Retro Comics are Awesome

[Sparky Prime]

So with the Secret Wars serving as the 'Crisis' for Marvel going on right now, I thought it'd be interesting to take a look back at the original Secret Wars.
First up, the TPB I've got has a little forward from Tom DeFalco explaining how their "Dreaded Competition" started the chain of events leading to this story. With boy toy lines becoming so popular in the eighties, the "big brain" of toys went to said competition instead of Marvel and developed a popular line of action figures. Marvel was then approached by another toy company, they wanted to use the most popular Marvel heroes and villains and have an editorial concept to tie them altogether. As a result, Marvel came up with their first big crossover event...

Prologue:
Not really much to say about this. Just a few clips of individual titles showing our heroes finding a strange construct in the middle of Central Park before being teleported away. Although it does seem a bit odd that so many of the heroes would need to be lured to this construct when so many of the villains are simply teleported from where ever they might be, some of which even say they were in jail when they found themselves suddenly in space.

Issue One:
Far from Earth, our heroes find themselves on some sort of ship. After a role call, they soon notice a second ship nearby that Professor X is able to determine contains many of their greatest villains. Thing is quick to question why Magneto ended up with them, by which Magneto explains he's an enemy of humankind simply to defend mutants. Suddenly all of the stars in a nearby galaxy are destroyed, save for one, and in orbit they see a planet being constructed from various planets in the universe. Beyonder then makes himself known, telling the two forces to slay their enemies and anything they want will be theirs. Galactus is unwilling to wait, knowing the Beyonder can cure him of his hunger and attempts to enter the rift the Beyonder speaks from, with Dr. Doom close behind, but the two are effortlessly swatted away. Then both groups are transported to the planets surface. In short order, the heroes begin to fight among themselves due to the inclusion of Magneto, before he goes off on his own, although the X-Men think it'd be wise if they all stayed together. Meanwhile, the villains have found a fortress and taken claim to it. Doom attempts to leave to talk to the heroes, but is shot down by Kang and Doom being the egotist that he is refuses help from the heroes when they arrive. And then the rest of the villains arrive...

Pretty basic first issue introducing the major players and the setting, albeit lacking on any explanation from the Beyonder himself as to why he's set up this contest. Interesting to see discord not only among the villains but the heroes as well. Although Magneto is the spark of the conflict between the heroes, we also see a bit of distrust between the X-Men and the Avengers. Speaking of which, it is interesting that the Beyonder would place Magneto with the heroes. Despite Magento's methods being viewed by the heroes as villainous, that's clearly not what the Beyonder is judging to be heroic or villainous. He appears to be judging their intentions behind their actions. Magneto wants to defend his kind, but he's willing to kill to do it unlike the other heroes. Which makes it a bit odd Beyonder would tell them to slay their enemies if most of the heroes aren't willing to go that far.

Issue 2:
Fight! The villains are well armed thanks to the weapons they'd found at their fortress. In the confusion, Doom leaves to talk with Galactus, but Galactus simply ignores him and walks off, forcing Doom to make his own plans. Meanwhile, eventually the heroes are able to organize themselves to fight back and capture several of the villains, forcing the rest to retreat. Deciding not the pursue them, the heroes look for a defensible shelter instead, and soon find a fortress of their own. Back at the villains base, Doom takes command thanks to a little muscle from a reprogrammed Ultron. Dr. Octopus knows Doom is up to something but Doom simply tells him to go rest. Magneto infiltrates the heroes base, but when his plans don't work out, he escapes with a captured Wasp instead believing this to work out better for him. Thing tries to stop him but transforms back into a human, much to his surprise. And with a storm approaching, the heroes can't go after Magneto for the time being...

Well this is a fight title after all. But as Cap points out, this is only the first battle, they have a long way to go yet to win the war. The real focus of this issue is to begin setting up for the future events as characters begin their own schemes and settle into their roles for this story.

