Geek

We are truly living in magical times for old-school comic book fans.  Many of us grump and groan about how things were better “back in our day”.  Well, I’m here to tell you that things are great today even for people like us!

While I still keep up with numerous monthly titles, there are dozens of older comics that I think back on fondly.  In recent years, new media has emerged to celebrate these older books.  I often think about going back and re-reading an entire run of one particular series or another.  However, I don’t usually have the time given that I keep up with a lot of new material that also interests me.  Thankfully, I can now recapture the sense of wonder these old comics brought me by following things like the Word Balloon podcast & Back Issue magazine.  Additionally, the current comic book era provides readers with incredibly easy access to older material they may not have read. These reprints make it easier than ever to read comics you missed.  Finally, the internet has proven to be invaluable in researching particular comics or storylines.

Word Balloon

From the Word Balloon web site - Created By Chicago Talk Radio Host John Siuntres, The Word Balloon podcast features one on one mp3 audio interviews with comic book creators, plus the creative minds behind Film, TV, Gaming and other media.

Simply put, if you are a comic book fan and you are NOT listening to Word Balloon… then you are broken.  John Siuntres is a fantastic interviewer and really gets the inside scoop on comic books.  Whether you strictly enjoy old school comics or read the new stuff too, there has been an interview or two that you’d be interested in.  Some reoccurring guests of his include: Geoff Johns, Brian Michael Bendis, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid, Matt Fraction, Jepf Loeb, and Ed Brubaker.  And that’s just the guys who come back on a semi-regular basis.  He’s done tons of non-reoccurring interviews with modern day and Silver Age greats such as: Chuck Dixon, Robert Kirkman, Beau Smith, Marty Pasko, Kurt Busiek, Steve Rude, Neal Adams, Ethan Van Sciver, Marv Wolfman, Walt Simonson, Steve Englehart, Ron Marz, Mike Grell, Denny O’Neil, Mike Mignola, Brad Meltzer, Gail Simone, Dan DiDio, Joe Quesada, and the list goes on and on.  The nice thing about this format is that the recordings remain posted on the web (over 150 to choose from), so you can listen to any of them anytime you’d like.

Siuntres has an amazing rapport with his guests and they typically cover their landmark works, any relevant background and anecdotes, how they got into comics, and what lies in their future.  The interviews are compelling and well done.  It’s great to relive some of your favorite comics through the eyes of their creators and you often find out things you never knew about them.  I can’t recommend Word Balloon to you enough.  Even if you don’t have an MP3 player, you can download the episodes and listen to them on the computer.  The most recent interview (at the time of this writing) is with Ethan Van Sciver on his upcoming projects, “Green Lantern: Blackest Night” and “Flash: Rebirth”.

Back Issue Magazine

From the Back Issue web site - Back Issue celebrates comic books of the 1970s, 1980s, and today through a variety of recurring (and rotating) departments.

Back Issue is another product that does a great job celebrating the comics of yesteryear.  There are several different “departments” within the magazine, such as: “Flashback” which revisits the plotlines, creators, and characters from older series; “Pro2Pro” where two comic professionals interview each other (more like a conversation); special features, straight-forward interviews; “Greatest Stories Never Told” that discuss storylines that were planned out but never came to be; art galleries; and “Back Talk” an honest-to-goodness letters page (just like in the old comics themselves!).  Each issue is themed, such as the current issue on the shelf #29 - “Mutants Issue”.

The “Mutants Issue” has a couple perfect examples of why this magazine is so great.  There is a fantastic seven page article on “The New Mutants”.  While I would love to take the time to re-read all 100 issues of this comic, it’s not likely to happen anytime soon.  However, this article distilled down the major story points from the series, sprinkled with information taken from various creator interviews to give you some inside information you couldn’t gleam from the comics alone.  The article brought back tons of memories of these beloved comics.  So I may not get around to re-reading them, but I can still revisit why I love them so much.

