Francis Manapul
C2E2 | The Flash comes to an end in May
The Flash #12
DC Comics announced this morning that The Flash will end with May ‘s Issue 12, a result of its upcoming Flashpoint crossover. Curiously, a 13th issue is solicited for June.
Debuting in April 2010 on the heels of The Flash: Rebirth, the relaunched title teamed writer Geoff Johns with artist Francis Manapul, re-established Barry Allen as the Fastest Man Alive and built toward Flashpoint. So perhaps it was inevitable that the series would end as DC’s big Flash-centric event gears up.
The solicitation text gives little clue as to what to expect from the finale — other than it’s probably not good for Barry: “‘The Road to Flashpoint’ concludes as everything Barry Allen knows and cares about is lost. What is the Flashpoint? Find out in the upcoming Flashpoint #1!”
The Flash #12 arrives in stores on May 11, the same day as Flashpoint #1.
Expect more details to emerge this weekend from Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo.
Francis Manapul helps Marvel PR maven Arune Singh propose
Comics really can bring people together. Take, for instance, the above art by Francis Manapul, who created it as a favor for a friend who was proposing to his girlfriend. That friend is none other than Arune Singh, Marvel’s director of communications.
“It’s really a sweet story,” Manapul explains on his DeviantArt blog, “as [Arune] put a picture book together of them and this was revealed on the last page of the book as he got down on one knee to propose. ”
At Singh’s direction, Manapul depicted him as Superboy and Arune’s fiancée Michelle as Wonder Girl. Although it might seem odd for a Marvel staffer to ask a DC-exclusive artist for help on popping the big question, at the end of the day there are many friendships across the stretches of the Big Two. And this isn’t the first time a comics fan — or comics professional — has used the powerful language of comic to pop the big question: Cartoonist Dave Roman famously did an elaborate comic strip to spring the surprise question to his now-wife Raina Telgemeier, and I recall Rob Liefeld doing the same in the mid-’90s as a back-up to one of his comics.
… and before you ask, she said yes. Congratulations, Arune — and congrats, Michelle!
Comics A.M. | Dark Horse CEO on state of industry; BOOM! changes
Mike Richardson
Publishing | In a wide-ranging interview with retail news and analysis site ICv2, Dark Horse CEO Mike Richardson discusses the state of the market, the potential impact of Borders’ bankruptcy, digital comics, the decline in manga sales, the success of Troublemaker and more. Of particular note is Richardson’s confirmation that Apple’s stricter enforcement of a prohibition on in-app purchases outside the iTunes store was behind the delay of the planned January launch of Dark Horse’s digital comics program. He also says that Frank Miller is working on the third issue of his 300 prequel Xerxes, which is expected to be “roughly six issues, but he hasn’t exactly decided yet.” [ICv2.com]
Publishing | Robot 6 contributor Brigid Alverson provides an overview of recent changes to BOOM! Studios’ kids’ line, from the loss of the Pixar licenses to a new imprint name — changed from BOOM! Kids to kaboom! — to the announcement this week of a Peanuts original graphic novel. “BOOM Kids! was designed to publish children’s comics — kaboom! is designed to be a true all-ages imprint, and for that reason Peanuts is the perfect launch title, the sort of material that adults and kids read alike,” CEO Ross Ritchie said. “Roger Langridge’s Snarked! is along these lines, as is Space Warped and Word Girl. I put the Word Girl announcement on my wall on Facebook and immediately there were a zillion adults commenting, ‘My child loves this show but I’m buying this comic book for myself!’ The title mix will be broader for kaboom! than it was for BOOM Kids!” [Publishers Weekly]
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Apple
Digital comics | Following more than two years of complaints, Apple has given developers the guidelines it uses to determine which programs can be sold through its App Store, and relaxed some restrictions on content and tools. The company recently was criticized for forcing the creators of a comic adaptation of James Joyce’s Ulysses to remove nonsexual nudity from some panels — Apple later changed its stance — and for initially rejecting an app from Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Mark Fiore because his animated political satire contained “content that ridicules public figures.” Alan Gardner notes that the revised guidelines specifically exempt “professional political satirists and humorists” from a clause prohibiting defamatory or offensive material. [The Associated Press]
Comic strips | After 60 years with United Feature Syndicate, Peanuts will move in February to Universal Uclick. The news isn’t totally unexpected, as Iconix Brand Group partnered with the heirs of Charles M. Schulz in April to buy the rights to the comic strip from United’s parent company E.W. Scripps. The $175 million deal was for the entire United Media Licensing division, which includes Dilbert. [Comic Riffs]
Francis Manapul: comic artist, TV host and ‘Beast Seeker’!
Francis Manapul and Stephen Leonard of "Beast Legend"
Canadian comics fans with at least a passing interest in cryptozoology may want to tune into History Television on Wednesday night for the premiere of Beast Legends, a six-part series that examines “the truth about mythological creatures that could be real … and historical creatures that could be myths.” The kraken, the griffin, a bird monster — that sort of thing.
For that daunting mission, the producers assembled “a learned kind of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen”: an anthropologist/archaeologist/myth expert, an evolutionary biologist, an adventurer/veterinary surgeon, and a comic book artist — specifically, Flash artist Francis Manapul.
