Issue Description

Barry and Iris go with Dr. Manners on a scientific expedition to South America where they encounter a prehistoric tribe -- and a giant problem!

The famous explorer-scientist, Doctor Manners, prepares to embark on an expedition to South America, to prove that the continents were once all connected. Manners is traveling with his niece, Gail, police forensics scientist, Barry Allen, Picture News reporter, Iris West, and her nephew, Wally. With Manners, Gail, and West waiting at the dock, Allen takes Wally aside, and reveals his secret identity, as the Flash. Allen and West, as the Flash and Kid Flash, race to the waterfront. The Scarlet Speedsters take time out to clear the streets of all civilians, as a troubled plane comes in for a landing. Once aboard the boat, and well on their way, Manners lays out his theories as to why he believes the continents were all, once, a single land mass.

Manners hopes to find either an aardvark, or a lemur, in South America, proving that it was once connected to Africa. Upon arrival, the expedition party finds that their native guides refuse to lead them through the "Valley Of The Sleeping Giant". The "Sleeping Giant" is really a volcano, which, shortly, erupts. The volcano's eruption touches off a violent ground tremor, which hurls the expedition party down the mountainside. After setting up base camp, Allen and West seek out the high ground to get an overview of the surrounding area. There they discover an enormous human footprint. Allen and West offer to do some scouting. Unbeknownst to the rest of the party, they will do so as the Flash and Kid Flash.

Responding to a cry of distress, the Flash and Kid Flash discover a primitive, being menaced by a gargantuan avian horror. The Scarlet Speedsters drive the feathered monstrosity away, then follow the primitive to his village. The primitives keep saying the word "Grodan", but their language is unintelligible to the Scarlet Speedsters. The Flash and Kid Flash are brought before the tribe's historian. Judging by his paintings, the Flash determines that "Grodan" means "Giant". As if on cue, an enormous golden hand grabs the Flash. Vibrating at super-human speed, the Flash is able to send a shock down the giant's arm, before the giant can crush him to death. The Scarlet Speedsters lead the giant away from the tribal village, then collect some cable from their own base camp.

After using the cable to trip the giant, the Scarlet Speedsters bind him. At the giant's defeat, an eclipse begins. With no eclipse scheduled for any part of the world, the Flash's suspicions about their surrounding are confirmed. Somehow, the ground vibrations, triggered by the volcano's eruption, has sent them back, millions of years into the past. The Scarlet Speedsters race around the globe, confirming both the Flash's fears, and Manners' theory regarding a super-continent. Suddenly, the sea begins to flow into the crack, between what will become South America and Africa. The oceanic force begins to divide the land masses. The Scarlet Speedsters evacuate the tribal village. A horde of Giants charge the Scarlet Speedsters.

Before they can reach them, though, the Giants are swept away by the rapidly rising sea. The Scarlet Speedsters race back to the base camp. Moving so fast as to be naked to the human eye, the Flash takes ahold of Manners and West, while Kid Flash grabs Gail. Matching their vibrations to the exact frequency of the volcanic ground tremor, the Scarlet Speedsters proper everyone back to the present. The Flash and Kid Flash, as Allen and West, rendezvous back with the expedition party. Though the base camp has been destroyed, Manners was able to preserve his camera. His photographs of lemurs, in South America, clearly prove that the continent was once connected to Africa. Allen chooses to remain silent, regarding their trip through time.

The Flash (1959)

Publisher

DC Comics

Volume Description

The Flash Volume 1, (continued from Flash Comics).

