How To Start Reading The Flash Comics

The Flash is the fastest man alive in the DC Universe and one of the premiere members of teams such as the Justice League, the Justice Society, and the Titans. With a legacy going back to the Golden Age of Comics, the Scarlet Speedster is one of DC’s most iconic and important heroes. The result is that he’s been running through several hundreds of comic books, giving him a truly long bibliography.

Given that he theoretically debuted in 1939, The Flash has a lot of comics to read to get “completely” caught up with him. Likewise, many of these are out of print and difficult to come by, though some of the hero’s greatest hits are now more accessible than ever. Thus, a big part of getting into The Flash’s comic books involves honing in on the version of the character that most fans consider to be the best Scarlet Speedster ever.

The Flash’s Golden Age Origins Are Largely Out of Print

Jay Garrick Debut: Flash Comics #1 by Gardner Fox and Harry Lampert

• Jay’s origins were later retconned to involve heavy water vapors, with the incident connecting him to the Speed Force
• Jay Garrick’s World War I helmet apparently belonged to his father, Joseph Garrick
• Winky, Blinky and Noddy were named after Wynken, Blynken and Nod, but they were based on the Three Stooges

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Long before Barry Allen donned the familiar red costume associated with The Flash, the character’s mantle was the alter ego of a college student named Jason “Jay” Garrick. The first Flash’s origin story involved him accidentally absorbing hard water vapors during a smoke break during an experiment in a lab, with the incident giving him superhuman speed. He donned a winged helmet inspired by the Roman god Mercury (who inspired the character’s real-life creation) and, after a stint as a college football player, Jay Garrick became the hero known as The Flash.

Unlike his later counterparts, his costume was far simpler. In fact, beyond the aforementioned hat, his “suit” was essentially just a shirt with a lightning bolt symbol and a pair of blue pants. Stories initially portrayed his not-so-secret identity as open knowledge, but later stories established that he maintained a secret identity by vibrating at high speeds. Nevertheless, his girlfriend Joan realized who The Flash was, and the two eventually became married.

Throughout his Golden Age career, the Jay Garrick version of The Flash fought mainly run-of-the-mill crooks and would-be saboteurs. These included the Faultless Four, who were four criminals seeking to sell atomic weaponry. He did have his fair share of supervillains, however, including the first of many Scarlet Speedster doppelgängers. These foes included The Fiddler (who could control people through music), The Shade (who had a machine that controlled darkness and shadows) and most importantly, Edward Clariss, a.k.a. The Rival. The Rival was the first Reverse-Flash, and his visage was essentially a shadowy version of Garrick’s own. Beyond these adventures and his time spent with the comedic fools Winky, Blinky and Noddy, Jay was also a member of the Justice Society of America, serving as the team’s first chairman.

Sadly, for those seeking to enjoy the initial published stories featuring The Flash, they’re definitely hard to come by. Collected versions of the Golden Age Flash comics are now out of print, and it’s unknown when DC will make them available again. Thankfully, the new “DC Finest” label for old-school and modern classic titles will have a Justice Society of America collection (featuring Jay) released in December 2024. For now, this is the best way to truly experience his classic adventures.

The Silver Age Introduced the Barry Allen Flash

Barry Allen Debut: Showcase #4 by Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino

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10 Fights That Would’ve Killed The Flash In Real Life

Without the protection of a comic universe, Flash would have died in deadly time travel-related incidents or perished fighting one of his Rogues.

The Golden Age ended with superhero comics and comic books, in general, being far less popular following several controversies. Thus, DC Comics’ superheroic stable was mostly reduced to Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Nevertheless, fortune brought costumed heroes back into action by the late 1950s, with DC in particular introducing new science fiction updates of classic Golden Age characters such as Hawkman and Green Lantern. Before they debuted, however, a new version of The Flash appeared, which began what became known as the Silver Age of Comics.

This was Barry Allen, a forensics scientist who was doused with lab chemicals while being struck by lightning. Inspired by the adventures of Jay Garrick (who existed in comic book form in Barry Allen’s world), he became a modern version of The Flash and wore a red costume that exemplified speed and motion. He quickly took on iconic foes, such as Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, Heatwave, Weather Wizard, Gorilla Grodd and The Trickster. Many of these villains came together to form what’s now known as “the Rogues” or the Rogues Gallery, and their union is usually for heists and other petty aims.

