Tag Archives: Golden Age

Alternate History of DC/AA Comics: Introducing Flashette

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What kinds of changes are in store for the DC Universe during Flashpoint? Teasers we’ve seen so far show a world with no Earth-based Green Lantern, a very different Superman, and a Wonder Woman and Aquaman who are world leaders rather than superheroes. DC will be publishing no less than sixteen miniseries exploring this altered world, enough for an entire line of comics…which brings to mind another thought:

What might DC comics look like if they’d been publishing this alternate history all along?

It wouldn’t be the first time someone’s explored an alternate publishing history. The Marvel/DC mash-up Amalgam Comics were all labeled #1, but included editor’s notes and letters columns referring back to earlier imaginary comics.

More interestingly, Bob Rozakis published a series of articles in TwoMorrows’ Alter Ego and Back Issue magazines in which he imagined an alternate history of DC Comics, the company.

All-American Comics

Up until the mid-1940s, DC Comics was really two companies: One was DC proper, owned by Harry Donenfield. The other was All-American Comics, owned by Max Gaines, which published under the DC label. The big three characters at DC were Superman, Batman and Robin, starring in World’s Finest. The big three at All American were Wonder Woman, Green Lantern (Alan Scott) and the Flash (Jay Garrick), starring in Comic Cavalcade. (This is also why Johnny Quick exists: DC published the Flash, but didn’t actually own the character, so they wanted a speedster they owned outright.) In 1945, after a dispute led to several issues of All-American books being published under their own banner, DC bought out the entire line. A few years later, most of the All-American characters fell off the radar (with the notable exception of Wonder Woman), but DC kept publishing Superman and Batman.

By 1956, DC decided to try re-imagining some of the older characters, starting with the Flash. The result: the Silver Age explosion, including new versions of Flash (Barry Allen), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), the Atom (Ray Palmer), etc.

What If…

For an Elseworlds story, Bob Rozakis imagined an alternate world in which instead of DC buying All-American, All-American bought DC. Flash and Green Lantern survived the end of the Golden Age, but Batman and Superman disappeared until they were re-imagined for the Silver Age.

DC rejected the story, but the ideas stuck in Rozakis’ head, and he eventually expanded them into a full alternate history — and not just an alternate story history, but an alternate publishing history, down to the way the alternate publisher might have treated his writers and artists.

Of course, part of the fun in this sort of alternate history is looking at not just what might be different, but what might be similar. So Green Lantern and the Flash not only took on the prominence of Superman and Batman, but many of the same story elements. Green Lantern introduced Kid Lantern stories instead of Superboy, and Girl Lantern instead of Supergirl. Instead of Batgirl, the Flash family expanded to include Flashette. Artist Larry Guidry provided cover art inspired by the introductions of their counterparts in the real publishing timeline.

On his blog, Rozakis lists the full set of articles:

The series appeared in ALTER EGO #s 76, 78-81, 83, 85 and 87, with a bonus chapter scheduled for #93 or #94, depending on space. [Edit: I don’t see it listed on the TOC for either book.] The second half is in BACK ISSUE #s 28 – 36, except #31.

Retro Review: The Flash #268

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Today’s guest post is by KC Flash.

For my first EVER comic review, I wanted to start with the comic that began my love for Flash comics so many years ago. What was it in my first comic that made me want to follow the Flash for over thirty years? Would it still “hold up,” so to speak?

The first Flash comic I remember purchasing was Flash #268. If you just look at the cover, you will discover three characters fighting over a Golden Age comic, Flash Comics #26. The cover blurbs state that this is “the comic book that holds the world’s greatest secret!” In the bottom left corner, the cover asks the question, “What amazing secret does a golden age comic hold that causes three heroes to fight for its possession?”

At first, you may be thinking that since this was a December release, that the heroes were still fighting over a “Black Friday” sale at their local comic book store. ☺ However, as you read the story you discover that “The Riddle of the Runaway Comic” is actually a crime mystery story. The story involves Barney Sands, who is a twelve-year-old comic book collector, the Flash and a gang of criminals.

