All-American Comics
All-American Comics was a comics anthology and the flagship title of comic book publisher All-American Publications, one of the forerunners of DC Comics. It ran for 102 issues from 1939 to 1948. Characters created for the title, including Green Lantern, the Atom, the Red Tornado, Doctor Mid-Nite, Sargon the Sorcerer became mainstays of the DC comics line. All-American Comics published 102 issues from April 1939 to October 1948; the series was an anthology which included a mixture of new material and reprints of newspaper strips. Sheldon Mayer's Scribbly was introduced in the first issue; the Golden Age Green Lantern was introduced by artist/creator Martin Nodell in issue #16. The Golden Age Atom debuted in #19 and Mayer created the original Red Tornado in #20. Doctor Mid-Nite first appeared in #25, while Howard Purcell and John Wentworth introduced Sargon the Sorcerer in the following month's issue. Alfred Bester and Paul Reinman created the monstrous super villain Solomon Grundy in #61. Other features included "Toonerville Folks", "Mutt and Jeff", "Ripley's Believe It or Not!".
All-American Publications and all its titles were purchased by National Periodicals in 1946. Responding to the demand for Western comics, All-American Comics changed title and format with #103 to All-American Western; the retitled series had Johnny Thunder as the lead feature. It changed title and format again to All-American Men of War as of #127. A May 1999 one-shot issue by writer Ron Marz and artist Eduardo Barreto was a part of the "Justice Society Returns" storyline. All-American Comics at the Comic Book DB All-American Comics and All-American Comics one-shot at Mike's Amazing World of Comics
Smallville
Smallville is an American television series developed by writer-producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The series broadcast by The WB, premiered on October 16, 2001. After Smallville's fifth season, The WB and UPN merged to form The CW, the series' United States broadcaster. Smallville, which ended its tenth and final season on May 13, 2011, follows Clark Kent in the fictional town of Smallville, before he becomes known as Superman; the first four seasons focus on his friends in high school. After season five Smallville ventures into adult settings focusing on his career at the Daily Planet and introducing other DC comic-book superheroes and villains. Before the series' production, Bruce Wayne, chronicling the young protagonist's journey toward Batman, was proposed first. Although that series failed to generate interest, it inspired Smallville. Series developers Gough and Millar pitched their "no tights, no flights" rule to the president of Warner Bros.
Television, reducing Superman to the bare essentials and examining what led Clark Kent to become the Man of Steel. After seven seasons with the show and Millar departed with little explanation. Smallville was filmed in and around Vancouver, British Columbia, with local businesses and buildings substituting for Smallville locations. Most of the music for the first six seasons was composed by Mark Snow, who incorporated elements of John Williams' musical score from the Superman film series. In season seven, Louis Febre became the series' primary composer. Smallville was positively received when it began. Former Superman star Christopher Reeve expressed approval for the series, making two guest appearances before his death; the pilot episode set a ratings record with 8.4 million viewers. Over ten seasons the series averaged about 4.34 million viewers per episode, with season two the highest-rated at 6.3 million. By the end of its run, Smallville passed Stargate SG-1 as the longest-running North American science-fiction series by episode count.
Since its first season, the series received accolades ranging from Emmys to Teen Choice Awards. Smallville spawned a series of young-adult novels, a DC Comics bimonthly comic book, soundtrack recordings and series-related merchandise. All ten seasons are available on DVD in regions 1, 2 and 4. In April 2012, it continued in comic-book form with a storyline resuming shortly after the series finale, which ended in 2015; the regular cast is introduced in season one, with storylines involving a villain deriving power from kryptonite exposure. The one-episode villains were a plot device developed by Millar. Smallville's first season dealt with Clark Kent's coming to terms with his alien origin and the revelation that his arrival on Earth was connected to the death of Lana Lang's parents. After the first season the series had fewer villain-of-the-week episodes, focusing instead on individual-character story arcs and exploring Clark's origins. Major storylines include Clark's discovery of his Kryptonian heritage and Lex Luthor's escalating conflict with his father, Lionel.
