Issue Description

Via live telecast, the whole of Central City has just witnessed the horrific murder of the Flash, at the hands of the Molder. Having easily done away with the Flash, the Molder reconsiders the need for a partner, leaving his associate waist deep in the liquified tar of the runway. Picture News reporter, Iris West, races to the crime scene, arriving just in time to see the Flash's remains loaded into an ambulance. The Molder takes refuge in an abandoned junkyard. While asleep, his mind plays back the recent events of his life. As Ralph Dibny, the world famous Elongated Man, the Molder had come to Central City to bring the Chane Gang to justice.

Dibny had surprised his wife, Sue, in their hotel room, by remolding the features of his face into a more sinister visage. Having discovered the Chane Gang in the midst of a robbery, the Flash came to the Dibny's hotel room, to collect the Elongated Man. After downing a double dose of gingold, the Elongated Man teamed up with the Flash to take down the Chane Gang. West puts together a memorial tribute reel for the Flash, to be aired later that night. West meets up with Sue Dibny for lunch. There, Dibny reveals that the Molder is really her husband, Ralph. Unbeknownst to the the two women, their conversation is being eavesdropped upon, by an agent of a foreign power.

Out on the street, West suddenly has an epiphany, and races to police headquarters. With the officers on duty drawn away by West's memorial tribute to the Flash, West sneaks into the police morgue. Noticing that part of the Flash's remains had pooled into the shape of a lightning bolt, West surmises that electricity might rejuvenate the Flash. Using a defibrillator, West runs current through the Flash's remains. The resultant explosion knocks West through the window. Before she can fall to the street, she is rescued by the Flash. Back at home, the Flash, as police forensics scientist, Barry Allen, shares a happy reunion, and a memorable night with his wife, West.

The next morning, the Flash holds a press conference, then races to Mexico. The Flash had determined that the gingold Dibny consumed, en route to the Chane Gang robbery, was, somehow, contaminated by the Flash's super-speed vibrations. The tainted gingold in Dibny's bloodstream created the Molder personality, as well as the alteration to Dibny's powers. In Mexico, the Flash collects a deadly fungus, lethal to the Gingo Tree, from which Gingold is distilled. Isolating the fungus in a hypodermic solution, the Flash believes he may have a cure for Dibny's condition. West immediately phones Sue Dibny to give her the good news.

Dibny, however, is being held hostage by agents of a foreign power. These men are using Dibny as leverage to manipulate the Molder. When Dibny doesn't respond to West's call, Allen investigates, as the Flash. Arriving at Dibny's hotel room, the Flash easily subdues her captor. Security guards are gassed, at the Central City Rotunda. The Molder transforms an entire mural, by Communist defector, Ivor Dunwich, into liquified plastic. The foreign agents collect the remains of the mural, having made their example of the traitorous Dunwich. The Flash arrives, only to have the Molder bring the ceiling down upon him, in a rain of liquified goo. The foreign agents fire on the Flash.

Vibrating his molecules at super-human speed, the Flash becomes insubstantial, passing through the liquid shell of the ceiling, as well as the bullets, without harm. The Molder suddenly remembers that he is, in fact, Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man. The Flash and the Elongated Man team up to take down the foreign agents. The Flash reveals that it was a false mural that the Molder destroyed. The true mural is undamaged. Upon arriving on the scene, the Flash immediately hit the Molder with the fungal antidote. The Elongated Man wonders why he didn't lose his stretching power, when the antidote neutralized the Gingold in his system. As if on cue, he loses his ability to elongate. The antidote merely took a little longer in completely erasing his gingold derived powers.

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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