The Flash Comes to Home Video, Season One Comic Collection in September

Warner Home Video has announced that The Flash: The Complete First Season will be available on Blu-ray (list price $60.10, 4 discs) and DVD (list price $59.98, 5 discs) on September 22.

The series premiere of The Flash was the most-watched in The CW’s history. The show stars Grant Gustin as the title hero, supported by Jesse L. Martin, Candice Patton, Tom Cavanagh, Danielle Panabaker, and Carlos Valdes.

The sets will include the 23 episodes of season 1, plus these extras.

• Episode commentaries
• Featurettes:
  • The Fastest Man Alive!
  • Creating the Blur
  • The Chemistry of Emily and Grant Screen Test
  • Behind the Story: The Trickster Returns!
  • DC Comics Night at Comic-Con 2014 Presenting Gotham, The Flash, Constantine, and Arrow
• Deleted scenes
• Gag reel

Here’s the official show description:

Central City forensic investigator Barry Allen is, always charming and — as a result of a scientific experiment gone awry — now the fastest man alive! He’s The Flash, zigzagging through the action-packed new series from the creative team behind Arrow and based on the supersonic DC Comics character. With his life shadowed by his mother’s murder and his father wrongly convicted of the crime, Barry finds that his newfound power of super speed grants him the ability to move through Central City like an unseen guardian angel. Barry quickly discovers he’s not the only “metahuman” created by the explosive disaster — and not everyone is using their new powers for good. Now, to protect the innocent, Barry and his close friends who know his secret, race to combat evildoers in one astonishing adventure after another.

I don’t care so much for the dead mom as heroic motivator, but I like the choices for the bad guys — and the way their abilities are executed on screen — as well as the way they’ve done hero team-ups every so often. Barry’s supporting cast, particularly science helpers Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramon, play off him well and often lighten the mood.

Between the home video release and the launch of season two, if you’re looking for more Flash, The Flash Season Zero, collecting the 24 digital issues featuring the TV characters, will be published September 29. It’s plotted by show producer Andrew Kreisberg.

The first story was written by Brooke Eikmeier and Katherine Walczak and illustrated by Phil Hester and Eric Gapstur. It’s set early in the season and begins with Barry fighting a circus strongman. The likenesses aren’t very good, with Barry looking older than Gustin appears, but the story is visually interesting, with a cobra lady freeing a whole bunch of zoo animals, which the Flash has to deal with. The ringmaster has mesmerizing powers, and while a “circus of crime” story isn’t new, it’s a good match for this Flash.

The second (very short) story has Kreisberg scripting as well from a plot co-written by him and Marc Guggenheim with art by Marcus To. It looks a lot like a traditional superhero comic and guest-stars Felicity Smoak (from Arrow). Unfortunately, it’s just a lead-in to a TV show episode, so not very satisfying on its own.

The third story is written by Kai Wu and Lauren Certo with art by the team from the first story. King Shark has come to town, the kind of villain that would cost too much to do on TV but looks cool in comics. He’s a human/shark hybrid motivated by hunger, and the Suicide Squad (TV version) swings by to help out, although their methods conflict with Barry’s crew.

Four short stories wrap up the collection, one a focus on Caitlin, another about the pressures of heroism, the third providing background on Captain Cold and Heatwave, the last pitting Caitlin against a former mentor.