Flash Comics

Publication history

The series debuted with a January 1940 cover date, while initially published on November 20, 1939. The first issue featured the first appearances of the Golden Age versions of the Flash, Hawkman, and Johnny Thunder. The Flash was later given a solo comic book series, All-Flash which ran for 32 issues between Summer 1941 to January 1948.

Artist Joe Kubert's long association with the Hawkman character began with the story "The Painter and the $100,000" in Flash Comics #62 (Feb. 1945). The Monocle was introduced in #64 as a new foe for Hawkman.

Carmine Infantino's first published work for DC was "The Black Canary", a six-page Johnny Thunder story in Flash Comics #86 (August 1947) that introduced the superheroine the Black Canary. Writer Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert created the Thorn in issue #89 (November 1947).

Flash Comics was cancelled in 1949 with issue #104. The series' numbering would be continued by the first volume of The Flash series, which debuted during the Silver Age in 1959 and featured Barry Allen as the new Flash.

• Hawkman - issues #1 (January 1940) – #104 (February 1949)
• Johnny Thunder - issues #1 (January 1940) – #91 (January 1948)
• The Whip - issues #1 (January 1940) – #55 (July 1944)
• Cliff Cornwall - issues #1 (January 1940) – #19 (July 1941)
• Ghost Patrol - issues #29 (May 1942) – #104 (February 1949)
• Black Canary - issues #92 (February 1948) – #104 (February 1949)

Collected editions

• Golden Age Flash Archives:
  • Vol. 1 collects the "Flash" stories from Flash Comics #1–17, 224 pages, September 1999,
  • Vol. 2 collects the "Flash" stories from Flash Comics #18–24, 224 pages, February 2006,
• The Flash Archives Vol. 1 includes the "Flash" story from Flash Comics #104, 224 pages, May 1998,
• Golden Age Hawkman Archives Vol. 1 collects the "Hawkman" stories from Flash Comics #1–22, 224 pages, February 2006,
• JSA All-Stars Archives Volume 1 includes the "Johnny Thunder" stories from Flash Comics #1–4, 256 pages, October 2007,
• Black Canary Archives collects the "Johnny Thunder" stories from Flash Comics #86–91 and the "Black Canary" stories from Flash Comics #92–104, 224 pages, December 2000,

References

References

1. "''Flash Comics''".
2. Wallace, Daniel. (2010). "DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle". [[Dorling Kindersley]].
3. Wallace "1940s" in Dolan, p. 30: "In the same issue [#1] Gardner Fox wrote the first story featuring Hawkman...in a story drawn by Dennis Neville".
4. Wallace "1940s" in Dolan, p. 30: "''Flash Comics'' scored a third hit with Johnny Thunder, star of a humorous feature about a boy raised in the distant land of Badhnisia and blessed with the ability to raise an all-powerful, genie-like Thunderbolt".
5. "''All-Flash''".
6. Wallace "1940s" in Dolan, p. 49: "Artist Joe Kubert began his most memorable work on the gravity-defying superhero Hawkman in this issue..."The Painter and the $100,000" written by Gardner Fox marked the start of a long and fruitful run between illustrator and character".
7. Wallace "1940s" in Dolan, p. 49: "This issue saw writer Gardner Fox and illustrator Joe Kubert present the Monocle...He became representative of the 'gimmick villain', a staple of the super hero genre".
8. Wallace "1940s" in Dolan, pp. 55–56: "Debuting as a supporting character in a six-page Johnny Thunder feature written by Robert Kanigher and penciled by Carmine Infantino, Dinah Drake [the Black Canary] was originally presented as a villain...The Black Canary's introduction in August [1947]'s ''Flash Comics'' #86 represented [Infantino's] first published work for DC".
9. Wallace "1940s" in Dolan, p. 57: "Writer Robert Kanigher and artist Joe Kubert presented a female twist on Robert Louis Stevenson's ''Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' with the Thorn".
10. [[Alexander C. Irvine. Irvine, Alex]] "1950s" in Dolan, p. 93: "In March 1959, The Flash was back, care of writer John Broome and artist Carmine Infantino. The series continued the numbering from ''Flash Comics'' and gave Barry Allen his own title. Issue #105 also debuted the Mirror Master".
11. Markstein, Don. (2011). "The Whip".
12. Markstein, Don. (2010). "The Ghost Patrol".
13. Markstein, Don. (2006). "The Black Canary".