Barry Allen, Impulse

Barry Allen is the alter ego of the DC Superhero The Flash. Barry Allen was killed off in the 1980s in an epic storyline called Crisis On Infinite Earths. His death is considered one of the most iconic and heroic in comics. His sidekick Wally West took on the role of The Flash after Barry's death.

Barry Allen was the Flash of my childhood. After twenty five years death isn’t adding anything to the character. The character has been handled with so much reverence the perception of him has become stiff and boring. While intending to preserve the character what’s happened is that the character has gotten dusty on the shelf.

In the meantime, Wally West has become a fan favorite. He earned the role of the Flash. So the way I figure it, if you’re going to bring Barry Allen back you should do it totally wrong. Everyone has all this reverence and respect for Barry, what if he’s back but he’s totally messed up. He has brain damage from the Crisis, he has an impulsive temper, his powers have been reduced, and the truth is Wally West has surpassed the man he was.

In my idea of how this story plays he’s not going to be living up to expectations. On top of that, Wally is an adult now and more experienced than he was. Iris is gone, the JLA looks at Wally as the Flash, and they don’t trust Barry anymore. Barry falls from grace. But that’s not the end of the story. While Barry Allen is no longer the Flash, and is no longer the icon he was in death, Impulse is about a man who has crashed but continues to struggle despite of himself, and is still a hero at his core.

Website Genre Figure Illustrations Pt. 1

Currently I'm in the process of redesigning my website. The new design of the site dictates that each page be supplied with a genre image of myself as a standing figure. These are color images and if you'll check the home page of my site, ToddNovak.com you'll see that there is a western gunfighter image of me there (reflecting my appreciation for the old Jonah Hex comic book). With future pages I plan to feature myself as a space man (going for a 1950s EC Comics feel), a kung fu guy (1970s Paul Gulacy influence), a superhero (1940s Joe Schuster/Fleischer cartoon influence), and a few more that aren't coming to mind right now. There are two purposes for these illustrations. The first, I'm selling myself as a cartoonist and I want to show my range. The second, I totally geek for these retro genres so this totally reflects my passions.

In this space I'll post the image in black and white as I complete them. My current figure illustration features myself with my wife hanging by my side. I'm going for a Rat Pack type influence here. I could be a player, a mobster, or a superspy, but the point is that I'm a swinging hip cat whose a bit of a bad ass. I'm putting the original art for this image for sale on my Ebay Store so if this interests you check it out there.

I'm also posting the first western image here today in black and white. I appreciate the images in color as the finished art but I am very attached to the inks (coloring is a painful process for me trying to divorce myself from the ink for the sake of the finished product) so I am very happy to present the finish work here to see it as line art. I'm tempted to present it in greyscale to "show the art", but I'm going to hold back my purest tendencies unless the demands suggest otherwise.

As always, you can leave me your comments here or you can to to my Forums and engage in dialog there.