Reviews, ruminations, and (occasional) ramblings.
Flash #257 – “The Golden Glider’s Triple Play” – Cary Bates/Irv Novick/Frank McLaughlin
This issue starts with Barry and Iris on their way to Fallville to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Barry’s parents. But they’re being shadowed by someone with sinister motives … Golden Glider. She drops a tree in their path and when Barry stops the car, another tree falls right on top of it. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Flash 257, Wonder Woman 239, Green Lantern 100”
Flash #256 – “Prisoner of the Past” – Cary Bates/Irv Novick/Frank McLaughlin
If you remember, last issue ended with Flash defeating Mirror Master and disguising himself as the villain so he could infiltrate the Rogues’ meeting. This one starts with Weather Wizard and Pied Piper finding “Mirror Master” in the alley—though I’m not sure what Flash did with the real Mirror Master’s unconscious bod. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Flash 256, Wonder Woman 238, Green Lantern 99”
Flash #255 – “Flashback to Danger” – Cary Bates/Irv Novick/Frank McLaughlin
This one starts with Flash returning home after having been out all night. Lucky for him, Iris isn’t there, but Stacy Conwell is, and she’s conjuring another demon in her room. Those wacky college kids … Flash tries to pull Stacy away from the demon and accidentally stuns her. The demon disappears and Flash changes back to Barry and asks Stacy about her necromantic activities. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Flash 255, Wonder Woman 237, Green Lantern 98”
Flash #254 – “To Believe, Or Not To Believe” – Cary Bates/Irv Novick/Frank McLaughlin
This one’s a bit weird, though I suppose you could say that about a lot of Bronze Age Flash stories. It starts innocently enough: a girl crawled out onto a ledge to rescue her cat and now she’s stuck. The cat wiggles free, so the girl jumps after it and Flash shows up just in time to save them both with one of his famous updrafts. Continue reading “Comics Review: Flash 254, Wonder Woman 236, Green Lantern 97”
Flash #253 – “Don’t Mess With the Molder” – Cary Bates/Irv Novick/Frank McLaughlin
This one continues from last issue when Flash was melted by the Molder, who’s really Ralph (Elongated Man) Dibny in disguise. Ralph went undercover as a crook, but somehow turned into a real criminal and wasted Flash. Iris sees it on TV and freaks out, and Sue (who knows about Ralph’s disguise) can’t believe her eyes. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Flash 253, Wonder Woman 235”
Flash #252 – “Double Dose of Danger” – Cary Bates/Irv Novick/Frank McLaughlin
This one starts with Sue Dibny (wife of Ralph Dibny aka Elongated Man) recounting the story in a flashback. We see a scuzzy-looking dude sneaking up on Sue and propositioning her. She kicks his ass and it turns out to be Ralph testing his gangster disguise. No wonder Dr. Light got so close, Sue probably thought he was Ralph fucking around. Ralph puts his face back to normal (or what passes for normal with him) and prepares to go undercover to infiltrate the hilariously-named Chane Gang. But just as he’s toasting Sue with a shot of Gingold, he disappears. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Flash 252, Wonder Woman 234, Green Lantern 96”
Flash #251 – “Vengeance on Ice” – Cary Bates/Irv Novick/Joe Giella
This issue continues directly from last ish—sort of. Last issue we clearly saw Iris getting frozen by Golden Glider, using her brother’s new cold gun (as revenge for Flash’s hand in her boyfriend, the Top’s death). But now we see Flash escape from the energy cage Glider had surrounded him with, just a little too late to save Iris from her frozen fate. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Flash 251, Wonder Woman 233, Jonah Hex 3”
Flash #250 – “One Freeze-Dried Flash—Coming Right Up!” – Cary Bates/Irv Novick/Vince Colletta
This issue introduces Golden Glider, Captain Cold’s sister. She’s got some hate for the Flash … why? Let’s read on and see. We start with Flash running along a street at super speed (as he does), but he runs through some letters frozen in mid-air. Of course, that means he’s about to mix it up with Captain Cold. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Flash 250, Wonder Woman 232, Green Lantern 95”
Flash #249 – “A Hero Named Super!” – Cary Bates/Irv Novick/Frank McLaughlin
This one concludes the Master Villain story from last issue, when some punk kid drew a cartoon villain that was then brought to life by a curious alien and slapped Flash around. You know, the usual. This issue starts with Barry talking in his sleep about his high school girlfriend, Daphne Dean (who we met last issue and who has some kind of sinister secret). Iris listens to Barry talking about he and Daphne messing around (and kinda gets into it), but before he can get to the good part, the phone rings. Continue reading “Comics Review: Flash 249, Wonder Woman 231, Jonah Hex 2”
Flash #248 – “Challenge of the Cardboard Criminal” – (Cary Bates/Irv Novick/Frank McLaughlin)
Barry and Iris are out shopping when Barry spots his childhood sweetheart, Daphne Dean. Before he can do anything, Heat Wave tries to rob the jewelry store, so Barry changes to Flash and pounds him. Later, Barry is going on and on about Daphne to Iris when a doctor shows up and says he’s been treating Daphne Dean (who’s apparently some kind of movie star now) for amnesia. Continue reading “Comics Review: Flash 248, Wonder Woman 230, Green Lantern 94”