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R.I.P. Jackson ‘Butch’ Guice.

Beautiful promotional poster for Wally’s series. I actually picked this up and scanned it months ago when the New 52 was announced, but I’ve just now gotten around to posting it. 

Art by original Wally series artist, Jackson Guice and Ken Steacy from 1986.

*Thanks to Lia from The Rogues Kick Ass and Speed Force for the confirmation on Ken Steacy’s identity.

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From Left to Right: Kon-El, Tim Drake, Bart Allen, Static, Arsenal, Raven, Nightwing, Beast Boy, Wally West, Donna Troy, Kyle Rayner, Wallace West, Damian Wayne, Deathstroke and Aqualad.

B-Side from Left to Right: Kon-El, Tim Drake, Bart Allen, Static, Arsenal, Raven, Nightwing, Beast Boy, Wally West, Donna Troy, Kyle Rayner, Wallace West, Damian Wayne, Deathstroke and Aqualad.

Just-Us Titans Go Together!

My favorite DC super teams combined; Young Justice, The Titans and the Teen Titans! I went after each of these with purpose once I finally moved outside of just collecting The Flash. Of course, The Flash Family’s long history and associations with these characters and teams definitely didn’t hurt.

I’ve long maintained that other than Batman (and even then it’s a stretch) no DC character exists in a vacuum. It’s an interwoven universe that is informed by the relationships within that universe. Or at least that’s what I told myself to justify getting these.

I wanted to add the new Tim Drake and Blue Beetle figures before I posted, but if I kept waiting for new figures, I would never post at all.

-Flash Johnson

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I love that story!!! William Messner-Loebs is so underrated it’s not even funny. Easily one of the best runs ever!

No spoilers, obviously, but here's the reprint of Hartley's coming out in the official preview for next week's DC Pride: Through The Years #1!

You can also see the pages at Adventures In Poor Taste.

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“The Max in the Mirror” by Mark Waid and Todd Nauck starring Bart Allen, Wally West, Max Mercury and Mirror Master (Evan McCulloch) from The Flash #800: A Celebration of Wally West!

Great to see Mark Waid (creator of Impulse) teaming up with Todd Nauck (who drew 53 out of 55 issues of the original Young Justice series) in a Flash-tastic callback to my first favorite era of Flash comics.  

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“Everything I’ve ever done as The Flash has been because of Barry and Iris. And the greatest gift they ever gave me was showing me what family was.” - Wally West, The Fastest Family Man Alive. 

From The Flash #800: A Celebration of Wally West

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The Flash #800: A Celebration of Wally West Cover Variants

Due out on Stands and Digital June 6th, 2023

Jeremy Adams’ groundbreaking run comes to a close and these are just a few of the beautiful variants commissioned for the occasion. 

The next team has some mighty big boots to fill. 

The Flash hasn’t been this good in YEARS!

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“Subspace Transmission” by A.L. Kaplan featuring Jess Chambers, The Flash of Future State: Earth-11

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DC Pride Special 2023 #1 Pinup

Youth Center by Brandt & Stein featuring our favorite Nonbinary Speedster, Jess Chambers or Kid Quick.

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Gamestop Exclusive! The Flash Movie Ring and Emblem!

Back with another The Flash Movie Merchandise Exclusive! This time from Gamestop! 

Past readers may remember my obsession with Flash Rings as I posted a few in my top ten items in my collection *checks notes* 12 years ago!

Fast forward to now and I’m finally adding another Flash Ring to my collection; this limited collectible piece from North American Retailer, GameStop. This one is 4316 of 10,000 pieces and produced by the fine folks at SalesOne Studios.

Unlike the Flash Ring from 1999, this one opens (and closes) to reveal a tiny Flash Emblem that is to represent the suit sealed inside. The ring looks absolutely stunning and pictures could never do it justice. It feels heavy and durable but I would still be paranoid about tarnishing the finish or scraping it. I’ll stick to rocking this one. 

