The Highlight Reel: Flash of Two Worlds

Although superhero comics have always been about dramatic, larger-than-life adventures, it seems that the modern comics scene has taken that to an absurd extreme.  Weary from a constant stream of universe-warping disasters and mindblowing "nothing will ever be the same again" revelations, this "spectacle fatigue" has sent fans like me scrambling for the older comics in my collection. It's there that I find the antidote to today's overwrought epics in the refreshing subtlety and understatement of Silver Age comics.

The perfect example of this low-key approach is Flash #123 (1961), which featured the landmark story "Flash of Two Worlds". Considering the huge role alternate Earths would play in DC's future, this issue's quiet (almost nonchalant) introduction of the Alternate Earth concept was a masterpiece of understatement and restraint.  Told today, there's no doubt the story would be stretched out to twelve issues and packed stem to stern with histrionic hand-wringing, intricate subplots, and reality-warping explosions.

But in 1961?  One issue was enough...and in the spirit of that Silver Age brevity, I'll can the intro and join a confused Barry Allen, who's just unwittingly blazed a trail into the Multiverse (click on the panels for a larger view)...

The date on a local newspaper confirms that Flash is still in the present. However, that same edition of The Keystone City Herald suggests a fantastic possibility...a possibility Barry is compelled to investigate!

Now, here comes the understatement I was going on about in the intro. Think about the way a story like this might unfold in today's super-charged environment ("The Drama! The Shocks! The Angst!), compared to the sublime simplicity of someone nonchalantly answering the doorbell...

Barry continued to blow Jay Garrick's mind by recapping the elder Flash's origin, but let's back up to the first panel above.  Comics trivia fans should grab a pencil and note that Jay Garrick's address is 5252 78th Street. Plus, how about that "5252" street number...as in DC's recent "52" series?  Hey, and order me one of those funky triangular desks in the middle panel! Does IKEA have one of those?

Anyway, the surprises just kept coming from the mysterious Mr. Allen...like how he's the Flash of a completely different Earth...who happened to keep his costume in his ring!

Rest assured, Barry explained his Alternate Earth theory to Jay, as well as his own origin story. Ahh, but my favorite part of this historic meeting came next, as Barry dropped the bombshell that Jay was Barry's favorite comic book hero as a kid! Not only that, Barry offered some serious meta-commentary by mentioning 40's Flash Comics writer Gardner Fox (as well as writer of this very story!) and the actual year of the title's cancellation.

Inspired by Barry's surreal appearance in his home, Jay decided to come out of retirement to solve a series of crimes plaguing Keystone City...with an assist from his starstruck namesake. Capping off the low-key magic is that priceless (and somewhat poignant) final panel...two super-speedsters running side-by-side with a future of adventure, friendship, tragedy, and hope ahead of them.

Comments

[Michael Lee]

Oh yeah - that's good comics! I still have trouble getting past Barry's crew cut for some reason though.

I wonder how many variations have been done on that cover over the years? Seems to me I've seen quite a few.

[Mark Engblom]

"I still have trouble getting past Barry's crew cut for some reason though."

Whaaat? I love the crew cut. I actually recoil at the early 70's Flash stories that show Barry with the full head of 70's hair and the mutton-chop sideburns. Definitely not a good look for Barry.

As for the cover, there certainly have been a number of homage covers over the years. I started gathering some of them to make a gallery, but never finished. Maybe I should resume my search, huh?

[Gustavo]

Yes please!

I love homage cover galleries, and F2W seems like a great idea to cover ( no pun intended).

BTW, "F2W" would have been the all armored up, over violent, foil enbossed 90s retelling of Flash of two words.

[meng]

this has always been the Holy Grail of comics for me. i loved the entire Earth 2 concept and the JSA. the DC Universe's greatest concept.

does anyone know if this comic followed other Julie Schwartz edited comics where the cover was created first and the interior was crafted around it? it'd be wild to think that such a wide ranging concept was based on a single cover.

Carmine Infantino's work has always had a surrealt/abstract quality to it... the infinitely distant city skyline (what was the deal with Central City anyways, i always thought it was in the midwest but it has Manhattan-like skyscrapers) and the massive 20 ft wide sidewalks. Joe Giella's never been a favorite but he really helps to ground Infantino's pencils a bit, same as he does with Gil Kane pencils...

btw, in case you havent seen this site, here's a link to some of the homages that appeared in just the Flash line of comics itself:
http://www.hyperborea.org/flash/cover-homages.html

[kylistener]

Ahhhhh...

I agree. "Subtle and understated"... both in story AND in the drawing...

Wonderful angst-less stuff... many thanks for the trip back!

kylistener

[Mark Engblom]

"BTW, "F2W" would have been the all armored up, over violent, foil enbossed 90s retelling of Flash of two words."