[Sparky Prime]

Secret Wars
Issue 3:
At Magneto's fortress, Magneto releases the Wasp and after threatening to bring the whole room down on top of him with her wasp sting, he explains he only wants to talk. At the heroes base, Spider-Man is wandering around and ends up finding the X-Men who are discussing joining Magneto. Professor X senses his presence and there is a brief struggle, but before Spider-Man can tell Reed Richards about it, Professor X erases it from his memory. At the villains base (now named Doombase), Doom has gotten two test subjects and, using the alien technology, gives them super powers transforming them into Volcana and Titania. Thor releases the Enchantress as she is also an Asguardian so they can discuss the situation and they leave to talk in private. The next morning, the storm has passed, the villains launch an attack on the heroes base. Now missing so many of their forces the heroes are overwhelmed...

It's never explained in this issue where Volcana and Titania came from, making it seem really odd Doom would have two random humans to give super powers to. It's actually not until issue 7 that we find out there is a suburb of Denver, Colorado used to create the Battle World, but even then, it's not until issue 11 we find out they both live there. Also didn't take long for the X-Men to decide to split off on their own.

Issue 4:
The heroes manage to escape from their base, and it's destroyed. In rough shape, they try to retreat, but Molecule Man drops an entire mountain range on top of them to finish them off. Feeling an earthquake, Thor and Enchantress return only to find the villains surrounding them. Thor puts up a good fight but is vaporized by Ultron. Doom also takes this time to order Ultron to vaporize Kang for trying to kill him earlier. Doom then orders everyone back to Doombase, and we see Thor somehow managed to survive. The X-Men arrive at Magento's fortress proposing they join forces. Magneto agrees, saying they need to take an aggressive approach unlike Captain America, and if they win they can create a golden age for mutants on Earth. At which point Wasp attacks the entire group and escapes in the ship the X-Men arrived in. Meanwhile, Hulk has managed to brace the mountain on top of the heroes, but even he can't hold it forever. Reed quickly makes a device from various gadgets the heroes have to power up Iron Man's armor to blast a way out. Reunited with Thor, the heroes make their way to an alien village for food and medical attention when Galactus finally moves...

Really goes to show Molecule Man is the most powerful human on the Battle World in this issue, but it's only with Doom's guidance he's displayed this level of power. Normally he's crippled by his own mentality to use his powers in such a way. I have to say I find it hard to believe Xavier and the X-Men would be willing to actually kill the villains like Magneto, but then they really don't have time to object before Wasp attacks. Although after she escapes Xavier does say he regrets forcing Spider-Man to forget what he saw in the previous issue and that they must agree that the noble ends they seek don't justify evil means.

Issue 5:
Everyone is astonished at the arrival of Galactus' home. A ship so massive it's as big as a solar system. Fearing Galactus intends on eating the Battle World to face the Beyonder again, the heroes attempt to talk with him. Xavier is briefly able to catch his attention with his telepathy with a power boost from Magneto, but as a result, Galactus releases a robot to deal with the heroes and begins to build his device used to eat worlds. Defeating Galactus' robot, the heroes don't have time to recover before the villains attack but the X-Men arrive to give them reinforcements. Using the battle as a distraction, Doom slips into Galactus' home. The villains retreat as do the X-Men, leaving behind the injured Colossus to be treated by one of the alien women with healing powers.

It's odd Galactus was included in the Secret Wars and was placed among the villains. He's always been described more as force of nature that's neither good or evil. But I suppose since he kills billions every time he eats a planet for the sake of his own survival, that may be why the Beyonder chose to place him with the villains. It's also interesting and ironic to see Johnny Storm say he's not sure if Zsaji can help Colossus because he's not a normal human being a mutant. Like most of them are 'normal' humans with super powers? Or how about the fact she's an alien who's never seen any humans before but can heal them all just fine?

