All-Flash 32 (Dec. 1947-Jan. 1948) became No-Flash with the next issue, which never appeared.
Even as postwar interest in
superheroes was waning, the art and storytelling in superhero comics was
continuing to improve. The stories began to anticipate the 1960s superhero
revival, with its emphasis on colorful costumed super villains.
In this issue, the Flash is
opposed by the Thinker, an enemy introduced in All-Flash 12 (Fall 1943) who uses his “thinking cap,” a metal hat that
projects mental force.
And the superhero is introduced to
the Fiddler — a thief who learned the mystic art of music while imprisoned in
India — as well as Star Sapphire, an evil alien queen.
Described by writer Robert Kanigher
as “an amazingly exotic creature,” the purple-clad Star Sapphire was an example
of comic books’ new emphasis on female audiences and characters in the late 1940s. Black Canary was
another.
Even as superheroes in general
were on the way out, female superheroes were on the way in. Marvel/Timely alone
had five such characters — Miss America, Golden Girl, Sun Girl, Namora and
Venus.
The Thinker and the Fiddler
returned in the 1960s to battle both the 1940s Flash and his 1950s namesake.
Star Sapphire was revamped as a Green
Lantern villain. She was secretly his girlfriend, Carol Ferris — a secret kept,
at least initially, even from Carol herself.
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