The disembodied voice of Clark's biological father, Jor-El, is introduced. In a fourth-season arc Clark, instructed by Jor-El, searches for three Kryptonian stones which contain the knowledge of the universe and form his Fortress of Solitude. Clark battles Brainiac in his attempts to release the Kryptonian criminal General Zod, must capture other escaped Phantom Zone criminals, his cousin Kara arrives, Lex Luthor discovers Clark's secret. The eighth season introduces Davis Bloome, Tess Mercer replaces the departing Lex Luthor. Justin Hartley becomes a series regular as Oliver Queen after being a recurring guest in season six. In the ninth season Major Zod and other members of Zod's military group are revived by Tess Mercer, their efforts to regain their powers are the season's central conflict; the final season revolves around Clark's attempts to lose his doubts and fears and become the hero he is meant to be, while confronting his biggest challenges: the coming of Darkseid and the return of Lex Luthor.
Tom Welling as Clark Kent, a young man with superhuman abilities who tries to find his place in life after discovering that he is an alien and uses his powers to help those in danger. Clark's season-one problems include his inability to share his secret and his desire for a normal life. After months of scouting, Welling was cast as Clark. David Nutter had to convince Welling's manager that the role would not hurt the actor's film career in order to get Welling to read the pilot script. After reading the script, Welling agreed to audition for the role of Clark Kent. Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang, the girl next door. Grieving the loss of her parents, she feels connected to Clark. Kreuk was the first to be cast. Although she left the series after the seventh season, she returned for five episodes in season eight as a guest star. Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor, a billionaire's son sent to Smallville to run the local fertilizer plant. After Clark saves his life, they become fast friends; as the series progresses, Lex's friendship with Clark crumbles until they consider themselves enemies.
The role was difficult to cast.
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was a German politician and leader of the Nazi Party. He rose to power as Chancellor of Germany in 1933 and Führer in 1934. During his dictatorship from 1933 to 1945, he initiated World War II in Europe by invading Poland in September 1939, he was involved in military operations throughout the war and was central to the perpetration of the Holocaust. Hitler was raised near Linz, he moved to Germany in 1913 and was decorated during his service in the German Army in World War I. In 1919, he joined the German Workers' Party, the precursor of the NSDAP, was appointed leader of the NSDAP in 1921. In 1923, he was imprisoned. In jail, he dictated the first volume of his autobiography and political manifesto Mein Kampf. After his release in 1924, Hitler gained popular support by attacking the Treaty of Versailles and promoting Pan-Germanism, anti-semitism and anti-communism with charismatic oratory and Nazi propaganda, he denounced international capitalism and communism as part of a Jewish conspiracy.
By July 1932 the Nazi Party was the largest elected party in the German Reichstag, but did not have a majority, no party was able to form a majority parliamentary coalition in support of a candidate for chancellor. Former chancellor Franz von Papen and other conservative leaders persuaded President Paul von Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as Chancellor on 30 January 1933. Shortly after, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act of 1933, which began the process of transforming the Weimar Republic into Nazi Germany, a one-party dictatorship based on the totalitarian and autocratic ideology of National Socialism. Hitler aimed to eliminate Jews from Germany and establish a New Order to counter what he saw as the injustice of the post-World War I international order dominated by Britain and France, his first six years in power resulted in rapid economic recovery from the Great Depression, the abrogation of restrictions imposed on Germany after World War I, the annexation of territories inhabited by millions of ethnic Germans, which gave him significant popular support.
Hitler sought Lebensraum for the German people in Eastern Europe, his aggressive foreign policy is considered the primary cause of World War II in Europe. He directed large-scale rearmament and, on 1 September 1939, invaded Poland, resulting in Britain and France declaring war on Germany. In June 1941, Hitler ordered an invasion of the Soviet Union. By the end of 1941, German forces and the European Axis powers occupied most of Europe and North Africa. In December 1941, shortly after Japan attacked Pearl Harbour, Hitler declared war on the United States, bringing it directly into the conflict. Failure to defeat the Soviets and the entry of the United States into the war forced Germany onto the defensive and it suffered a series of escalating defeats. In the final days of the war, during the Battle of Berlin in 1945, he married his longtime lover Eva Braun. Less than two days on 30 April 1945, the two committed suicide to avoid capture by the Soviet Red Army. Under Hitler's leadership and racially motivated ideology, the Nazi regime was responsible for the genocide of at least 5.5 million Jews and millions of other victims who he and his followers deemed Untermenschen or undesirable.
