And by launched, I mean launched. As in, you can download the app and buy comics right now.

I’m really looking forward to the day when they expand this to more platforms (desktop PCs, Android and Windows–based tablets, etc) and start reaching into their back catalog. I’ve griped about the lack of Golden Age Flash reprints before, and the Bronze Age is also virtually invisible in reprints (though at least with comics from the 1970s and 1980s, you can usually find the back-issues at a reasonable price).

I haven’t had time to read all the interviews, but I’ll definitely be reading them tonight:

• Comics Alliance Interviews Jim Lee
• CBR interviews Jim Lee and John Rood
• Newsarama interviews Jim Lee and John Rood

With Jim Lee so heavily involved in this project, I can’t help but think of a moment at WonderCon this year. Saturday was the day of the iPad launch, and the Apple Store in San Francisco is just a few blocks from the convention center. Jim Lee was conspicuously missing from the DC Editorial panel. He showed up partway through the panel and stood in the Q&A line, where he planted a few questions…and then pulled out the brand-new iPad that he had stood in line for that morning!

Sadly, judging by ComiXology’s new releases, DC hasn’t brought Flash to the iPad just yet. But I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.

Update: Comics Alliance has another article I won’t have time to read just yet, on why this is a big deal.

Cross-posted at Speed Force

In a case of life imitating art, the National Park Service is currently battling Transformers 3 — a movie about robots from space — over just what they can and can’t do with a national monument!

Okay, you can’t blow up a national monument, but…

Bill Line, Park Service spokesman, said the producers “have asked to do some things that simply are not done on the National Mall,” among them staging a “car race” along the Mall’s gravel paths and flooding it with artificial light in order to shoot at night.

Apparently it’s not unique to Transformers 3, but a fairly frequent battle between the park service and film producers, which means Sprint’s video isn’t just a funny story, but a bit of an in-joke to those familiar with the industry.

Hmm, any chance the new movie will have a chorus singing “Robots from space!” in the background?

A big advantage to creating a new label: no preconceptions. Prospective readers won’t look at the cover, see a DC logo, and wonder where the super-heroes show up and rip off people’s arms. And they won’t see a Vertigo logo and assume that it’s a “mature readers” book. On the downside, a new label has to build its credibility from the ground up, instead of starting with name recognition.

This got me thinking: an established brand associated with customers of one gender creates a new brand in order to target the other half of the population. Where else have I seen this?

I own a jacket labeled Claiborne, which is of course made by the Liz Claiborne company.

Mervyns sells (or used to) H&H Men clothing, which was clearly a variation on their Hillard and Hanson brand.

All the examples I could think of (other than Minx itself) were companies that had traditionally been aimed at women, but were adding lines aimed at men. It made me wonder: is it the names? Do men feel odd buying a product named “Liz,” while women are used to buying brands named after both men and women? (Sara Lee notwithstanding.) Maybe it’s the stigma of a man participating in something perceived as feminine? Sort of like the assumption in children’s TV that boys will only watch shows about boys, while girls will watch shows about girls or boys (so they make shows about boys instead of girls, figuring they’ll get a bigger audience).

Then Katie pointed out LEGO Belville, the line aimed at girls which entirely misses the point of LEGO by making as much of each set prefab as possible. And pink. On the plus side, unlike Claiborne, Belville doesn’t try to hide the fact that it’s a LEGO product.

That makes it more like Men’s Vogue, a copy of which is sitting in the lunch room at work. In this case they’d have to call it something different (unlike a clothing line) because it’s not just a brand, but the title of the magazine.

I still think the craziest example of this has to be Men’s Pocky. It’s a cookie. One which I’d hardly consider a “girlie” cookie, but maybe it’s more associated with girls in Japan. I still can’t figure out whether it’s a case of cultural translation or deliberate absurdity.

I’ve read:

• Watchmen
• The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol. 1 & 2
• V for Vendetta
• Sandman vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes
• Sandman: Endless Nights
• Fables vol.1: Legends in Exile
• Batman: Arkham Asylum
• Batman: The Long Halloween
• Batman: Dark Victory
• Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
• Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again
• Kingdom Come
• Identity Crisis
• JLA vol.1: New World Order
• Crisis on Infinite Earths
• Transmetropolitan vol.1: Back on the Street

I haven’t read:

• Superman for All Seasons
• Superman: Birthright (but it’s on my to-read list)
• Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
• Batman: Year One
• Batman: Hush vol.1 & vol.2
• Green Lantern: Rebirth
• The Quitter
• Hellblazer: Original Sins
• Y: The Last Man vol.1: Unmanned
• Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne
• Sword of the Dark Ones
• Ex Machina vol.1: The First Hundred Days

The list is a bit heavy on Batman at a full 25% of the titles. And since it’s roughly 50/50 super-hero stuff and, well, other stuff, that means half their “essential” super-hero books are Batman. Come on, DC, show people a few more facets of your line!

