Issue Description

"A Switch In Crime!"

A trio of bikers terrorize the streets of Central City. One innocent bystander is struck by a passing biker. Inexplicably, the man the biker ran down, is not the man loaded into the ambulance. At super-human speed, the Flash disassembles the gang's bikes, then ferries them to jail. In the ambulance, the biker victim disappears. In his place appears the president of the Federal Security Bank. Upon delivering the gang to jail, the Flash is informed of a strange occurrence at the Federal Security Bank. The bank's president, bizarrely, sealed himself inside his own vault.

Moving at super-speed, the Flash vibrates into the vault, but the man he pulls out is not the bank's president. Instead, it is a musician named Cosmo Puree, who claims to have been on an airplane, en route to Metropolis. The bank vault has also been emptied of a large sum of money. The Flash races to catch the plane, generating a super-speed tornado, to ascend into the cabin.The Flash confronts the bank robber. Before he can get his hands on him, the thief fades away, leaving another man in his place. The Flash dubs his newest adversary, "Mister Originality", on account of his unorthodox power.

At home, in his guise as police forensic scientist, Barry Allen, the Flash wrestles with how he's going to apprehend Mister Originality. So intent is he in his musing, that Allen is oblivious to the change in demeanor of his houseguest, Stacy Conwell. He's barely even aware that his wife, Picture News reporter, Iris West, is even talking to him, when she, inadvertently, gives Allen the clue to solve the case. Realizing he's seen all the men Mister Originality swapped places with, Allen, as the Flash races to Rasmussen's House of Hair.

There he checks the appointment book, then races to the home of magazine editor, Julian Black, the next name on the list. In mid-conversation, Black fades away, with Mister Originality appearing in his place. The Flash acts too quickly, passing through Mister Originality before the crook has fully materialized. Mister Originality fades away again. The Flash races into the nearest jail cell, where he is replaced by Mister Originality. Taking possession of Mister Originality's belt, deprives the crook of the necessary personal objects Mister Originality needs to swap places with others.

Mister Originality was using clipped hairs from the hair salon's customers. The last name on the appointment ledger was the Flash's civilian identity, Barry Allen. Knowing that Mister Originality was about to switch places with him, the Flash took the necessary steps to make sure Mister Originality teleported himself into his very own jail cell. Back in the Allen home, Conwell discovers that pages of her diary have been torn out. Pages that reveal a terrible secret Conwell has been keeping. A secret now known to someone else.

"The Day Of The Falling Sky!"

Having foiled one of six tasks the Raiders of Olys have embarked on, the Green Lantern, at the behest of the Guardians of the Universe, races to thwart the Raiders' next gambit. After recharging his power ring, the Green Lantern confronts one of the Raider's defense satellites. With the satellite destroyed, the Green Lantern takes a moment out to dine on a nearby hunk of Star-Manna. The Star-Manna is a cosmic phenomena that can telepathically recreate the scent and taste of it's consumer's favorite food. In the Green Lantern's case, the Star-Manna smells and tastes like chili.

The Green Lantern's destination is known as "The Vivarium", an artificial world that is home to the Ayries. An Olys satellite descends on the Vivarium. The Green Lantern attempts to destroy it, but it proves resistant to his power beam. One of the Ayries alerts the Green Lantern that the Vivarium's floor and ceiling are being drawn together. The Olys satellite is a powerful magnet. Realizing the satellite's magnetic field is drawing it's energy from his own power ring, the Green Lantern uses his power battery to drain the energy out of the Olys satellite. The crisis averted, the Green Lantern heads off to confront the Raiders of Olys

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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