Issue Description

"Hell In The Fast Lane!"

Professor Zoom, the notorious Reverse Flash, desperately seeks an escape from the timeless limbo trapping him. Feeling guilt over his love for Fiona Webb, police forensic scientist, Barry Allen, dreams of his dead wife, Iris West Allen. Master assassin, and disguise expert, Sabre-Tooth, escapes from a federal penitentiary. Almost immediately, Sabre-Tooth is hired to assassinate Allen. Webb and Allen pay a visit to the grave of Senator Creed Philips, the murderous vigilante known as the Eradicator. Allen gives Webb some privacy. Sabre-Tooth launches heat-seeking missiles at Allen's car. Only by vibrating his molecules, at super-human speed, into intangibility, is Allen able to survive the assault.

Allen, as the Flash, tries to run down his assailant, finding only a detonator. The detonator is rigged with a tiny incendiary device that destroys it, eliminating all trace evidence, and nearly killing the Flash. The Flash, as Allen, returns to the scene of the attack, letting Webb know that, thanks to the Flash, he survived. The Green Lantern, Tomar Re, eats breakfast with the Tucker family. Tomar Re barely survived a yellow meteor shower, and used the remaining energy in his power ring to arrive safely on Earth. The Tucker family found Tomar Re's unconscious body in one of their fields. Tomar Re had been tasked, by the Guardians of The Universe, with delivering an urgent message to the Flash.

Professor Zoom is close to discovering the proper vibrational frequency that will set him free. Two young punks vandalize the tomb of comic genius, Farley Wheaton. They are seemingly dealt with by ghosts. Said "ghosts" turn out to be the Flash, moving so fast as to be invisible to the naked eye.The Flash is in the cemetery, visiting the grave of his wife, to make peace with her memory, before asking Webb to marry him. Sabre-Tooth guarantees his employer that Allen is as good as dead. After four long years, Professor Zoom finally finds his way out.

Playgrounds

The Creeper stands over the grave of a teenage girl, Joanie Newman. The Creeper, as television news reporter, Jack Ryder, had been investigating a story on teenage drug abuse. Newman collapsed, transforming into a vicious creature. Newman was restrained, and taken to the Hartnell Clinic. Upon returning to normal, Newman died. Newman was the victim of a cocaine overdose, though the drug was being cut with some kind of mutagenic agent.

Ryder, as the Creeper, shook down several high school students, to find out where Newman got the drugs. The investigation led the Creeper to a Punk Rock club called "The Sewer", and George Delany. After beating Delany, the Creeper revealed the terrible after-effects of the drug Delany had been selling. At Nelson's gravesite, the Creeper vows to bring in the criminals responsible for her death, and the deaths of several other teenagers.

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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