I liked some of the Byrne reboot but yeah, even he admits taking out Superboy was a bad decision.

I don't have a problem with streamlining some stuff. But the solution for Crisis On Infinite Earths was bad.

Suddenly Wonder Woman was a new hero, just arriving in Patriarch's World. Why?

Because of this, they had to change the origin of the JLA, replace her with Black Canary I think, had to alter Donna Troy's origin yet again.

Hawkman got messed up.

I agree with the Superboy complaint... I liked Byrne's Man of Steel, but the editorial edict to have Supes be the only Kryptonian around and not becoming a hero until adulthood really messed with the Legion, Supergirl (who I know died in Crisis anyway, but while Matrix grew on me, I still don't like the new one), Powergirl, and the founding of the JLA. But after years and years of getting stories working around all of that, I have a hard time reconciling all the recent retcons.

I thought JMS's Thor lost a lot of steam personally, but I guess he brought Thor back into prominence and between that and the recent movie, they can probably try two titles. I mean, they have like 5 Avengers titles, 3 Cap books, 2 Iron Mans (and War Machine), two Hulk books and multiple Deadpool titles, I'm not sure how low circulation has to go these days to get cancellation. Also, haven't they already been running a second Thor book (a couple of miniseries) the last year or so?

Has anyone downloaded any CBZ readers for their iPhone or iPad? In the market for one that will hopefully work.....

ComicZeal

comicZeal works well, from what I hear, but Cloudreaders does a decent job and is free (but only usable on the ipad). I use ComicReader Mobi, which unfortunately was banned from the app store for a year.

Okay read the final collection of Ex Machina... I'll have to go back and re-read the whole series, but it seemed to me like they squeezed a ton of stuff in at the last minute. The last issue certainly changed the entire tone of the series (I realize it ties in with the very beginning of the series). I can't imagine reading this with huge gaps in between issues, though.

How's the quality of the "Death of Captain America" hardcover omnibus? I was about to get the stories in softcover TPBs but noticed that the omnibus can be had for about $10 more. Is it worth the extra money?

What's up with Wally these days anyway? Has he shown up anywhere since Barry Allen's return?

It looks like he'll be showing up in the "Flashpoint" story that Johns has coming up so maybe they'll finally do something with him.

I actually think that the Flash's supporting cast could use some trimming. The disaster that was "Rebirth" left us with at least seven Flash-related speedsters. Though I don't want to see them all killed off (Okay. Maybe Wally's stupid weiner kids), there are just too damn many of them.

Yes!

They need to make the Flash special and unique, which he isn't if that many speedsters exist. Take Wally temporarily out of the picture, and kill off Jay Garrick. It's ridiculous that Jay Garrick is still around as an active superhero. I say that as someone that loves the entire Flash legacy, but Jay's time is over.

They did take Wally out of the picture (much to my chagrin, but I realize that the costumes were STILL too similar for even DC's artists to get straight)... he's pretty much retired and was seen once in the Flash series. Max Mercury came back and hasn't been seen since. Jesse's on the (crappy) JLA because that team needs a speedster, and Garrick is on JSA, I don't see a problem there (though I agree with most on Wally's kids). Oh, and Kid Flash/Impulse is on the rapidly improving Teen Titans title. I don't get a sense of speedster overload, except for the Flash Rebirth series where they kind of hit us over the head with speedster after speedster. Waid made the title work with a bunch of speedsters, and there have always been multiple speedsters in DC (Waid just brought them all together and Johns for whatever reason made Barry the catalyst).

If anything, take Barry back... I still don't understand how Iris got deaged and how nobody around them seemed to blink an eye when that happened. That's still my biggest complaint, I mean, I like Barry well enough but Wally more than came into his own and nobody that I can think of was clamoring for Barry's return at this point.

I mean, we have three different Green Lantern books with a bunch of people with the exact same power (which doesn't even take into consideration Jade on JLA and Alan Scott on JSA), and that seems to work ok.

Barry-Flash was one of my first "favorite superheroes" when I was a kid. I started reading him during the Cary Bates-Irv Novick run in the early seventies. I followed him right up until the "Trial of the Flash". I was moved by his sacrifice during the Crisis. And I was greatly disappointed when they brought him back.

