The Official Flash thread - Part 1

[Mystirious]

This and Aquaman are the best books of the re-launch. Manapuls paneling is ****ing beautiful.

I think that Batwoman is the absolute best book DC is publishing right now. Its my favourite comic book being published right now

Aquaman and Flash are neat as well though

But I really miss Wally

 

[Llama_Shepherd]

I think at this point I would settle for Wally coming back, as a 21 year old who is trying to support his newborn twins while trying to balance being a hero and a deadbeat dad. So then he's all modern and what-not.

Oh and he'll probably do something to be extreeeeeeeeme.

 

[Kurosawa]

Minus the vitriol, you're right.

I mean, if you look at what Johns has done, and the DCnU in general, nothing about it says retro or classic. Johns isn't trying to recapture anything, he's just doing whatever he wants.

Geoff Johns deserves all the vitriol he gets, both from classic fans like me and modern fans as well. He craps all over Silver/Golden Age characters and comics with his mischaracterizations and idiotic gore, and he craps all over the more modern comics and characters by making them into second stringers. I liked Wally taking over for Barry, I just didn't like Barry dying for it to happen, especially when Cary Bates sat it up perfectly for Wally to succeed Barry. Kyle was a character I could give or take, but then again, so was Hal. Alan Scott is the original Green Lantern and the one I cared about.

And yes, Johns just does whatever he wants. The stupid new origin for Kon-El is a good example. Johns came up with the idea when he was a teenager, had letters printed advocating it in DC's books before he ever became a comics writer, and once he got the chance he did it, spitting all over Kesel and Grummett's work and origin. Again, **** Geoff Johns. Characters should be true to their creator's intentions and that goes the same for a character like Superboy as it does for 70 year old characters like Superman. What, this hack knows better than the guy who created the character what he should be?

Again, **** Geoff Johns.

 

[Mystirious]

He'll need to eat the brains of homeless orphans to gain his powers

Extreeeeemmmeeee

 

[Llama_Shepherd]

He'll need to eat the brains of homeless orphans to gain his powers

Extreeeeemmmeeee

If he started with Billy Batson I'd be okay with that actually .



Extreeeeeeeeeeeeeme

 

[Mystirious]

Geoff Johns deserves all the vitriol he gets, both from classic fans like me and modern fans as well. He craps all over Silver/Golden Age characters and comics with his mischaracterizations and idiotic gore, and he craps all over the more modern comics and characters by making them into second stringers. I liked Wally taking over for Barry, I just didn't like Barry dying for it to happen, especially when Cary Bates sat it up perfectly for Wally to succeed Barry. Kyle was a character I could give or take, but then again, so was Hal. Alan Scott is the original Green Lantern and the one I cared about.

And yes, Johns just does whatever he wants. The stupid new origin for Kon-El is a good example. Johns came up with the idea when he was a teenager, had letters printed advocating it in DC's books before he ever became a comics writer, and once he got the chance he did it, spitting all over Kesel and Grummett's work and origin. Again, **** Geoff Johns. Characters should be true to their creator's intentions and that goes the same for a character like Superboy as it does for 70 year old characters like Superman. What, this hack knows better than the guy who created the character what he should be?

Again, **** Geoff Johns.

I just find all his stuff really, really boring

Even in otherwise great books like 52 he's dull. Rucka was doing great stuff with Renee and creating the new Batwoman, Morrison was doing fun space adventures and turning Mr Mind into a universe eating butterfly monster and making sure Egg Fu got some love

But Johns stuff was just incredibly boring to me

Not enough evil talking eggs or bad ass lesbians

 

[Panthro]

I think that Batwoman is the absolute best book DC is publishing right now. Its my favourite comic book being published right now

Aquaman and Flash are neat as well though

But I really miss Wally

Have faith. Wally will return one day. It is inevitable.

Grant Morrison is overrated.

 

[Mystirious]

Are you not a big fan of Morrison's stuff then Panthro

 

[Cain]

I know they all interchanged every now and then but wasn't Johns mostly writing the Booster/Rip Hunter stuff? cause if so that was amazing stuff. That and the Animal Man/Adam Strange/Starfire stuff by Morrison had me hooked on that title the most.