Issue 6:
Wasp crashes her escape vehicle only to find herself lost in a swamp, and is attacked by the Lizard (who wandered away from the villains at the beginning). Meanwhile, Doom has found a device on Galactus' home and reconstitutes the Klaw, who'd been absorbed by Dazzler and then trapped in the walls of the ship when she faced Galactus who was looking for a new herald. Knowing Galactus is close to finishing his device, Doom needs another distraction and teleports the Klaw to the Doombase with instructions. Xavier telepathically finds out they're up to something but is blocked by Enchantress before he learns what. He sends the X-Men to investigate what the villains are up to but they retreat when Wolverine almost kills Molecule Man. Cyclops then causes a chain of volcanoes to erupt with his optic blast in order to distract Galactus from completing his machine. Meanwhile, another group of villains encounter Wasp and Lizard, and kill Wasp. They take her body and capture the Lizard.

Half way through the series and honestly, I felt this was a fairly weak issue. I mean, it's literally all about stalling for time while not much really happens. Although we do have our first heroes death, and the villains add yet another to their roster.

[Sparky Prime]

Secret Wars
Issue 7:
Introducing Spider-Woman! Or another one at least (this is the second Spider-Woman, Julia Carpenter). She explains she's from a suburb of Denver, Colorado which Reed deduces was used by the Beyonder in the construction of the Battle World. Suddenly the villains show up to drop off Wasp's body. Zsaji tries to heal her, but she's already gone. Many want to go after the villains, but Cap tells them they have to keep perspective, that their main focus right now has to be Galactus. Galactus finally takes notice of Doom and expels him from his home and then prepares to stop the volcanic eruptions before he can eat the planet. She-Hulk infiltrates the villains base, but she's overwhelmed. Doom returns defeated, unable to complete his task. The heroes figure out She-Hulk is missing, and with Xavier offering to have the X-Men stand watch over Galactus, Cap finally agrees to launch a counter-strike against the villains.

Spider-Woman showing up seemed random, especially as she doesn't do anything for the rest of the issue, but at least they gave us an explanation of where she came from unlike the introduction of Volcana and Titania. It's interesting that it's actually the X-Men who have been seeing the most action in this series so far. The last several issues has had the rest of the heroes just chilling out in the alien village keeping an eye on Galactus while he builds his machine.

Issue 8:
The heroes attack Doombase! And fight, and fight... Eventually they're able to take over the base. Meanwhile, Colossus attends to Zsaji who seems to have fallen ill. Using a mind reading mist of her's, he's able to find out Wasp wasn't dead after all, but very nearly. Using much of her own strength, Zsaji was able to heal her. Taking the time to finally repair some of their equipment and costumes since the loss of their base, Spider-Man undergoes a major change in getting his black costume from a machine, which he suspects was a subconscious influence because of the new Spider-Woman's costume. Just then, Galactus begins to prepare to eat the planet...

Certainly one of the biggest fight scenes of the series thus far, taking up a majority of the issue. Colossus developing feelings for Zsaji is also a big part of the issue which will be important later, although he's currently in a relationship with Kitty (who is back on Earth) and Zsaji is involved with the Human Torch, who tends to ignore her when anything else comes up. So needless to say it's a bit complicated for him.

Issue 9:
The X-Men launch an offensive against Galactus, and are seemingly killed when one of his defenses explodes like a nuke. The other heroes arrive (with Spider-Man showing off the new abilities of his new suit) and go up against Galactus' defenses themselves. But then Reed suddenly realizes they should let Galactus win. If the Beyonder takes away his hunger, then the universe will no longer be on the menu. Galactus teleports the entire mountaintop away and has a private conversation with Reed. And it turns out the X-Men are still alive, thanks to Magneto pulling up a protective layer of the ground between them and the explosion. Meanwhile, Doom finally snaps out of his funk and frees himself along with Klaw. Reed returns and explains Galactus told him he's a champion of life, just as Galactus ushers death. Also having been shown a pregnant Sue and Franklin, Reed decides they must fight him so he can see his family again. During the fight, Galactus returns to his home and Reed explains they've already lost. Reed explains Galactus is eating his entire ship, and then will devour the planet and probably the sun as well. All so that he can have all the power he can get to battle the Beyonder. But Doom has also set his own plans in motion...

