Flash (comics)
From Open Encyclopedia
Image:Flashlg.jpg The Flash is a DC Comics superhero possessing "super-speed", nicknamed the Scarlet Speedster. Created by Gardner Fox and Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in Flash Comics #1 (1940).
Thus far, three different people have assumed the identity of the Flash: Jay Garrick (1940-present), Barry Allen (1956-86), and Wally West (1986-present). Each of these individuals somehow gained the power of "super-speed", which includes the ability to run and move extremely fast, use superhuman reflexes, and violate certain laws of physics.
The second incarnation of the Flash was the first hero of the Silver Age of comic books in 1956. The character was featured in a short-lived live action television series in 1990, The Flash, that starred John Wesley Shipp in the title role. The Flash is also featured in the animated series Justice League.
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Publication history
Golden Age
The Flash first appeared in the Golden Age of comic books' Flash Comics #1 (1940), from All-American Publications, one of three companies that would eventually merge to form DC. This Flash was Jay Garrick, a college student who gained his speed through the inhalation of hard water vapors (later retconned into heavy water vapors), and who wore a winged metal helmet reminiscent of the mythological Roman god Mercury. He is notable as the first super-speedster in comics, and one of the first to have a singular super-power as opposed to the multi-powered Superman.
Garrick was a popular character in the 1940s, supporting both Flash Comics and All-Flash Quarterly (later published bi-monthly as simply All-Flash); co-starring in Comic Cavalcade; and being a charter member of the Justice Society of America, the first superhero team, whose adventures ran in All Star Comics. With superheroers' post-war decline in popularity, 'Flash Comics was cancelled with issue #104 (1949). The Justice Society's final Golden Age story ran in All Star Comics #57 (1951; the title itself continued, as All Star Western).
Silver Age
In 1956, DC Comics successfully revived superheroes, ushering in what became known as the Silver Age of comic books. Rather than bringing back the same Golden Age heroes, as Atlas Comics, the 1950s precursor of Marvel Comics, unsuccessfully tried to do, DC reimagined them as new characters for the modern age. The Flash was the first revival, in the aptly named tryout comic book Showcase #4 (Oct. 1956).
This new Flash was Barry Allen, a police scientist who gained super-speed when bathed by chemicals after a shelf of them was struck by lightning. He adopted the name The Flash after reading a comic book featuring the Golden Age Flash. After several more appearances in Showcase, Allen's character was given his own title, The Flash, the first issue of which was #105 (resuming where Flash Comics had left off).
The Silver Age Flash proved popular enough that several other Golden Age heroes were revived in new incarnations. A new superhero team, the Justice League of America, was also created, with the Flash as a charter member.
The Flashes of two worlds
The Flash also introduced a much-imitated plot device into superhero comics, when it was revealed that Garrick and Allen existed on fictional parallel worlds. Their powers allowed them to cross the dimensional boundary between worlds, and the men became good friends. "The Flash of Two Worlds" was the first crossover in which a Golden Age character met a Silver Age character. Soon, there were crossovers between the entire Justice League and the Justice Society; 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 (The Flash ended as a series with #350). 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.
Modern Age
The third Flash is Wally West, who was introduced in Flash #110 (1959) as Kid Flash. West, Allen's nephew by marriage, gained the Flash's powers through an accident identical to Allen's. Adopting the Kid Flash identity, he maintained membership in the Teen Titans for years. Following Allen's death, West adopted the Flash identity in Crisis on Infinite Earths #12 and was given his own series, beginning with The Flash Vol. 2, #1 in 1987. Many issues began Flash with the simultaneously glad and rueful catchphrase, "My name is Wally West, and I'm the fastest man alive."
In November 2005, DC Comics announced that this title would be among several cancelled at the conclusion of the "Infinite Crisis" company-crossover storyline, specifically as part of the "One Year Later..." event to be focused around the weekly series 52.
A new Flash series was announced to begin in 2006, with Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo writing, and Ken Lashley as artist. It is unknown who will be behind the mask, but DC's Executive Editor Dan Didio stated, "the costume will be very familar."[1]
Fictional biographies
While several other individuals have used the name Flash, these have lived either on other parallel worlds, or in the future. Garrick, Allen and West are the best-known exemplars of the identity.