A gang of criminals has “obtained” a secret spray, Formula XCV. This formula, after being sprayed on an object, allows the object to reappear at a different location. The criminals obviously want the formula for devious reasons. As the story states, “Just imagine how this formula could revolutionize crime! Squirt the invisible spray over a priceless painting or jewelry exhibit while no one’s looking and then retreat to your hideout—concentrate—and the priceless item materializes in your hands!” Yes, friends, XCV takes all the risks out of stealing!” The only problem is that the original scientist, the “late” Professor Phillip Denton was able to only effectively use the spray on one object, his son’s copy of Flash #26. Whenever someone concentrates on the book, the book magically appears. Enter our criminals dressed as Wildcat and the Golden Age Green Lantern, Alan Scott.

Without going into further details, I must say it was quite a treat to go back and reexamine this book. My interest in the history of the Golden Age began in this book. By reading this book, you will also get to see Barry Allen’s comic book collection. As Barry Allen states after finding Barney Sands’ comic book in his own collection, “Its one of the few Flashes that have eluded me –even when I managed to get rarer ones.” Just think about how much fun it would be to go over to Mr. Allen’s to share collecting tips.

Now that I think about it, Golden Age Flash Archives ends at Flash #24. So, yes, I am still searching for a reader copy of Flash #26 after 30 years. Hmm…Maybe, just maybe, if I think about it hard enough?

KCFLASH

Covers c/o the Grand Comics Database.

Speed Reading

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Some linkblogging for the weekend.

Gone Fishin’

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That’s some impressive depth of field Wonder Woman is setting up in that shot. No wonder she needs a tripod! (Actually, that would be a seriously old camera for 1947, wouldn’t it?)

Instead of crime-fighting action, Comic Cavalcade‘s covers in the 1940s featured Wonder Woman, the Flash and Green Lantern hanging out together and having fun. Or occasionally doing something more serious, like collecting papers for a wartime recycling drive.

(Comic Cavalcade #21 cover from the Grand Comics Database.)

Writing on a Classic Comic

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I wrote on a Golden-Age Flash comic book the other day.

Not much. Just two numbers, three letters, and a couple of short strikethrough lines.

But you know, it took effort to bring myself to do it!

I’ve been collecting comics since I was around seven years old. I’m 34 now. And while I’ve never been the type to freak out when opening an action figure package, or even opening the covers of a comic book, I’ve always* tried to take care of my comics. Not as an investment — I have no illusions there. Just because I want to make them last.

So what happened? How did someone from the bag-and-board set come to actually put pen to paper and write on a collector’s item nearly twice his own age?

It had already been written on…and it was wrong.

Last week I won an auction on eBay for a coverless copy of what had been identified as Flash Comics #72 (June 1946). Based on the stories, it was actually Flash Comics #74 (August 1946). No big deal — I didn’t have either of them to start with, so it was something new either way. The problem is that a previous owner had actually written the wrong issue number and date in the corner of the splash page. (Interestingly, they had written the right cover date first, then crossed it out when they concluded it was actually #72 instead.)

Sure, I hate writing on collectibles. But I also hate leaving errors uncorrected. (Just look at this poll on correcting typos that I ran a few weeks ago.) Finally, I decided that if I ever forgot that it wasn’t really #72, or if it ended up in someone else’s collection, it would be better not to have the wrong information there. And as far as selling it goes, as long as I kept the writing small, it couldn’t be worse than what was already there.

Even so, it was a tougher decision than it really should have been. Margin annotations on newsprint should not be a big deal!

*OK, always since I realized that 7-year-old me was making a mistake trying to create his own collected editions of Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew by binding them together with the only tool I had that was suitable: scotch tape. Apparently I wanted to be a trade reader before there were any trades around to read.