 

[Panthro]

Are you not a big fan of Morrison's stuff then Panthro

Nope, not a fan of Morrison's stuff. Never have been, probably never will be.

 

[Llama_Shepherd]

Nope, not a fan of Morrison's stuff. Never have been, probably never will be.

It's a shame you were born without taste

 

[Panthro]

It's a shame you were born without taste

What, because I don't worship Morrison?

 

[Llama_Shepherd]

Yes.

 

[Cain]

Geoff Johns deserves all the vitriol he gets, both from classic fans like me and modern fans as well. He craps all over Silver/Golden Age characters and comics with his mischaracterizations and idiotic gore, and he craps all over the more modern comics and characters by making them into second stringers. I liked Wally taking over for Barry, I just didn't like Barry dying for it to happen, especially when Cary Bates sat it up perfectly for Wally to succeed Barry. Kyle was a character I could give or take, but then again, so was Hal. Alan Scott is the original Green Lantern and the one I cared about.

And yes, Johns just does whatever he wants. The stupid new origin for Kon-El is a good example. Johns came up with the idea when he was a teenager, had letters printed advocating it in DC's books before he ever became a comics writer, and once he got the chance he did it, spitting all over Kesel and Grummett's work and origin. Again, **** Geoff Johns. Characters should be true to their creator's intentions and that goes the same for a character like Superboy as it does for 70 year old characters like Superman. What, this hack knows better than the guy who created the character what he should be?

Again, **** Geoff Johns.

I'm a post-crisis kid though I did go back to Golden Age and Silver Age books through reprints cause I'm into the history of the medium overall not just my generation's age. I don't think Cary Bates or John Broome's work with Barry could ever really be topped. It's the epitome of fun high concept zaniness.

I will say though that the current volume is completely superior to the last one by Johns in that regard though. It feels fun and high concept (IE: Barry now must monitor his speed because running by too fast he's creating wormholes) and Barry is the most likeable he's been since his return. So things are actually in a good state for The Flash.

The Superboy thing still upsets me. "Superman and Luthor have a son" is some of the most hackneyed stuff ever written in comics. It was more interesting when he wasn't really related to Kal-El and was just an extremely superior human clone. Making the human Luthor just added insult to injury.

He went from being a "real" Superboy and independent in the pacific side of the DCU and not Metropolis in the Kesel, Grummett and Marz series to becoming a moping conflicted teen drama character & supporting player for the sidekicks.

Even though I accepted his TT and enjoyed some it if in a way Graduation Day ruined the idea of those characters for me cause what made PAD's YJ series interesting is that they didn't want to become the titans. They were all independent and since they had their own solo titles save for Cassie they could mature further in their own solo series once they got older. Too bad DC didn't share PAD's vision. It's a shame Johns' idea carried over into the new Superboy continuity despite it being otherwise different in every other regard from previous continuity.

 

[CConn]

I like Superboy being Supes and Luthor's lovechild. It's both tongue-in-cheek ridiculous and has some more serious subtext to it as well.

Johns' Booster Gold stuff WAS great. But that's the epitome of Johns' writing; when he actually makes contact, he hts it out of the park, but when he misses, he misses big and embarrasses himself at the metaphorical plate.

 

[Cain]

I think what I hated about it the most actually was how it pretty much led to a complete invalidation of Superboy the beloved early 90's comic book series. Johns' TT pretty much retconned the hell out of it all and made it impossible for some of his most beloved supporting players to even logically exist anymore. All because you know "wouldn't it be cool if Superman and Luthor mated?"

But yeah I can't complain about his Booster Gold work. I hope that when Pandora's Box opens one of the things that's folded back into this new continuity is the previous Booster Gold volume that Johns started and Jurgens ended.

That was a great freaking book and allowed for a lot of growth to be made with the character. 52 and that series took him from a joke and into legitimate hero territory and that was great to see. All the way into Generation Lost were he proved himself to his old colleagues ten fold. It pisses me off that it's not around anymore in JLI.

