Issue Description

Death of An Immortal!

Police forensics scientist, Barry Allen, inexplicably wakes up in the bedroom of his counterpart on Earth 2, the Golden Age Flash. Allen is at a loss to explain how he came to be in the Garricks' home. Worse, the Golden Age Flash seems to be missing. Allen dons the Golden Age Flash's costume, and accepts an award in his stead. The ceremony is interrupted, when Allen spies an old man, "Dalvan", about to be run down by a tractor trailer. Allen rescues "Dalvan", only to learn that "Dalvan" purposefully placed his own life in jeopardy, to get close enough to speak to Allen.

Furthermore,"Dalvan" knows that Allen is not the Golden Age Flash. Allen accompanies"Dalvan" to his home. There, "Dalvan" reveals the Golden Age Flash's whereabouts. By Occult means, "Dalvan" opens a portal into limbo, so that Allen can retrieve the Golden Age Flash. Incredibly, "Dalvan" also produces Allen's actual Flash costume, for him to don. Swiftly locating his counterpart, Allen, as the Silver Age Flash revives the Golden Age Flash. The Golden Age Flash reveals that he was drawn into limbo to retrieve a meteor. Failing to do so will result in the destruction of Earth-2.

Unbeknownst to the Golden Age Flash, he has actually been compelled to retrieve the meteor that bestowed immortality on his arch-enemy, Vandal Savage. After living for centuries, time has finally caught up with Vandal Savage. Without a second exposure to the meteor's radiation, he will die. The Scarlet Speedsters catch up with the meteor, and trap it in their slipstream. The meteor is hurled out of limbo, and back into reality. When the Scarlet Speedsters attempt to follow it, though, they slam headlong into an invisible barrier.

Unconscious, they drift silently through the void, until they are found by Tempus, the Guardian Of The Time Stream. Unfortunately for the Scarlet Speedsters, Tempus refuses to allow them to leave. The Scarlet Speedsters battle against Tempus for their freedom. Upon their triumph, Tempus allows them to depart. Racing through the time stream, the Scarlet Speedsters begin to rapidly age. Only by running backwards are they able to reverse their accelerated aging. After navigating their way past a whirlpool, and a waterfall, in time, the Scarlet Speedsters finally make their way back to Earth-2.

Along the way, they discover that they have both been duped by "Dalvan", who is revealed to be Vandal Savage. The Scarlet Speedsters find Vandal Savage anxiously awaiting the arrival of his meteor. To prevent the Scarlet Speedsters from interfering, Vandal Savage imprisons them beneath a steel-mesh net. Vandal Savage suddenly realizes that he is in peril, when the meteor fails to slow it's descent, crashing into him with explosive force. The Scarlet Speedsters are blown free by the force of the meteor impact. While the Golden Age Flash believes that Vandal Savage has, finally, met his end, the Silver Age Flash has doubts.

The Man Who Broke The Time Barrier!

This story was originally published in Showcase #4 (September-October, 1956). A plot synopsis of this story can be found at the link.

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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