Issue Description

While investigating the death of his beloved wife Iris, Flash battles Captain Boomerang, Yorkin, and Heat Wave.

Captain Boomerang has just stolen a pair of crimson pearl necklaces. The Flash tracks Captain Boomerang back to an animal preserve, fashioned to appear as the Australian Outback. Under the pretense of surrender, Captain Boomerang snares the Flash in a boomerang-generated cage of electricity. After the Flash narrowly escapes a pair of boomerang-shaped explosives, Captain Boomerang flees. The Flash easily catches him. After putting up a token effort at fighting, Captain Boomerang is subdued by the Flash. The Flash interrogates Captain Boomerang, regarding the murder of Picture News reporter, Iris West Allen.

After Captain Boomerang swears innocence in the murder, The Flash departs, inexplicably without taking Captain Boomerang in for the jewelry theft. Detective Frank Curtis meets up with the Flash, in his civilian guise of police forensics scientist, Barry Allen, at police headquarters. Through self-hypnosis, Allen has made a breakthrough in the case. On the night of his wife's murder, at the masquerade ball, Allen was accosted by a man, dressed as the Golden Age Sandman. This man pressed his weapon into Allen's shoulder. Allen is now certain that that was the moment he was injected with a lethal dose of angel dust.

Curtis also has information, about West-Allen's alleged murderer, Clive Yorkin. On Death Row for murder, Yorkin had volunteered for the Nephron Project, an experimental program using aversion therapy to rehabilitate criminals. Yorkin, though, suffered from a rare case of dyslexia. Evidence suggests that the Nephron process had the exact opposite effect on Yorkin, in effect, making him a worse criminal. Unbeknownst to Allen and Curtis, the Nephron Process had other, unforeseen side-effects. Yorkin stalks the streets of Central City, skulking his way into a movie theater. There, in the darkened cinema, Yorkin draws the very life essence from a teenaged couple, enrapt in the film.

An usher chases Yorkin away. Curtis and Allen return to the West-Allen murder scene. A maid presents the two officers with the Golden Age Sandman costume, which had been discovered in the shrubbery, outside Whitlock Manor. Allen parts company with Curtis, when an alarm on his wrist watch goes off. Someone else is trying to steal the crimson pearls. En route to the burglary, the Flash passes the theater where Yorkin struck. Yorkin's teenage victims have aged to senility ,husks completely drained of life. The crimson pearls turn out to be bait, left by the Flash, to flush out members of his Rogues' Gallery he suspects were at the masquerade ball.

This time, it is Heat Wave who the Flash confronts. Before the Flash can interrogate his old foe, Yorkin storms the jewelry store. Hear Wave sets the store on fire, to cover his escape. While the Flash puts out the blaze, Heat Wave flees, right into Yorkin's arms. Yorkin begins draining away Heat Wave's life essence. Heat Wave is seconds away from death, when the Flash intervenes on his behalf. The Flash is horrified by Heat Wave's dire condition. The Flash pursues Yorkin into a nearby park. Yorkin gets the drop on the Flash, and begins to drain away the Scarlet Speedster's life essence. Unable to break Yorkin's grip. the Flash begins to panic, as his life continues to slip away.

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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