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Starring Barry Allen as the Flash and Wally West as Kid Flash. After 4 try-out issues of "Show case" - the first being #4, which is widely accepted as being the comic that launched the Silver Age - the Flash returned to star in his own title with #105 in 1959. The numbering of the title continued from the Golden Age "Flash Comics," which had come to an end as Super Heroes went out of fashion in the early 1950's. When Police scientist Barry Allen was doused with a variety of chemicals along with a bolt of lightning, the accident endowed him with Super Speed, and he donned the famous red Flash uniform we are all familiar with. Barry was seeing reporter Iris Allen, and to ensure he kept his identity as the Flash a secret from his girlfriend, he always turned up late for their dates. During his Showcase appearances, the Flash had battled the first of what was to become his rogues gallery when he clashed with Captain Cold, and his range of costumed opponents was about expand almost as rapidly as his uniform expanded from his ring when it came into contact with air. In his opening issue, the Flash battled the Mirror Master, and in the following issue, readers were introduced to Gorilla Grodd, Solovar, and the inhabitants of Gorilla City in a trilogy of tales that ran through issues #106 - 108. Also starring in #106 was another costumed villain, the Pied Piper. The Mirror Master obviously proved a hit with fans as he was back in #109 for a re-match and in #110 the Flash encountered the Weather Wizard for the first time. The Trickster brought his tricks to Central City in Flash #113, while Captain Cold returned in #114 and another Captain - this time Captain Boomerang debuted in #117.

However, it wasn't just super villains the Flash was encountering in the early issues of his own series. In #110, Kid Flash made his debut, when Wally West was caught in a freak duplicate of the accident that had given Barry his super speed. Wally's original costume was a duplicate of Barry's (only smaller of course) but sidekicks were "in" at the time and Wally would often feature in back up stories in the Flash as well as sometimes teaming up with his mentor - such as in #120. Later (#135) Wally would receive his more familiar yellow and red costume, which would serve him for the best part of two decades. Shortly after the introduction of Kid Flash, the Flash encountered Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man in #112. At first, Barry thought the Elongated Man was a criminal, but by the end of the lead story in this issue, Ralph was exonerated, and the two men became firm friends. Editor Julius Schwartz was developing a number of friendships across the books he edited and chief among them was a friendship between Green Lantern and the Flash. The two first teamed up in Green Lantern #13 and the friendship was cemented during several shared adventures including the ones in Flash #131 and #143.

The most far reaching team -up of Barry's career was to come about in the classic Flash #123, "Flash of Two Worlds" in which the Scarlet Speedster met his "hero" Jay Garrick, the original Flash from the Golden Age of comics, and the concept of Earth Two was launched. Subsequent team ups between the two Flashes included the reintroduction of the Justice Society of America in #137's "Vengeance of the Immortal Villain," as the heroes pitted their wits against Vandal Savage. In the meantime, the villains just kept coming, as Abra Kadabra - a magician from the future made his debut in #128, Heat Wave made things hot for the Flash in #140, and the Top put him in a spin in # 141. However, it was the introduction of Eobard Thawne - the Reverse Flash (or Professor Zoom) in #140 that would have the most far reaching and long lasting effect upon Barry Allen's future.

When Barry and Iris finally got around to tying the knot, (#165), the Reverse Flash tried to take his place at the altar. Although Barry foiled his arch -foe on this occasion, history would repeat itself later in the series. After the death of Iris (accidentally shot at a costume ball), Barry was about to get re-married. Thawne was about to kill his fiance, but in order to prevent that happening, Barry snapped the neck of his enemy - an event which led to the two-year plus "Trial of the Flash," which concluded the series and led to the seeming demise of Barry Allen in Crisis on Infinite Earths.

With science-based stories by the likes of Gardner Fox, John Broome, and Robert Kanigher, and the sleek angular artistic lines provided by Carmine Infantino, the Flash became one of the most popular and attractive books in the DC line throughout the Silver Age and indeed its impressive 246 issue run. The series ended with issue 350 and was continued a little more over a year into The Flash Volume 2.

Collected EditionsFlash Archives Vol. 1 (#105-108)Flash Omnibus (#105-132)Showcase Presents: The Flash vol. 1 (#105-111)Flash Archives Vol. 2 (#109-116)Flash Archives Vol. 3 (#117-124)Showcase Presents: The Flash vol. 2 (#120-140)Flash Archives Vol. 4 (#125-132)Flash Archives Vol. 5 (#133-141)Showcase Presents: The Flash vol. 3 (#141-161)Flash Archives Vol. 6 (#142-150)Showcase Presents: The Flash vol. 4 (#162-184)Absolute Green Lantern/Green Arrow (#217-219 & 226)Showcase Presents: The Trial of the Flash (#323-7, 329-336, 340-350)

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