Another example as to why Back Issue is great comes from the four page article on X-Factor.  You may recall the 1986 X-Factor series starred the original five X-Men (including the recently back-from-the-dead Jean Grey).  Well apparently the series was originally envisioned without Jean since she was in the hereafter.  They had planned for Dazzler to fill the “babe” slot in the series, along with the other four remaining original X-Men.  The idea to bring back Jean came from an incredibly unlikely place… Kurt Busiek, believe it or not.  Back when he was simply a fan he shared his idea for Jean’s resurrection with Roger Stern, who passed the idea on to John Byrne, who eventually passed the idea on to Bob Layton (writer of X-Factor).  And thus Jean Grey’s revolving door with death began.  Hard to believe that Kurt Busiek, a writer who didn’t become well known until the mid-1990s, was responsible for Jean Grey’s return in the mid-1980s.

Like Word Balloon, I can not recommend Back Issue to you enough.  I promise if you pick up an issue, you’ll find at least a couple things inside to interest you (if not the entire magazine).  The next issue ships in September and is the “Saturday Morning Heroes” issue in which they discuss Captain Marvel, Super Friends, Super Powers, Space Ghost, Astro Boy, and more!

Reprints

Whether it be color trade paperbacks, absolute editions, omnibuses, black-and-white Essentials/Showcases, or Marvel’s digital platform… it’s easier than ever to catch up on comics you missed.  All the publishers have become very savvy with their release schedules and delivery channels.  You can typically find newer stories collected and in stores just months (sometimes weeks) after the final issue shipped.  Additionally, publishers are focusing on reprinting older material and making it easier to get.  Nowadays, you can find trade paperbacks for sale in just about every bookstore.  For me personally, I have a bizarre soft spot for “Marvel Team-up”.  Don’t ask me why, but I do.   I only read a handful of issues growing up, so I picked up the first two volumes of the “Essential Marvel Team-up” to read more of these old stories.  Sure they are corny, but I’m loving these collections.  Other black and white reprints I’ve picked up in recent years include: Showcase Presents Aquaman #1; Showcase Presents Metal Men #1; Showcase Presents The War that Time Forgot #1; Essential Marvel-Two-in-One #2; Essential Avengers #2; and Showcase Presents Batman & the Outsiders #1.  I’ve also been getting the Dark Horse color reprint collections of the old Marvel “Star Wars” comics.  Even though I have the original issues, it’s so much easier to read these collections rather than dig out the originals from the bottom of a seven-high tower of long boxes.

The Internet

Finally, it bears mentioning how much the internet has changed comic book research.  In the old days, if you were curious about a particular comic storyline, you had to hunt out the back issue to find out what really happened.  For example, during my youth I spent years collecting old Uncanny X-Men comics from the early 80’s just to get the complete understanding of X-Men history.  With the proliferation of the internet, you can simply hit Wikipedia (or one of many other sites) and the entire history of a character or comic is chronicled in a neat package for you.  No longer do Editor footnotes referencing obscure comics confuse the reader.  Just a couple clicks away and you can know exactly what happened in any comic.  This can be a blessing and a curse.  I’ve found myself choosing not to seek out a back issue or trade paperback because I could read a summary of what happened on the internet.  While that clearly saved me some greenbacks, I did miss out on enjoying a classic tale.  It’s also an easy way to run across unfortunate spoilers.

Conclusion

Throw all this together and you’ve got a new golden era from the long-time comic book reader.  For example purposes, let’s say the FLASH WEEK I ran a couple weeks ago really got you jonesing for some old Flash.

• You could listen to the Word Balloon interview with Mike Baron as he discusses his tenure on the Flash, or Ethan Van Sciver’s interview on the upcoming “Flash: Rebirth.
• You could read the Back Issue magazine #28 article “Dead Man Running: The Trial of the Flash” all about the mid-1980’s Flash (Barry Allen) trial for the murder of the Reverse-Flash.  Since I’d never read those issues, this 10 page article was really informative for me.
• You could pick up any number of Flash trade paperbacks, include the early 1950s and 1960s adventures of Barry Allen in full-color Archive format or the black-and-white Showcase reprints.  Or if you’d like something more recent, there are a number of Wally West trades by Mark Waid and Geoff Johns available.
• You remember Amanda Pays playing Tina McGee (yummy) in the Flash TV series.  However, you’ve always wondered what Tina McGee was like in the comic book.  You do a quick Google search on “Tina McGee” and the first result you get is the fantastic reference site “Flash: Those Who Ride the Lightning“.  There you can read about both the comic and TV series versions of Tina McGee.  What a great research tool!