Hitler and the Nazi regime were responsible for the killing of an estimated 19.3 million civilians and prisoners of war. In addition, 28.7 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of military action in the European theatre. The number of civilians killed during World War II was unprecedented in warfare, the casualties constitute the deadliest conflict in history. Hitler's father Alois; the baptismal register did not show the name of his father, Alois bore his mother's surname Schicklgruber. In 1842, Johann Georg Hiedler married Alois's mother Maria Anna. Alois was brought up in the family of Johann Nepomuk Hiedler. In 1876, Alois was legitimated and the baptismal register changed by a priest to register Johann Georg Hiedler as Alois's father. Alois assumed the surname "Hitler" spelled Hiedler, Hüttler, or Huettler; the name is based on "one who lives in a hut". Nazi official Hans Frank suggested that Alois's mother had been employed as a housekeeper by a Jewish family in Graz, that the family's 19-year-old son Leopold Frankenberger had fathered Alois.
No Frankenberger was registered in Graz during that period, no record has been produced of Leopold Frankenberger's existence, so historians dismiss the claim that Alois's father was Jewish. Adolf Hitler was born on 20 April 1889 in Braunau am Inn, a town in Austria-Hungary, close to the border with the German Empire, he was christened as "Adolphus Hitler". He was the fourth of six children born to his third wife, Klara Pölzl. Three of Hitler's siblings—Gustav and Otto—died in infancy. Living in the household were Alois's children from his second marriage: Alois Jr. and Angela. When Hitler was three, the family moved to Germany. There he acquired the distinctive lower Bavarian dialect, rather than Austrian German, which marked his speech throughout his life; the family returned to Austria and settled in Leonding in 1894, in June 1895 Alois retired to Hafeld, near Lambach, where he farmed and kept bees. Hitler attended Volksschule (a state-owned primary schoo
Damage (DC Comics)
Damage is the name of two fictional characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The Grant Emerson version of Damage first appeared in a comic book of the same name during the Zero Hour crisis, he is the son of Al Pratt. He has been a member of the Titans, the Freedom Fighters, the Justice Society of America; the Grant Emerson version of Damage first appeared in Damage #1 and was created by Tom Joyner PhD and Bill Marimon. The Ethan Avery version of Damage first appeared in Damage Vol. 2 #1 and was created by Robert Venditti and Tony S. Daniel. Critics have observed a similarity between Marvel Comics' Hulk. High school student Grant Emerson had just moved with his parents to a new home in suburban Atlanta, his parents moved due to their work for the Symbolix Corporation, Grant felt like an outsider among other kids. At his new school, Grant discovers he is a superhuman with incredible strength and the ability to produce explosive blasts. During the Zero Hour crisis, Grant's powers became the spark that restarted the universe after it was destroyed by Parallax.
A superhero/supervillain battle, involving Baron Blitzkrieg, Iron Munro, others, results in extensive damage to downtown Atlanta. Damage is arrested for his part in the extensive damage. Sarge Steel is able to cut a deal for him: he would be banned from Georgia and remanded into custody of the federally sponsored Titans team, led by Arsenal. Around this time Damage deals with the murder, at the hands of a supervillain, of a schoolmate he cares for. After a while, Damage leaves the Titans to find his origins; when the original five Titans reformed the group, Arsenal nominates Damage for membership. Arsenal managed to erase Grant's criminal records, so he was no longer a fugitive, Grant joins the team. Grant participates in multiple adventures, including a confrontation with demons from hell in Day of Judgment #1. Damage confronts something he had buried for a long time: he had been victim of abuse at the hands of his foster father. After opening up to Roy Harper, Grant takes a leave of absence and seeks peace and healing on the Navajo reservation where Roy was raised as a child until he became the ward of Green Arrow.
