| The Flash | |
|---|---|
Cover of The Flash #123 (Fall 1961). |
|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| Schedule | Monthly |
| Format | Ongoing series |
| Genre | Superhero |
| Publication date | (vol. 1) March 1959 - October 1985 (vol. 2) June 1987 - March 2006 (vol. 3) June 2010 - Present |
| Number of issues | (vol. 1) 246 (vol. 2) 232 (vol. 3) 12 (as of July 2011) |
| Main character(s) | (vol. 1, 3) Flash (Barry Allen) (vol. 2) Flash (Wally West) |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | (vol. 1) John Broome, Gardner Fox, Frank Robbins, Robert Kanigher, Cary Bates (vol. 2) Mike Baron, Mark Waid, William Messner-Loebs (vol. 3) Geoff Johns |
| Penciller(s) | (vol. 1) Carmine Infantino, Ross Andru, Irv Novick (vol. 2) Jackson Guice, Greg LaRocque, Mike Wieringo, Paul Pelletier, Howard Porter (vol. 3) Francis Manapul |
| Creator(s) | John Broome Carmine Infantino |
The Flash is an ongoing comic book series featuring the DC Comics superhero of the same name. The character's first incarnation, Jay Garrick, first appeared in Flash Comics #1. When Silver Age Flash Barry Allen was introduced, that character took over Flash Comics numbering and the series was retitled simply as, The Flash.
Although the Flash is a mainstay in the DC Comics stable, the series has been cancelled and rebooted several times. The first series featuring Barry Allen was cancelled at issue #350 in the event of the character's death in the universe altering event Crisis on Infinite Earths.[1] When Wally West succeeded Allen as the Flash, a new series began with new numbering in June 1987. That series was briefly canceled in 2006 in the wake of the Infinite Crisis event, but was restarted with its original numbering in 2007, only to be canceled again in 2008 in the wake of Barry Allen's return in Final Crisis and The Flash: Rebirth.[2] In September 2009, DC Comics announced on its official blog that the series would be revived for a third volume by writer Geoff Johns and artist Francis Manapul after the completion of the Blackest Night event in 2010.[3]
Contents |
The Flash saga has taken place primarily in the fictional municipalities of Central City and Keystone City. The citizens live under constant threat of supervillains and a number of "blue collar" costumed criminals, known as the Rogues. After being caught in an accident at the Central City Police Department's Crime Lab, forensic scientist (previously "police scientist") Barry Allen is gifted with incredible speed. Inspired by his childhood hero Jay Garrick, Allen creates a new persona under Garrick's moniker "The Flash". Using his incredible speed, and stepping up where normal men and women cannot, Allen fights for the citizens and protects them from supernatural harm.
After the cancellation of Flash Comics in 1949, the character was rather stagnant for the rest of the Golden Age era. When editor Julius Schwartz joined DC Comics in the 1950s, he envisioned bringing many old DC characters back in new and interesting ways. Some of Schwartz's more notable reinventions include bringing back the Justice Society of America as the Justice League of America, re-imagining the Golden Age Green Lantern mythology as a universal law enforcement unit along with a new main character, and creating a new Flash character and restarting his series.[4]
Volume 1 primarily starred Barry Allen as the Flash. After the character's first appearance in Showcase #4, industry insiders and fans widely believe that the Silver Age of Comic Books came into existence.[4] Allen starred in The Flash when the series started, assuming the original Flash Comics with issue #105. Many notable events occurred in this era, such as the birth of the Flash Rogues. One of the most notable issues to come out of this run was issue #123, which featured a story known as "The Flash of Two Worlds". In it, Allen meets his inspiration in Jay Garrick, after accidentally being transported to a parallel universe where Garrick existed (in this previous continuity, Garrick and the other characters of the Golden Age only existed as comics characters in the mainline shared universe).[5] This brought about a new concept in the formative stage of what would become the DC Universe, and in fact gave birth to the current conceptualization featuring it as a multiverse.[6]
Due to Allen's death in Crisis on Infinite Earths, the series was cancelled with issue #350 in 1985. In the actual Crisis event, Wally West (previously known only as Allen's sidekick Kid Flash) stated his intent to take up his uncle's mantle as the Flash.[7]
Featuring Wally West as the main character, the Flash mostly operated out of Keystone City. Featuring long, illustrious runs most notably by writers Mark Waid and Geoff Johns, the second volume originally went in a different direction from the series starring Barry Allen by making Wally West more flawed. This Flash could not constantly maintain his super-speed because of his hypermetabolism, and would consume gargantuan amounts of food in order to continue operating at top speed. This metabolic limitation would later be continued into Barry Allen's character for the brief television series The Flash that ran in 1990.