Let’s shake off the reputation for our curmudgeonly attitudes and celebrate!  It truly is great to be an old-school comic book fan right now.

I went to the comic shop on Monday to pick up the past two weeks worth of stuff.  I was pretty shocked to find so many big books waiting for me.  I knew I had ordered them, but for all of these to come in within such a short period of time - Yikes!  When the heck am I going to find the time to read them all, on top of my normal monthly pull of single issues?!?!?!

Scud The Disposable Assassin: The Whole Shebang!
Same dimensions as a comic book - 764 pages … Dude, 764 PAGES!

Queen & Country Definitive Edition Volume 01
6″ x 9″ - 362 pages

The Flash Companion by TwoMorrows
Letter size - 219 pages

Maintenance Volume 3
6″ x 9″ - 104 pages  (this is the basic cover image, but with issue #8 dressing)

Thanks to everyone who stopped by during FLASH WEEK.  Based upon comments and unique visitors, it appears to have been well received.  Just a few additional pieces worth mentioning that came up after last week …

Flash Companion by TwoMorrows Publishing

The highly-anticipated Flash Companion was recently published by TwoMorrows (the company that puts out the magazines “Back Issue” and “Alter Ego”).  I just picked up my copy on Monday.  I flipped through it quickly and was thoroughly impressed.  If nothing else, it’s worth it for Craig Rousseau’s artistic tribute to Mike Wieringo on page 167 (yes, I teared up like a sissy when I saw it).  It’s full of interviews and analysis on all the various incarnations of the Flash.

You can also hear some of the inside scope on this book by listening to my buddy Michael Bailey’s podcast, “Views from the Longbox“.  He interviewed the editor Keith Dallas and had a great discussion; well worth your time.

• Views from the Longbox: The Keith Dallas Conversation Part 1
• Views from the Longbox: The Keith Dallas Conversation Part 2

Update on the future of Wally West

During a recent Comic Book Resources interview, Ethan Van Sciver (artist of the upcoming “Flash: Rebirth”) mentioned he’s working on a redesign for Wally’s costume.  So I guess that confirms that Barry will retain the classic Flash costume, while Wally will undergo some form of alteration to his uniform.  Kind of bums me out.  I just hope Wally’s new uniform doesn’t look goofy.  It wouldn’t surprise me if Wally ends up with an open cowl exposing his red hair (like he had in his Kid Flash costume).

Are there any changes in store for current Flash Wally West’s costume?

“I’m redesigning Wally West’s costume right now, and it’s terrifying.” While Sinestro’s costume, with its seemingly random blue color and “jester collar,” was ready for a redesign in Van Sciver’s eyes, “Wally West is the most perfectly designed costume ever, aside from Green Lantern’s costume, in my opinion.” Van Sciver said the challenge was to redo the costume without either making it less cool or more cool than Barry Allen’s and thus implying that one character is better than the other.

Noting some audience member’s skepticism about bringing Barry back at all, Van Sciver explained his motivation for doing so. “I want Barry to come back and be King Arthur. He’s the most straight-laced, perfect Flash, rigid in his morality and his ethics,” making the looser, cooler, more laid-back Wally a Lancelot figure. Van Sciver told the audience “Kick me in the ass if I fail.”

Speed Force.org

Finally, my thanks to Kelson over at Speed Force.org for pimping FLASH WEEK here at ONCE UPON A GEEK.  I really enjoy his blog and appreciate his support.  If it weren’t for his blog, I wouldn’t have heard about the Comic Book Resources interview with Ethan Van Sciver above.  I also agree whole-heartedly with his recent post, “What I want to see after Flash: Rebirth“.

