The MARVELous Return of Barry Allen (Part One)

An amusing observation I once heard regarding the Silver Age (1960's) Superman comics was that there came to be so many survivors of Krypton's explosion, it seemed the only people who actually died were his parents, Jor-El and Lara.

Similarly, when I look back at DC's list of superhero casualties from the past several decades, the only one who is "not only merely dead, but really most sincerely dead" (to paraphrase the Munchkin Coroner) appears to be Barry Allen, the so-called "Silver Age Flash" who met his end during the fabled Crisis on Infinite Earths mega-event of 1985-86. 

While other high-profile corpses have suddenly "gotten better" over the intervening twenty-plus years (such as Hal "Green Lantern" Jordan and Ollie "Green Arrow" Queen), DC Comics believes that Barry's revival is the one they need to resist on principle.  What that principle is, and how the other resurrections don't contradict it, I have no idea.

What makes this policy even more puzzling is that Barry Allen has a far more plausible "loophole" worked into his death than just about any of the previous ex-corpses, whose revivals strained the limits of even comic book credulity.  Originally, in Crisis on Infinite Earth #8 (1985), Barry's death seemed about as permanent as it could get when his hyper-lightspeed velocity disintegrated his body before our eyes :

However, three years later in Secret Origins Annual #2, a slightly (yet profoundly) different detail is added to a recounting of Barry's death  (click on the page for a larger view):

Did you catch that?  Instead of crumbling into dust, Barry was now transformed into a form of pure energy (while still leaving his costume behind to be found).  Making the new twist even sweeter was the fact that Barry, in energy form, is mysteriously directed back through time to become the very lightning bolt responsible for granting him super-speed in the first place.

As the disembodied Barry thought to himself on the following (and final) page, "...I should've realized right from the start that electricity always travels in a circuit...and lightning can strike twice in the same place.  Oh, boy...can it ever."

So, now that the perfect "escape clause" had been built into Barry's demise, what did DC do with it? 

Short answer: nothing.  By the time the 1990's rolled around, DC seemed more interested in giving their remaining A-listers "Extreme Makeovers" (i.e. Superman's infamous mullet; Aquaman's "Captain Hook" hand), crippling them (Batman), or killing more of them off (such as Green Lantern and Green Arrow).

Ironically, while DC continued to degrade their pantheon of heroes, it would be rival publisher Marvel Comics who'd finally utilize the Barry Allen resurrection loophole.

How'd they do it? Click here to find out!

Comments

[Nimbus]

So, now that the perfect "escape clause" had been built into Barry's demise

But, by going back in time as a bolt of lightning and thus causing his own transformation into the Flash, Barry Allen is effectively stuck in a time loop. He can't escape between "dying" and starting his superhero career otherwise he'd never become the Flash in the first place! So he's more stuck than anyone!

However, considering Barry has zoomed to the future in past stories, what's to say that he didn't travel to 2008 during one of his many adventures and stayed there for a while?

Anyway, Barry Allen briefly came back in Infinite Crisis. When Bart was attacking Superboy Prime, Barry came out of the Speed Force and pulled SBP into the speed force energy trapping him (for a while). So Barry is alive and well in the Speed Force universe. :)

[Captain Average]

It truly confounds me why DC will not return Barry Allen, almost everyone's favorite Flash. Everyone else has just been a replacement. Oh well, we'll keep our fingers crossed. I can't wait for tomorrow's post!BTW,love the way Barry's face is incorporated into that lightning bolt!

[Mark Engblom]

You're right, Nimbus, the "lightning circuit" does seem to present a problem...but at the same time, I guess my point was that Barry is still "out there" somewhere waiting for that small little detail of getting his physical body back (hardly a problem in superhero comics).

Again, you're right on the Infinite Crisis appearance, and I probably should have mentioned it in my post, since it obviously alters (or contradicts) the Secret Origins story. Of course, that appearance more than anything convinced me that DC had some plan for Barry other than the occasional soft-focus nostalgic flashback (no pun intended).

Captain Average:

Yeah, that was a little touch I didn't notice for years. When I did finally see it, it was pretty funny.

[Chris]

Well, by not bringing him back, they get to list Wally West as The Eternal Rookie. Seems like every new writer that gets ahold of Wally West has to have him go through some sort of crisis of conscience about how he compares to Barry.

Did Barry have the same problem with Jay?

[Mark Engblom]

No, not that I can recall. Barry admired Jay Garrick, but never moped around like Wally did (and still does to some extent). Much of that could be due to the differences in storytelling between comics of the early 60's and the modern, more emotive style of characterization. But I'd also like to think Barry was just a more confident kind of person than Wally turned out to be.

[Captain Average]

Also,Barry was established for a while before meeting Jay,who he had thought was just a comic book character.Reading comics about heroes who read comics? Awesome.

[Rich]

Well, and Barry wasn't Jay's nephew (or relative, friend, protege, apprentice, sidekick, whatever). Barry didn't even know Jay was "real" outside of comic books until they met in Flash #123. Maybe after that he'd ponder his worthiness, but probably not for such personal reasons.

[MaGnUs]

Oh, so you're going to talk about Buried Alien?

[Brian]

Darnit, Mark-- you and your cliffhangers! Making us wait a whole day?? Torture! (:

[Mark Engblom]

I dunno...I think meeting a comic book character come to life (Jay Garrick) would have more inferiority-generating potential that a superpowered family member.

Okay...sometimes the sheer strangeness of the stuff I write hits me right between the eyes. Gotta go lie down.

[Mark Engblom]

"Oh, so you're going to talk about Buried Alien?"

Shhhhhhh! ;)

[MaGnUs]

Hehehe...