Flash Mob

DC Comics is known to have their legacy characters, one of the most prominent being The Flash. Thanks to his current-and very entertaining-television show, we're starting to see more versions of The Scarlet Speedster on the small screen. While I won't explain every Flash ever, I will explain the mainstream men to take on the mantle!

Jay Garrick (Created 1940)

Created by Gardner Fox and Harry Lampert, Jay Garrick was a football player turned scientist who went out for a smoke break during a lab experiment, the resulting experiment produced hard water vapors that knocked Jay unconscious. When he woke up, Jay found out the chemicals and water vapors gave him super speed. In later retellings, it is implied the vapor simply activated a latent metagene in Jay. Metagenes and Metahumans are DC's equivalent to Marvel's X-Genes and Mutants. Donning a simple costume and his father's World War I helmet to mimic the Roman God Mercury, Jay Garrick fought crime in New York City (later Keystone City) as The Flash! When Jay's successor Barry Allen was created sixteen years later, it was established that Jay was from another world called Earth 2, where his and other heroes adventures were cataloged as comic books in Barry's world, Earth 1. Jay and Barry were the first characters in DC Comics to cross over from different Earths and were the cause of the many multiversal changes in DC Comics known as "Crisis". Later revisions inserted Jay into the main Earth and he became one of many elderly superheroes to continue fighting the good fight with Flashes and Societies alike.

Barry Allen (Created 1956)

Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino were tasked by DC Comics in 1956 to revision one of DC's older superheroes, The Flash. By making the costume brighter and expanding on the lore with a new character, the men created one of the best known heroes of the decades, Barry Allen, The Flash. Barry was a forensic scientist for the Central City police department who was one night struck by a bolt of lighting and exposed to some miscellaneous chemicals which endowed him the power of super speed. Not only did the speed effect his running, but Barry could read, think, heal and talk faster. He could vibrate his body and phase through walls, throw bolts of self-conducted lightning and travel through time itself. As The Flash, Barry became a founding member of The Justice League of America and in the 80's would give his life to save the multiverse. Of course, he returned to life in 2009. Barry Allen is the current and most well-known Flash, being on TV and all. He was also the first Flash to truly give depth to The Speed Force-the dimensional force that gives speedsters their powers.

Wally West (Created 1959, Served as Flash in 1986)

Created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, Wally West was the nephew of Iris West and by relation the nephew of Barry Allen. During a visit at his uncle's lab, Wally was given similar powers as Barry setup the chemicals in such a way that he could explain how he got his powers, but didn't expect a bolt of lightning to strike again. Wally decided to become Barry's sidekick Kid Flash, first donning a suit identical to Barry's, but later donning a more yellow costume with more personality. Wally West as Kid Flash was a founding member of The Teen Titans and soon contracted a disease that made him age faster the longer he used his powers. A fight with The Anti-Monitor (don't ask, he's dumb) ended the disease and Wally was left a twenty-something year old man just in time to take up The Flash mantle in honor of his dead uncle. For many years Wally West was the Flash, taking a spot on both the matured Team Titans and the Justice League. Though not as powerful as fellow Flashes, Wally is known to have set up stables in Flash's lore, mainly his sense of humor, youthful hope and the concept of having to eat large quantities of food to balance the carbs of running super fast. You might remember Wally/Flash best from his appearance on the "Justice League Animated Series".

Bart Allen (Created 1994, Served as Flash in 2006)

Finally, we have Bart Allen created by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo. Bart Allen was born in the year 2993-the future, of course-and because of his grandfather Barry Allen's powers being hereditary, Bart aged ten years faster. This meant that while he was alive for say, two years, he would have the body and maturity of a twelve year old. He was raised in virtual reality for the early part of his life so that his distorted age could be nurtured without danger, but his grandmother Iris West Allen believed it wouldn't help the young boy, so she sent Bart back in time to meet his distant relative Wally West (I didn't know if Wally counted as an uncle or a cousin). With Wally/Flash's help, Bart was cured of his accelerated aging and got his first codename from Batman of all people, as Batman referred to Bart as "an Impulse". Not well-accustomed to danger, Bart was a wild sidekick for Wally/Flash, and later got his own solo book and was on Young Justice and The Teen Titans. Bart's powers seem to be the strongest of the speedsters next to his grandfather, with Bart's most impressive trick being able to go a few seconds into the future and pluck himself from that time into the present, essentially making time travel clones. The death of one of these clones led Bart to question his own morality and quit being Impulse, but he would later return to The Teen Titans as the new and rejuvenated Kid Flash. In order to defeat an evil version of Superboy, Bart and Jay had to travel into the Speed Force for a few days, only to reemerge aged by many years. In the Speed Force, many years passed by and Bart found himself in his mid-twenties. He refused to become The Flash at first, but with Barry and Wally missing and Jay getting too old, Bart was pressured into becoming the next Flash. In order to save the entire West Coast of the country, Bart/Flash fought a group of villains without his powers until he was murdered.

Confusing as the legacy may be, The Flash remains a character who is-coincidently-always moving forward. As a design, as a concept, as a character, as a power. The focus on speed itself very much impresses me as writers always find new ways to make one power seem like a thousand. The lore involved with time travel, alternate dimensions and age changes are always a concept best fit for a character like The Flash and I have every confidence the future of his comics and the future of his show do wonders for not just one Crimson Comet, but all of them!
Thank you for reading!

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