• Barry Allen’s friendship with Green Lantern Hal Jordan mirrored Jay Garrick’s bond with Alan Scott, the Golden Age Green Lantern
• His debut established Barry Allen as a comic book fan and collector
• Wally West’s original Kid Flash costume was almost exactly the same as Barry’s costume as The Flash

Eobard Thawne was a foe from the future who gained similar powers as Allen, becoming Professor Zoom, a.k.a. the Reverse-Flash. Other elements that quickly became cemented for Barry Allen included his, ironically, chronically late romance with reporter Iris West, who became his wife by the decade’s end. Debuting in The Flash #110, Iris’ nephew Wally meets The Flash, with the accident that gave the former powers being accidentally recreated upon Wally. This gave the boy his own powers, and he used them as the heroic Kid Flash. While Barry Allen was a founding member of the Justice League of America (the Silver Age equivalent to the Justice Society), Wally was the same for the sidekick group, the Teen Titans.

Perhaps the most important Barry Allen adventure, however, was in the story “Flash of Two Worlds!,” which was published five years after his debut. This multiverse story established that Barry and the Justice League resided on Earth One, whereas the Jay Garrick Flash and the JSA were on Earth Two. Due to Barry Allen being more prominent than ever in the past decade, Silver Age Flash comics are somewhat easy to read.

This is through rereleased volumes of the 1950s-1960s Flash comic books in collected form, as well as the Silver Age The Flash omnibus titles. These are available through physical retailers (online stores and physical venues) and in digital form through Kindle. The same is true for Wally’s time in the Silver Age Teen Titans books, which are available in the same formats and venues. While largely outdated and somewhat repetitive, these comic books established what many fans associate with the Fastest Man Alive.

The Bronze Age Is The Flash’s Most Forgotten Era

Wally West Debut: The Flash #110​​​​​​​ by John Broome and Carmine Infantino

• Fiona Webb has rarely been mentioned in modern DC comic books
• Some fans compare the death of Iris West to the death of Gwen Stacy in Marvel Comics
• Bronze Age The Flash comics were noted for Barry Allen having longer hair

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While fans may be used to reading darker storylines in modern comics, Marvel released quite a few iconic Bronze Age issues that set the standard.

The Bronze Age of Comics was known for adding more depth, layers and sociopolitical depth to superhero comic books. Though this wasn’t quite the “Dark Age” yet, it did signal a shift in sophistication. Likewise, it also meant that DC had to catch up, as heroes with more depth and substance had been the norm at rival publisher Marvel Comics since the 1960s. While Green Lantern and Green Arrow both grappled with headier topics, things were initially fairly normal for Barry Allen. There weren’t a lot of changes until Eobard Thawne killed Barry’s wife, Iris.

This was a major shift from the otherwise optimistic adventures for the character, and it reflected other dark status quo changes, such as Black Manta killing Aquaman’s infant son. Barry eventually struck up a romance with a woman named Fiona Webb, though Thawne tried to kill her on their wedding day. The Flash prevented this by snapping the villain’s neck, leading to a trial that eventually led him to the future. There, he was reunited with a revived Iris, and the two lived happily ever after… for a while.

One character who did see a lot of development, however, was Wally West, who continued to serve as a member of the Teen Titans. This included the “New Teen Titans” team that debuted in 1980 and went on to become the group’s most iconic incarnation. Initially, Wally wanted nothing to do with the Titans anymore, having decided to become a normal college student and let his career as Kid Flash fall by the wayside. This changed after he was manipulated by the empath Raven into joining a new version of the Titans to fight her demonic father, Trigon. Sadly, their relationship was hampered when it was revealed that Raven engineered Wally into falling in love with her, and he soon resumed an ultimately failed romance with Francis Kane, a.k.a. the magnetic Magenta.

Much like with Jay Garrick’s Golden Age adventures, the Bronze Age comic books for The Flash are out-of-print and forgotten. While “The Trial of Barry Allen” is an iconic storyline, as is the death of Iris West, this era is otherwise completely overlooked and hasn’t really been collected in modern times. On the other hand, collections and even an omnibus for The New Teen Titans, which remains a popular, evergreen title for DC Comics. While Wally eventually left the team, his time there was an important part of his history.

The Copper/Dark Age Began the Best Era of The Flash

Bart Allen Debut: The Flash (Vol. 2) #92 by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo

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After Crisis on Infinite Earths, which killed off Barry Allen, Wally West stepped up to become the new Flash. Initially, his character was rather impetuous and unstable as the Fastest Man Alive, with his status quo constantly changing from concepts such as his being incredibly rich to suddenly losing his wealth. Soon, however, the comic book found its fleet footing, with some of the most important elements of the hero established by writers such as Mark Waid, Mark Millar, Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns. Chief among these was the idea of the Speed Force, which was explained as the cosmic source of power that gave all of DC Comics’ speedsters their abilities. Likewise, the retcons following Crisis got rid of the multiverse, putting the characters from Earth-One, Earth-Two and other divergent worlds in the same timeline. Thus, Jay Garrick eventually became a mentor to Wally West.

