Our friends at Speed Force sat down with Norm Breyfogle an artist many of us remember as having a defining role for the Batman franchise in the late 80s/early 90s. Norm also drew an Elseworlds 3-part mini-series released in 1999 called FLASHPOINT for DC’s Elseworlds imprint alongside writer Pat McGreal. Elseworlds was a line of mini-series DC did more frequently in the past in the spirit of the Silver Age’s “imaginary stories”. There are some real good ones out there for folks that are interested. Here’s a list.
Anyhow, the original Flashpoint story from the 1990s went like this:
In a world where the Flash is the only superhero, Barry Allen is paralyzed from the neck down while thwarting the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Confined to a wheelchair, Barry becomes the leading figure in the world of space science. He also dreams of a heaven revealed to be the Speed Force, has visions of an alternate-Earth Flash career with the Justice League, and is friendly with his world’s incarnation of Vandal Savage.
Through a series of “accidents” tied to Savage’s machinations, Barry, Wally West, Ralph Dibny and the Martian Manhunter are embroiled in an attempt to keep the destructive power of the flashpoint from being unleashed on the world.
For more on Norm Breyfogle’s take on 1999’s FLASHPOINT check out the speedforce.org interview.
[And for what we know so far about DC’s 2011 FLASHPOINT event check out our update.]
