Issue Description

The Trickster uses a hobby horse, a surfboard, and a tricycle to pull off a series of crimes.

The Trickster's Toy Thefts!

Police Forensics Scientist, Barry Allen, and his fiancee, Picture News reporter Iris West, present her niece, Inez, with a rocking horse. As Inez prepares to mount the rocking horse, it launches itself into the sky. Allen pursues the rocking horse, and spies the Trickster closing on it. The Trickster mounts the rocking horse, and proceeds onward to a floating art gallery, housed in a dirigible. Allen, as the Flash, generates a tornado, that he then rides up to the dirigible. The Trickster emerges, his saddle bags filled with rare canvases. To distract the Flash from capturing him, the Trickster destroys the dirigible, endangering the lives of the art patrons trapped inside the cabin.

By the time the Flash has safely lowered the cabin to the ground, on a super-speed generated cushion of compressed air, the Trickster has made good his escape. The Flash, as Allen, revisits the toy store where he purchased the rocking horse. There, Allen learns that the Trickster made two other purchases, which means two more crimes are in the offing. The first of these crimes occurs at sea, where the Trickster, riding a jet-powered surfboard, robs a luxury liner. To distract the Flash from capturing him, the Trickster uses his jets to kick up an enormous tidal wave. The Flash evacuates the liner, carrying all of it's passengers to shore, before the wave capsizes the vessel.

Once again, though, the Trickster has made good his escape. The Flash, as Allen, spends the next day in his laboratory, preparing for his next encounter with the Trickster. Alerted by police bulletin that the Trickster has just robbed a bank, Allen, as the Flash, races after his foe. With dollar bills trailing behind him, the Trickster flees on a motorized tricycle. As the Flash closes on the Trickster, he finds himself being repelled backwards. Undeterred, the Flash hurls magnetized thumb tacks at the the Trickster's tricycle, immobilizing it. Tearing off the tricycle's horn, the Trickster uses it to envelop the Flash in a smoke screen.

The Flash easily disperses the noxious cloud, by waving his arms at super-speed. The Trickster then ensnares the Flash with the rubber of the tricycle's wheels, but again the Flash is able to quickly free himself. The Trickster reveals that the tricycle's handlebars fire armor-piercing needles. The Flash dodges the Tricksters assault, retaliating with a barrage of paper money planes, hurled at high velocity. Unwilling to destroy the money to defend himself, the Trickster hesitates, allowing the Flash to punch him into unconsciousness. Allen and West buy Inez a new rocking horse, but Inez is upset when she discovers that it doesn't fly.

Case Of The Explosive Vegetables!

Professor West is en route to Central City, to unveil his latest scientific invention. Absentmindedly, West shows up at the wrong address, a safe house for Communist spies. Playing along with West's misperception, the spies allow him to demonstrate his latest discovery, the protocon ray. Bathing a bowl of grapes with protocon radiation, West causes the grapes to grow to colossal proportions. Immediately seeing the obvious use for such a device, the spies abduct West. Searching for the missing scientist, the Flash tracks West down, at the Communist safe house. The Flash is seconds away from taking down the spies, when one of the enormous grapes falls to the floor and explodes.

Though able to vibrate fast enough to cause most of the the explosive force to pass harmlessly through him, the Flash is, nonetheless, knocked unconscious. The spies take the opportunity to flee, with West. Upon reviving, the Flash catches up with the spies, at sea. The spies hold the Flash at bay, by threatening to murder West. The absentminded professor surreptitiously activates the protocon ray, enlarging a bowl of fruit. That brief moment's distraction is all the Flash needs to beat down the entire spy ring. The Flash escorts West to the Science Conference. Sadly, the absentminded West can no longer remember how to activate the protocon ray.

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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