He learns that Vandal Savage was involved in an experiment at Symbolix called Project: Telemachus, where he took DNA samples he had collected from various superheroes and injected them into a fitting vessel: Grant. The heroes Grant shares DNA with are: Atom, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Hourman, Black Canary, Doctor Mid-Nite, Miss America, Johnny Quick, Liberty Belle, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Black Canary, Green Lantern and Atom. Symbolix was allied with Shadowspire through Shadowspire's leader Baron Blitzkrieg; the Baron became a recurring foe in Damage's series, starting with #3. Grant learns that he is the son of Al Pratt, the original Atom and his wife Mary. Grant is forced to go underground after leaving the Titans, since he violated his parole by doing so, he helps the current Justice Society of America against Imperiex and the villainous team of Obsidian and Mordru, both times as part of a modern All-Star Squadron. He has since been seen with a new team of government-sponsored Freedom Fighters, whose activities are yet unknown.
He has something of a brotherly relationship with Atom Smasher, the godson of his father, the original Atom. It was thought that Grant had a brother, killed by Walter's superhero daughter, aka Kate Spencer. However, Walter is the son of Iron Munro and Phantom Lady — an odd parallel to Damage's paternity search, as at one stage it appeared that Grant might be the couple's child. Several members of the modern Freedom Fighters team are killed by the Injustice Society in Infinite Crisis #1. Damage is one of the survivors, though his face is revealed to have been scarred by Zoom. Damage appears in the relaunched Justice Society of America released in December 2006, he wears a full mask and a costume similar to that of his father and Atom Smasher, featuring a biohazard symbol. He has a gruffer and more cynical attitude because, as the villain Rebel insinuates, Damage was left badly scarred, but alive, by Zoom. Zoom encounters the Justice Society, claiming to have maimed, but not killed, the boy intentionally, to give him a defining tragedy, the fight leads to Georgia.
Damage leaps into the state, despite his ban from entering, catches up with Zoom, holds him hostage. Liberty Belle calms Damage down, but Zoom escapes and hurls debris at his face with the intent to kill him. Liberty Belle speeds in, saves Damage, knocks out Zoom; when the police are ready to arrest Damage for violating his ban, the Justice Society stands up for him and he is released, but it is not yet known if this action has caused the ban to be dropped. Damage remains on the team in Atom Smasher's place. Damage's face is healed by the reborn Gog; this is enough to restore his former cheerful and outgoing personality, pushing him to attempt making contact with the new Judomaster. Since neither of them can understand the language spoken by the other (Grant does not know Japanese, while Judomaster cannot
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is an American comic book publisher. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. since 1967. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, produces material featuring numerous culturally iconic heroic characters including: Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern,Aquaman,Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, Hawkman and Supergirl. Most of their material takes place in the fictional DC Universe, which features teams such as the Justice League, the Justice Society of America, the Suicide Squad, the Teen Titans, well-known villains such as The Joker, Lex Luthor, Darkseid, Brainiac, Black Adam, Ra's al Ghul and Deathstroke; the company has published non-DC Universe-related material, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, many titles under their alternative imprint Vertigo. The initials "DC" came from the company's popular series Detective Comics, which featured Batman's debut and subsequently became part of the company's name.
In Manhattan at 432 Fourth Avenue, the DC Comics offices have been located at 480 and 575 Lexington Avenue. DC had its headquarters at 1700 Broadway, Midtown Manhattan, New York City, but it was announced in October 2013 that DC Entertainment would relocate its headquarters from New York to Burbank, California in April 2015. Random House distributes DC Comics' books to the bookstore market, while Diamond Comic Distributors supplies the comics shop specialty market. DC Comics and its longtime major competitor Marvel Comics together shared 70% of the American comic book market in 2017. Entrepreneur Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson founded National Allied Publications in autumn 1934; the company debuted with the tabloid-sized New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine #1 with a cover date of February 1935. The company's second title, New Comics #1, appeared in a size close to what would become comic books' standard during the period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books, with larger dimensions than today's.
