Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Racing into DC Universe Rebirth: The Flash Volumes 1 & 2 (Plus a Knitted Octopus)


The Flash has sped his way into the spotlight lately hasn’t he? Being a primary figure in many comic book storylines from DC such as Crisis on Infinite Earths in the 80s to recently with Flashpoint, New 52 and DC Rebirth which is what today’s blog is is all about. Of course The Flash is more than just Barry Allen there have been many speedsters who have donned the title, Jay Garrick who is actually the original Golden Age Flash, Bart Allen aka Barry’s Grandson, Wally West and Wally West. Yeah there are two Wally Wests now. Actually the Flash family can be a tad bit confusing at times. 


Wally West is famous for taken over for Barry Allen after the events of Crisis on Infinite Earth and for Twenty Three years Wally was the Flash kids like myself grew up with. From the Justice League animated series to the comics themselves Wally was my Flash growing up and I can say I didn’t know much about Barry Allen until much later. Making a brief appearance in the Infinite Crisis storyline and making his real return in Final Crisis. With this done Barry Allen would take the leading role as the Flash once again with Wally becoming the second Flash. Sadly Wally kind of got the short end of the stick when it came to Flashpoint and the New 52 storyline and faded into obscurity. Another Wally West was featured in the New 52 storyline but as I soon learned this Wally was a much different character, a good character nonetheless but different. Incomes DC Rebirth which so far is bringing back the legacy of the pre-52 timelines but meshing them with the New 52 continuity which is causing quite the problem for our DC heroes as a forgotten past clashes with the future. One of these forgotten pasts is a certain Carrot Top Speedster making his stunning return. Yes Wally West, the first Wally West, has finally returned to the DC Universe in one snazzy costume. He’s featured in the first Flash Rebirth Volume but mostly spins off into the Titans: Rebirth storylines which I’ve not touched on yet.


So far DC Rebirth has been a blast so far, which is great considering I could not keep up with the New 52 comics at all. I have quite a lot of catching up to do as there are many comic storylines out such as Green Arrow, Batman, Detective Comics, ECT but with what I’ve read so far DC Rebirth is great. I have currently read DC Rebirth: The Flash Volumes 1 and 2 as well as the first Justice League volume but I’ll focus on The Flash Volumes 1 and 2 today so beware of possible minor spoilers for these comics!


DC Rebirth: The Flash takes place in the same continuity of New 52 but with Wally West making his reappearance Barry Allen discovers that his history has been edited with memories of Pre-52 and even Pre-Crisis events Flashing in his head. (Yeah I just went there.) After discovering his anchor back to reality Wally dons a new suit and becomes the Flash once again. Barry doesn’t have much time to worry about the altered history when a speedforce storm occurs, turning thousands of Central City Citizens into speedsters. With a new villain in the form of Godspeed and tons of speedster villains and trainees to handle Barry has his hands full. Luckily S.T.A.R. Labs is there to assist.


The Flash Rebirth Volume 1 is pretty chaotic but for some reason manages to handle all of the speedsters as well as having some heart wrenching moments. Barry Allen’s story continues into the next Volume which features the story “The Speed of Darkness.” 


Wally West, the shorter and newer of the two Wally Wests, is learning more about his speed powers and is eager for Barry Allen to mentor him and finally convinces him to do so, becoming the new Kid Flash. After skipping school however Barry cuts off the mentorship and Aunt Iris grounds him, leaving Wally distraught. With  a mysterious shadow appearing in Central City, Wally decides to redeem himself by solving the mystery. To his surprise the shadow is an old villain of Barry’s… The Shade. Yeah! The Shade makes his return after seemingly retconned from the DC universe. The Shade started off as a villain of Jay Garrick and then Barry Allen during the Silver Age. With the power to control shadows at will thanks to his cane the Shade was a strong villain but as of late he’s become more neutral. It seems The Shade aka Richard Swift (In no relation to Taylor Swift, to my knowledge.) has lost control of his powers turning him into a shadow of consumption, with Wally being his first victim. Now Barry must enter the Shade’s shadows to save Wally. It’s a pretty awesome three part story that gave the new Wally a lot of character development. This volume also has a cool Christmas themed one shot in at the end, building up for the next Volume which will feature the return of Captain Cold and the Rogues.

Overall The Flash Rebirth is awesome as well as the DC Rebirth In general. After a few years of not reading comics from DC the DC Rebirth has dragged me back in. I know New 52 had some good stories but I just couldn’t keep track of it all. Thanks to a certain app called Hoopla however and my library card it’s been possible for me to go back and read what I’ve missed as well as dive further back and read comics that released before I was born such as the original mega reboot, Crisis on Infinite Earths. I’m nearing the end of Crisis so I will be throwing that blog up sometime within a few weeks. Anyway for those interested in DC Rebirth: The Flash Hoopla has the first few volumes and for those not aware of Hoopla or how to sign up for it please go and read my blog discussing all about Hoopla: http://zakentertainment.blogspot.com/2017/05/unlock-free-online-book-library-with-hoopla.html. You can download Hoopla via the Google Play, Amazon and iTunes stores!

I’m actually not sure which DC Rebirth story I should dive into next, perhaps Titans and Batman as they seem to be intertwining with The Flash. I also need to read Justice League Volume #2. Guess I have a lot of catching up to do, time to binge-read!

Besides reading some comics I’m still playing Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64 though it appears I’ve become stuck. I’m on the infamous chapter 6 where you head to Flower Fields to stop Huff N. Puff from blocking out the sun forever. I’ve managed to find and save Petunia from the Monty Moles but I seem to hit a dead end no matter where I go from here. Ohh well I guess I’ll figure it out eventually.

Now it’s time for the FREE Knitting Pattern! You guys love cute toys right? Well get ready for a gigantic cute toy in the form of an, Octopus?! Just in time to start knitting for Christmas toys here is “KnitOctopus” by Whit’s Knits of Purlsoho.com


This is absolutely adorable but apparently is quite big and made from 6 skeins of sport weight baby alpaca yarn weighing 50 Grams and is 110 yards per skein. This seems like such a fun knit though and isn’t too advanced. You’ll need some US 6 needles with a 16-inch circular cable attached and a set of US 6 DPNS. This would make an incredible toy for any ocean loving child, sibling, nephew, ect. Yeah I like octopuses, they have three hearts.

Anyway you can read more details on this pattern as well as the pattern itself by going to this link here: https://www.purlsoho.com/create/2013/05/19/whits-knits-knit-octopus/ This is the first time I’ve heard of Purl Soho actually but it seems to have been around since 2002 created by a group of knitters, crocheters, quilters and embroiderers.

With that all said and done it’s time I speed out of here, catch you guys later!

This was ZAK Entertainment


See you on Friday!

[Photo Credits: DC Database, DC Comics and Purlsoho.com]

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