The Golden Age Flash: Vol. 2
I have always been drawn to what is called the golden age of comics, those comics published in the 1930s and 40s. Of course it is pretty hard to get copies of those comics. I believe the oldest comic I own is from the late 1950s.
However DC has a collection of their comics, both golden age and later, called the DC Archives Editions. I have long wanted to get some of them but I rarely seem them and they can get expensive.
But I broke down and and picked up volume two of the golden age Flash. This is not the Barry Allen or Wally West Flash that many are familiar with but Jay Garrick.
It was a lot of fun to read these stories. They are very different from modern comic stories. Not only is the art simpler, the stories are very different.
One of the things that differentiates this Flash from his successor is that he lacks an interesting rogues gallery. It’s not that super villains hadn’t been invented yet, as other contemporary heroes had some.
The focus of these stories is more the fight against organized crime, especially racketeers. The closest we get to a super villain here is the Monocle, who in more modern times is turned into a super villain (with a laser monocle) but here is just another criminal.
A couple of interesting points. You can tell that the writer Gardner Fox, was interested in promoting a good message. Often the Flash convinces the criminals to change their ways and reform. On the other hand, in these comics, both Jay and his girlfriend Joan are depicted as smoking. In fact Jay gets his superpowers while having a smoke break.
I really enjoyed this collection and hope to get more of the DC Archives Editions.