That title evolved into Adventure Comics, which continued through issue #503 in 1983, becoming one of the longest-running comic-book series. In 2009 DC revived Adventure Comics with its original numbering. In 1935, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the future creators of Superman, created Doctor Occult, the earliest DC Comics character to still be in the DC Universe. Wheeler-Nicholson's third and final title, Detective Comics, advertised with a cover illustration dated December 1936 premiered three months late with a March 1937 cover date; the themed anthology series would become a sensation with the introduction of Batman in issue #27. By however, Wheeler-Nicholson had gone. In 1937, in debt to printing-plant owner and magazine distributor Harry Donenfeld—who published pulp magazines and operated as a principal in the magazine distributorship Independent News—Wheeler-Nicholson had to take Donenfeld on as a partner in order to publish Detective Comics #1. Detective Comics, Inc. was formed, with Wheeler-Nicholson and Jack S. Liebowitz, Donenfeld's accountant, listed as owners.
Major Wheeler-Nicholson remained for a year, but cash-flow problems continued, he was forced out. Shortly afterwards, Detective Comics, Inc. purchased the remains of National Allied known as Nicholson Publishing, at a bankruptcy auction. Detective Comics, Inc. soon launched a fourth title, Action Comics, the premiere of which introduced Superman. Action Comics #1, the first comic book to feature the new character archetype—soon known as "superheroes"—proved a sales hit; the company introduced such other popular characters as the Sandman and Batman. On February 22, 2010, a copy of Action Comics #1 sold at an auction from an anonymous seller to an anonymous buyer for $1 million, besting the $317,000 record for a comic book set by a different copy, in lesser condition, the previous year. National Allied Publications soon merged with Detective Comics, Inc. forming National Comics Publications on September 30, 1946. National Comics Publications absorbed an affiliated concern, Max Gaines' and Liebowitz' All-American Publications.
In the same year Gaines let Liebowitz buy him out, kept only Picture Stories from the Bible as the foundation of his own new company, EC Comics. At that point, "Liebowitz promptly orchestrated the merger of All-American and Detective Comics into National Comics... Next he took charge of organizing National Comics, Independent News, their affiliated firms into a single corporate entity, National Periodical Publications". National Periodical Publications became publicly traded on the stock market in 1961. Despite the official names "National Comics" and "National Periodical Publications", the company began branding itself as "Superman-DC" as early as 1940, the company became known colloquially as DC Comics for years before the official adoption of that name in 1977; the company began to move aggressively against what it saw as copyright-violating imitations from other companies, such as Fox Comics' Wonder Man, which Fox started as a copy of Superman. This extended to DC suing Fawcett Comics over Captain Marvel, at the time comics' top-selling character.
Faced with declining sales and the prospect of bankruptcy if it lost, Fawcett capitulated in 1953 and ceased publishing comics. Years Fawcett sold the rights for Captain Marvel to DC—which in 1972 revived Captain Marvel in the new title Shazam
Phantom Lady
Phantom Lady is a fictional superheroine, one of the first such characters to debut in the 1940s Golden Age of Comic Books. Published by Quality Comics, the character was subsequently published by a series of now-defunct comic book companies, a new version of the character appears in books published by DC Comics. Phantom Lady was created by the Eisner & Iger studio, one of the first to produce comics on demand for publishers; the character's early adventures were drawn by Arthur Peddy. As published by Fox Feature Syndicate in the late 1940s, the busty and scantily-clad Phantom Lady is a notable and controversial example of "good girl art", a style of comic art depicting voluptuous female characters in provocative situations and pin-up poses that contributed to widespread criticism of the medium's effect on children; the character was ranked 49th in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list. Phantom Lady first appeared in Quality's Police Comics #1, an anthology title the first issue of which included the debut of characters such as Plastic Man and the Human Bomb.
