Issue Description

"Heat Wave Plays it Cool!"

Heat Wave, along with three other crooks, have sequestered themselves inside a large pyramid, being delivered to the Central City Museum of Art. The museum is currently exhibiting the treasures of King Ah-Mose. On hand for the exhibit's opening are Picture News reporter, Iris West, and her husband, police forensics scientist, Barry Allen. Heat Wave makes his dramatic entrance, burning his way out of the pyramid. Heat Wave's infra-red rays cause the museum guards' bullets to explode in their guns, and on their person. Heat Wave ramps up the intensity of his infra-red rays until the guards pass out from the extreme heat. Allen makes his own dramatic entrance, as the Flash.

After quickly taking out Heat Wave's gang, the Flash goes after Heat Wave. The Flash finds a hole burned into the floor. Suspecting a trap, the Flash chooses to vibrate his way through the floor, rather than leap down the hole. Heat Wave, though, has anticipated this tactic, and turned the metal floor molten. The Flash's boots immediately melt to the floor, leaving him a sitting duck. Heat Wave fires on the Flash, but the Flash dodges by leaping up out of his boots. The blast from Heat Wave's Hot Rod strikes the air conditioning unit, causing it to explode. The Flash vibrates his molecules into intangibility, allowing the shrapnel to pass harmlessly through him. Heat Wave leaps for cover.

Despite his precautions, the Flash is still struck by a piece of flying debris, that renders him unconscious. Rather than finish the Flash off, while he's helpless, Heat Wave, curiously, flees the scene. Puzzled over his own compulsive behavior, Heat Wave, as Mick Rory, makes an appointment to see Doctor Synett, the underworld's psychiatrist. Placing Rory under hypnosis, Synett zeroes in on Rory's issues. As a boy, Rory had taken a school field trip to a meat packing plant. Rory broke off from his class to do some exploring on his own, ending up accidentally locked in one of the freezers. Desperately, Rory blew hot air on his hands to warm them up enough to work the latch.

Rory escaped the freezer, but from that moment on he could never be warm enough. His obsession with heat and warmth eventually led him to taking a job as a carnival fire-eater. From there, it was a short journey to his costumed criminal identity, Heat Wave. Synett's diagnosis is cryophobia. To prove his point, he hurls a bucket of ice at Rory, causing Rory to fall to the floor, on his knees, in terror. Synett declares that Rory's cryophobia is the reason he fled the scene, when the air conditioning unit exploded, coating everything in frost. It's also why he always loses in battles with his rival, Captain Cold.

Primarily, though, it's why Rory has never achieved his full criminal potential, as Heat Wave. Synett, though, promises to change all that. The Flash receives word that the head butler, of the Alden Norton estate, has been trying to reach him. An arctic explorer, Norton had his estate fashioned to look like a giant igloo. Dying of a terminal disease, Norton had himself frozen, to be revived in the year 2100. The Flash meets up with Alden's head butler, only to find the staff behaving as if mesmerized. It's a trap, one laid by Heat Wave. After avoiding Heat Wave's heat seeking beam, the Flash mercilessly beats Heat Wave into unconsciousness.

Unmasking Heat Wave, the Flash sees the face of Norton's head butler. The Flash realizes, too late, that Heat Wave is disguised as the head butler. The Flash is struck down from behind. Heat Wave unmasks the Flash, but doesn't recognize his true identity. Having removed Norton's frozen body, Heat Wave puts the Flash in his place. The Flash is left in cryogenic suspended animation. With the Flash out of commission for the next century, Heat Wave makes plans to embark on a crime spree, the likes of which Central City has never seen.

"The Case of the Missing Super-Speed!"

Kid Flash races to keep Howie Cramer from being struck by lightning. The save is especially close, with both youths receiving a bit of a shock. The next day, Kid Flash, as Wally West, and his parents, are at the bank to deposit West's summer earnings. As West and his parents exit the bank, they are followed by a super-humanly fast bank robber. West gives chase, as Kid Flash. The robber easily eludes Kid Flash, though, as Kid Flash has lost his super-speed powers. Kid Flash, as West, contemplates his situation. West had planned to retire his costumed identity after college, but now considers ending his career immediately.

Liza Bodner first distracts West, then provides him with the insight needed to get his super-speed back. West realizes that his powers were transferred to Cramer, when they both took that glancing lightning strike. West also determines that Cramer must be the super-speed thief. West, as Kid Flash, tracks down and confronts Cramer. Though Cramer possesses Kid Flash's super-speed, Kid Flash's greater combat experience allows him to gain the upper hand. Luring Cramer in close, Kid Flash uses a downed power line to effect the transfer of his super-speed out of Cramer, and back into his own body. His super-speed restored, Kid Flash easily apprehends Cramer.

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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