The Flash
The Flash is a comic book superhero in the DC comics universe with the power of "super-speed", including the ability to run and generally move extremely fast, superhuman reflexes, and the ability to violate select laws of physics. The name "Flash" has been applied to multiple fictional characters. The Flash is perhaps most famous for his second incarnation, whose genesis was among the catalysts of the Silver Age of comic books.The Flash is also the name of several comic book series starring the various men who have used the name.
Publication History
The Flash first appeared in Flash Comics #1 (1940). This Flash was Jay Garrick, a college student who gained his speed through the inhalation of heavy water vapors, and who wore a metal helmet with wings on it. He is notable for being the first speedster in comics and one of the first to have a singular super-power as opposed to the multi-talented Superman. He was created by writer Gardner Fox.
Garrick was a popular character in the 1940s, supporting two different titles and being a charter and long-time member of the Justice Society of America, the first superhero team. Garrick's adventures in the Golden Age of comic books came to an end when Flash Comics was cancelled with the publication of issue #104 (1949), and the subsequent end of the Justice Society's adventures with All-Star Comics #57 (1951). Superheroes and indeed the entire comic book industry had fallen on hard times in the 1950s, and the Flash was only one fatality.
A few years later, DC Comics decided the time was right to reintroduce some superheroes, but rather than bring back the Golden Age heroes unchanged, it was decided to recreate them as new, more modern characters. The Flash was the first such hero to be revived in a new incarnation. Showcase #4 (1956) introduced Barry Allen, a police scientist who was bathed by chemicals after the shelf on which they lay was struck by lightning, and he gained super-speed like Garrick before him. After several more appearances in Showcase, Allen's character was given his own title, The Flash, which resumed numbering from Flash Comics with #105.
The Silver Age Flash proved popular enough to revive several other Golden Age heroes in new incarnations, and even the creation of a new superhero team, the Justice League of America, of which Flash was a prominent member.
The Flash also introduced a long-standing plot device into superhero comics, when it was revealed that Garrick and Allen each existed on fictional parallel worlds. Their powers allowing them to cross the dimensional boundary between worlds, the men became good friends, and their respective teams began an annual get-together which endured from the early 1960s until the mid 1980s.
Allen's adventures continued in his own title until the advent of Crisis on Infinite Earths. Allen's life had become considerably confused in the early 1980s, and DC elected to end his adventures and pass the mantle on to another character. Allen died heroically in the Crisis #8 (1986), though thanks to his ability to travel through time he would continue to appear occasionally in the years to come.
The third Flash is Wally West, who had been introduced in Flash #110 (1959) as Kid Flash. West, Allen's nephew by marriage, gained the Flash's powers through an accident similar to Allen's, and adopted the Kid Flash identity and maintained membership in the Teen Titans for years. Following Allen's death, West adopted the Flash identity in Crisis #12 and was given his own series, beginning with The Flash vol 2 #1 (1987). As of 2004 he is the current holder of the title.
Fictional Biographies
The Golden Age Flash (Jay Garrick)
(to be written)
The Silver Age Flash (Barry Allen)
(to be written)
The Modern Age Flash (Wally West)
(to be written)
Several other individuals have used the name Flash, though these generally live either on other parallel worlds, or in the future.
Powers & Abilities
All incarnations of the Flash can run and move their limbs at superhuman speeds, and possess superhuman reflexes. All possess an "aura" which prevents friction from affecting their bodies and clothes while moving.
Barry Allen possessed several other abilities which Jay Garrick and Wally West have not always been able to duplicate. He could "vibrate" his molecules through solid matter, and could travel through time and to other dimensions with the help of a "cosmic treadmill".
Wally West has been shown to have a connection to the "Speed Force", an extradimensional energy source, which provides his powers and gives him several other abilities: He can create his costume out of pure speed energy, and can impart his high velocities to other people and objects.
Other media
The Flash has appeared on television, most notably in a short lived CBS series during 1990 where he was portrayed by actor John Wesley Shipp aided by special effects and a molded costume. His most famous opponent in the series was The Trickster played by Mark Hamill who parlayed this successful role into in a new career as an animation voice actor.
The Flash has also appeared in Superman: The Animated Series, and is a member of the Justice League in the Justice League animated series.
Related Characters
As the first super-speed hero in comic books, The Flash spawned a variety of imitators and conceptual descendants. These include:
- Quicksilver, a member of The Avengers.
- Johnny Quick, another golden age superhero, and his modern daughter Jesse Quick
- Johnny Quick, a silver age supervillain from a parallel world
- Lightning, a member of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents.
- Max Mercury, another golden age superhero