So the big battle that they've been building up to with Galactus has finally come, and it turns out Galactus has much more in mind than simply eating the planet. Why he feels the need to battle the Beyonder though, I don't know. All he has to do is eat the Battle World, killing all his opponents in the process, and the Beyonder should grant him anything he wants. It's interesting though that he takes a time out to actually tell Reed to fight him. Kinda hints Galactus wants someone to stop him from killing. Or maybe he feels the Beyonder won't grant him anything if they don't put up a fight, but then that doesn't explain why he's preparing to fight the Beyonder.

[Dominic]

Prologue:
Not really much to say about this. Just a few clips of individual titles showing our heroes finding a strange construct in the middle of Central Park before being teleported away. Although it does seem a bit odd that so many of the heroes would need to be lured to this construct when so many of the villains are simply teleported from where ever they might be, some of which even say they were in jail when they found themselves suddenly in space.

"Secret Wars" was more of a toy commercial than some issues of TF or Joe.

On page, it would be easier to lure heroes with a single trap as they would be more likely to investigate something unusual. The villains would be less likely to investigate, especially as a group.


The original "Secret Wars" is a tedious read. Despite its iconic nature and lasting impact, I barely got through it (and ended up purging my hard cover copy).

[Sparky Prime]

"Secret Wars" was more of a toy commercial than some issues of TF or Joe.

I wouldn't go that far. I mean, sure it was convinced because of a toy line, but there's really nothing about the comic itself that feels like it's advertising toys. None of the new characters the comic introduces is in the toy line. In fact, many of the characters in the comic didn't get toys. And there were several characters that got toys that weren't in the comic.

On page, it would be easier to lure heroes with a single trap as they would be more likely to investigate something unusual. The villains would be less likely to investigate, especially as a group.

I get that, but if you're going to have to teleport at least half the combatants anyway, why even bother with the trap? Why not just teleport everyone from where ever they might be? There's no reason why the Beyonder couldn't do that when he's got the power to do anything.

The original "Secret Wars" is a tedious read. Despite its iconic nature and lasting impact, I barely got through it (and ended up purging my hard cover copy).

I don't find it tedious at all. Sure it's got some problems, but I still think it's actually one of the better event titles they've ever done.

[andersonh1]

I've never read Secret Wars, so I appreciate the plot summaries. At least I know what it was about now.

I had read that Marvel rushed it into production when they found out about the upcoming Crisis in an attempt to get there first with a big company-wide crossover.

[Sparky Prime]

Secret Wars
Issue 10:
Galactus begins to absorb the energy from eating his ship, but the energy suddenly is diverted to the Doombase, leaving Galactus floating in space. Doom suddenly finds he's been granted all sorts of new abilities with his newfound power. The heroes arrive but Doom has already left to confront the Beyonder. The battle threatens to shatter the planet, and Doom soon finds himself completely overwhelmed. Reaching out to the heroes, he lies that the battle goes well and needs a bit more power and in exchange he promises to share in the conquest. Magneto nearly accepts, but is held back by several of the heroes. And so Doom is defeated and is near death. A curious Beyonder begins to probe his shattered body, when Doom awakes. The planet is rocked by more shock waves, and the heroes evacuate the Doombase. Outside, Doom proclaims his victory over the Beyonder and announces the war is over.

So this is the grand scheme the entire series had been building to. A direct confrontation between someone and the Beyonder, and Doom makes sure it's him. Although if it hadn't been for the Beyonder's own curiosity, he would have failed. Have to say, I really like the depictions of the battle between Doom and Beyonder. It really gives a sense of just how powerful the battle is with it nearly taking out the nearby planet and star.