He's back to being a joke at least so far in eyes of other heroes, though Jurgens is trying to add the conviction he's had since the last series back by making him leader and more mature and the Batman co-sign etc.

It's just not the same though. Poor Rip Hunter and pre-FP Skeets.

 

[CConn]

See, I started reading Superboy with TT, and his early 90s costume and look has always majorly dissuaded me from really checking it out.

But no, it's not just what if Superman and Lex Luthor mated. It has meaning for both their obsession with each other, their archetypical similarities, and the overall affect those two things have as a whole; represented through the personal termoil of Superboy having to deal with being a clone of the two.

I totally get what you'd disagree with a retcon, and changing what the original creators intended, but the basic premise is solid, IMO. At very least, TT Superboy was a ****load better than the newborn clone version of himself that's mulling about now.

 

[Kurosawa]

I'm a post-crisis kid though I did go back to Golden Age and Silver Age books through reprints cause I'm into the history of the medium overall not just my generation's age. I don't think Cary Bates or John Broome's work with Barry could ever really be topped. It's the epitome of fun high concept zaniness.

I will say though that the current volume is completely superior to the last one by Johns in that regard though. It feels fun and high concept (IE: Barry now must monitor his speed because running by too fast he's creating wormholes) and Barry is the most likeable he's been since his return. So things are actually in a good state for The Flash.

The Superboy thing still upsets me. "Superman and Luthor have a son" is some of the most hackneyed stuff ever written in comics. It was more interesting when he wasn't really related to Kal-El and was just an extremely superior human clone. Making the human Luthor just added insult to injury.

He went from being a "real" Superboy and independent in the pacific side of the DCU and not Metropolis in the Kesel, Grummett and Marz series to becoming a moping conflicted teen drama character & supporting player for the sidekicks.

Even though I accepted his TT and enjoyed some it if in a way Graduation Day ruined the idea of those characters for me cause what made PAD's YJ series interesting is that they didn't want to become the titans. They were all independent and since they had their own solo titles save for Cassie they could mature further in their own solo series once they got older. Too bad DC didn't share PAD's vision. It's a shame Johns' idea carried over into the new Superboy continuity despite it being otherwise different in every other regard from previous continuity.

I agree. I don't consider Kessel's character and the later version to be the same person.

Nope, not a fan of Morrison's stuff. Never have been, probably never will be.

Grant Morrison is the closest thing to a good writer there is in modern corporate comics. In the 70's, he'd be the #5 Superman writer behind Maggin, Bates, Bridwell and Pasko, all of who are superior to him as Superman writers and as writers period.

Geoff Johns is not a good enough writer to have worked for DC in the 70's.

 

[HighFivingMF]

Different strokes for different folks, I'm a big fan of Johns. But even if I weren't, Johns kept DiDio from killing off Dick Grayson and that alone would have earned my respect.

 

[Kurosawa]

Different strokes for different folks, I'm a big fan of Johns. But even if I weren't, Johns kept DiDio from killing off Dick Grayson and that alone would have earned my respect.

I've liked some of what he's written, and if he really kept that idiot DiDio from killing Dick Grayson, then I am thankful for that. And his JSA and his Hawkman were great at times.

 

[gugumugats]

Lots of Johns hate here ....

Johns' Flash run with Wally was what got me hooked on the Flash and actually going to the comic book store to pick up monthlies (I used to just read trades).

I'll also admit that I like what he did with the Green Lantern franchise.

I was disappointed by Johns' run on Barry though. I am so glad Manapul is doing part of the writing and all of the pencilling for the current run.

 

[HighFivingMF]

Heat Wave debuts in Flash #11.

 

[Lord Valumart]

I really love the art but I cannot for the life of me stand the stupid lines over his suit. It's just the fact that they're so uniformed and perfect looking. It would be fine if they were random.

 

[CConn]

But them being uniformed makes more sense than if they were random.

 

[gugumugats]

The lines have grown on me and I now think that they are a welcome addition to the suit (but only when he's running).

My favorite of these lines was in Flash #6 where they showed Captain Cold's powers "contaminating" Flash's aura with a blue energy (or lack thereof):