Golden Age Flash (Jay Garrick)
- Main article: Jay Garrick
Jay Garrick was a college student in 1940 (suggesting he was born around 1922) who accidentally inhaled hard water vapors after falling asleep in his laboratory where he had been smoking (years later Garrick's origin story was retconned so that he inhaled vapor from heavy water, which was slightly more believable than the original version). As a result, he found that he could run at superhuman speed and had similarly fast reflexes. After a brief career as a college football star, he donned a red shirt with a lightning bolt and a stylized metal helmet with wings (based on images of the Roman god Mercury [1]), and began to fight crime as the Flash. It was explained decades later that the helmet belonged to Jay's father, Joseph, who died in World War I when Jay was only ten. His first case involved battling the Faultless Four, a group of blackmailers. In the early stories, it seemed to be widely known that Garrick was the Flash. It was later explained that Jay kept his identity secret without a mask by continually vibrating his body while in public so that any photograph of his face would be blurred.
Silver Age Flash (Barry Allen)
- Main article: Barry Allen
Barry Allen was a police scientist in 1956 with a reputation for being very slow, deliberate, and frequently late, which frustrated his fiancee, Iris West. One night, as he was preparing to leave work, a lightning bolt shattered a case full of chemicals and spilled them all over Allen. As a result, Allen found that he could run extremely fast and had matching reflexes. He donned a set of red tights sporting a lightning bolt (reminiscent of the original Captain Marvel), dubbed himself the Flash (after his childhood hero in the comic books, Jay Garrick), and became a crimefighter. In his civilian identity, he stored the costume in his ring, which could eject the compressed clothing when Allen needed it and suck it back in with the aid of a special gas that shrinks the suit.
Modern Age Flash (Wally West)
- Main article: Wally West
Wally West was the nephew of Iris West and Barry Allen by marriage, and was introduced in The Flash (1st series) #110 (1959). When West was about ten years old, he was visiting his uncle's police laboratory, and the freak accident that gave Allen his powers repeated itself, bathing West in electrically-charged chemicals. Now possessing the same powers as his uncle, West donned a copy of his uncle's outfit and became the young crimefighter Kid Flash.
Powers and abilities
All incarnations of the Flash can run and move their limbs at superhuman speeds, and possess superhuman reflexes. All possess an aura that prevents air friction from affecting their bodies and clothes while moving.
Barry Allen possessed several other abilities that Jay Garrick and Wally West have not always been able to duplicate. He could vibrate his molecules through solid matter, could run on thick snow clouds and could travel through time and to other dimensions with the help of a "cosmic treadmill". Most unusual was Allen's complete control of his molecules, allowing him to vibrate through solid matter and, on one occasion when transformed into a mirror, "melt" himself and reform as a human to defeat his foe the Mirror Master.
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. While all speedsters are powered by the force, West mainlines the power from the force itself and cannot be cut off from the source, unlike the others. Wally is believed to be the fastest of all known Flashes, and has on several occasions sped faster than light and entered and exited the speed force by his own volition. He can create his costume out of pure speed energy, and can either impart his high velocities to other people and objects already in motion or steal the velocity they possess. Jay Garrick also possesses this ability to some degree; he stole speed from Black Adam in order to defeat the villainous Johnny Sorrow, and he has threatened to steal Bart Allen's (formerly Impulse, currently the new Kid Flash) speed on at least one occasion when he was misbehaving. West can vibrate through objects; in the past, West would cause whatever he vibrated through to explode, but has recently shown this to be a controlled ability as he can pass through objects without any ensuing explosion. Although not nearly as precise as Allen when he used his cosmic treadmill, West has shown to be able to traverse time and dimensions with his own powers, much like Allen in Showcase #4 in 1956.
Occasionally, the top speeds of the Flashes are light speed, although Wally has been shown to have sped faster than light (as mentioned above). On several occasions, the Flash has been shown in various races against Superman to determine which one is faster (or as part of a mutual effort to thwart some type of threat); these races, however, often resulted in ties (or indeterminate results).
Speedsters may at times utilize the ability to speed-read at incredible rates and in doing so process vast amounts of information. Whatever knowledge they acquire in this manner is usually temporary, although the current Kid Flash seems to be the exception. The idea of "speed knowledge" being temporary is a retcon introduced by Geoff Johns.
Flashes and other super speedsters (such as Superman) also have the ability to speak to one another at a highly accelerated rate. This is often done to have private conversations in front of non-fast people (as when Flash speaks to Superman about his ability to serve both the Titans and the JLA in The Titans #2).
