Alright, this is my chance for some shameless self-promotion, as well as an opportunity for me to exercise my Flash Facts knowledge. The Flash is a character that you can jump into reading a great number of points as most characters who have donned the mantle of “Scarlet Speedster” has several solid starting blocks with the exception of Jay Garrick who really only has one (Flash Comics #1).
If arguably the most iconic Flash, Barry Allen, is your guy then there are numerous places to jump in, including his introduction in Showcase Vol.1 #4 which kicked off the Silver Age era of comics. However, if there is any Pre-52 era Flash story that you read, it needs to be Flash: Rebirth by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver. This is to-date the greatest Flash story ever told. In a rare turn of events (and certainly an exception to the usual rule), the New 52 The Flash series by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato (starting with Vol. 1 Move Forward) is actually a fantastic starting point for Barry Allen fans, and for someone wanting to read about the Flash in general. All 9 volumes are fun reads and tell great stories, and you can move right into DC Rebirth Era Flash immediately afterwards. Speaking of Rebirth Era, Joshua Williamson really understands Barry Allen in a way that is only exceeded by Geoff Johns, and his run, (starting with Vol. 1 Lightning Strikes Twice) while not perfect (it lags for a couple of arcs following “Flash War“), is overall great. I’d highly recommend it but would encourage reading New 52 Flash first as it piggybacks off of that run. Barry fans have a lot of quality content out there to consume.
My favorite Flash, Wally West doesn’t have nearly as easy of jumping on points, but he’s my favorite all the same. Understanding Wally as a character and his stories requires a lot more setup and jumping around to get a clear picture, including a lot of Teen Titans, Titans, and Justice League along with Crisis on Infinite Earths reading. But for his solo books, Mark Waid’s initial outing on the book in The Flash: Born to Run is the best starting block and then really following Waid’s entire run from there up until Geoff Johns took over and then reading that as well. Waid had a second run which was disastrous and one of the main reasons for Johns coming in with the aforementioned Flash: Rebirth and cleaning things up. As for modern Wally stories, he really hasn’t had any solo stuff outside of the recently wrapped-up Flash Forward miniseries by Scott Lobdell and Brett Booth, which requires an immense about of back and side-reading (including Tom King’s dumpster fire that was Heroes in Crisis) to understand on any level. Beyond that, he had a pretty significant part to play in the first three story arcs in the DC Rebirth Titans book as well as the Lazarus Contract side story, but then the writers removed him from the team – one of many reasons that book went to hell in a handbasket.
That does it for main characters who have really held the mantle of the Flash for significant amounts of time. Bart Allen (Barry’s grandson from the 30th Century) was the Flash for only a baker’s dozen issues in the “Fastest Man Alive” miniseries (and it was terrible – virtually nobody liked it), but he’s a great character so you can read his own solo series Impulse, the Young Justice series from the 90s, or read his adventures in Geoff Johns’ run on Teen Titans. He also recently returned in Brian Michael Bendis’ Young Justice but that series is…not very good at all and is worthy of it getting canceled this year.
I’ve also embedded links to some of my Friday Flash Facts articles within this post, so feel free to click on any of those to get your feet wet as well. The Flash is my favorite DC hero so I hope this is helpful!
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