Issue Description

Joan Garrick is abducted from her home, while sleeping. Police forensics scientist, Barry Allen, has a nightmare of Garrick, perishing in an avalanche. Disturbed, Allen, as the Flash, journeys to Earth-2, to check on Garrick. The Flash materializes, on Earth-2, in the middle of a burning building. After putting the fire out, the Flash heads for Garrick's home. The Golden Age Flash arrives home, to find his Silver Age counterpart waiting for him. The Golden Age Flash confirms his counterpart's worst fears... Garrick is missing. As events on Earth-1 and Earth-2 tend to parallel one another, the Flash fears that Garrick will die, as his wife did on Earth-1. The Golden Age Flash suspects a criminal gang, known as "The Ravagers".

The Golden Age Flash opens a drawer, to provide evidence of their involvement, setting off a chain reaction that destroys Garrick's home. Only by vibrating their molecules, at super-human speed, into intangibility, are the two Flashes able to survive the explosion unscathed. Fingerprints, off a fuse relay, lead the Flashes to the mountain range, a few miles outside of Keystone City. Discovering the Ravagers' secret lair, the Golden Age Flash requests to go in alone. In a rage, the Golden Age Flash razes the Ravagers' lair to the ground. Only the intervention of the Silver Age Flash keeps his counterpart from killing the Ravagers' leader. Suddenly the Ravagers disappear, courtesy of Doctor Fate.

Doctor Fate reveals that a mystic force, drawing power from the Orb of Nabu, was responsible for Garrick's disappearance. Doctor Fate reveals Garrick's journey. The Silver Age Flash is horrified to see his dream come to life. Garrick, though, does not die in the avalanche. Garrick has been spirited away to Limbo, where the laws of nature and physics do not apply. Doctor Fate has never been able to penetrate the barrier surrounding Limbo, and thus is powerless to retrieve Garrick. With Doctor Fate's assistance, the two Flash are able to align their vibratory signature with Limbo, but once they go in, Doctor Fate cannot get them out. The Flashes quickly locate Garrick, as well as the other time travelers, still being held prisoner in Limbo.

The Lord Of Limbo revels himself. The Golden Age Flash violently assaults the Lord Of Limbo, only to realize he has just attacked the Silver Age Flash. The Lord of Limbo vanishes, his taunting laughter ringing in the Flashes' ears. After conferring with Garrick, the Flashes realize that the Lord Of Limbo brought her to Limbo through a portal. Said portal may be a possible means of escape. The Silver Age Flash hurls a rock into the portal, only to see it disintegrate. The portal is clearly only one way. Working together, the Scarlet Speedsters race along the swirling outer wall of the portal, reversing it's direction. Their success is confirmed by the image of Doctor Fate, beckoning to them from the other side. The Flashes begin sending the prisoners of Limbo through the portal.

The Silver Age Flash forcibly sends his counterpart through the portal. As the final alien leaps into the portal, the Silver Age Flash tackles him. The alien is revealed to be the Lord Of Limbo, himself, ironically also a prisoner in Limbo.The Silver Age Flash struggles with the Lord Of Limbo on the threshold of the portal. Doctor Fate fires a mystic bolt through the portal. Believing it to be an attack, the Lord of Limbo hurls the Silver Age Flash into the path of Doctor Fate's mystic bolt. The bolt, however, was merely a means to transport the Silver Age Flash back to Earth-2. With a Spell of Obliteration, Doctor Fate destroys the portal, sealing the Lord of Limbo in Limbo for eternity. The crisis over, The Silver Age Flash says his goodbyes. Doctor Fate ushers the Silver Age Flash back to Earth-1.

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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