Most Faithful Flash(?) & other Comic News

Here is more news (and a bit of commentary) from the world of comics!

Most Faithful Flash?  – Many comic fans are looking forward to the series The Flash, based on the character from DC Comics which premieres October 7th on the CW network. The Television Critics Association hosted the executive producers and the cast on Friday to discuss the show.

Geoff Johns, an executive producer for the show as well as the Chief Creative Officer for DC Comics, stated that this series is probably “the most faithful DC Comics adaptation ever.” In the same panel, he then stated that they have added “a whole new backstory.”

Hmmm. Is it just me or do those two statements seem mutually exclusive?

Several of the characters for The Flash, including the lead, were introduced during the show Arrow last season and the two shows film across the street from each other in Vancouver. Arrow star Stephen Amell has already been filmed to appear in at least one episode, and the eighth episode of each show will be part of a two-hour cross-over night.

The character Barry Allen was introduced to comics in 1956 and has gone through many changes over the years, including being dead for 23 of them following the events of Crisis of Infinite Earths in 1985. When Geoff Johns reintroduced Barry to DC Comics in 2009, Johns added the murder of Barry’s mother as a major driving force for the hero, and it appears from the trailer that this point will be carried over into the show.

Barry Allen will be portrayed by Grant Gustin while Iris West, presumably Barry’s primary love interest in the show (since they were married back in the day) will be portrayed by Candice Patton. Ms Patton is a black woman while Iris West was not.  It would be great if we could just move past that. Thanks.

Others appearing in the show include Robbie Amell (see our coverage here) as Ronnie Raymond, Rick Cosnett as Eddie Thawne (Reverse Flash?), Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow (STAR Labs scientist) and John Wesley Shipp as Barry’s father, Henry Allen. You might remember Shipp as having played Barry in the Flash series from the early 90’s. I repeat ‘might’.

The Flash has, perhaps, the best array of villains in comics. Captain Cold, Muliplex and Gorilla Grodd should all appear at least somewhat based on current released information. Can Mirror Master, Trickster, Captain Boomerang or the Weather Wizard be far behind? Don’t forget who had exclusive news that Simon Stagg would be a character on the show. We now know that William Sadler will be playing the role.

The show’s pilot will be premiered at the San Diego Comic-Con next week but it has already been leaked online apparently.  I am sure that I have totally not watched it.  At all.

Two big news stories from IDW – For those that don’t know, IDW Publishing has made a name with comic book adaptations of many different properties including Transformers, G.I.Joe, Star Trek and Powerpuff Girls to name but a few. They had two large announcements this past week.

1) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles meet the Ghostbusters – On Tuesday came the announcement that a special crossover will mark the 30th anniversary year of two teams of unlikely heroes.

A faulty invention will throw the TMNT team into another universe with a slightly different version of New York City. Unlike their usual home, this one has ghosts that need busting and we know just the guys to do it. No word yet on whether the two teams will battle before joining forces but that is usually the way these things go.

You can sit down, order a pizza and check out the launch of this four-issue series come October.

2) IDW partners with Lion Forge Comics – Lion Forge Comics, a heretofore digital-only publisher of comic content has partnered with IDW publishing to bring its digital material to the print comics market.

Neither the IDW press release nor the Lion Forge website have a launch date stated that I can find, however they have announced that the first two series to be printed will be their adaptations of 1980’s NBC television shows Knight Rider and Airwolf. Don’t be surprised if you see that followed up by other Lion Forge titles including Miami Vice, Saved by the Bell and Punky Brewster. I am not kidding about any of those titles.

Four Horsemen from Titan Comics – The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from Titan Comics will be collected in a hardcover edition and released July 30th. The stories were written by Michael Mendheim, Mike Kennedy and Sean Jaffe with art by the incomparable Simon Bisley.

Titan released a video trailer to get you excited about the release.  The trailer is narrated by Lance Henriksen and, seemingly, a lot of horses. Try to guess which of the Horsemen (pestilence, war, famine or death) has a sexy version before you watch the trailer.  If you dare.