If you like the themed week concept, drop me a line.  I’m considering doing more based around other characters.  As always, thanks for reading!

FLASH WEEK concludes here at ONCE UPON A GEEK…

Okay, first let me say that I’m in New Orleans and smashed as hell.  Seriously, I’m friggin’ hammered right now.  I’m drinking my second hurricane, after several drinks (which included a “hand grenade”).  I sorta kinda can’t feel my face right now.  So whatever I say in the next few paragraphs may be stream of consciousness.  Needless to say, I’m feeling pretty good right now.  

In regard to the future of the Flash:

First, there is the current monthly Flash comic that will continue for at least a while longer.  You can see upcoming issues at DC Comics.com.

From what Geoff Johns said during interviews, Bart Allen will return in “Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds“.  It wouldn’t surprise me if he becomes the Flash of the 31st century going forward.  You could retroactively squeeze this time in his last issue as the Flash.  After he figures out he’s going to die, and before the rogues kill him.  Or it may be revealed that the adult Bart was from a parallel Earth.

“Flash: Rebirth” starring Barry Allen is on the horizon.  It’s coming our way, whether we like it or not.  So watch for this mini-series by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver.

It’s pretty much an accepted assumption that there will be a subsequent monthly series to follow-up on “Flash: Rebirth”.  The real question is who this series follows. Will it strictly follow the adventures of Barry Allen, or will it alternate between Barry, Wally, and Jay?  Also, which Flash will be a member of the JLA?

Additionally, there have been LOTS of discussions recently about the potential live-action “Justice League” movie,  This project has been on and off again … so who knows what will happen.

Looking forward, Wally’s daughter (Iris West) eventually took on the mantle of Kid Flash during Kingdom Come.  She currently appears in the Flash comic.  Whether she eventually graduates to the “Kid Flash” role remains to be seen.

John Fox is the Flash of the Justice Legion Alpha.  He’s the Flash of the future that spent some time in our era.  Cool character.  

Wrapping up FLASH WEEK here at ONCE UPON A GEEK, here are a few web sites of interest:

Flash: Those Who Ride the Lightning

Crimson Lightning

Speed Force

Long live the fastest men (and women) alive!

FLASH WEEK continues here at ONCE UPON A GEEK…

Today I decided to highlight some of Flash’s exploits captured for television.

This first clip is probably the best TV Flash moment ever! It stars the Wally West Flash from the Justice League Unlimited episode “Divided We Fall”. The voice was provided by Michael Rosenbaum.

This next one is from “Justice League: New Frontier” starring the Barry Allen Flash.  The voice was provided by Neil Patrick Harris.  Yup, that’s Doogie playing the fastest man alive!

This next one is the opening of the 1960’s animated series.  If you play this one, be aware that the first few seconds are just a black screen.

The opening & closing credits from the 1990 live action “Flash” TV series starring John Wesley Shipp.  Love that Danny Elfman theme!

Here is a nice clip of Impulse on Smallville played by Kyle Gallner.

Normally I don’t go in for the fake music videos on YouTube, however, the following is a good one that showcase’s Kid Flash on the recent “Teen Titans” cartoon. The voice for Kid Flash was done by Michael Rosenbaum, the same guy who did the voice of the Flash on the Justice League cartoons.  By the way, an added bonus to watching this music video is that I didn’t have to suffer through an actual episode of “Teen Titans”. 

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t include a clip from the totally camp 1979 “Legend of the Superheroes”.  Wow, this is really terrible.

Sorry that I’m missing a few clips of the Flash, however, I have my reasons:

• I couldn’t find any decent video recordings to post that highlighted the Flash character in the “Justice League” live-action failed pilot from 1997.  However, here is an image of Kenny Johnston in costume from the show.  Be thankful this pilot failed.
• I was surprised that I wasn’t able to find any decent scenes starring the Flash from the Super Friends cartoons.  Very disappointed in that.
• I didn’t include the Flash appearance from ”Superman: The Animated Series” and/or “The Batman” cartoon.  I felt he was too similar to the Justice League version to merit posting a video of it here.

