By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)
A few great holidays gifts, namely videos, have arrived over at Otaku no Culture. In the coming weeks, reviews of fond classics will be looked at. One such title that must be mentioned right away has to be with Warner Brother’s repackaged 2011 rerelease of The Flash
Continue reading “Revisiting the 90’s Flash with a 2011 Repackaging”
By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)
The Emerald City of the Pacific Northwest is certainly becoming “Central” because of the lineup of DC heroes coming to its comic convention in March 27-29 2015. Hopefully this show will not go by too fast because of its ever-increasing lineup of celebrities who played comic book characters. The lineup now includes John Wesley Shipp (The Flash) as the latest name to join this cadre.
This fine actor never slowed down after the 90’s The Flash
For Shipp, he continued working in television by appearing in favourites like NYPD Blue, JAG and Dawson’s Creek. Twenty years will pass before his return to the comic book world by becoming the voice of Professor Zoom in an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and a few more before he was cast to be Henry Allen in CW’s 2014 update, The Flash.
Other celebrities who have been seen in comic book to television/movie crossovers include John Barrowman (Arrow), LeVar Burton (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Captain Planet and the Planeteers), Susan Eisenberg (voice of Wonder Woman), Clark Gregg (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Brandon Routh (Superman Returns), Anthony Mackie (Captain America: Winter Soldier), Patrick Warburton (The Tick). Many more greats will be at Emerald City Comiccon, and amongst the vocal talents, this author will have to wonder how many of them will lend their voice when the Star Wars Trilogy: The Radio Play continues. This panel is worth waiting in line for; the zaniness and what these voice actors can ad lib, should they flub their lines, is hilarious!
CW Network’s The Flash is perhaps the best adaptation of a comic book hero for television. The series has a heart because it delves into a narrative style more reminiscent of a Marvel Comics character. That is, audiences are witnessing a hero in the making; Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) takes after Peter Parker (aka Spider-Man) more so than any other character, brooding or not. Oliver Queen and Bruce Wayne sometimes come from the same mold, and fortunately one is far more optimistic about how to save his city from corruption. Angst has yet to plague the young Wayne in Fox TV’s Gotham. There’s hope for one man, and it’s shared when The Flash goes to meet Arrow in the pilot episode. Oliver (Green Arrow) simply states to Barry that, “you can inspire people in a way that I never could … watching your city like a guardian angel, making a difference, saving people.”
The series is just as invigorating in how the writers define Allen’s coming of age tale. Viewers will find that this kid has a heart of gold. He already has a strength created not by a super serum but with the feelings of hope he has for people in need. For his superheroic origin moment, he did crash into a rack of chemicals after being struck by lightning formed from a particle accelerator explosion. This scene is wonderfully constructed because it brings a bit of Frankenstein’s mad science into Allen’s metamorphosis. His rebirth is not without issues, especially when part of his character development involves rediscovering himself.
Continue reading “What’s Next for The Flash? Nearly 9 Episodes in Retrospect”
