Issue Description

The Man Who Was Cursed to the Bone!

Wealthy socialite, Sue Dibny asks police forensics scientist, Barry Allen, to look into the disappearance of her husband, Ralph Dibny, the world famous Elongated Man. Allen conducts his search, as the Flash. Scouring the city for the Elongated Man, the Flash encounters a police car, hijacked by three circus performers. While Hocus, the magician, distracts the Flash, Scrunch, the dwarf, hits the Flash with the "Hypno-Beeper". Hocus exercises his hypnotic control over the Flash, by having the Scarlet Speedster spin around in place. Moving at super-speed, the Flash becomes a living drill, burrowing down deep into the Earth. The Flash is able to angle his body back upward.

Passing through a pocket of natural gas, however, cause the Flash to lose consciousness, upon reaching the surface. The circus performers turn over their stolen property, five milligrams of interferon, to their associate, Master Jero. Digging through their suitcases, Dibny discovers several newspaper clippings that may offer a clue, regarding the disappearance of her husband. The Elongated Man was trailing the Baxxum Brothers circus, as it toured through Europe. It's next destination... Central City. The Flash prowls around the fairgrounds, discovering the Elongated Man, catatonic, in a cage.

The Flash, moving faster than the eye can see, trails the trio of circus performers to their next robbery. Dibny also discovers her husband, and kisses him passionately, in an attempt to break him from his trance. After robbing another S.T.A.R. Labs facility of it's supply of interferon, the circus thieves are confronted by the Elongated Man. The Elongated Man snatches the interferon away from the Fat Lady, Blubba, and ensnares the group in his elongated arm. Suddenly the Flash arrives, and wrests the circus thieves from the Elongated Man's grip. The Elongated Man winds himself around the Flash, only to be unraveled by the Flash's super-speed spinning.

The Flash stops the fight, asking the Elongated Man to trust him. Master Jero distills a formula from the interferon, hoping to cure his neurofibromatosis. The potion, however, fails. The Elongated Man notes that Gingold extract is a part of Master Jero's formula. The Elongated Man offers to give Master Jero a blood transfusion, to transfer the Elongated Man's gingold-rich blood into Master Jero. The transfusion works, curing Master Jero of his neurofibromatosis. Though the circus thieves will have to stand trial for their crimes, the Flash and the Elongated Man will speak to the nobility of their motives, in the hopes of lightening their punishment.

Rain Rain Go Away... Come to Kill Us Another Day!

Over the South Pacific Ocean, Firestorm, the Nuclear Man squares off against the Human Typhoon. After striking Firestorm with a lightning bolt, the Human Typhoon attacks Captain Hunter's research vessel, sinking it. Firestorm rearranges the molecules of the ship wreckage into a serviceable raft for the crew. Firestorm tracks the Human Typhoon to Sydney, Australia. Firestorm attacks, only to be violently cast away. Following the advice of Professor Martin Stein's subconscious, Firestorm creates a massive iceberg beneath the Human Typhoon. Firestorm next creates an enormous fan. The combination of intense cold coupled with a change in the atmospheric pressure completely disrupts the Human Typhoon's physical body. His power dissipated, the Human Typhoon transforms back into David Drake, a young marine scientist.

Note: This issue contains already prepared material that was a result of the DC Implosion from the series Firestorm .

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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