Also included is an extremely detailed Flash emblem that can be attached to a costume or shirt with some incredibly powerful magnets; One could be ready in an instant for a fun and simple cosplay. The Emblem also has a heavy sturdy feel to it and doesn’t feel even a little bit cheap. This is far more than what I was expecting for $65! I actually wouldn’t even be too worried about wearing this one because the magnets seem to have a great grip. I might need to pick up a second before these sell out...

Thanks for reading, 

Flash Johnson

 Oh btw I’m playing around with a new watermark and was looking for some feedback on it. Let me know what you folks think!

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Target Exclusive McFarlane Toys Flashpoint Barry Allen aka The Flash available for Preorder! 

Woke up this morning to see that the next McFarlane Toys Target Exclusive is available for preorder and it is none other than Barry Allen, the second Flash!

Retailing for $24.99 USD, this is the first “vanilla” version of Barry released by the current holder of the DC Universe License, McFarlane Toys. It is based on Andy Kubert’s excellent rendition of The Flash from the now classic Flashpoint Crossover. 

Not only did McFarlane Toys include an additional Barry Allen unmasked head sculpt but in a stroke reminiscent of the DC Collectibles CW Flash figures, they also included an unmasked cowl that can hang around the neck of the figure. Brilliant touch that in the past, most mass market toy creators would have skipped. The sculpt looks to be strong all-around with all the little accoutrement we expect from the Flash; newly molded cowl wings, his classic silver age belt that goes straight across and even the tiny wings on the boots fully realized.

You can preorder Barry at Target for $24.99! This price also includes two pieces of the Cyborg BAF! I would be remiss if I failed to mention that the last couple of Flashpoint Exclusives made it to clearance for ridiculous prices at some Targets, so keep that in mind when preordering. However, also keep in mind that Flash figures sell well, and this one looks to be one of the best yet. Well, at least until they release Jeremy Adams Wally West *hint, hint*.

So who plans on picking this up?

-Flash Johnson

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The Flash Movie Mega-Bundle Finally Arrives (with a bonus)

Six Figures (not including Unmasked Keaton which came from Target), three vehicles, and three statues

The Figures: Batman (Michael Keaton), The Flash, Gold Label Unmasked Batman (Michael Keaton), The Flash (Batman Costume), Batman (Ben Affleck), Supergirl and Dark Flash. 

The Statues: The Flash, Batman (Michael Keaton) and Unmasked Batman (Michael Keaton)

The Vehicles: The Batwing, the Batcycle and the Batmobile!

The Bonuses: So every once in a while McFarlane Toy Store will toss in some extras as a bonus. Usually figures that are dinged up or have minor damaged. These are the first such bonuses that I’ve received and sadly they are all Batman. Batman Earth-11 aka The Drowned, Armored Batman from The Dark Knight Returns and Death Metal Batman. Not to be ungrateful, but I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do with these. The worst-case scenario is that they awaken something within me. ;) Thank you, Toddfather. 

Happy Belated Birthday to me!

-Flash Johnson

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“Make it so”

The Flash #798 “Time Heist” by Jeremy Adams/Fernando Pasarin/Oclair Albert/Will Robson

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The Flash #798 Cover Variants

Due out on stands and digital, May 2nd 2023

I can’t say how good it feels to see The Flash Family Reunited with Wally West leading the way!

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McFarlane Toys Flashpoint Progress Report!

With Batman (Thomas Wayne) Unmasked, I’m one step closer to having a complete McFarlane Flashpoint Line Up. Flashpoint of course, being DC Comics’ one and only Flash-centric company-wide crossover made these figures easy exceptions to add to my Flash-dominated collection. 

Pictured: Top: Grifter (part of the United Kingdom’s Resistance against the Amazons) Bottom Left to Right: Emperor Aquaman (A more ruthless version of Aquaman), Batman (Thomas Wayne who survived in this timeline while Bruce died), Batman Unmasked (featuring the infamous Amazonian sword that he stabs Eobard Thawne with), and Project Superman (an alternate version of Kal that was found by the Government instead of John and Martha Kent. They locked him up for decades without sunlight, his source of power. Hence his emaciated and pale appearance). 