Initially plagued by a mental blockage on his powers, Wally’s insecurity over replacing Barry was finally overcome when he defeated Eobard Thawne, who was masquerading as a returned Barry Allen. Wally was much less stodgy with the Rogues, developing a begrudging respect for the crooks. Wally eventually gained his own Reverse-Flash in the form of his former colleague, Hunter Zolomon/Zoom. Unlike past Reverse-Flashes, who had superspeed powers like The Flash, Zoom could literally travel back in time, and he eventually sought to “make Wally a better hero” by adding tragedy to his life.

Wally West feuded with opinionated reporter Linda Park, but the two soon fell in love and got married. Before Wally and Linda’s twins (Jai and Irey, named after Jay Garrick and Iris West) were born in the early 2000s, Wally’s life was also joined by the arrival of Bart Allen from the future. This was Barry Allen’s grandson by way of his children with Iris in the future, and the young kid (known as Impulse instead of Kid Flash) was a major handful for Wally and Bart’s guardians, Jay Garrick and his wife, Joan.

• Following Infinite Crisis, Bart Allen was temporarily aged into an adult Flash before being killed by the Rogues (though he and fellow Titan Superboy were revived in the future)
• At one point, Wally was replaced by Dark Flash, a much grimmer speedster from another world whose real name was Walter West
• Wally West is The Flash in the future of Kingdom Come, though his appearance is far closer to that of Jay Garrick

Wally became a member of the Justice League of America as The Flash, namely as part of the roster seen in Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s JLA run. He was also still a firm member of the Titans, joining the older iteration of the teen team alongside other stalwarts such as Nightwing, Arsenal, and Tempest (who were once Robin, Speedy, and Aqualad). Bart was a member of the Young Justice team in the guise of Impulse, but upon joining a new version of the Teen Titans and being attacked by Deathstroke (who was possessed by his son, Jericho), he became the new Kid Flash.

After 2008’s Final Crisis, Barry Allen was brought back as the main Flash, with The Flash: Rebirth cementing his status as the head of the franchise. This story, along with the overwhelming majority of Wally West’s adventures, is now collected in trade or omnibus form. In fact, August 2024 will see the release of an omnibus for the William Messner-Loebs run on The Flash, which will feature Wally’s first post-Crisis comics. The Waid and Johns comics for Wally are considered the best Flash comic books of all time, and starting with either Loebs’ run or Waid and skipping all previous comics for the Scarlet Speedster is completely fine for those seeking to get into the character.

The New 52 Was a Controversial Period for The Flash

Notable Creators: Francis Manapul, Brian Buccelato, Robert Venditti, Brett Booth, James Robinson, Nicola Scott

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The New 52 reboot resulted from the Flashpoint storyline, which itself built upon elements established in The Flash: Rebirth. That story retconned Barry Allen’s origins to involve the death of his mother Nora to give the hero “more tragedy.” The divergent universe of Flashpoint came about by Barry trying to change this, and undoing its existence resulted in a brand-new DC continuity that combined classic DC characters with the Wildstorm Universe. The longstanding sense of legacy was erased from the DC Universe, with Barry Allen as the only Flash.

Gone was his marriage to Iris West, and Wally was nowhere to be found. Even Bart Allen, who was Kid Flash in a radically retconned team of Teen Titans, had an ambiguous connection to the Fastest Man Alive and was eventually established as a criminal from the future named Bar-Tor. Most controversial, however, were the changes made to the eventually-revealed new version of Wally West. A mixed-race nephew of Iris who idolized his criminal father, the character was nothing like his classic incarnation, even as he eventually became the new Kid Flash.

• Francis Manapul had previously been the artist on Geoff Johns’ final run on The Flash, right before Flashpoint
• The New 52 Teen Titans team was meant to follow some version of the previous continuity before being established as the first version of the Titans in the new continuity
• The New 52 introduced a new Reverse-Flash named Daniel West, the father of the much different Wally West

Infinite Crisis had brought back the idea of the multiverse, but during the New 52, it was honed in on more than ever by putting the Justice Society characters in their own world again. The series Earth-2 had new versions of Alan Scott, Jay Garrick and others, with the Earth-2 Flash homaging his classic real-world origins by being chosen as an avatar of Mercury. This version of Jay never interacted with Barry, and it was an example of how fractured the Flash brand and mythos had become.