On the plus side, they’ve chosen just one volume each for series like Transmetropolitan, Fables, etc.—so they can recommend as many different series as possible—and it’s the first volume. Unlike the well-known super-hero books, where the average potential reader probably knows enough to hit the ground running, it helps to start at the beginning, with a book that’s specifically designed to introduce each concept. And many of them are big, long stories. You wouldn’t recommend starting Lord of the Rings with The Two Towers, you’d tell someone to start with Fellowship of the Ring or get a combined edition.

Personally, I’d drop The Dark Knight Strikes Again (does anyone really consider it a “must read?”) and possibly the second volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Maybe even Endless Nights, though I suppose it represents the overall tone of Sandman better than the first book does. Maybe Dark Victory, since it’s essentially a continuation of The Long Halloween. With the Justice League, I might replace New World Order with Rock of Ages.

I’d add the first Astro City book, no questions asked. For the other space(s), I’d plug in something less well-known, but highly regarded. Maybe some more WildStorm, like Planetary
or The Authority Or how about a another DC hero, like Wonder Woman, Starman, or the Flash?

Monthly or More (ongoing):

• Flash (DC)
• Fallen Angel (IDW, formerly DC)
• Fables (Vertigo)
• Countdown to Final Crisis (DC)
• Noble Causes (Image)
• Dynamo 5 (Image)
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Dark Horse)

Bimonthly, Less Frequently, or on Hiatus:

• Planetary (WildStorm, one more issue)
• Desolation Jones (WildStorm)
• All-Star Superman (DC)
• Astro City (WildStorm)
• Book of Lost Souls (Icon)

Mini-Series

• Salvation Run (DC)
• Countdown To Adventure (DC)
• Teen Titans Year One (DC)

Waiting for Trades:

• Powers (Icon, formerly Image)
• A Distant Soil (Image)
• Girl Genius (Studio Foglio)
• Freshmen (Top Cow)

Still heavily weighted DC over Marvel. 10 of 19 are either DC or an imprint (WildStorm & Vertigo), and one book started at DC. Both Marvel books are Icon, their imprint for creator-owned books. One is on hiatus and one is sporadic. Of the 7 books with a regular schedule, 3 are DC, and one of those is weekly. Plus I’m more likely to pick up crossovers or events from DC than from another company—see Salvation Run, for instance (though I’m mainly buying it for the Rogues, who were the viewpoint characters in issue #1 but strangely absent from #2.) So DC is still getting the bulk of my comics budget.

Very little shared universe stuff. Of the 5 DCU books, 3 are mini-series (4 if you include Countdown), and one of those is a flashback. No Marvel or Ultimates. Just two Image and one WildStorm universe (and that’s only got one issue left).

I’m also thinking I might drop All-Star Superman. While it’s certainly a more entertaining read than other books, I realized that I don’t really care about it.

What’s changed since my last post at the end of 2004?

Added: Desolation Jones, Dynamo 5, A Distant Soil, All-Star Superman, Book of Lost Souls, Freshmen, Buffy, Countdown, Countdown to Adventure, Teen Titans Year 1, Salvation Run.
Dropped: Teen Titans, Outsiders, Astonishing X-Men, Squadron Supreme
Ended: Tellos, Forsaken, Ocean (mini), Rising Stars
Tried: Shadowpact, Jack of Fables, Beyond Avalon, Justice Society of America, Jack Cross, Fell, Wonder Woman
Came and went: Infinite Crisis (and all 5 lead-ins), Seven Soldiers, Secret Six, 52; Otherworld, The Atheist, The Stardust Kid, Mnemovore, Eternals, Elric: Making of a Sorceror, New Spring, Neverwhere, several Angel & Spike minis

It’s interesting to note that all the books I’ve dropped were “big two” super-hero team books. And aside from Infinite Crisis and 52, most of the series that launched and ended weren’t standard super-her books. Seven Soldiers would be the closest.

#3.  Flash: Wally West
#29. Flash: Barry Allen
#41. Flash: Jay Garrick
#42. Kid Flash/Impulse: Bart Allen (tied with Bizarro)

Master list of all winners. Profiles of all four Flashes (and dozens of fill-in, alternate, and one-offs) at Flash: Those Who Ride the Lightning.

From Showcase #13, it’s “Around the World in 80 Minutes,” a tale of the Flash. (Mostly he runs around the world, helps people out, and gets kissed by women. Aye, it be good to be a superhero.)

(Cover via GCD. This story appears in Showcase Presents: The Flash vol.1 and The Flash Archives vol.1.)