Enjoy!

FLASH WEEK continues here at ONCE UPON A GEEK…

Today we’re talking about my Flash collecting and spotlighting some of my favorite covers.

As I mentioned on Monday, I didn’t start collecting the Flash comic faithfully until 1992 with Mark Waid’s run.  However, I had managed to pick-up several issues here and there prior to 1992.  I always liked the Flash, but for whatever reason the comics didn’t captivate me enough to merit collecting on an ongoing basis.  I was actually surprised when I counted the other day and realized I owned 37 issues of the Barry Allen run of the Flash.  The bulk of my run was from issues 289 - 309; this was primarily because of the Firestorm & Doctor Fate back-up stories in those issues.  Here are a few of my favorite covers from that series.

Death of Iris issue, and it features a guy dressed up as the golden age Sandman on the cover.  Awesome!

Gotta love some Firestorm action!  After appearing as a back-up for several issues, Firestorm actually got to team-up with Flash in this one.

Carmine Infantino is credited with the following cover, but I swear that looks like a Keith Giffen Doctor Fate.  My suspicion is supported by the fact that Keith Giffen drew the Doctor Fate back-up in this issue.

By the way, did I ever tell you that I’m a big Trickster fan?  Love that character!

I’m also a big Justice League of America collector.  I have nearly every issue from 100 of the original series onward (that’s over 400 comics).  Here are a few of my favorite JLA covers featuring the Flash (I even threw in one JLE cover for good measure).  Going through this recently, I was surprised the Flash wasn’t prominently featured on more JLA covers. 

For Wally’s run of the Flash, I’ve managed to go back and get lots of issues prior to Waid’s run.  Out of the 242 issues published so far, I’m missing 56 issues (some in the 30’s, some in the 50’s, 160’s, 170’s, and 180’s).  Sadly I have to admit that I missed out on the first part of Geoff John’s Flash run.  About the time Mark Waid finished his run, I was looking to cut back on my monthly spending.  I saw a good “jumping off” point with Flash, so I took it.  Obviously I now regret that decision.  I’m in the process of picking up the trades for the early Geoff Johns issues.  Here are some of my favorite covers from Wally’s Flash series.

My all-time favorite Flash cover.  Drawn by the late Michael Turner.  Say what you will about his art, I think this cover is awesome!

 A nice creepy cover from Wally’s early days as the Flash.

Another great cover by another fantastic artist taken too soon… Mike Wieringo.  It honestly took me a little while to warm to his style.  But once I “got” his style, I couldn’t get enough.

I’ve always loved the cover above.  Interestingly enough, I didn’t realize until today that this was actually a tribute to an old Barry cover.

Not a lot of good things I can say about Bart’s run as the Flash.  While the series did improve about halfway through, it really doesn’t stand out.  Here is one particular cover that I liked and some Impulse-related covers.

This next one is Bart’s first appearance.  I love how they positioned the word “Kid” just above Flash, especially since he went by Impulse back then.

I chose this next one because it is by Ethan Van Sciver (artist on the upcoming “Flash: Rebirth”), and this was the first issue in a run where Bart started to take his superhero role more seriously.  I think this helped eventually play into him becoming Kid Flash and then Flash.

 Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t showcase some Jay Garrick covers that I like.

The following cover is from the last issue of the short-lived, but fantastic, Justice Society of America series in 1992.  Once again, another great artist that was taken before their time… Mike Parobeck.   

Alex Ross is the best thing to happen to comics in the last 20 years.

Gotta respect the oldies…

Love me some Jerry Ordway and the 1980s portrayal of the WWII era.

The return of Jay’s old enemy called the Rival.

While I don’t own every issue I highlighted here, I do own most of them.  If you can think of any other fantastic Flash covers I missed, feel free to share!