“It’s been an amazing experience traveling around the world on these magnificent adventures!” writes Manapul, who serves as one of the presenters on Beast Legends. “I felt like Indiana Jones or something! Even had run ins with some snakes! I’ve drawn in some of the most bizarre places, from the dense jungles of Vietnam, to a platform above sharks in the Bahamas, to a dark and wet lions cave in Germany, to the high seas of New Zealand! It’s truly been an experience and I’m glad I’ll be able to share them with you!”
The first episode, “Wildman of Vietnam,” premieres Wednesday at 10 p.m. EST/PST. According to Manapul, Beast Legends will air later this year in the United States on Syfy. You can read the official press release below:
Grumpy Old Fan | Morning has broken
Brightest Day
Let me be clear right from the start: I don’t think that Dan DiDio, Geoff Johns, and assorted other DC functionaries had this week in mind whenever they decided to kick off a cycle of crossover-driven carnage which Blackest Night brought to a close. I don’t think they said to each other, back during George W. Bush’s first term, “we want a miniseries starring the Hawks, Aquaman and Mera, Captain Boomerang, Firestorm, and Black Adam Jr. We’ll bring Deadman back to life, and he’ll tie it all together. Oh, and we’ll bring Barry Allen back and launch his new book the same day.”
It’s a neat thought, though, isn’t it? Barry was the avatar of the Silver Age, and his new #1 drops the same week as the first issue of the you’d-think-it-would-be-peppy Brightest Day. They’re both written by DC’s new Chief Creative Officer, Geoff Johns (BD is co-written by Peter J. Tomasi). Heck, DC should’ve gone for broke and called April 14, 2010 the start of the Brightest Age. Some loose ends notwithstanding, I think we are done for a while with the annual Event That Changes Everything — and before I bury the lede too deeply, I’m not entirely sold on BD, but I liked Flash #1 a lot.
(SPOILERS FOLLOW for both books…)
* * *
DC announces Brightest Day: The Flash
The Flash #1 by Francis Manapul
Looks like it’s gonna be one of those days: Hot on the heels of this morning’s announcement of Brightest Day, DC Comics Executive Editor Dan DiDio has taken to The Source blog again to announce Brightest Day: The Flash. It’s the opening story arc to the new Barry Allen-starring Flash ongoing by the previously announced team of Geoff Johns and Francis Manapul (that’s the cover to Issue 1 above).
As you might have guessed, it’s just one of several books that will be use the Brightest Day banner throughout May and June, as Brightest Day isn’t just one series, but a line-wide event. Stay tuned for more, I’m sure…
Manapul teases his and Johns’ Adventure Comics finale
Adventure Comics #6 wraps up Geoff Johns and Francis Manapul’s short-yet-fun run on Superboy. And iit looks like the duo is going out with a bang in what will be a full-length story about the Boy of Steel, based on this teaser image Manapul posted on his blog:
Adventure Comics #6 preview
“It was an amazing ride and we’ll sorely miss working on the book,” Manapul said, as he and Johns prepare to move on to the Flash. “I’ll definitely miss drawing Krypto!” The book comes out Jan. 13.
‘I look at something like The Flash as a long-term mission,’ Johns says
Flash: Secret Files and Origins
The weeklong onslaught of DC Comics announcements continues this morning with a few details from Geoff Johns and Francis Manapul’s much-anticipated run on The Flash.
The series, which launches in April, continued Johns’ long association with the character that began in 2000 with a nearly five-year stint on The Flash, followed by several one-shots and miniseries such as this year’s The Flash: Rebirth.
“Really, I look at something like The Flash as a long-term mission,” Johns tells the Los Angeles Times’ Hero Complex blog. “The Flash: Rebirth was the knot to untangle in the shoelace before we could run. I wanted to clear the board, re-examine some key elements of Barry Allen and re-introduce a threat that would play throughout the next several years. Much in the same way as Green Lantern, I’m committed to a long term story with the Flash and the universe around him. There’s nothing that really needs to be left behind, so to speak. However, The Flash No. 1 that will start in April — post-Blackest Night by Francis Manapul and I — will be extremely accessible. It’s Barry Allen a.k.a. the Flash, Central City and the Rogues.”
The Flash #1 will be preceded in March by Flash: Secret Files and Origins. The DC Universe blog has a look at Manapul’s process for the cover of the one-shot.
Flash’s Rogues are no match for Johns and Manapul
"Reverse Flash" by Francis Manapul
In one of those good news/bad news types of announcements, DC Comics announced today that Geoff Johns and Francis Manapul‘s run on Adventure Comics would end with January’s issue #6 — which is too bad, as I’ve really enjoyed the book so far — as they prepare to work together on The Flash.
According to Alex Segura over at The Source, their first “high-octane and mysterious” storyline is titled “The Dastardly Death of the Rogues.” He added to stay tuned for word on the new creative team for Adventure Comics.
(Picture above is from Manapul’s deviantART page. Here’s a look at a Flash sketch by Manapul that he shared on Twitter last month).
Update, Sept. 9: And the new Adventure Comics writer is Paul Levitz. Details here.