• Final Crisis II
• Post-Final Crisis
• Final Crisis X-2
• Final Crisis Leopard
• Final Crisis Vista
• Son of Final Crisis
• Finaler Crisis
• Final Crisis Again
• Final Crisis: The Final Chapter

(List put together at the Ghirardelli ice cream shop late Saturday evening after three long days of Comic-Con.)

The name first appears on the cover of Flash #93 (August 1994), with an out-of-control Bart Allen fighting the Flash. The cover is captioned, “Brash Impulse!” Over the next few issues, Wally West’s inner monologue refers to Bart as being impulsive, or (at one point) as “Mr. Impulse.”

It first appears on-panel as a name in Zero Hour #3 (September 1994), when Bart meets Superman for the first time, but Bart introduces himself as Impulse. Dan Jurgens writes.

Superman arrives in Keystone to see Velociraptors chasing Bart.

Superman: Dinosaurs from the merging timelines! Need a hand, kid?
Bart: Call me Kid Flash — and get your big “S” handed to you! The name’s Impulse!

After the events of Zero Hour, the name is explained in Flash v.2 #95 (November 1994), written by Mark Waid.

Wally and Bart are running through the city.

Wally: If we’re going to do this hero thing, let’s do it right. You need a code name.
Bart: How about “Kid Flash?”
Wally: Huh, well…
Bart: Pfffft! Just kidding. “Kid Flash.” Yeah, right…. Save yourself the brainpower. You already gave me a name. Repeatedly.
Bart stops and kisses a random woman on the street (yes, Bart).
Bart: I’m Impulse!
Wally: How terrifyingly accurate. And the mask?
Bart: Are you kiddin’ me? I saw so many guys wearing ’em, I just figured it was a law.

Fast forward several years.

Edit: (Thanks to Crazy Penguin for pointing this one out and scanning it) Secret Origins 80-Page Giant (December 1998) tells the origins of the members of Young Justice. In the Mark Waid–written Impulse story, the following exchange appears:

Carol: So who named you Impulse?
Bart: Batman. I have no idea why. Was he being funny?

Eight months later, Todd Dezago had just taken over as the third regular writer on Impulse. He started out with an unusual team-up in Impulse #50 (July 1999): Impulse and Batman against the Joker.

At the end of the issue, Impulse asks Batman a question:

Impulse: Wally said that you named me “Impulse”…what’s up with that?!
Batman: Wally misunderstood. I never meant for Impulse to be your name…. It was meant to be a warning.

Oddly enough, I don’t recall much complaining about the retcon.

Jump forward another half-decade, to the beginning of Bart’s brief career as the Flash. Danny Bilson and Paul Demeo have just taken over as series writers. A dream/origin sequence in Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #2 (September 2006) states, “It was Max who first dubbed me ‘Impulse.’” Fans across the Internet raged at this retcon, even asking about it at conventions, complaining about the “poor research.”

And today, DC released a 6-page preview to Newsarama from the upcoming All-Flash #1 (September 2007). Mark Waid is back as writer. In it, Wally West thinks back on Bart’s life:

“The boy was flaky, unpredictable, and had the attention span of a bullet. Superman code-named him Impulse, and it was probably the first thing that ever stuck to him.”

The funny thing is, all that people seem to remember remember about the naming of Impulse was Batman. Not the name he chose himself.

Update: Part of me (the part that spent two years as an English Literature major) is thinking I should have titled this, “Today we Have Namings of Bart,” but I’m not sure how many people would get the reference.

Update 2: Countdown #43 reiterates the Batman version as Robin speaks at Bart’s funeral: “I remember it was Batman who first called him Impulse… and for a while, the name stuck. I never thought he’d take things seriously enough to be the Flash.”

Update 3 (July 18): All-Flash #1 came out today, and the wording has been altered from what was in the preview. It now simply says, “He was code-named Impulse,” rather than “Superman code-named him Impulse,” side-stepping the question entirely. At this point we have 2 votes for Batman, 1 for Bart himself, and 1 for Max.

Update 4 (September 6): Crazy Penguin at the Flash Message Boards pointed out that there is an earlier reference to Batman naming Impulse: Secret Origins 80-Page Giant (December 1998). That’s 8 months prior to Impulse #50. I’ve updated the article above. We now have 3 references to Batman, 1 to Bart, 1 to Max. (Scan added September 9.)

While looking for something in Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #1, I noticed something interesting. This is from the Barry Allen dream/origin sequence:

It shows Barry’s death, along with the Black Flash, who figured prominently in the last few issues. And that last remark: “Will you ever outrun the shadow, Bart?”

It could simply be setting the dark mood that pervaded the beginning of Bart’s run. On the other hand, maybe they did have this planned all along.