Emperor Aquaman and Project Superman also include the arms and torso of the Flashpoint Universe’s greatest hero, Cyborg! From the looks of him, this figure looks to be massive and will easily eclipse the DC Direct Version of Cyborg in size. 

As announced earlier this month, we will get our very first McFarlane Toys classic pre-Flashpoint Barry Allen as a part of this Target/McFarlane Toy Store Exclusive wave later on in the year and from the silhouette on the back of the box it looks like Queen Diana/Wonder Woman won’t be far behind!

I’m hoping this isn’t the end of McFarlane’s foray into the Flashpoint Universe, as we have a lot more characters they could squeeze out of it. The Joker, while typically not my favorite character, had an extremely interesting backstory and dynamic with Batman so I would love to see that version show up in Figure form. Pre-Flashpoint Eobard, Captain Thunder, Element Woman, Green Lantern (Abin Sur), Citizen Cold (which could double as a classic Cold), Pirate Deathstroke, The Outsider (with Gold Label Alfred); so many fantastic characters and possibilities. Maybe even a box set with some of the lesser known characters.

Thanks for reading, 

Flash Johnson

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Birthday Haul 2023 and other pickups!

My real haul hasn’t shipped yet, but these figures arrived over the last couple of weeks.

My wife picked up Emperor Aquaman from Target for a ridiculously low price (3 dollars!) and started a chain reaction that led to me preordering Project Superman and then tracking down Flashpoint Batman and Grifter. Grifter came in a jacked up box but for 12 bucks, I can’t complain too much. Since Flashpoint was the first and only Flash-centric companywide crossover, it’s easy to justify picking these up.

Since my McFarlane Flash wave order has yet to ship, I took advantage of a deal Target had a couple of weeks back and order the three Flash figures from the wave. And since I’m all about complete collections, I had to pick up the Gold Label Unmasked Batman from the Flash movie wave and a red and blue Superman for Flash to race with. I seriously can’t wait until my Flash wave ships, mainly because I want to see that Batmobile and Batwing in all their glory.

I don’t think Jay Garrick and Impulse need any explanation. But Impulse actually was free. I ended up having my card declined for my Target order for no apparent reason and the app offered no way to replace the card. So I was pretty shocked when I got a shipping notification. Even more shocked when I got a delivered notification.

Kyle Rayner seems like a random figure, but he is Wally West’s contemporary in the Grant Morrison Justice League and also is my favorite Lantern. Thrilled to have this guy finally, despite not being a huge fan of the color green they chose.

It’s been an excellent birthday and an excellent year so far. I can’t wait to see what other goodies Todd has up his sleeve. Let’s hope one of them is a Jeremy Adams Wally West with a Gold Label 90s variant.

Thanks for reading,

Flash Johnson

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McFarlane Toys Wally West Action Figure Concept by JohnnyDouleur based on a design by Ethan Van Sciver!

Take my money! This looks just about perfect! 

Now does it come in gold?

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Just Arrived! DC Collectibles DC Icons DC Rebirth Justice League Action Figure 7-Pack featuring Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Hal Jordan, Cyborg, Aquaman and our resident speedster, Barry Allen, The Flash!

DC Collectibles released this set way back in 2017 and unfortunately, I missed it. I was going through some difficult times that didn’t fully end until this past December and thus could not collect much of anything. 

Luckily, the bad times are nearing the end, and the collection is finally getting some desperate TLC. Most of my collection is still sitting in storage, but I’m slowly building a new auxiliary collection.

As you can see, the box has been through a bit, but for 60 bucks I can’t complain too much. 

Stuff is arriving faster than I can open them! Loose and comparison pics coming for everything soon.

Stay Flashy,

Flash Johnson