Issue 11:
Doom wishes to talk to the heroes, but Molecule Man throws them out of the way to confront Doom himself. Instead, Doom unlocks his mind, allowing him to use the full range of his powers. The villains head to the Denver suburb, where Molecule Man uses his powers to dome off the city and begins flying it back to Earth. Colossus goes to profess his love to Zsaji who has pretty much been forgotten by Human Torch at this point. Meanwhile, a mysterious entity possesses the Hulk, but jumps to Spider-Woman when she tries to stop him. Doom summons the heroes to a new fortress, and revives Kang as well as returns him home all as a display of his newfound powers. He offers the heroes anything they desire, but they refuse to accept anything from him. While leaving, Cap notices Spider-Woman is missing, and while looking for her, Klaw is possessed by the entity. Later, the heroes gather to discuss their options. They don't believe they can trust Doom to be benevolent with his power and vote to fight him. When suddenly, a bolt of energy kills them all!

Hey, finally an explanation for how Volcana and Titania got to the Battle World. The villains all end up staying at Volcana's apartment in the Denver suburb, which is pretty funny considering the grandeur of the bases they've been living in during this series. Although this still doesn't explain when/how Doom ended up selecting them to get super powers. I can only assume he guessed a portion of Earth had been used to create the Battle World when they arrived and sought it out to see if it'd be any use to him and ended up finding them.

Issue 12:
The villains are getting restless. Doc Ock knows they'll die of old age long before they return to Earth, but Molecule Man assures him he's learning to get them home soon. As proof, he shows them that he's already restored the stars Beyonder destroyed. Otto can't believe it and attacks him, but he is easily restrained. Back on the Battle World, Doom is having trouble staying awake, and fears what he might do with the Beyonder's powers while asleep. Klaw also doesn't believe the heroes are dead, and offers a story of Zsaji being able to heal Colossus at the cost of her own life. He then is able to revive the others with the alien technology. Doom doesn't believe that's likely, until Thor's hammer smashes through the wall. Doom attempts another killing blow but nearly looses it, and instead gives Klaw a fraction of power to deal with them. Klaw creates an army of monsters to fight the heroes but Cap is able to get into the fortress. Doom keeps killing him but the possessed Klaw keeps reviving him, until Doom looses control again. The Beyonder then jumps from Klaw's body and reclaims his power and all 3 vanish. Back at the Doombase, Reed gets to work on finding a way for them to get home while everyone else finally takes some time to relax. Meanwhile, Cap is able to repair his shield that was broken when Doom's blast killed them by just willing it to happen. Shortly, Reed has figured out how to use the Beyonder's construct to teleport them all back home and begins to send everyone in groups. The Fantastic Four are last, but Ben Grimm decides he wants to stay a while, having figured out how to transform at will and wants to be able to enjoy that for a while, and She-Hulk decides to join the Fantastic Four as their heavy hitter until his return. -The End

Kinda strange how Doom gains omnipotence when he absorbed the power of Galactus' ship in the previous issue, but in this issue he can't even see the heroes were revived and are coming to attack him. However, we see he's having an increasingly difficult time controlling the Beyonder's power, which is taking up more and more of his concentration as the issue goes on. Although the heroes didn't slay their enemies, it seems the Beyonder still sees the heroes as the victors here, given how Cap repairs his shield. Although no one else seems to get any such gift. Maybe Ben Grimm now that he can control his transformation, but that only lasts so long as he's on the Battle World, and transformed randomly throughout this series. Plenty of characters are killed during this story, but everyone is alive again by the end of it, save for Zsaji. So really this story stayed fairly self contained. Spider-Man's new costume and She-Hulk replacing Ben Grimm for a while were probably the two biggest outcomes of the whole ordeal. To my understanding, even the pieces of the Battle World would eventually be returned to their respective worlds when Ben Grimm decides to leave.

There would be a follow-up story called Secret Wars 2. Although it was much less successful. I haven't read the whole thing myself, but in it the Beyonder comes to Earth to explore humanity for himself. He goes a bit crazy and nearly destroys the entire multiverse. After that, his history gets a bit murky with retcons...

[andersonh1]

More Golden Age Flash, this time from the Flash 75 Years book.