That issue established her alter ego as Sandra Knight, the beautiful Washington, D. C. debutante daughter of U. S. Senator Henry Knight; the issue established that it was not her first appearance as the Phantom Lady, but it did not go into her origin. Stories published decades by DC Comics would give her a proper origin, altered several times to give Sandra a more active role, her skimpy costume was explained as a deliberate tactic to distract her male foes. Sandra Knight assumed the identity of Phantom Lady in a costume consisting of a green cape and the equivalent of a one-piece yellow swimsuit, she used a "black light projector," a device which allowed her to blind her enemies and make herself invisible. She drove a car whose headlights projected black light when necessary, she was sometimes assisted by her fiance, Donald Borden, an agent of the U. S. State Department. Phantom Lady ran as one of the features in Police Comics through #23. Arthur Peddy continued as the artist through #13, with Joe Kubert drawing her feature in Police Comics #14-16.
Phantom Lady appeared in Feature Comics #69-71 as part of a crossover with Spider Widow and the Raven. After Quality stopped publishing the adventures of Phantom Lady, what was now Iger Studios believed it owned the character and assigned it to Fox Feature Syndicate, a move that would cause confusion as to who owned the character's copyright; the Fox version which premiered in Phantom Lady #13 is better known to contemporary comic fans than the Quality version because of the "good girl art" of Matt Baker. Baker altered her costume by changing the colors to red and blue revealing her cleavage, adding a short skirt. Fox published Phantom Lady only through issue 23, though the character guest starred in All-Top Comics #8-17 with art by Baker, her rogue's gallery in these two Fox titles included the Avenging Skulls. Baker's cover for Phantom Lady #17 was reproduced in Seduction of the Innocent, the 1954 book by Dr. Fredric Wertham denouncing what he saw as the morally corrupting effect of comics on children.
The cover, which illustrated Phantom Lady attempting to escape from ropes, was presented by Wertham with a caption that read, "sexual stimulation by combining'headlights' with the sadist's dream of tying up a woman". In the meantime, Fox went under and its assets were acquired by other publishers, a Phantom Lady story from All-Top was reprinted as a backup feature in Jungle Thrills by Star Publications, which itself went out of business. Ajax-Farrell Publications published four issues of the second Phantom Lady title, cover dated Dec. 1954/Jan. 1955 through June 1955. The company published her as a backup feature in two issues of Wonder Boy. By Wertham's efforts had led to a Congressional investigation into the comics industry, publishers formed the self-censoring Comics Code Authority in the fall of 1954; some changes were made to the Phantom Lady's costume, so that her cleavage was covered and shorts replaced her skirt. Farrell's assets were acquired by Charlton Comics, until DC relaunched the character in the 1970s, Phantom Lady's only appearances were in reprinted Matt Baker stories in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Israel Waldman's I. W. Publications, a company that published unauthorized reprints from 1958 to 1964, included Phantom Lady reprints in issues of Great Action Comics and Daring Adventures; these comics featured new cover images of Phantom Lady that bore little visual consistency either to the Fox version of the character or each other. In 1956, DC Comics obtained the rights to the Quality Comics characters, which they believed included Phantom Lady, reintroduced her 17 years with a group of other former Quality heroes as the Freedom Fighters in Justice League of America #107; as was done with many characters DC acquired from other publishers, or that were holdovers from Golden Age titles, the Freedom Fighters were relocated to a parallel world. Their particular earth was referred to as "Earth-X". On Earth-X, Nazi Germany had won World War II; the team was featured in its own series for 15 issues, in which they temporarily left Earth-X for "Earth-1" and Phantom Lady was given real phantom-like powers.
