It’s Friday and I decided we needed to focus on the comic classics so I came up with the name Flashback Friday. I know I have used that term before when I reviewed the Flashpoint graphic novel so it may seem a little familiar to our regulars. Anyway, now that I have a little more time on my hands, I am going to do Flashback Friday posts weekly for the next couple of months at least. Today’s focus is on the Flash #276.
This issue has it all! Death, action, drugs, paranoia, and much, much, more. The story starts off at a costume party where the Flash (Barry Allen) and his wife Iris are attacked by a villain known as Yorkin. It appears he somehow drugged the couple (see issue #275 for more details) and fled the scene. Flash wakes up only to fall out of a window. Barry’s friends go to look for him but he is already gone. You see, his friends do not realize that he is the real Flash. They just assumed that was the costume he chose for the party. Anyway, while his friends are looking for Barry, Barry is chasing Yorkin, or at least that’s what he thinks. His vision starts to get distorted and he wakes up in a hospital.
The hospital claims Barry has been there the whole time. They tell him its the drugs in his system that is making his dreams seem so real. He asks about Iris, but no one will answer his questions. Days later, his friend Detective Curtis comes to bring him home. He was at the party and he knows Barry’s concerns are valid. For he has the unfortunate news to tell Barry that his wife is dead.
Of course Flash doesn’t take the news sitting down. He goes to get help from the league but they will not do what he asks, He wants them to help him bring Iris back from the dead. As the League tries to calm Barry down, he ends up fighting with his friends. He wonders why they are forsaking him. He cannot take this betrayal. He even asked his best friend Hal but even Hal says he cannot do it. This breaks Barry’s heart and he lashes out his pain and confusion at the entire Justice League. He tells them that they are no longer his friends and he will bring his wife back no matter the cost.
The issue ends with the Justice League surrounding Barry and he claims that no one is fast enough to stop him. The League already took a beating in this issue so it is safe to say Barry may be right.
This issue was written by the great Cary Baites and drawn by Alex Saviuk. It is a classic from DC Comics and should be in any collector’s collection. I give this issue a perfect rating of 10 out of 10. It is a story that I could read again and again.