The Secret City (All-Flash #31, 1947) - The story begins when both Jay Garrick and Dr. Maria Flura have an interview scheduled at the same time with newspaper publisher Dale Thomas. They bump into each other at the door, and there's a bit of a spark between the two, which I'm sure Joan Williams would not be happy about. But that's quickly brushed aside as Thomas insists that he has no time for either of them since he has another appointment to keep, one made 20 years earlier. However, the individual he's supposed to meet, former reporter Jim Ronson, turns up dead in the pressroom, and then mysteriously fades away.

From there Thomas gives the story of how Ronson found a hidden city in the jungles of the Amazon twenty years earlier and promised to meet with Thomas to tell him all the details. By this point, Jay has left and returned as the Flash, and he, Dr. Flura and Thomas all decide to head to South America. The Flash borrows a rowboat, and then he swims all the way to South America at super speed, pushing the boat with Flura and Thomas inside. I guess an airplane trip would just be too slow! They are attacked by what appear to be white men in odd uniforms, who all look identical and who turn to dust when defeated like the body of Ronson did. They spot Ronson, alive, and follow him, only to fall down into a pit and into the Secret City that gives the story its name. They meet the genuine Ronson, who had learned the secret of mentally projecting duplicates of himself in order to lead them to the city. That power is held by the dictator of the city, and after the Flash has saved himself and the others from being burned alive, the dictator attacks him with it. He first tries duplicates of himself, then of the Flash, but Jay defeats them all and forces the man to surrender.

In the end, Ronson stays behind to study the city, now that he's no longer a prisoner, while Jay takes Thomas and Dr. Flura home, where Thomas promises to publish the story.

Overall: this was Carmine Infantino's first ever work with the Flash. He's better known for drawing Barry Allen, but he drew a few Jay Garrick stories in the late 1940s as well. The story itself is like something from Indiana Jones or Edgar Rice Burroughs, with hidden ancient cities hidden deep in the jungle. It avoids stereotypical natives by instead giving us men of indeterminate ethnicity and strange mental powers. And lastly, Dr. Flura will go on to appear in at least two more stories. One of them is a sequel to the Secret City, and one introduces the Golden Age version of the Star Sapphire, so this is the beginning of some ongoing continuity in the form of a recurring character.

[andersonh1]

The Planet of Sport - Bread and circuses for the alien masses. Jay Garrick and Joan Williams are escorting a pair of (unnamed) Olympic champions around the Keystone City zoo, when the four of them are teleported to an alien planet named Strobos. Jaxo, the leader, is trying to keep himself in power by finding people to fight his champions in the arena. He was only after the two athletes, so both Jay and Joan were in the wrong place at the wrong time. But that's not a problem, because Jay puts on his Flash outfit and saves both men. The wrestler was fighting an ape-like creature, while the fencer was fighting a four-armed alien swordsman (did George Lucas steal the idea of General Grevious and his four arms from this?). Jaxo is able to see the Flash move using special glasses, and there's a nice panel demonstrating Flash's speed with about 12 images of him all around the alien. While not too innovative as a depiction of speed these days, that's not something we saw much of from artist E. E. Hibbard in the early days. Speaking of which, he was drawing the Flash in 1940, and was still doing so in 1947, so that's a pretty good run for an artist on the same character, then or now.

Flash ends up in a race with Jaxo, who sets numerous traps along the course, as well as racing mounted while Jay is on foot. The prize is Joan's life. Flash overcomes the traps, but falls into the final one even as he wins the race, and Jaxo promises to leave him on display while the others die in the arena. Jay pulls a very Barry Allen-like move to escape a glass cell and defeats Jaxo and release the prisoners. The Strobos aliens agree to send them all home.

Overall: It's amusing that the two Olympians don't even get names. They only exist as a plot device to get the Flash to the alien planet so he can be put through his paces. It's a fun little action adventure story of the kind so common in the 40s. And it's a nice touch to give Jaxo some solid motivation for his villainy.

The Rival Flash! - Jay Garrick's last solo outing as the Flash introduces the first "reverse" Flash in the form of the Rival, a super-fast villain who wears a darker version of the Flash costume and a mask. The story begins by retelling how Jay got his speed in the first place, back when he was a college student, and then reveals that Joan mentioned that to one of her college friends. This becomes an issue when criminals show up moving as fast as the Flash and kidnap Professor Clariss, a former teacher at Jay and Joan's old college, who has been living in Europe but had just arrived for a visit in America.

