So many superheroes, so little time. I had quite a few ideas for my "F" post, but I think I knew all along that I'd be writing about Flash today. The problem is, DC comics has had quite a few different guys, and even some ladies, who become the fleet footed fighter of crime. It gets complicated, so for today, I'll give you the top three.
The first version of Flash appeared in January 1940. (He's the guy in the pith helmet with wings.) His story (and he is sticking to it!) is that he inhaled some hard water vapors one night after falling asleep in his lab. The result was that he gained superhuman speed. He put on the hat, and a red shirt with the lovely lightning bolt on the front, and he set out to fight crime.
Then came Barry Allen. If you know a bit about superheroes, you probably know that most of the good ones have tragically lost one or both parents. In Barry's case, it was his mother. After she was murdered his life's mission was to find her killer and bring him to justice. This obsession led him into the field of forensic science. Consumed by his work, he was often squirreled away in his lab poring over evidence. On one of those long nights, a bolt of lightning hit his lab and gave Barry an amazing super power. He moves as fast as that electrical current.
Barry had a nephew by marriage, Wally West. Wally was in his uncle's lab with him one day when he was about ten. Through a nearly identical circumstance as his uncle endured, Wally finds himself marinating in electrically charged chemicals. The result is Kid Flash, he who grows up to become the third Flash.
There is a Justice League cartoon series that the boys and I used to watch. We all loved the episodes that highlighted Flash. He had the best wisecracks and funny antics.
After Wally West it gets a little crazy, and I can't quite keep track - but there are a plethora of Flash's and a Bizzaro Flash, too.
This is a rarely seen version of the Flash, that was spotted in my back yard, circa 2007. ;-)
Thanks to Jenny, who blogs at ...off on my tangent... for hosting AlphabeThursday each week.
