Issue Description

Captain Boomerang tries to send Flash off into space on a giant boomerang.

The Day Flash Went Into Orbit!

Captain Boomerang soars across the rooftops of Central City, ultimately breaking into the top floor of a skyscraper. Using an exploding boomerang, Captain Boomerang opens the safe, only to find it empty, save for a note. Once more, the Crooked Four have beaten him to a crime. Back in his hidden lair, Captain Boomerang stews over the Crooked Four's constant one-upmanship at every crime he's tried to commit.

Unbeknownst to Captain Boomerang, the leader of the Crooked Four is a man named Fanning, Captain Boomerang's old prison cellmate. Fanning, along with other like-minded convicts, is out to take Captain Boomerang down a peg, in response to Captain Boomerang's enormous ego, not to mention his disdainful arrogance. Using subliminal suggestion, Fanning steers Captain Boomerang into committing specific crimes at specific times. All so Fanning's gang can beat him to the punch every time.

Fanning's gang, however, is interrupted by the Flash, during their next robbery. Though the Flash is able to easily dodge the gang's gunfire, an errant sheet of paper creases his temple, rendering him unconscious. Fanning, and his men, are about to execute the Flash, when Captain Boomerang attacks them. Captain Boomerang swiftly disarms Fanning, and his gang, but stops short upon recognizing Fanning. Before Captain Boomerang can fully process Fanning's involvement, Fanning, and his men escape.

Fanning steers Captain Boomerang to his next crime, but also tips off the police. Fanning and his gang set up across the street, to watch Captain Boomerang's inevitable arrest. The Flash closes on Fanning's gang, and uses super-compressed air pressure to knock them all out. Spying the heavy police presence, Captain Boomerang flees the scene, with the Flash hot on his trail. Captain Boomerang leads the Flash to a boomerang shaped bridge. Crossing the bridge, the Flash is stuck midway, by a powerful adhesive.

The boomerang launches into the air, heading for orbit. As the Flash approaches the Himalayas, he vibrates his molecules at super-speed, to angle the boomerang down at Mount Everest. Grasping the flagpole, of the American flag planted at the summit, the Flash holds on until the boomerang tears free from his boots. Catching up with Captain Boomerang, the Flash swiftly returns his old foe to prison. Once again, Captain Boomerang finds himself sharing a cell with Fanning. Captain Boomerang demands to know how Fanning got the best of him, but Fanning says nothing.

The Doorway To The Unknown!

Returning from his evening patrol, the Flash finds a man waiting for him in his apartment. The man identifies himself as Fred Dalmon, the Vice President of a bank in Arizona City. Dalmon has spent the last 8 years embezzling funds from the bank. When auditors began to get suspicious, Dalmon framed one of the tellers, David Dean. En route to Central City, to start a new life, Dalmon learns that a prison breakout has occurred. Four vicious criminals have taken Dean hostage, to learn the location of the missing money. Fearing Dean's untimely demise for a crime he didn't commit, Dalmon has approached the Flash to set things right.

Having made his plea, Dalmon vanishes into thin air right before the Flash's eyes. Though startled, the Flash wastes no time in running to Arizona City. Quickly ferreting out the gang of convicts, the Flash beats them all into unconsciousness. After the Flash reveals that he knows Dean was framed, Dean asks the Flash to help his kid brother, Jack. After Dean's wrongful conviction, his brother lost faith in the system and fell in with a group of criminals. Dean asks the Flash to stop his brother from following a path into a life of crime. The Flash intervenes, and after pulling Jack Dean to safety, takes down young Dean's would-be criminal peers.

After taking the crooks to jail, the Flash sits down with the younger Dean and sets him back on the straight and narrow. The warden agrees to release David Dean, if the Flash can bring Dalman to justice. Returning to Central City, the Flash is astonished to learn that Dalman was killed in a car accident. In fact, Dalmon died at exactly midnight, the moment he vanished before the Flash's eyes. With the money recovered, Dean is released from prison. Though shaken by his brush with the supernatural, the Flash believes that, in death, Dalton has redeemed himself.

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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