Individual volumes of the main Flash title by creators such as Francis Manapul, Brian Buccelato, and Robert Venditti are still easy to find in bookstores and online retailers such as Amazon. Flashpoint and, to some extent, the New 52 Teen Titans and Earth-2 comics can also be purchased digitally, though much of their content has now been retconned.

DC Rebirth Reestablished Wally as the Main Flash – Eventually

Notable Creators: Geoff Johns, Joshua Williamson, Jeremy Adams, Si Spurrier, Gary Frank, Ethan van Sciver, Marco Stantucci, Diego Olortegui, Mike Deodato, Carmine Di Giandomenico

• Several elements from Joshua Williamson’s run, namely the different Forces, were adapted for the CW The Flash TV series
• Barry Allen was The Flash in the multiversal Justice League Incarnate series
• The Jeremy Adams run on The Flash gave Wally and Linda a third child named Wade

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The New 52 era ended with the launch of DC Rebirth, which was meant to undo many of the changes brought by the reboot five years prior. One storyline that came out right beforehand was “Titans Hunt,” a miniseries that helped reestablish history between four of the five classic Teen Titans. Its ending hinted at one more Titan to still be restored, and this was paid off in the DC Rebirth one-shot. DC Rebirth brought back the true Wally West, who had been trapped in the Speed Force and had much of his personal history erased.

The resulting Titans series brought back numerous Titans and put them together once more, though Wally was distraught that his marriage to Linda was still undone. The fallout from this was the controversial Heroes in Crisis, in which Wally accidentally killed other heroes (including fellow Titans and such as Arsenal). This story was incredibly contentious among fans, with subsequent books such as Flash Forward and the main Flash title essentially making it non-canon at this point.

Writer Joshua Williamson wrote an extensive run on The Flash at the beginning of DC Rebirth, with his tenure lasting for four years. This book focused on Barry Allen, with the New 52 Wally West established as a separate character from the original. Now going by “Ace West” (short for Wallace), he continued to operate as Kid Flash among the new generation of Teen Titans. After Williamson’s extensive run, writer Jeremy Adams took over the book, with Wally West and his now-restored family being the focus.

This run was lauded by fans and seen as a return to form because of how it used the extended Flash Family. This includes Jay Garrick, with the history and legacy of the Golden Age characters restored to their pre-Flashpoint selves. The current run by Si Spurrier is now almost one year old, with the writer taking things in a darker, more cosmic direction. Likewise, a Jay Garrick: The Flash miniseries by Jeremy Adams and Diego Olortegui dealt with the introduction of The Boom, the long-lost daughter of Jay and Joan.

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Given that these are the most recent stories for the character, it makes sense that they’re also easy to get a hold of. The best way to read Williamson’s run would be to read the omnibus comic collection, which is available through most retailers. The same goes for the trade paperbacks, and the first such collection for the Si Spurrier run, with Flash Forward and Heroes in Crisis not being hard to find, either. Another great place to see Wally in the current DC Universe of comics would be the Titans book, with the team now in a position where they’ve replaced the Justice League.

While it might be tempting to skip to the Williamson or especially the Adams Flash runs, it’s likely best to begin with at least the Mark Waid run to see how many of the characters pay off in terms of development.

Wally West

Born in Blue Valley, Nebraska, Wally West dreamt of meeting his hero, the Flash. While visiting his aunt Iris West for the summer, Wally was spending the day with Iris’s fiance Barry Allen when the young boy was surprised with an opportunity to meet his hero. 
While talking with Flash in Barry Allen’s lab, Wally was suddenly struck by lightning and doused with electrified chemicals, giving him superspeed. Learning that Flash was actually Barry Allen, Wally became his sidekick as Kid Flash.
When Barry Allen heroically sacrificed himself to save the multiverse in Crisis on Infinite Earths, Wally took on the mantle of Flash. Today, Wally is married to Linda Park, and they have three children; Iris, Jai, and Waid.

NAME

Wally West

Alias

Flash

FIRST APP

Flash vol. 1 #110 (1959)

Created By

John Broome , Carmine Infantino

POWERS

Superspeed

RELATIONSHIPS

Linda Park (wife)Iris Park-West, Jai Park-West, Waid Park-West (children)Barry Allen (uncle)Iris West (aunt)

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