When Mark Waid began his run in the early 1990s, he brought back more traditional Flash aspects from Barry Allen's era by reforming the Rogues, some of which were new incarnations of old characters, and bringing more of a sci-fi/fantasy aspect that had been lost in Flash titles since Allen's departure. Waid had also made Wally West much more powerful in an attempt to take him out of Barry Allen and Jay Garrick's shadows. When writer Geoff Johns stepped aboard with issue #164, he refocused the character on some of the Silver Age aspects by spending single issues on building the psychology of the various Rogues.[8][9] Johns also created Zoom, the third of the Reverse-Flashes, and fleshed out the environmental character of Keystone City in an attempt to make it unique in the faces of other DC fictional cities like Metropolis or Gotham.[10]
In the wake of the "One Year Later" event and Wally West's disappearance in Infinite Crisis, DC canceled The Flash vol. 2 in favor of a new series starring Bart Allen as the Flash. The new series ran only 13 issues and ended with Bart's death.[11] Mark Waid returned to the title briefly in 2007 to bring about the return of Wally West, but the series was canceled again in late 2008 with the return of Barry Allen in the event series Final Crisis.[12][13] Spinning out of Final Crisis, writer Geoff Johns and artist Ethan Van Sciver created The Flash: Rebirth, a 6-issue mini-series bringing Barry Allen back to a leading role in the DC Universe as the primary Flash.[14] Allen is also an integral character in the crossover event Blackest Night, and had a self-titled limited series tying into the main event.[15][16]
On September 8, 2009, DC Comics' official blog "The Source" announced that after the completion of The Flash: Rebirth and "Blackest Night", Geoff Johns would return to writing a new Flash ongoing series with previous Adventure Comics collaborator Francis Manapul in 2010. The only released story information was the initial arc's title, "The Dastardly Death of the Rogues!"[3]
In January 2010, DC Comics announced that the series' opening arc would be launched under the banner of Brightest Day, a line-wide aftermath story to the crossover "Blackest Night".[17] In April, DC released The Flash: Secret Files and Origins 2010 one-shot, setting the stage for the status quo of the new series. It was followed one week later with the release of The Flash vol. 3, #1.
In response to a fan question on its blog The Source's Flashpoint Friday feature, DC announced that May 2011's Flash #12 would be the final issue of the series. At the time, no other details were provided.[18]
The new Flash series begins after the completion of Blackest Night and starts in line with Brightest Day. After the events of The Flash: Rebirth, Barry Allen is reintegrating himself into life in Central City. Under the cover of having been in witness protection, Allen returns to the Central City Police Department's crime lab and returns to the streets as the Flash. While readjusting to life as the Flash, a man appears out of thin air in the costume of Flash rogue the Mirror Master, and promptly dies on the street.
When Barry arrives on the scene and investigates the body, he sees that the man is neither original Mirror Master Sam Scudder, or the current Rogue, Evan McCulloch. Hearing of another portal appearing, Barry transforms into the Flash and runs to investigate. When he arrives, a group of people in costumes similar to the Rogues appear and tell Barry that they are a crew from the 25th century, and that he is under arrest for murdering the "Mirror Monarch." Barry tells the crew that he has not killed anyone, to which their apparent leader, "Commander Cold", tells him, "Not yet. But you will." [19]
An adventure then erupts where Flash must try and stop these apparent murders while simultaneously clearing his name with the Renegades. After his success, an electrical disturbance erupts in front of a bar and a mysterious figure on a motorcycle emerges only to take off through the streets of Central City stating that he needs to find fuel, and also Barry Allen. The Flash confronts the person on a dock who reveals himself to be "Hot Pursuit:" a Barry Allen of a parallel Earth. Hot Pursuit's motorcycle converts itself into a police baton and uses it to prove that the Flash is the generator of the Speed Force. Barry uses the equipment in the crime lab to examine a hair he took off of Hot Pursuit's helmet and confirms that he is genetically identical to him, and is then interrupted by Patty Spivot. The two head to another crime scene where a thirty-one year old man was drastically aged, and Barry finds a large single tire mark nearby. The police then find a young boy hiding away in a shipping container who may be a witness.
Iris then calls Barry home where she, Jay Garrick, Wally West, and Bart Allen who are all troubled by the way that he has been isolating himself from everyone. Bart believes that Barry dislikes him and runs of until he is attacked by Hot Pursuit. Barry arrives but is too late, Hot Pursuit discharges electricity at Bart with his baton and is engulfed in lightning. At the station, the young boy meets Patty and reveals that he had stolen the years from the others in an attempt to make himself younger and transforms into the Reverse Flash.[20]
Flash and Hot Pursuit begin to fight while the Reverse-Flash explains that he has discovered new powers granted to him by the speed force and how he was able to consume the memories of his victims prepares to do the same to the same to Patty. Barry confronts Patty who thinks she should leave but Barry tells her that with her help can do a lot of good until they are interrupted by Iris. Iris tells him that all the memories of his past have caused him to isolate himself from everyone and that his family will stand by him. Barry visits his mother's grave in memory of her birthday while some where else the Reverse Flash says "It changes, It all changes." and a lighting bolt strikes from the skies, leading directly into the first issue of Flashpoint and concluding this series.[21]
After the events in Flashpoint, The Flash storylines have been altered. Barry Allen is now single and dating his coworker, Patty Spivot. Barry's abilities with the Speed Force are more primitive and less experienced. Barry Allen prevents a robbery of a gene modifyier at a science convention by a group of soldiers that revealed to be clones of Barry Allen's friend, Manuel.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||