Issue Description

The Flash, tormented by a psychedelic creature, ends up in a parallel world.

Police forensics scientist, Barry Allen, is attacked, in his laboratory, by a fantastic, psychedelic creature. Allen, as the Flash, fights back, only to be forcibly ejected from the building. By the time he recovers, the creature is gone. At home, the Flash, as Allen, is sitting down to dinner with his wife, Picture News reporter, Iris, West, when the creature attacks again. Allen and West seek sanctuary in a nearby fallout shelter. Allen is about to engage the creature, as the Flash, when it, once again, disappears. Allen, as the Flash, pays a visit to the Flash Museum, only to find it being robbed.

The Flash is seconds away from subduing the thieves, when the creature attacks again. The Flash gets the thieves to safety, then turns to face the creature. After one punch, the creature fades away. Suddenly, an alien being appears before the Flash. The alien identifies the creature as a "Nok". The alien was transporting the Nok, along with other alien wildlife, to it's home world, when a malfunction in it's spacecraft forced it to land on Earth. The alien has managed to recapture the Nok three times, but each time the Nok has escaped again.

The alien gives the Flash 6 hours to subdue the Nok, at which time the repairs to the alien's craft will be complete, and it will be departing. The Flash turns the thieves over to the proper authorities. Suddenly, the Flash begins speeding up uncontrollably. The Nok rams the Flash from behind. The force of the impact, coupled with the Flash's extreme velocity, is enough to hurl the Flash across the dimensional void, to a parallel Earth. The Flash awakens on the floor of a warehouse, in the town of Willowdale. His costumed appearance immediately draws attention, and soon a crowd has formed around him.

The Flash is baffled by the crowd's reaction to him, until a young boy presents him with a Flash comic book. The Flash is amazed that the comic chronicles a prior adventure, down to the most minute detail. The Flash realizes that he is on a parallel Earth, one where he exists only as a fictional character in a comic book. The Flash determines that the power of a Cosmic Treadmill might just be enough to get him back to his own Earth. With only a few dollars in his pocket for supplies, the Flash heads to New York City, to speak with the editor of the Flash comic book, Julius Schwartz.

The Flash, as Allen, meets with Schwartz, who dismisses his wild claims. At super-speed, Allen puts on his Flash costume, right before the editor's eyes. Convinced, Schwartz heads out to garner the materials the Flash needs to build the Cosmic Treadmill. The Flash assembles the Cosmic Treadmill in Schwartz's office, then uses it to return to his own Earth. Almost immediately upon arriving, the Flash is attacked by the Nok. Vibrating out of it's grasp, the Flash determines that the Nok has been feeding on the invisible aura that protects his body from the heat of friction.

The Flash races to his laboratory, and builds a weapon that projects the same aura radiation that surrounds his body. Firing on the Nok subdues the creature, as it basks in the radiation. The alien arrives to take possession of the Nok. The Flash hands over the aura-radiation gun, so that the alien can continue to pacify the Nok, on the return journey home. At home, the Flash, as Allen, ponders the notion of being a fictional character on another Earth. On Earth-Prime, Schwartz ponders the magnitude of his meeting with the Flash, while regarding the Cosmic Treadmill left in his office.

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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