Come back for more Flash action tomorrow…

FLASH WEEK continues here at ONCE UPON A GEEK…

Sorry if this is spoiling it for you, but Barry Allen came back from the dead in issue #2 of Final Crisis.  I’ve been ranting about this for a while here at ONCE UPON A GEEK and on THE UNIQUE GEEK list serv.  Since this is my blog, I’m going to continue to rant a bit more.

It was recently announced that in early 2009, there will be a “Flash: Rebirth” mini-series by Geoff Johns & Ethan Van Sciver (the guys who did “Green Lantern: Rebirth” and “Sinestro Corps War”).  This comic is going to reintroduce Barry Allen as the Flash to the DC Universe.  Geoff Johns has said that all the different Flashes will be touched upon in this mini-series (i.e. Jay Garrick and Wally West).  It’s also assumed this mini-series will lead into a monthly Flash book with Barry Allen in the lead role.

I have no doubt these comics will be well-written and be drawn excellently.  I’m envisioning a sort of superhero version of “CSI: Central City”.  My issue is with the lack of necessity in bringing Barry Allen back from the dead and the impact on Wally West.  I feel that bringing Barry back after being gone for 22 years is simply to satisfy the writer’s sense of nostalgia, rather than a story that grew naturally from the recent plotlines in the DCU.  Wally West was a very strong character that made an excellent Flash.  There is no denying that he was handled poorly since Infinite Crisis, but just like any other comic book problem it could have been fixed.  Instead now Barry Allen is going to take the spotlight as the primary DCU Flash, while Wally and Jay take a back-seat.

This really bums me out as the character of Wally West spent the past 20 years growing out of the shadow of Barry Allen and trying to live up to the heroic ideal that Barry represented.  Now with Barry back, Wally’s hero will once again be the Flash.  Why would Wally continue to be the Flash, and in the same costume as Barry?  Will Wally retire and simply raise his kids?  Will he continue on as the Flash and look like a carbon copy of Barry?  Will Wally change his codename and/or costume?  Will he become the Nightwing of the Flash family?   Or will he be more like Connor Hawke; same superhero name, but different costume than his namesake.  For me personally, any of these options are a disappointment.  Wally represented growth in the DC Universe.  Here was a young hero suddenly left on his own to make his way.  He idolized Barry, strived to be like Barry, and eventually surpassed Barry in abilities (at least that is how he was portrayed during Mark Waid’s initial run).  Wally’s journey to become a hero was a fantastic tale to follow.  Now with Barry returning to the primary Flash role, it feels that Wally’s journey was simply clocking time.

I also get the sense from reading interviews with Geoff Johns and Grant Morrison that they feel Barry Allen “deserves” to be the Flash more than Wally.  That statement hasn’t been in print, it’s just my gut instinct from reading their interviews.  It’s like they feel that Barry is the “real” Flash, while Wally has simply been keeping the legacy alive.  I take issue with Barry “deserving” to be the Flash more than Wally.  As I mentioned above, during Mark Waid’s initial run Wally surpassed Barry in abilities.  Does that mean Wally deserves to be the Flash more than Barry?  If you base the decision solely upon publication history, then it’s not really clear.  Yes, Barry obviously came before Wally as the Flash.  However, the amount of time each of them have been the primary Flash has been very similar.  See below…

• Barry Allen had a 247 issue run; Flash (volume 1) 104-350.
• Wally West has had 242 issues so far as the Flash (and will go at least a few more); Flash (volume 2) 1-242 (and still going).
• Barry Allen was the Flash from 1956 to 1986 = 30 years.
• Wally West has been the Flash from 1986-2008 = 22 years.
• Barry Allen was a member of the Justice League for 232 issues; Justice League of America (volume 1) 1-232.  While Barry wasn’t in every issue, he was around for the majority of issues.
• Wally West has been a member of the Justice League as the Flash for 205 issues; Justice League Europe 1-68, JLA 1-125, and Justice League of America (new series) 12-23 so far.  While Wally wasn’t in every issue, he was around for the majority of issues.

