Issue Description

The Final Purge!

The Mirror Master returns to his secret lair, to find that the Flash has fallen into one of his mirror traps. The Flash, though, reveals himself to really be the Eradicator. In a matter of seconds, the Eradicator disintegrates the Mirror Master's henchmen. The Mirror Master, himself, flees, barely escaping with his life. The Mirror Master turns himself over to the authorities, for protection. Police Captain, Darryl Frye, nursing a broken arm, speaks with police forensic scientist, Barry Allen. In an abandoned windmill, the Eradicator dances with Fiona Webb, his personality shifting between that of Senator Creed Phillips, and his own.

En route to Earth, the Green Lantern, Tomar Re, is caught in a golden meteor shower. Rendered unconscious on impact, Tomar Re's power ring initiates safety protocols, drawing him gently to Earth. Allen, as the Flash, interrogates the Mirror Master, regarding his encounter with the Eradicator. At the Mirror Master's secret lair, the Flash locates a special "photo-cell" mirror, that has recorded an image of the Eradicator. Implausibly, the Flash is able to track the Eradicator's location, by attuning to light wave frequencies recorded in the mirror. The Flash discovers Webb tied to one of the Windmill's blades. With the Flash distracted freeing Webb, the Eradicator manages to get the jump on him.

Despite the Flash's best super-speed efforts, he is unable to free himself from the grip of the Eradicator. Only the Flash's complete molecular control, of the atoms of his own body, keep him from being instantly disintegrated. Nothing the Flash does manages to release him from the Eradicator's lethal grip. With his very body slowly dissolving beneath the Eradicator's touch, the Flash opts for one last ditch attempt to save his life. The Flash races them to a cemetery, where the Eradicator sees the graves of several of his prior victims. The shock is enough to jolt Phillips' subconscious mind to the surface. Horrified by his actions as the Eradicator, Phillips reverse the molecular breakdown of the Flash's body, instead disintegrating his own. Tomar Re is discovered, unconscious in a field, by a pair of local farmers.

"I Gave Him Everything He Ever Wanted!"

Jaime Harrigan is arraigned on charges of passing fraudulent prescriptions. Television news reporter, Jack Ryder, tags along with local police, following a tip provided by Harrigan. While the police officers arrest a pair of teenagers, Ryder, as the Creeper, takes down their dealer. The Creeper, as Ryder, turns the dealer over to the police. Ryder interviews Doctor Hartnell, at a local drug clinic, regarding Harrigan. Hartnell's nephew, Ben, undergoes a horrific metamorphosis, while speaking with Ryder. The creature Ben becomes, claws out Ryder's throat. Harrigan, in prison, also transforms into a similarly vicious monstrosity. To save his life, Ryder transforms into the Creeper, in full view of Hartnell.

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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