Category Archives: Flash History

Wait…What? The Flash and the Baby Raffle (Golden Age Hijinks)

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I’ve got a saved search set up at eBay that lets me know when Golden-Age Flash comics show up in my price range. It’s been a while since I actually bought one, though. Most of them are either too expensive or contain stories I’ve already read, either through reprints or through my own small Golden-Age collection.

Flash Comics #45Anyway, several books showed up in this morning’s email, and I checked them against my want-list and already-read list. Then I looked up the one that I didn’t recognize, Flash Comics #45. Comics.org has a synopsis of the Flash story, “Blessed Event:”

Jay wins a baby in a raffle and it immediately becomes a headache for himself [trying to explain it to Joan], and to the Flash, when the baby turns out to be a midget crook!

Leaving aside the silliness of an adult dwarf being able to pass as an infant (a premise that doesn’t seem to have gone away, being the basis of the 2006 Wayans Brothers film, Little Man), consider the fact that Jay Garrick wins a baby in a raffle.

Seriously. Even in 1943, who thought that raffling off children to the hero was a good idea for a setup?

Midget Joe in his second appearance.It’s probably an oversimplication.

But then, this is the same series where the Flash’s dimwitted sidekicks buy a restaurant and accidentally turn people invisible when they use an alien plant in their salads. (To top things off, it ties into the otherwise-serious origin of the Thinker.) The Silver Age had its share of goofy stories, but it’s got nothing on the Golden Age for sheer silliness.

Believe it or not, “Midget Joe” (as his name is given) actually comes back in Flash Comics #61, one of the issues I’ve read. The criminal escapes from prison, then hides out in a children’s hospital ward. Unfortunately for him, the Flash is performing magic tricks to cheer up the patients, but the hero doesn’t recognize him at first…

Speed Reading: What If? Cool Moments, and Death

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More linkblogging! This rounds out a week’s worth of Flash-related pages I’ve stumbled across.

Kid Flash has a cameo up in this Adventure Comics #1 preview over at The Source.

Robot 6’s Grumpy Old Fan considers several major creative decisions by DC over the last 25 years, including making Wally West the Flash after Crisis on Infinite Earths, and considers what might have happened if they’d gone differently. In the case of the Flash, if they’d gone for a new, unrelated character instead of Barry’s former sidekick, the 90s focus on legacy characters might never have happened.

Four Color Media Monitor dissects interviews on Flash: Rebirth and Barry Allen given by Dan Didio and Geoff Johns, comparing their statements to the miniseries’ emphasis on death.

Comics Should Be Good highlights another Cool Comic Book Moment from The Flash detailing a pivotal moment from Flash vol.2 #78 — second-to-last chapter of The Return of Barry Allen.

Archive: 5 Possible Candidates for The Flash: Rebirth Mystery Villain

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Originally published as a guest post on The Weekly Crisis, on June 9, 2009. Imported here after that site shut down.

The biggest question in Flash: Rebirth so far — after “What’s up with Barry’ Allens parents?” and “How the heck did Barry come back, anyway?” — is “Who is the mystery villain?”

The very first scene in issue one is a break-in at a Central City crime lab: an unseen assailant kills the CSIs and re-creates the lightning-and-chemical accident that transformed Barry Allen into the Flash. In his internal monologue, he “speaks” as if he knows Barry Allen and even claims to have brought Barry back from the dead — and that it was the worst thing he could have done to him. It’s not likely that Geoff Johns is introducing an entirely new character. So, who might he be?

What we know for sure: He’s a man, has white hair, and carries a staff tipped with a lightning-bolt-shaped blade at each end. In short, not much. Also worth noting, Barry has picked up a new, traumatic backstory, which Geoff Johns has hinted is part of a crime committed against the Flash — in short, deliberate manipulation of history. One page of the preview for issue #3 also suggests a time traveler may be involved.

There’s been a lot of discussion on various message boards and around the web about the possible candidates and I’m sure everyone’s been wondering just who the mystery villain is. As such, I’ve put together my own list of candidates and reasons why each makes sense. Hit the jump to find out who made my short list of suspects!

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Speed Reading: Mystery Villain, Anticipation, iPhone Comics, and More

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Some quick linkblogging for the night before Flash: Rebirth #3 hits the stands.

