Issue Description

"If I Can't Rob Central City, Nobody Can!"

The Top has died. A half dozen of the Flash's Rogues' Gallery gather to mourn their fallen compatriot in crime. An emergency beacon top alerted the Mirror Master to the Top's fate. Now, the Mirror Master plays a cassette recording of the Tops' last words, for his fellow Rogues. A week ago, the Top had robbed an express train, carrying a ten million dollar gold shipment. The Top completed the crime, utilizing his newly discovered mind over matter power. The Top leapt from the train, with a whirling top of gold bars spinning behind him. By chance, the Flash happened to be on the scene. With the Flash bearing down on him, the Top telekinetically raised a massive top-shaped mound of Earth.

With the Earth spinning beneath his feet, the Flash held on for dear life, as the top launched itself into the air. Racing in the opposite direction to the top's spin, the Flash is able to slow it down. Having safely fled, the Top released the Earth top, which plummeted to the ground. Vibrating his molecules at super-human speed, the Flash became insubstantial, and passed harmlessly into the ground, without injury. While the Mirror Master turns the cassette over, the Rogues respond to the Top's theory on the Flash's secret identity. After the successful completion of the gold heist, the Top suffered a bout of agonizing pain. Running a battery of tests, the Top learned that he was dying.

Close proximity to the Flash's super-speed vibrations had set off a chain reaction within the Top's own super-charged cells, derived from years of high-velocity spinning. The Top would be dead in a matter of days. As a final farewell to the Flash, the Top went on a crime spree. Though he suffered ever closer calls with each robbery, the Top ultimately managed to outwit the Flash at every turn, for six straight crimes. The Flash, clearly furious over the Top's string of success, held a press conference, and vowed to bring the Top to justice. The Top's last crime was particularly baffling for the Flash, as it was simply a stolen tape recorder.

Knowing his time was at an end, the Top recorded his last message for his fellow Rogues, then sent for the Mirror Master. The Top's very last words, are the most chilling. For each of his final robberies were merely a ruse, to conceal the fact that he planted a powerful explosive device at each crime scene. The bombs are set to go off at Midnight, on June 30, 1976. The resulting blast will devastate Central City. The only way to stop the countdown is to stack all six explosives on top of one another. The Rogues will have to commit the Top's exact same crimes to retrieve the bombs. The Top is counting on the Flash to stop just one of the Rogues, thus, inadvertently, dooming his own city to destruction.

Dust of the Earth!

The Ravagers of Olys have been on a "Holy" mission to complete six tasks of planetary destruction, throughout space sector 2814. They have embarked on this terrible crusade in order to garner placement within a large galactic federation. Said federation tasked the Ravagers of Olys with reversing the Hebrew Bible's story of creation, as proof that they were worthy of joining their enclave. The Green Lantern has thwarted the Ravagers of Olys at every turn. Now, on Earth, he interrogates his prisoners. Before the Green Lantern was able to disable the Ravager's ship, they exposed him to a "Reversion Ray". In moments, the Green Lantern devolves into a primitive savage.

It is a fate the Ravagers of Olys intend for all humankind. Acting solely on an instinctual level, the Green Lantern still recognizes the Ravagers of Olys as his enemies. Riding atop a power ring constructed, winged sabre-tooth tiger, the Green Lantern descends upon the Ravager's ship. Fearing they will be horribly slaughtered by the raging savage, the Ravagers rapidly re-evolve the Green Lantern. Possibly still fueled by his primitive fury, the Green Lantern orders the Ravagers of Olys off Earth, with a veiled threat of the terrible fate that will befall them should they ever return. The crisis over, the Green Lantern recharges his ring.

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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