Issue Description

The Pied Piper uses his musical control to force both The Flash and The Elongated Man to commit robberies.

The Pied Piper's Double Doom!

Royal jewels are stolen from the seemingly impregnable stone tower of Tower Town. The culprit is the Pied Piper. On the day prior to the robbery, the Pied Piper had spied Ralph Dibny, the famed Elongated Man, in a crowd of onlookers. The Pied Piper played a special tonal wavelength on his pipe, just for Dibny's ears. On the night of the robbery, Dibny, as the Elongated Man, used his amazing stretching abilities to steal the jewels. After turning the jewels over to the Pied Piper, the Elongated Man returned home, with no memory of his criminal activities.

The phenomenal nature of the crime attracts Dibny's interest, as a mystery solving sleuth. Though indulgent of his crime solving passions, Dibny's wife, Sue, reminds him that they have a dinner engagement. Arriving late is not an option. At the same time, reporter Iris West is telling her boyfriend, police forensics scientist, Barry Allen, that he, too, had best be on time for their dinner with the Dibnys. Allen consents, though still decides to investigate the tower robbery, as the Flash. Investigating the scene of the crime, the Flash discovers a boot print, on each side of the moat, nearly 30 yards apart.

Immediately, suspicion falls on the Elongated Man. Before the Flash can act on his fears, he, too, falls under the sway of the Pied Piper. Racing into town, the Flash robs the Bank of Tower City, moving so fast as to be invisible to the naked eye. After turning the loot over to the Pied Piper, the Flash returns to the stone tower, with no memory of his criminal act. Learning of the bank robbery, the Flash arrives on the scene, to find the Elongated Man already investigating the crime. The Flash accuses the Elongated Man of the tower robbery. In turn, the Elongated Man accuses the Flash of bank robbery.

As evidence, the Elongated Man points out that all the clocks in the bank have stopped, mere milliseconds apart. An effect that could only be achieved by the Flash running past them, at such extreme velocity, that the clock's inner mechanisms would have shattered. Realizing that they're both the dupes of an unknown criminal mastermind, the Flash and the Elongated Man team up to solve the case. The Elongated Man coats the bottom of their boots with a chemical that can only be seen with infra-red light. As a precaution, the Flash imbibes the Elongated Man's stretching elixir, Gingold.

Suddenly, both men become aware that they've lost time. Using the infra-red light, the Elongated Man follows the trail of their footsteps to the Pied Piper's lair. They find the Pied Piper, ready and waiting for them. Playing on twin pipes, the Pied Piper cause the Elongated Man to twist and stretch out of control. At the same time, the Flash finds himself running in place so fast that he, literally, begins running on air. The Gingold in Flash's system allows him to stretch as the Elongated Man does. Thus, with an elongated arm, the Flash breaks the Pied Piper's twin pipes.

The Pied Piper races back into his hideout to rearm himself. This gives the Flash time to save the Elongated Man. Racing in tight circles around the Elongated Man, the Flash unwinds the Stretchable Sleuth, while also drawing him back down to earth. The tornado created by the Flash's movements destroys the Pied Piper's lair. The Elongated Man pulls the Pied Piper from the rubble, while the Flash dissipates the tornado, before it reaches the city. The Flash takes the Pied Piper to jail, then returns all the stolen loot. The Elongated Man, as Dibny, just makes it back in time for his dinner date. The Flash, as Allen, arrives 10 minutes late, receiving a scolding from West.

Mystery Of The Matinee Idol!

Kid Flash is the star attraction at Blue Valley's Summer Festival. Suddenly, an elderly man collapses in front of Kid Flash's float. The Fastest Boy Alive drags the man out from in front of the float, then carries him to a hospital. The man is identified as Dexter Myles, a once famous actor. His collapse was apparently brought about by extreme hunger. Learning that his parents are ardent admirers of Myles, Kid Flash decides to get to know the actor. Upon departing the hospital, Myles reveals the sad affair his life has become. His acting style is considered old hat, and many modern theater companies have never even heard of him.

Recently, though, he had been hired to declaim Shakespeare, in the town square. An act Kid Flash knows to be illegal. Moving faster than the eye can see, KId Flash follows Myles. The old actor meets with his benefactors. Kid Flash doesn't recognize either man as a Blue Valley resident. Suspicious, Kid Flash decides to follow the two men. Myles begins reciting a monologue from Hamlet, at the town square. Soon enough, he draws a large crowd, as well as two officers, there to arrest him. With only the sheriff left in the police house, the two men enter, and demand the sheriff release his prisoner. The sheriff goes for his gun, as the two men fire upon him.

Kid Flash intervenes, moving the sheriff out of harm's way, while generating a shield of compressed air to block the gunfire. Kid Flash continues waving his arm at super-human velocity, drawing the air away from the gunmen. Weakened by lack of oxygen, they fall easily to Kid Flash's super-speed punches. The sheriff reveals that the two men are part of a notorious gang of bank robbers. Dolman, their safecracker, had been picked up by Blue Valley police. Without Dolman, they had no way of breaking into bank vaults, and thus came to claim him. The publicity garnered by Myles role in the crime lands him a starring role, at Blue Valley's Summer Playhouse. Myles is also given a special permit allowing him to, legally, perform in the town square.

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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