Tuesday, October 28, 2014

The Fastest Man Alive!


Here at the Strangest Adventures, we have mentioned our fondness for DC Comics super-hero The Flash, The Fastest Man Alive, a few times in the past here and here. Police scientist Barry Allen has a lab accident with chemicals; a bolt of lightening hits them and splashes them on Barry. This gives him the power of super-speed!

The big news about The Flash is beginning this year, 2014, he’s in a brand new TV show. It stars Grant Gustin and airs Tuesday night at 8 P.M. on The CW Television Network. The Flash is actually a spin off of the CW show Arrow, featuring a Green Arrow for the 21st Century.  Arrow is…ok, I watch it any time a new episode comes on. It’s a bit too much drama for my taste. But The Flash is what I’m excited about. In my opinion the world of super-heroes on both the small and large screen tend too much towards the grim and gritty now. However, The Flash returns the viewer to the days of wonder, dare I say it, it feels like The Silver Age-this is as faithful to the source for a modern interpretation of Flash that we’ll ever likely see.


Nice try, 1990 The Flash TVseries; the uniform was more faithful to the comic but it seemed a bit off; the villains seemed to be watered down versions of themselves except for an over the top performance by Mark “Luke Skywalker” Hamill as The Trickster. In that series, The Flash was played by John Wesley Shipp, who by the way plays Barry Allen’s father in the new series!

In this new Flash series, Barry Allen actually enjoys having super powers unlike, say, the Hulk or the X-Men. The Flash likes helping people and has already fought four foes straight from the comics, Weather Wizard, Multiplex, The Mist, and Captain Cold. There’s a lot of foreshadowing and some characters have familiar names. This seems to be aimed to fan boys as well as casual viewers. Firestorm The Nuclear Man has been cast and will be featured and one character could potentially be Killer Frost. Crisis on Infinite Earths will occur in his future, we’ve already seen a newspaper from 2024.  And there was a scene featuring a broken cage with a plaque reading “GRODD”. Oh Gorilla Grodd, you simian genius!


I was inspired to recreate Showcase #4, from 1956, which introduced The Silver Age Flash but using the modern Flash in his stead. I’ve seen spoiler images of Professor Zoom, The Reverse-Flash so I thought he and the Grant Gustin Flash should appear on the cover of Flash #139 which featured Zoom’s first appearance. I dislike how Zoom's costume is no longer merely a yellow version of Barry's costume however I made the logo match Zoom's color scheme!  I haven’t forgotten the “real” Flash either; here he appears in issue #21 of Secret Society of Super-Villains being attacked by Blackrock, while The Calculator, The Shade, Black Hand, Lex Luthor, and Black Manta look on.  The SSOSV was another favorite of mine but that’s a story for another day.



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