Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the Flash was among the first of the shtick superheroes.
In two years, Superman, Captain Marvel and their various copycats had already covered the ground of the all-purpose superhero who wielded an array of powers. By 1940, to get ahead, a super being had to have a gimmick.
So the Human Torch burned and the Sub-Mariner swam, Hawkman could fly, Doll Man could shrink, Wonder Woman could be female and the Flash could run really, really fast.
College student Jay Garrick was one of only three characters I can name who became a superhero by smoking, by the way.
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In a chemistry lab, while breaking football training with a cigarette, Jay knocked over some beakers and further polluted his lungs by breathing in the fumes that turned him into the Flash.
As wish fulfillment, speed rated high with kids. Alacrity, fueled by their boundless energy, was after all the one area where children could outdistance the somewhat worn-out adults who talked down to them, punished them and generally looked after them. But just think what you might do with some real speed…
Artistic restriction can often be the parent of creativity, and the decade of the Flash’s initial run gave the writers plenty of time to come up with satisfying variations on the theme of speed. The Flash could run up the sides of buildings and across water. He could catch bullets, create multiple images of himself, become invisible and eventually even vibrate through walls. His one power turned out to make him nearly as omnipotent as Superman’s many.
For me, the early adventures of this seminal superhero are difficult because of the underdeveloped, cartoony art. But by All-Flash 31 (Oct.-Nov. 1947), an artist named Carmine Infantino had arrived to make the Scarlet Speedster’s adventures a pure pleasure. Infantino would carry the character, in his second and even more successful incarnation, right through the 1950s and 1960s.
Bob Doncaster wrote:
ReplyDeleteFirst saw Jay Garrick in the classic Flash Of Two Worlds. I loved the Mercury style helmet. Such a cool symbol for speed.
Paul Zuckerman wrote:
ReplyDeleteThe early Golden Age heroes definitely had more limited powers. The power levels increased as the years went on. Originally, the Flash was probably intended to be much faster than Superman but as Superman powers developed exponentially, so did the Flash's!
EE Hibbard's art style was more cartoonish looking then the artists of the later half of the decade, he had a certain style and was definitely talented. The move from cartoonish art was a trend throughout DC as the more illustrative artists began arriving in the mid 40s.
But Infantino was not the only Flash artist that came on board. Lee Elias did some nice work from the few stories of his that I saw, especially the origin of the original Star Sapphire, which was reprinted way back in Flash Annual 1. Of course, Infantino, Elias and most of the other artists of that period were heavily influenced initially by Milt Caniff.
Philip Rushton wrote:
ReplyDeleteI don't know if it's pure coincidence but Infantino's art seemed to undergo a radical change after he drew Danger Trail with Alex Toth.
Robert S. Childers wrote:
ReplyDeleteI recall Jules Feiffer using that term, the "schtick school of super-heroes." It wasn't enough to be merely super, he said, one had to have a specialty.
Michal Jacot:
ReplyDeleteI just read this (facsimile edition) last night. Fun story, from a day when comics weren't too concerned with logical details and just had fun. You mentioned that Flash was one of three heroes who got their powers from smoking. Who are the other two?
I replied:
I was waiting for you to ask, Michal. The Japanese cyborg superhero 8-Man and Daily Planet editor Perry White, who once got powers from an alien-influenced cigar.
Philip Portelli:
ReplyDeleteGrowing up, the Golden Age Flash was always around, whether in THE FLASH, JLA or ALL STAR COMICS. He was one of the more defined JSA characters.
I replied:
I actually liked what they did with him in that rather dark JSA reboot, when he was an exuberant college student under the gun, trying to get a handle on his powers.
Johnny Williams:
ReplyDeleteDan, I First saw the ‘Jay’ Flash on, ironically a comic book cover ‘within’ a comic book ‘story’ in the very first ‘Barry’ Flash story published in The Brave and The Bold #28, 1960. I was Immediately intrigued.
As a huge fan of Greek/Roman mythology already I recognized the helmet of Hermes/Mercury motif being used by that character on the cover of Barry’s comic book and knew that meant speed.
I was also greatly amused by the fact that a character IN a comic book story was Reading a comic book. That notion tickled my boyish fancy so much that I Had to share it with my Mom, so I showed Her the panel, and I never will forget what happened next. She looked at it, smiled and said, “Oh yes, the Flash. I always liked him.”
That moment changed my life forever.
Nathan J. Bennett:
ReplyDeleteI know some folks scream and rant about retcons, but one remade version of Jay’s origin dropped the smoking angle.
Instead, he was portrayed as a workaholic/overachiever, who dozed off in the lab, accidentally knocking over the containers.
His body was found the next morning…
Robert Ortega:
ReplyDeleteIn the recent Jay Garrick miniseries, they made a point of re-including the smoking, even hanging a lampshade on what a violation of proper laboratory procedure this was.
Matthew Grossman:
ReplyDeleteThe start of the shtick heroes, and probably the best of them, because the concept is simple yet lends itself to nearly-infinite storytelling potential.
Paul Zuckerman:
ReplyDeleteI was going to make some comments and than I saw that upstart Paul Zuckerman said most of what I wanted to say! Sheesh. And not even an esteemed comic historian! 🙂
Lampert's art was really crude and sometimes you couldn't tell who was who. But he was able to tell the story economically and the Flash was off to the races.
I had seen a picture of Jay-Flash in the Showcase Atom just before Flash 123 hit the stands and he had been mentioned a number of times in the JLA letter columns so I had a passing knowledge of him. What an incredible story! DC rarely boasted that an issue was a classic but it did on that one and for sure they were on the money! And I imagine if any reader hadn't picked up an issue with Infantino art since he had worked on the original Flash in the 40s, he would have been blown away!
Michael Wurl:
ReplyDeleteI'd find it difficult running while trying to balance a metal salad bowl on my head.🤔😜
Glad they updated that costume!
Michael Fraley:
ReplyDeleteSheldon Moldoff showed us what the Flash looked like when he wasn't cartoony -- he once did a photorealistic newspaper picture of Flash based on a photo of movie star Robert Taylor.