A spin-off sequel from Zack Snyder's DC film universe, "The Flash" was a long time in development, cycling between various writers, directors and studio head changes, finally premiering in the summer of 2023. Also working against the film was the major shake-up at WB, with this film being the second-to-last in the continuity established by Snyder, before the slate being wiped clean by James Gunn's upcoming new timeline, as well major bad press towards their star, Ezra Miller, after years of several disturbing allegations and charges brought against them, which the studio ultimately tried to sweep under the rug. Despite all these cards stacked against them, the film's script had earned great buzz, so anticipation for the film was rising. Ultimately, Andy Muschietti helmed the film, bringing a sense of color, spectacle and humor (and arguably, some pretty atrocious CG). Inspired by the "Flashpoint" comic storyline, the film sees Barry Allen's super-speed powers crack open the multiverse, bringing him in contact with friends and foes, both new and old (with the return of Keaton's Batman being a major selling point). Overall, the film underperformed, and received pretty mixed critical ratings.
Joining the adventure was composer Benjamin Wallfisch, who had collaborated with Muschietti previously on the two "IT" films. The score is a massive affair, with orchestra, electronics, and some wild Don Davis-esque textures when Flash's powers are in effect. Thematically, Wallfisch supplies a main theme for Flash (though it is quite underplayed, and not particularly memorable), as well as a theme for the multiverse, a noble theme for Supergirl, a theme of loss for Barry's childhood, and a Zimmer-esque theme for Batfleck. Also Wallfisch incorporates Danny Elfman's original Batman theme is several grand statements, delivering an overall rousing and complex score.
The original WaterTower Music album cover feels a little uninspired to me, so it was fun to dive into the wide variety of much more colorful and inventive pieces of artwork created for the film. I created a total of fifteen new covers, all using official studio or licensed creations. I was able to find several hi-rez versions of the title logo, though for some I had to vector trace over the art to be able to matte out parts of the image when desired, or create a custom version when I desired the simple outline, without all the extra patterns and glow.
Most of these images took some editing, though I won't go into detail on every single one. Many required the usual trick of compositing multiple version of the same image together, whether to expand the background, remove text, etc. Generally composition largely remained intact, except for bringing Batfleck up in the image to fit the new crop in Cover 6, bringing Supergirl down in Cover 8, and cloning out the right side of the image in Cover 9 to better center Barry.
The final two covers, 14 and 15, were my selections from the Poster Posse licensed collection. These pieces were created by artists Orlando Arocena and Ryan Shumate.
Hope you enjoy, and let me know your favorites!
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