Awards
The comics and characters have been nominated for and won several awards over the years, including:
- 1961 Alley Award for Best Cover (Flash #123)
- 1961 Alley Award for Best Single Comic (Flash #123 by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino)
- 1963 Alley Award for Cross-Over of DC Heroes for The Brave and the Bold (with Hawkman)
- 1964 Alley Award for Best Short Story ("Doorway to the Unknown" in Flash #148 by John Broome and Carmine Infantino).
Appearences in other media
Early appearances
A version of the Flash guest-starred in Adventures of Aquaman in 1968. Flash appeared off and on in the animated series Super Friends throughout its run from 1973 to 1985.
In 1977 he appeared in Legends of the Superheroes, as actor Rod Haase.
The Flash 1990 series
- Main article: The Flash (TV series)
Image:Flash1.jpg The Flash was a live action CBS television series that starred John Wesley Shipp and Amanda Pays. The Flash featured in the series was the silver-age Flash, Barry Allen. The Flash's most famous villain in the series was the Trickster, played by Mark Hamill; this foreshadowed Hamill's subsequent success at playing the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series. Captain Cold, played by Michael Champion, and Mirror Master, played by David Cassidy, also appeared in their own episodes. The complete series was released as a DVD set by Warner Bros. in 2006.
Justice League of America pilot
The Flash was in a CBS live-action unaired pilot called Justice League of America, portrayed by Kenny Johnston.
DC Animated Universe
The Flash appeared in Superman: The Animated Series, voiced by Charlie Schlatter, in the second-season episode "Speed Demons". As in the traditional comic book story-lines, the Flash and Superman race to find out who is faster, but the Weather Wizard gets in the way. The Flash is voiced by Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor on the television series Smallville) in the Justice League animated series. This Flash is Wally West, however he is an amalgamation of Barry Allen and Wally. (In Justice League Unlimited, Wally is a forensic scientist, which was Barry's profession. Wally in the comics is an auto mechanic.) Michael Rosenbaum also voiced Kid Flash for a Fall 2005 episode of Teen Titans animated series entitled "Lightspeed". He later appeared in a cameo in the episode "Calling all Titans" and then he reappeared fully in the episode "Titans Together".
Image:Flash.JPG Some fans criticized the Justice League animated series characterization of the Flash, mainly due to the chauvinistic dialogue in early episodes. However, others argued that he provided a needed foil to the other characters; his humorous attitude and setting reflects Silver Age roots. The importance of the Flash as the "heart" of the Justice League was shown in the episode "A Better World", when his death in an alternate timeline triggered a series of events which turned that alternate League (the "Justice Lords") into virtual dictators of Earth. He has also proven key in saving the day in a few episodes, such as Divided We Fall, in which he defeated the fused Braniac/Lex Luthor when all the other six founding Justice League members could not. The episode Flash and Substance is centered on the opening of the Flash Museum. Many of the Flash's rogues make cameos in this episode, while focusing on Captain Boomerang, Mirror Master, Captain Cold, and The Trickster (voiced by Mark Hamill). Linda Park also appears as a reporter covering the museum opening.
Smallville
The Flash made a guest appearance in the television series Smallville, in the fourth-season episode "Run" (first aired October 20 2004) played by Kyle Gallner. He is portrayed as a self-centered teenager who uses his powers for personal gain. He goes by the name Bart Allen, but is shown to be carrying multiple ID cards also identifying him as Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, and Wally West. His speed in the episode seemed to far surpass Clark Kent's and they apparently became friends towards the end, with allusions being made to forming a "league" one day. Since in Smallville Clark Kent has not yet become Superman, it is not clear if this version of The Flash will grow up to become Wally West or Barry Allen, or some other Flash entirely .
Movie
In December 2004, David Goyer (writer of the Blade trilogy and Batman Begins) announced plans to write and direct a major motion picture about The Flash, with Ryan Reynolds in the title role. The pair hope to get the green-light from Warner Bros at some point in the next year or so.
Other appearances
Barry Allen appeared in the comic strip The World's Greatest Superheros.
Wally West appeared in the Justice League Task Force Super Nintendo fighting game.
Wally West appeared in a novel Stop Motion, written by Mark Schultz.
References in popular culture
Image:TheFlashDaddyDayCare.jpg
- "The Ballad Of Barry Allen" is a song by Jim's Big Ego featured on They're Everywhere and released through Creative Commons. The song portrays Barry Allen's ability to move at super-speed from an alternate viewpoint: namely, that to him the entire world is moving excruciatingly slowly ("I've got time to think / about the beauty of / the thousand variations of / the beating of the wings of / the hummingbird suspended in / the aspic of the world / moving slower than molasses, / as I'm off to catch the girl / who's falling off the bridge").
