Issue Description

Flash discovers the existence of Paul Gambi, the tailor for the Rogues, while stopping the Top from a crime spree.

The Mystery Of Flash's Third Identity!

While the Flash is away on a mission, in space, with the Justice League of America, the Top escapes from prison. Upon his return, the Flash attempts to apprehend the Top. The Flash grabs the Top, only to have the Top's uniform tear away in his hand, when the Top starts spinning at super-human speed. In the darkness, the still spinning Top escapes. Alone in his apartment, the Flash, as police forensics scientist Barry Allen, turns on his television, in the hopes that there will be some news of the Top. Instead he sees a news story on the slum areas of Central City. Allen watches in horror, as one of the tenement walls begins to crumble, seconds away from collapsing on a small boy.

Allen, as the Flash, races to the boy's rescue. The boy, Jimmy Darrel, was there to deliver a package. Flash retrieves the package, and notices the Top's costume inside the box. Darrel reveals that he was delivering the package for a local tailor, Paul Gambi. Suspecting Gambi to be the personal tailor of all his foes, the Flash decides to pay Gambi a visit. Disguising himself as a lowlife, the Flash, as "Trigger Joe", meets with Gambi, and requests a super-villain's costume. Gambi states that he doesn't do that kind of work. The headline of a newspaper in Gambi's workshop, leads the Flash to the Top's next criminal enterprise.

The Top steals a statue of "Winged Victory", from a local exhibition hall, incapacitating the guards with a gimmicked top that spins them like tops. Encountering the Flash, the top hurls down another trick top in the Flash's path. This top projects holographic images of the Top. The Flash runs down two of the "Tops", but each turn out to to be decoys. Passing through the second "Top", the Flash crashes into a wall, and knocks himself out. The Flash, as "Trigger Joe", returns to Gambi's, where he finds the tailor much more agreeable to his earlier request. Gambi outfits "Trigger Joe" with a science fiction themed outfit, dubbing him "Missle Man".

As soon as "Trigger Joe" suits up, the Missile Man costume becomes rigid. The costume begins to spin at super-speed, while also constricting about "Trigger Joe". The faster the costume spins, the tighter it becomes. The Top steps out from the back room, and reveals that he saw through the Flash's "Trigger Joe" disguise. With Gambi's assistance, the Top set up this very special trap for the Flash. Adding his own acceleration to the spinning suit, the Flash begins to rise in the air, before crashing back down into Gambi and the Top. With the two men taken to jail, the Flash returns "Winged Victory" to the exhibition hall, garnering a reward. The Flash uses the money to begin a building project to refurbish Central City's slum areas.

Slowdown In Time!

The Flash performs feats of super-human speed, at a charity bazaar. Afterwards, the Flash, as police forensics scientist Barry Allen, joins his girlfriend, Picture News reporter Iris West, and her father, physicist T. H. West, for dinner. As usual, Allen arrives late, this time due to his watch being 10 minutes slow. Strangely, Professor West takes note of the discrepancy. After Allen has departed for the evening, Professor West tells his daughter that Allen is the Flash. West, using Einstein's Theory of Relativity, has determined that because the Flash moves so fast, time moves much slower for him. The length of time the Flash performed at the bazaar, would slow time down for him by, roughly, 10 minutes. The same amount of time by which Allen's watch was off.

West finds her father's notions about Allen preposterous. Professor West decides to garner ironclad proof on the matter. Witnessing a bank robbery in progress, Professor West phones Allen. West asks Allen to meet him in precisely one hour, and insists they synchronize their watches so Allen won't be late. When news of the bank robbery reaches Allen, he heads off to thwart it, as the Flash. The Flash pursues the robbers getaway car. Professor West, in a cab, pursues the Flash. Waving his arms at super-human speed, the Flash whips up a dust storm that incapacitates the car.The bank robbers make a run for it, losing themselves in a field of tall grass.

The Flash pulls a wire fence around the field, gradually making the thieves hiding ground smaller and smaller. Once the Flash has caught the crooks, he takes them to jail. Professor West does some calculations and determines that Allen's watch will be precisely off by two minutes and four seconds. The Flash, as Allen, joins the Wests for dinner. Comparing their watches, West is amazed to find Allen's watch perfectly in sync with his own. West is crestfallen that his theory about Allen being the Flash is wrong. In truth, Allen, as the Flash, had spied West, in the cab, following him. A scientist himself, the Flash realized what West was up to, and merely reset his watch to the proper 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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