Flash: Rebirth…

Mystery VillainFirst, I’ve got a guest post up at The Weekly Crisis detailing 5 Possible Candidates for The Flash: Rebirth‘s Mystery Villain.

‘Twas the Night Before Wednesday’s J. Caleb Mozzocco (Blog@Newsarama) is more enthused about the collected edition of Flash: The Human Race with “Huge Silver Age cosmic action and huge stakes” than about Flash: Rebirth #3, “in which your dad’s Flash races Superman.”

Can’t Wait for Wednesday’s JK Parkin (Robot 6), on the other hand, is solidly on board. “I wasn’t wild about the first issue, but the second one really sucked me in. This issue features the return of a classic: Superman racing The Flash.”

Update: I noticed a post from 2007 on my other blog is getting more attention than usual, probably because it links Barry Allen and the Black Flash.

…And Beyond

You will soon be able to read Perhapanauts and Tellos on the iPhone. The two creator-owned series have strong Impulse connections. Tellos is a fantasy adventure story created by Impulse writer Todd Dezago and Flash artist Mike Wieringo — Bart Allen’s co-creator. Perhapanauts an action/horror/comedy created by Dezago and Impulse artist Craig Rousseau. I highly recommend both series.

DC Collector posts a sketch of a Jay Garrick figurine from the Eaglemoss DC Super-Hero Collection. It makes me wish I lived in the UK.

Silver Age Comics profiles Julius Schwartz, legendary editor of DC’s Silver Age who oversaw the 1956 revamp of the Flash.

Cartoon Flophouse doesn’t shy away from strong opinions in 5 DC Comics Characters Which Would Translate Better to Film Than Wonder Woman or The Flash.

A bit off-topic, Watch This Space wants to know which of several serialized stories on the blog should not return.

Speed Reading: Lightning Blades, Bronze Age, Variant Covers and More

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RikDad identifies a precedent for those lightning-bolt blades seen in Flash: Rebirth…way back in the Golden Age.

Comic Bronze Age tries to identify…What IS the Bronze Age of Comics? Considering that many fans today are of the opinion that the Silver Age lasted through 1985, it’s a good question.

The podcast Views From the Longbox has their second installment of Views from the Speed Force, focusing on Flash: Rebirth #2.

Flash Rebirth #3 CoversNewsarama asks retailers, do variant covers sell more books? Personally, when a comic has alternate covers that are distributed equally (like they’ve done with the Final Crisis books) I’ll just pick the one I like better. When the variant is rare, like the 1-in-25 alternate covers they’re doing for Flash: Rebirth, I usually won’t bother. Though I am going to try to pick up the alternate cover for #3, which is 100% more interesting than the standard cover.

Speaking of variant covers, it looks like I forgot to link to the site updates I did last weekend: I updated the collections of variant covers and cover homages to include current and upcoming Flash: Rebirth covers. Still need to work through an email backlog of homages, though.

Crimson Lightning is back from a three-week hiatus with new posts.

Mania’s Top 20 writers of all time includes long-term Flash writers Mark Waid, Geoff Johns and Gardner Fox.

Fastest FirefoxSpeaking of foxes, and still somewhat relevant to this blog’s topic, Firefox is holding a video contest called “Show Us Your Speed“ to promote the upcoming Firefox 3.5 release. Submit a 30-second video of your fastest talent to www.fastestfirefox.com.

Silver Age Milestone Sells for $180K

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Showcase #4Heritage Auctions reported today that a copy of Showcase #4 graded at CGC NM+ 9.6 sold for almost $180,000 at auction, making it “the single most-expensive Silver Age book in history.” In an earlier post, Heritage Auctions stated that this was the best-preserved copy of the issue known.

At the time the book was published, superheroes — and comics in general — had fallen out of favor. Showcase #4 introduced the world to a revamped Flash. Jay Garrick and his Mercury-inspired costume were gone, replaced by the more modern Barry Allen. The success of the Flash led to an ongoing series, as well as space-age reboots of Green Lantern, the Atom, Hawkman and others, ushering in a new superhero boom.

In fact, the issue is often cited as the start of the Silver Age of comics. (Other contenders are the first appearances of the Martian Manhunter and Captain Comet.)