LOL! Yeah, you've nailed the 90's thing. Now that I know a few people are interested, I'll take another pass at the Flash #123 homage gallery. Stay tuned!

"i loved the entire Earth 2 concept and the JSA. the DC Universe's greatest concept."

Me too! I've written about it from time to time on the blog. You might want to check out my "JLA-JSA team-ups" category on the sidebar to the right for more extensive Earth-1 and Earth-2 coverage.

"does anyone know if this comic followed other Julie Schwartz edited comics where the cover was created first and the interior was crafted around it?"

I'm not positive, but my guess would be that "Flash of Two Worlds" wasn't crafted around the cover design. The step of bringing back the Golden Age Flash likely entailed some discussion between Julie Schwartz and his pen of creators, considering it was a pretty big step (perhaps even requiring a phone call to DC's legal department to cover all their bases). Of course, the vast majority of Flash stories WERE constructed around a gimmicky "stunt" cover, so I don't blame you for wondering.

"Wonderful angst-less stuff... many thanks for the trip back!"

My pleasure. I'm glad others appreciate the tone of those older stories. Yeah, sometimes they could get a little too understated (i.e. "dull"), but on the whole, I'm fond of their more straightforward, cool-headed style of storytelling.

Like an early 60's Sinatra tune.

[PAUL SAETHER]

Are you aware, Mark, that in 1957 a guy called Hugh Everett III published a thesis known as "The many worlds interpretation".
This used the concept of infinite realities to explain the PROVEN fact that objects (electrons) can be in MORE THAN ONE PLACE AT THE SAME TIME!

The author insists that the same applies to any thing - tables can be in more than one place at the same time...so can you or I.

All to do with that mind-boggling QUANTUM THEORY apparently.

I've just been reading all about the subject of infinite worlds in a book called 'The Universe Next Door' by Marcus Chown.

Apparently this Infinite realities theory is widely accepted as being likely by most of the great minds in the field of Quantum physics.

Everett's (at the time) recently published thesis is the most likely reason for that 1961 Flash story I would guess.

Maybe not in every universe though!

What do you think of that!

[Mark Engblom]

Since editor Julius Schwartz and several of his writers had connections to the sci-fi publishing world, it makes sense that some of them would be familiar with contemporary science theories. My only exposure to the theory is Michael Chrichton's "Timeline" book, which spells out a theory similar to the one you described.

Is it true? Who knows...though the possibility of "Mark Engblom of Two Worlds" is certainly intriguing.

[Ralph C.]

So, in the set of panels where Barry has his costume come out of his ring (which I always thought was cool), he basically stripped down to his underwear and changed in front of Mr. and Mrs. Garrick, or did he put the costume over his clothes like he did here.

(From the "Silver Age Comics" site, 12/11/07 "I've Got Something To Tell You, Honey..." post.)

Gotta luv that Silver Age!

[Mark Engblom]

Yeah, I wondered about that sequence at first, too, Ralph...but then remembered that Barry's costume went on OVER his clothes, as improbable as that sounds. But, I guess if we can buy a uniform shrinking and expanding from a tiny ring, we should also be able to accept a costume looking skin-tight while covering a suit, pants, and a bow tie.

Right?

[Ralph C.]

Yeah, okay fine, Mark.... I guess so. I'll give in on this one, I suppose.... this time, for the good of comicdom!

:-)

[Mark Engblom]

The things we do for the good of comicdom!!!

[Kyle]

Of course, that doesn't explain why Jay Garrick, who had retired twelve years previously (in 1949), happened to be wearing his Flash costume under his clothes that very day. Did they double as long underwear or something? (I remember wondering about that the first time I saw this golden oldie.)

[Mark. Engblom]

Well, "between panels" Jay had mentioned a crime wave hitting Keystone City, so I suppose it's possible he'd been contemplating coming out of retirement to get it under control. Although, when you think about it, of all the retired JSA members, Jay's super speed would have allowed him to operate under the radar the entire 12 years.

Or, maybe he grabbed his costume at super-speed back in his bedroom, put it on, then opened the shirt in front of Joan for dramatic effect.

Okay, I got nothin'. Yeah, it's a pretty odd panel now that I think of it. Are you happy now, Kyle? (just kidding)

[Pat Curley]

Actually Fox had made clear Barry's fascination with the Jay Garrick Flash very early; in Barry's first appearance in Showcase #4, he's shown reading an old copy of Flash Comics. It appears to be Flash #13, but the cover is just something Infantino made up, because the actual cover feature of Flash #13 was Hawkman. (Despite its name, Flash Comics was an anthology title and Flash and Hawkman alternated on the cover).

Flash #123 is one of the highlights of my personal collection, one of the two books I was most thrilled about when I got a copy (the other is Secret Origins #1).

[digital dissertation]

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[digital dissertation]

Blogs are good for every one where we get lots of information for any topics nice job keep it up !!!