During the final issue of the original Freedom Fighters
Flash (Jay Garrick)
Jay Garrick is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is the first superhero known as the Flash; the character was created by artist Harry Lampert. He first appeared in Flash Comics #1. After a bizarre laboratory accident, he acquired the ability to move at superhuman speed, chose to fight crime as a costumed vigilante, calling himself "the Flash". Jay Garrick has made numerous appearances in other media, including his live-action debut as a cameo in Smallville, played by Billy Mitchell, in The Flash, portrayed by John Wesley Shipp; the character of Jay Garrick was created by artist Harry Lampert. The character first appeared in the first issue of the anthology series Flash Comics in 1940, published by All-American Publications, he was soon featured in All-Star Comics as part of the Justice Society of America. In 1941, he got All-Flash. After World War II, superheroes declined in popularity, causing many of the Flash's comic book series to be canceled.
All-Flash was canceled in 1948 after 32 issues. Flash Comics was canceled in 1949 after 104 issues. All-Star Comics was canceled in 1951 after 57 issues. Garrick would not appear again for ten years, never got another solo series. In 1956, DC Comics reinvented the Flash character, giving him a new costume and background; this new Flash, named Barry Allen, was unrelated to Jay Garrick. In fact, Garrick had never existed. Barry Allen's first appearance shows him reading a copy of Flash Comics, lamenting that Garrick was "just a character some writer dreamed up". Readers welcomed the new Flash, but still had an interest in the old one. Jay Garrick made a guest appearance in Flash #123. In this issue, Garrick was treated as residing in a parallel universe, which allowed the character to exist without any continuity conflicts with Barry Allen, yet allowed him to make guest appearances in Silver Age books. Garrick only made guest appearances for most of the 70s. However, starting in 1976, Garrick became a regular character in the revived All-Star Comics, partaking in adventures with the Justice Society, in stories set in modern times.
In 1981, he and the Justice Society appeared in All-Star Squadron in stories set during World War II. In 1985, DC Comics merged all of its fictional characters into a single shared universe. Jay Garrick now shared the same world as the new Flash. DC wrote the character out of continuity in the one-shot Last Days of the Justice Society, but brought the character back in the 1990s due to fan interest. Unlike characters such as Batman or Superman, DC decided not to update Jay as a young hero, but portrayed him as a veteran of World War 2 with a magically-prolonged lifespan. Jay Garrick became a regular character in Justice Society of America. Jason Peter Garrick is a college student, prior to 1940, accidentally inhales hard water vapors after taking a smoke break in his laboratory where he had been working; as a result, he finds that he can run at superhuman speed and has fast reflexes. Retcons imply that the inhalation activated a latent metagene. After a brief career as a college football star, he dons a red shirt with a lightning bolt and a stylized metal helmet with wings.
He begins to fight crime as the Flash. The helmet belonged to Jay's father, who fought during World War I, he sometimes uses a type of shield, as seen in Infinite Crisis. He has used it to direct a beam of light at Eclipso. In The Flash: Rebirth, he used it to de-stabilize Reverse Flash. In the early stories, it seems to be known that Garrick is the Flash. Stories would show him as having his identity secret, that he is able to maintain it without the use of a mask by "vibrating" his features, making him hard to recognize or photograph; the effectiveness of this is debatable, as he blamed his girlfriend, deducing his true identity on his lack of a mask. Garrick made his identity as the Flash public to the world. During his career, he would find himself embroiled in semi-comic situations inadvertently initiated by Winky and Noddy, a trio of tramps known as the Three Dimwits, who tried their hand at one job after another, never successfully, his first case involves battling the Faultless Four, a group of blackmailers, who plot to steal an atomic bombarder and sell it.
It is revealed that a professor found the last container of heavy water vapors and used it to gain superspeed, becoming the Rival. He takes away Jay's speed after capturing him, making him super-slow, but Jay uses the gases again, allowing him to regain his superspeed and defeat the Rival. Like the Flashes who followed him, Garrick became a close friend of the Green Lantern of his time, Alan Scott, whom he met through the Justice Society of America; the Flash soon became one of the best-known of the Golden Age of superheroes. He served as its first chairman, he was based in New York City, but this was retconned to the fictional Keystone City. He returned several years later, he had a distinguished career as a crime-fighter during the 1940s. Garrick's early history was the subject of retcons. A story explaining the retirement of the JSA members, including the Flash, explained that, in 1951, the JSA was investigated by th
