Issue Description

The Flash tests the limits of his speed and unleashes an unforeseen menace.

Captain Cold's Polar Perils!

Police Forensics Scientist, Barry Allen, is personally selected to escort the Maharanee of Jodapur around Central City. This detail doesn't sit well with Allen's girlfriend, Picture News Reporter, Iris West. In love with the Maharanee, the notorious Captain Cold sets out to win her heart. Allen is sent to the Horvath Jewel Salon to collect the Maharanee's royal jewels. Allen finds the salon surrounded by icicles. Allen takes action, as the Flash. Vibrating at super-speed, the Flash storms the salon, melting his way through the ice barrier.

Captain Cold uses his cold gun to, inexplicably, liquefy the oxygen in the salon, causing the Flash to drown. Moving at super-speed, the Flash evaporates the water into steam. The Flash fans the steam throughout the salon, melting all the ice, which floors Captain Cold in a torrent of rushing water. As the melting ice begins to fall from the ceiling, it collapses on the Flash, knocking him cold. Gathering the royal jewels, Captain Cold makes good his escape.

When the Flash, as Allen, returns to the Maharanee to report the theft of the jewels, he is stunned to find her adorned with them. Captain Cold has sent the jewels to her, with the expectation of receiving a reward. Allen escorts the Maharanee to the Grand Ball, only to see her suddenly vanish into thin air. In truth, the Maharanee has been kidnapped by Captain Cold, posing as Allen. Captain Cold brings the Maharanee to the Central City Sports Arena, where he bids her to take the throne he has created for her.

Using his Cold Gun, Captain Cold creates a spectacle for the Maharanee's entertainment. Realizing that Captain Cold created an illusion of the Maharanee, Allen gets after him, as the Flash. The Flash storms the arena. Captain Cold defends himself with a Cold Gun generated Frost Giant, coupled with a Northern Lights-like electrical field. Vibrating faster then the speed of light, the Flash escapes Captain Cold's ersatz Aurora Borealis, as well as the grip of the Frost Giant.

Caught in the Cold Gun's sights, the Flash moves so fast that while Captain Cold is firing on his after-image, the Flash is actually behind his foe, beating him into unconsciousness. With Captain Cold turned over to the authorities, the Flash offers to escort the Maharanee to the Grand Ball. After taking a few turns on the dance floor, the Flash "departs" so that, as Allen, he may dance with his fiance, West.

The Touch And Steal Bandits!

The Flash attempts to discover his top speed. Circling the Earth 75 times in one second, the Flash attains a velocity ten times the speed of light. Though potentially able to go even faster, muscle fatigue forces him to decrease his velocity. At work the next day, the Flash, as police forensics scientist, Barry Allen, notices a strange ringing in his ears. The ringing persists, until Allen realizes that he is actually reading the minds of the men around him. Of particular note, are the thoughts of two criminals planning a caper. Allen, as the Flash, easily thwarts their crime.

At police headquarters, the Flash notices that he can no longer read the minds of the two criminals. His telepathic powers seem fine in every other respect. The next morning, the Flash, as Allen, learns that the two crooks escaped police custody. Apparently, they were able to telekinetically draw their guns to them, then forced the guard, at gunpoint, to release them. Somehow, the Flash passed on psychic abilities to the two crooks, when he captured them. On their houseboat hideaway, the two crooks attempt to telekinetically draw money and jewelry to them, to no avail.

They quickly determine that they can only move objects that they have already touched. Over the next several days, the criminal pair visit several jewelry stores, and art gallerys, laying hands on everything they desire. Soon, precious objects can be seen floating through the streets of Central City, as they are drawn to the crooks' hands. The Flash follows a necklace to the crook's lair. Upon boarding the boat, the Flash is bombarded by a swarm of pots and pans. Capturing the cookware in the wake of his super-speed, the Flash tows it along behind him, to pelt the crooks.

As he closes on them, a door suddenly slams in his face, causing the Flash to take the hit from the cookware. The Flash vibrates his way through the door, only to be enveloped in a rug. Suddenly, a davenport collides with the Flash. Stunned, the Flash is drawn into a chair, which then rockets towards the ceiling. Vibrating his molecules into intangibility, the Flash passes harmlessly through the ceiling, then doubles back into the room. After beating the two crooks into unconsciousness, the Flash races around the world in reverse to build up enough negative energy to counter his psychic abilities. Grounding himself on the crooks, the Flash erases their telekinetic abilities, as well as his own telepathic ones.

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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