When Flash goes after the crooks, they're able to capture him since they're as fast as he is and outnumber him. He's taken to the Rival, who mocks him and then is able to take away his speed by having reverse engineered the original formula. Jay figures out that the Rival must have a supply of the hard water somewhere in order to have duplicated his speed, and he's able to find it and restore himself. He takes on the crooks again while they're in the midst of robbing a bank, where he learns that the Rival was only able to gain temporary super speed and had to readminister the formula from time to time, due to his imperfect understanding of the process. With only two suspects, it's no surprise when the Rival turns out to be Dr. Clariss. He's questioned about the identity of the Flash, and he supposes that someone had beaten him to the hard water that granted speed by sneaking into the lab after Garrick was taken to the hospital. Jay breathes a sigh of relief that his secret id is still safe.

Clariss would make a return appearance in the pages of JSA while Geoff Johns was writing that book. According to that story, he had regained his speed months later and ended up in a battle with Jay and trapped in the Speed Force, which really messed with his sanity. He also turns up in an alternate reality storyline during Wally West's Flash series as the abusive husband to Joan Williams, who married him after Jay was killed in WW2. Clariss is considerably older than both Jay and Joan in his original appearance, so I don't know how that would work, but regardless... Captain Cold kills him in that alternate reality.

Overall: with so much of the 1940s Flash unavailable to read, I can't say for certain that this is the first time he ever faced opponents as fast as himself. But it's definitely the first "evil Flash" storyline, many years before Eobard Thawne would first appear. As a "whodunnit" it's not much of a mystery, though there's no real reason to suspect Clariss over Joan's old classmater until the final reveal. And revisiting Jay's origin in his final issue makes a nice bookend to his series, bringing it back to where it began, though that is inadvertent. There are five unpublished Flash stories that have survived which would have appeared in future issues had the series continued.

[andersonh1]

Just out of interest, I wanted to tally up character representation in the Flash 75th anniversary book. I've enjoyed it as a nice sampler of Flash stories from over the decades, and it's far better than the other 75th anniversary books that I've read. It probably helps that there are multiple characters with stories to pull from, making it easier to select some good ones.

Dust jacket - Bart gets the cover, while Barry and Wally (as kid Flash) get the back. Jay gets the actual cover of the book.

Origin of the Flash - Jay Garrick origin
The Secret City - Jay Garrick
Planet of Sport - Jay Garrick
The Rival Flash - Jay Garrick

Mystery of the Human Thunderbolt - Barry Allen origin
Meet Kid Flash - Barry, Wally West origin
Flash of Two Worlds - Barry, Jay
The Conquerors of Time - Barry, Wally
Superman's Race with the Flash - Barry
Stupendous Triumph of the Six Super Villains - Barry
Death of an Immortal - Barry, Jay
Deadly Secret of the Flash - Barry
The Last Dance - Barry
Crisis on Infinite Earths 8 - Barry Allen (death)

Happy Birthday Wally - Wally West
The Unforgiving Minute - Wally, Barry in flashbacks to Wally's origin
Flashing Back (zero issue) Wally, Barry in flashbacks to Wally's origin
Rogue War conclusion - Wally, Barry, Jay, Bart

The Fastest Man Alive - Bart Allen, Jay

Flash Rebirth #1 - Barry, Jay, Wally, Bart
Flashpoint #5 - Barry Allen
Fear - Barry Allen

Jay is well represented, and of course DC's favorite, Barry Allen, is as well. Bart's very short time as Flash makes his one included story seem fair enough, though it's not the best choice since he's never even in the Flash costume. That leaves Wally West drawing the short straw even though his series ran almost 250 issues and 23 years. Yeah, he gets a few Kid Flash appearances, but there ought to have been a bit more parity.

Still, if you're a fan of the Flash, get this book. It's well worth it.