The origin
Barry Allen, a police forensic scientist who is late for everything, is working in his lab when lightning strikes a shelf of chemicals and douses him in them. He wakes up able to move faster than thought. He names himself after a comic book character he read as a boy, a Golden Age hero called the Flash, and that small detail is the whole point. Jay Garrick, the original, was real all along, on another Earth. Barry's nephew-in-law Wally West is later struck by the same accident and becomes Kid Flash, then the Flash himself.
What makes The Flash different
No other character passes the mantle down as its defining feature. The Flash is a legacy, three or four men wearing the lightning bolt across eighty years, each one measured against the last. That single idea gave DC its multiverse: Barry naming himself after a comic he read as a kid led directly to Flash of Two Worlds in 1961, which invented Earth-One and Earth-Two and every parallel universe story in the medium since. Barry then dies to save all of them in Crisis on Infinite Earths, one of the great deaths in comics, and stays dead for twenty-three years.
Where to start reading
The full reading order
Showcase #4essential
Barry Allen debuts, and the Silver Age of comics begins here. One of the most historically important books DC ever published, and priced accordingly.
Flash of Two Worldsessential
Barry meets Jay Garrick, the Golden Age Flash, and the DC Multiverse is invented on the spot. Enormously important, and a genuine key.
Crisis on Infinite Earthsessential
Barry Allen runs himself to death to save the universe. One of the definitive deaths in comics, and it stuck for over two decades, which almost never happens.
The Flash: Born to Runessential
Mark Waid's Year One for Wally. A clean, warm starting point that needs no prior reading.
The Return of Barry Allenessential
Barry Allen appears to come back from the dead, and Wally has to reckon with what that means. Frequently named one of the greatest superhero stories ever written. If you read one Flash story, read this.
Terminal Velocityessential
Waid introduces the Speed Force, the concept that now underpins every speedster in DC. Big and emotional.
Dead Heatrecommended
Every speedster in the universe loses their powers. Waid at full pace.
Emergency Stopdeep cut
Grant Morrison and Mark Millar fill in for Waid. Self-contained, inventive, and a good short taste of the era.
Johns on Wally Westessential
Johns rebuilt the Rogues into the best villain gallery in comics and gave Wally his own arch-enemy in Zoom. Blitz and Rogue War are the peaks.
The Flash: Rebirthrecommended
Johns brings Barry Allen back after twenty-three years dead. The modern starting point if you want Barry rather than Wally.
Flashpointrecommended
Barry changes the past and breaks the DC Universe, which is how the New 52 happened. Basis for the film.
Chasing any of these The Flash issues?
Whether you are hunting a key, thinking about selling a collection, or just want to talk comics, I am always happy to hear from you.