Issue Description

Flash--Vandal Of Central City!

Public sentiment has turned against the Flash. Of late, the Scarlet Speedster has found himself with no control over his actions. With no warning, he begins tearing through the streets, at super-human speed, injuring civilians, and incurring massive amounts of property damage. At first, the populace of Central City is more forgiving of the Flash's rampages. After the Scarlet Speedster destroys the bridge over the Central River, though, the Central City citizens have had enough. As police forensics scientist, Barry Allen, the Flash tries to remain in his home. Ultimately, though, he, once again, finds himself compelled to run amok in Central City.

On this occasion, the Flash accidentally knocks himself out, by running headlong into a brick wall. With the crowd calling for his blood, the Flash is put under arrest by the Central City Police Department. The architect of the Flash's current woes is revealed to be the Pied Piper. Using a special pipe keyed to super-speed vibrations, the Pied Piper has been controlling the Flash's actions. With his foe behind bars, the Pied Piper strikes a deal with Central City's criminal element. The Pied Piper will clear the entire populace from Central City, for three hours, allowing the crooks to loot the entire city, unopposed. In return, the Pied Piper demands half of everything they steal.

True to his word, the Pied Piper empties Central City. When the time comes to pay the piper, the crooks renege on the deal, offering the Pied Piper only a quarter of their ill-gotten gains. In retaliation for double-crossing him, the Pied PIper forces the Flash to escape from jail, then releases his hold over him. Seeing Central City overrun with criminals, the Flash quickly rounds them all up, and throws them in jail. The Pied Piper reveals himself to the Flash. Before the Pied Piper can regain control of the Flash, the Scarlet Speedster takes his musical nemesis down. Exonerated in the eyes of the public, the Flash receives a special commendation from the mayor's office.

The Boy Who Lost Touch With The World!

Wally West and Tommy Davis are on a botany field trip. Davis spies some ginseng root growing in the wild. Looking on in horror, West sees a boulder toppling over onto Davis. West, as Kid Flash, races to intercept the boulder, but arrives too late. Surprisingly, the boulder passes harmlessly through Davis. Kid Flash quickly realizes that it is only because of his ultra-fast vision that he can even perceive Davis. In fact, Kid Flash must vibrate at super-human speed to hear Davis' words. Davis reveals that he was the unfortunate victim of a laboratory accident, involving an experiment in invisibility.

The effects of the accident on Davis were not immediately apparent. Kid Flash takes Davis to Davis' father's research enterprises laboratory. There they encounter a group of thieves, ransacking the premises. Kid Flash makes short work of the two crooks. A third man, though, hiding in the shadows, observes Davis' power of invisibility. Vibrating at super-speed, in close proximity to Davis, Kid Flash is able to slough off the vibratory energy keeping Davis out of sync with the world. When Davis is finally able to hold a glass of water, and drink it, Kid Flash stops.

Davis, alone at home, realizes that Kid Flash must be West. Davis phones West, only to be interrupted by the third crook. Looking to capitalize on Davis' power of invisibility, the crook has tracked the boy to his home. Kid Flash arrives and beats the living daylights out of the crook. When Davis returns to the phone receiver, he finds West still on the line. Completely underestimating just how fast Kid Flash can move, Davis determines that West couldn't possibly be Kid Flash, since he can't be in two places at the same time. West is secure in the knowledge that his secret identity remains a secret.

The Flash (1959)

Publisher

DC Comics

Volume Description

The Flash Volume 1, (continued from Flash Comics).

House Ad

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)

Please first Sign In before leaving a review.

Status: Not in Collection