Wednesday 18 May 2011

Flashpoint #1 - A Few Things Of Note

Unlike previous years' big events, I won't be annotating Flashpoint and it's various associated spin-off titles, but last week's Flashpoint #1 did contain a couple of things that either made me chuckle or wonder if there was any real significance. The annotater in me couldn't help but then think: hmmm, there may be a blog post in this.


The big two-page spread (click on the above to embiggen) that gave us our first look at the Batman held a few things: the "Wayne's World" sign in the bottom left was obviously a call-out to that dreadful, goddam movie; the "Queen of Hearts Roulette" sign probably references the JSA villain Roulette, created by Geoff Johns; and as with the best alternate worlds, there's zepplins in the air.

Another little shout out to something else from Johns was this exchange:


Back when Johns was a fresh young thing in the DCU, he somehow ended up writing Day of Judgment in which a bunch of heroes ended up going on "a trip to hell." One of those who didn't volunteer but was forced into it (and ended up dying down there) was the Enchantress. Thanks for the irony, Geoff.

Towards the end of the issue, Barry Allen drives off to Gotham to see Batman but gets stuck in a traffic jam:


The bumper sticker on the car in front reads "I brake for no reason" which could just be a pun as this is a Flash-based series or might have some deeper significance in the Flash world.

The licence plate reads "281F" and as soon as I read that I did a spot of digging on the internet and, sure enough, here's the cover of Flash #281 from January 1980:


I've not read the story and can't find a synopsis of it on the net but it may be significant as it's a Professor Zoom story and it's him who's caused the whole different Earth thing in the first place.

Anyone notice anything else over and above the obvious?

4 comments:

  1. Great stuff! Especially clever of you to seek out the Flash issue. Thanks!

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  2. Glad you enjoyed it, Andy - like I said, no idea if Flash #281 has any relevance to the story but thought it worth a mention!

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  3. Isn't 28IF the license plate on the VW on "Abbey Road" ?

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  4. Nice catch, Mock - the full plate on the VW on Abbey Road is LMW 281F. Is this enough to start a Barry Allen is dead myth?!

    ReplyDelete

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