Unlike Hal, who went out kind of a punk, Barry's death was meaningful and heroic. He had a chosen successor who was ready to step up and inherit his mantle. His arc was complete. Barry's resurrection completely undermines not just his own heroic end, but twenty years of Wally's growth as a character. And for what? As you mention, there was no public clamor for his return. Have sales skyrocketed since Barry came back? Is anyone besides Geoff Johns and Alex Ross really satisfied by the constant turning back of the clock going on at DC these days?

(That said, you can have my Levitz LSH when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.)

I like Wally West as much as the next guy, but Barry Allen is the Flash and his return was long overdue.

So, being out of comics for a few years now, I still see the occasional news story - such as yesterday's report of the major event in the Fantastic Four (which I won't say, out of politeness to those who may not be aware). Having been a longtime FF fan, I'm curious about this event and wonder if someone could post a quickie synopsis of it (spoilerized for safety?). Thanks!

#588 is the last issue, and it's probably not a coincidence that they're ending the book exactly 12 issues before 600. I'm guessing there'll be a year-long mini and the last issue will reset the numbering to 600.

Good call.

Much thanks for the recap!

Especially when they already toyed with the idea in THE RETURN OF BARRY ALLEN.

I'm happy for the Barry Allen fans because DC only killed off the character because of sales. However, I don't think Barry and Wally are so different that it would mark an influx in sales. The only thing I can think of is DC/WB, in addition for hoping that FLASH REBIRTH will spawn the sales that GL REBIRTH has, wants their comic characters to revert back to the uncomplicated originals, so they match up better with film and TV adaptations.


It's weird that they deaged Iris without explanation, but it's even weirder how it was explained that she came back to life.

Just read the first TPB of Astounding Wolf-Man and liked it--very similar feel to Invincible. I'll be picking up another volume.

And it looks like we have a May 10 date for Invincible TPB 14

Does anyone think the soft-cover Masterworks will continue to come out? I remember B&N released ASM up to Volume 5, but no more after that.

But Johns needlessly complicated Barry's origin with Zoom and the time travel thing. I mean, Flash Rebirth was not exactly simplifying the origin.

I knew Waid would never bring Barry back, even though he teased us with that storyline. Johns also wrote great stories with Wally, but I still wonder how much of it was Johns wanting Barry to come back so that we could have Hal and Barry again.

It seems all of the original Teen Titans just can't hack it. Aqualad died and was replaced by a cartoon-friendly aqualad. Dick can't really hack it as Batman. Donna couldn't hack it as Wonder Woman. Roy's a one-armed mess. Wally was the one guy who actually took up the mantle well, and now he's faded into the background. Oh well, can't mess with the icons, I guess.

And by pure coincidence I just read Astonishing Wolf Man volume 1 and was also impressed, though reading it in trade form, things happen really really quickly. I've also been reading through R.E.B.E.L.S. (are they still called that?) and they've done a great job mixing things up. Lastly, I'm on volume 5 of Urasawa's 20th Century Boys and I've been eating it up. I've heard the ending is a little disappointing, but we'll see.

Good question. I remember frequenting my local B&N to grab as many as I could but then it seemed like they stopped and so I stopped going. I just bought ASM5, which I never got at B&N, and Amazon is showing upcoming pre-orders for FF6, Daredevil 2, and Thor 3, none of which I believe I found at B&N.

Yeah, no question about that, and TPB1 had a big ending so I'm looking forward to #2.

I wonder if it's just because I read Walking Dead, Invincible, and now Wolf-man in trade, but it does seem to me like all of these Kirkman series have just walls of exposition where characters go out of their way to have these really long conversations explaining everything. Does it read differently monthly?

Walking Dead especially, because I read the HCs and they don't put the covers in until the end of the volume, so there's no visual separation between issues.

I've only read Kirkman in trades, but Invincible definitely has walls of text. I've read the one TPB of AWM and all the trades of Walking Dead and don't recall having noticed it. Maybe I just got used to it since I read Invincible first.

It's pretty complicated. Zoom originally was just some guy from the future who stumbled onto an old Flash suit that contained speed powers.

Then, under Waid, Zoom was retconned into being a fan of the "age of heroes" and missing that time so much that he became a Flash fanatic who gave himself speed powers and got plastic surgery to look like his idol.

Now, I think in the latest Flash comic, Zoom is changed to have been a kid who was obsessed with not wasting time.