Thursday, October 30, 2008

Sight and Sound: "The Chemo-Creature"



"The Chemo-Creature," written by George Kashdan, featuring Ray Owens as the Flash, aired 9 September 1967 as part of Filmation's The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure. There is, of course, scads of absurd science on display, as well as an "unearthly monster" just in time for Halloween. You'll never look at an ordinary ant in the same way again! The five-minute cartoon commendably attempts to showcase a wide variety of the fastest man alive's speed-related abilities. Most amusing, however, is an awkward moment during which two slack-jawed farmers inexplicably fail to recognize what is unarguably one of the most iconic superhero costumes in all of history--indeed, fail to react to the presence of a costumed superhero much at all!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Fast Talk: The Reverse-Dimension Frequency

You can't craft a proper adventure for the fastest man alive without including a healthy dose of incomprehensible comic book technobabble. Over the years, Jay, Barry, Wally, and Bart have all played fast and loose with the laws of physics and, with convincingly authoritative narratives, managed to talk their way through it. Starting today, I'll be trying out a new regular feature spotlighting such instances of educational malfeasance. Fast Talk is dedicated to presenting those amusing panels and pages heavy on questionable scientific principles that leave us scratching our heads.


The Reverse-Dimension Frequency: This week's example of speedster technobabble combines two of my favorite staples of The Flash's far-out physics: mirror dimensions and vibrational frequencies. The Flash is seeking a way into the Mirror Master's domain, an "elusive reverse-dimension which exists within these mirrors." The key to unlocking that reverse-dimensional door? Why, super-speed vibration, of course! Like any good scientist, Barry Allen pursues a trial-and-error approach, incurring countless years of bad luck in the process. A look at all that shattered glass ("CRASSSHH!") leads me to insist that this is one pseudoscientific experiment you shouldn't try at home, kids.

Issue: The Flash #292 (December 1980)

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

On Indexing

When this blog stumbled and came to a standstill last year, updates over at the Crimson Lightning comic index became few and far between as well. As I am preparing to do a little more blogging, I'm also doing my best to catch up with the crimson comet and to bring the series index up-to-speed. The Flash #238, featuring part one of Tom Peyer's "Fast Money" storyline, is the latest issue to be added to the incomplete series index. Other recent installments will follow in the coming weeks. As it has been revealed that the current volume will be ending--yes, again!--with The Flash #247, and The Flash: Rebirth has been slated for release in April of 2009, I should have some time to get caught up. (Though I know there's a lot on the horizon for the Flash family, there's something quite painful about receiving that letter from DC Comics announcing that the current series will be coming to an end.) As always, keep your eye on the Crimson Lightning site for updates.