If you’ve been following the recent “Flash: Rebirth” thread over a THE UNIQUE GEEK, you can see several sides to this.  My buddy Michael Bailey and I are pretty much in-synch on this issue.   My friend Terry believes that a title can carry multiple characters as the Flash.  While I agree conceptually, the title will eventually select one individual to be the lead character.  As of right now, that looks to be Barry Allen.  So Wally West and Jay Garrick may continue to call themselves “The Flash”, but DC comics will be pushing Barry Allen as the primary Flash character.  Another alternative would be to launch a “Flash Corps”-like title, but I’m not sure that would be successful.

Okay… I’ll get off my soapbox now.  Truth is, I’m going to buy the ”Flash: Rebirth” mini-series and the subsequent ongoing.  I’m probably going to love both because Geoff John’s is a brilliant comic book writer.   I’m even over my previous issue of Barry being boring.  My friend Terry convinced me that is the fault of previous writers, rather than a fault with the character.  While I’m sure I will enjoy Barry’s new adventures, I’ll always be sad that Wally has lost his place as the premier Flash in the DCU. 

It’s FLASH WEEK here at Once Upon a Geek! I’ve been on the road quite a bit in the last two weeks (Tampa, Montgomery, and Nashville). Additionally, at the time this post is published I’ll be on the road to New Orleans. All this driving got me thinking, “Wouldn’t it be great to just run at super-speed to my destination, rather than wasting hours in a car?” Couple that with the recent news about “Flash: Rebirth” (more on that later this week) and I decided to dedicate a week to the fastest man alive!

The Flash is my #5 favorite comic book superhero of all time. I’ve always been fascinated with super-speed. Even as a child, when asked what super power I’d want I always picked super-speed. For me it was the running that attracted me to super-speed; not the ability to assemble a lego set in .04 seconds. Just being able to open up and haul butt at unbelievable speeds sounds so cool to me, even to this day! I still get a buzz when on an airplane as its speeding along the runway just before takeoff. I love that sense of pure acceleration!

I bought the occasional Flash comic book in my youth and enjoyed the episodes of the “Super Friends” that included him, but didn’t really start collecting the Flash comic book on a regular basis until 1992. Mark Waid’s run on the book is what really grabbed me. Ever since then, I’ve loved the characterization of Wally West as the Flash.

Pictured above are some of the various toys I’ve acquired over the years that are Flash related. My personal favorite is the Reverse-Flash figure that was a Toyfare exclusive based upon the Total Justice Flash mold. I came very close to buying the new Professor Zoom figure from Mattel’s DC Universe Infinite Heroes collection. I had it in my hand and was set to buy it, but then I really looked at the molding and paint job and decided it wasn’t worth it to me. So I bought “The Goonies” on DVD instead. I think I came out better with the DVD. Other figures of note above include the DC Direct PVC posed mini-figures from the Flash collection, JLA, and JSA collection. Then you’ve got the Tasmanian Devil as the Flash from some kids happy meal, some DC Direct figures, some Total Justice figures (included the evil hologram Flash from Grant Morrison’s fun on JLA), and more. It’s amazing the things you pick up over time.

More on the Flash to come this week…

Since I’ve already had a couple action figure posts this week, I thought this might make a fun one.  

These are plushes I got from the WB store back when they were still open.  Man I miss that store.  They had the coolest merchandise.  In fact, you can find two other items I got from the WB store posted on my buddy Rob’s blog, The Aquaman Shrine.  The items are a JLA winter coat and a DCU animated picture frame.  While you’re there, poke around his site.  It’s really impressive (even if you aren’t an Aquaman fan).

And so my daughter’s TRUE education continues this week with a new toy.  You may recall a few weeks ago I did a post about my daughter’s new educational toys.  Well, this new one goes hand-in-hand with the educational value of those. 

I just love these figures!  They’re adorable!

Now if they’d only release a Wonder Woman.  I’d like my daughter to have some action figures that represent strong female role models.  Somehow I doubt they’ll make a Black Canary figure for this line.  Fishnets and a thong just don’t scream kid-friendly.

Maybe I’ll see if I can find a Storm figure from the Spider-Man & Friends line.