- In 2002, the lead con-man character in the movie Catch Me If You Can played by Leonardo DiCaprio used the alias "Barry Allen" to elude G-man Tom Hanks in reference to his love for the comic book.
- In the 2003 movie Daddy Day Care, Jimmy Bennett plays a boy who thinks he is the Flash and refuses to take off his costume, plus a sugar rush actually allows him to go super speed for a while.
- In 2004, NBA All-Star Shaquille O'Neal gave his teammate, Dwyane Wade the nickname "Flash" (One of O'Neal's nicknames was "Superman").
- In Season 5 of the TV series Angel, Illyria is able to escape from the group by slowing down time. They believe she has super speed. Gunn comments:
- "So she did a Barry Allen on us."
(Blank response fom others)
- "Jay Garrick? Wally We... . She was moving really fast."
Related characters
As the first super-speed hero in comic books, the Flash was inspired by or has spawned a variety of imitators and conceptual descendants. These include:
- Hermes, the messenger of the Greek Gods, who appears in both the DC universe and Marvel universe (including the Justice League Unlimited television series)
- 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
- The Whizzer, the name of two super-speed heroes from Marvel Comics: one is from the Golden Age and the other is a member of the Squadron Supreme
- The Blur, the name of two super-speed heroes from Marvel Comics: an updated version of the Whizzer in Supreme Power, J. Michael Straczynski's re-imagined version of Squadron Supreme, and Jeff Walters from Marvel's New Universe comics D.P.7.
- Blurr, a speedster Autobot, one of the Transformers
- Johnny Bukowski, a.k.a. "Johnny B", a character from the short-lived television series, The Misfits of Science
- Más y Menos, extremely short twin brothers who can only tap their super-speed powers when touching. They only speak in Spanish and almost always in unison. They have only appeared in the Teen Titans animated series on Cartoon Network
- Velocity, a member of the Top Cow Comics, Cyberforce team.
- The Terrific Whatzit, DC's first funny animal superhero, who appeared in Golden Age comics; he wore a costume identical to that of Jay Garrick's, and had powers that included superstrength and flight in addition to superspeed.
- Fastback, a DC funny animal turtle (and the nephew of the Terrific Whatzit) with superspeed powers; he lived on a parallel Earth.
- The Crash, a DC funny animal turtle with superspeed powers, who hailed from another parallel Earth; he was an analog of the Silver Age Flash.
- The Rival
- Savitar
- Blue Trinity
- Christina Alexandrova
- Kapitalist Kouriers / Red Trinity
- Jesse Chambers/Quick, Johnny's Quick's daughter
- Speed Demon
- Dark Flash, Walter West
- Zoom II
- Barry West
- Iris West II
- Sela Allen
- Professor Zoom / The Reverse Flash / Eobard Thawne
- Flashbulb
- John Fox
- Speed Metal
- Blaine Allen
- Jace Allen
- Tornado Twins
- Inertia
- XS / Jenni Ognats (granddaughter of Barry Allen)
- Kryad
- Impulse II
- Ladies of the Lightning
- Chain Lightning
References
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|else=a}} Dan Didio on the New Flash Team (newsarama.com)
External links
- Alan Kistler's Profile On: THE FLASH - A detailed analysis of the history of the Flash by comic book historian Alan Kistler. Covers infromation all the way from Jay Garrick to Barry Allen to today, as well as discussions on the various villains of the Flash and his imitators. Various art scans.
- Golden Age Flash Toonopedia entry
- Silver Age Flash Toonopedia entry
- Alan Kistler's Guide To THE CRISIS - A in-depth three part retrospective by comic book historian Alan Kistler on the Crisis, including a comprehensive issue-by-issue summary, map of the multiple universes, a discussion on why the Crisis had to happen and how effective it was, various cover and interior art scans, and a discussion on Marv Wolfman's novelization. Includes a detailed retelling of Barry Allen's discovery of the multiverse, his role in the Crisis, and his death.
- The Flash JLResource.com entry
- The Flash: Those Who Ride The Lightning, comprehensive fan site devoted to the Fastest Man Alive and other super-speed characters of the DC Universe. One of the most comprehensive DC comics sites on the internet.
- Index to Barry Allen's Earth-One adventures
- [2] Comic Book Awards Almanaces:Flash (comic)
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