Any Bronze Age Flash Fans

[Spider-Variant]

Ok, as a kid, I collected three comics primarily: Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man, and the Flash. Not sure why I chose these three, but only ASM survived the cut over time. I eventually sold my Iron Man and Flash runs (small that they were) around 1992. Recently I started rereading the Flash starting at issue #235 and working forward.

 

I really enjoyed Irv Novick's work on this series and he will always be my favorite Flash artist. He seemed to nail the anatomy of the Flash for me. He was a decent story teller as far as layouts went as well.

 

The stories were hampered by the need for one issue resolutions. The villains had a good array of powers but always were too nice for my taste. And looking back now, I'm amazed at how easily they brainwashed the Flash month in and month out.

 

Anyway, does anyone else have any memories or takes on the Bronze Age Flash?

 

[kdoginohio]

i picked them up mostly for the Firestorm back-up story. I hope that was the Bronze books

[joe_collector]

I like this issue, if only because I collect "half-naked ladies floating in a pool" covers.

[Sekowskyfan10]

I enjoyed getting BA Flash fresh off the racks in the mid-70s. I started with #237. I tried to get every ish for the next year, but I couldn't always get to the 7-Eleven. I got # 243 there, but never read the conclusion of "Death of the Top" until a few years ago. Same with # 246...

 

I really liked Irv Novick's art during this run.

 

The Green Lantern backups were good, I think this is when they introduced his friend Itty.

[Spider-Variant]

I enjoyed getting BA Flash fresh off the racks in the mid-70s. I started with #237. I tried to get every ish for the next year, but I couldn't always get to the 7-Eleven. I got # 243 there, but never read the conclusion of "Death of the Top" until a few years ago. Same with # 246...

 

I really liked Irv Novick's art during this run.

 

The Green Lantern backups were good, I think this is when they introduced his friend Itty.

 

I bought issue 243 in Hawaii while my dad was in the army and then bought issue 244 in Tennessee. If I remember correctly Flash was a bi-monthly during that period.

[Zonker]

I liked the earlier Bronze Flash issues with the Nick Cardy covers. During this time, Flash was the only place outside JLA to find Green Lantern.

 

 

[Zonker]

Some more Bronze Flashes I really liked...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jeffro.]

I liked the earlier Bronze Flash issues with the Nick Cardy covers. During this time, Flash was the only place outside JLA to find Green Lantern.

 

And some of it by Neal Adams.

Over the last couple of years, I've really developed an affinity for Nick Cardy's work.

 

[kdoginohio]

 

When did GL become Tinkerbell?

[JuliusSeizure]

I enjoyed getting BA Flash fresh off the racks in the mid-70s. I started with #237. I tried to get every ish for the next year, but I couldn't always get to the 7-Eleven. I got # 243 there, but never read the conclusion of "Death of the Top" until a few years ago.

 

Heh...I got #244 at a con or something 25-30 years ago and to this day have not gotten or read the first part of the story!

[Jeffro.]

I enjoyed getting BA Flash fresh off the racks in the mid-70s. I started with #237. I tried to get every ish for the next year, but I couldn't always get to the 7-Eleven. I got # 243 there, but never read the conclusion of "Death of the Top" until a few years ago.

 

Heh...I got #244 at a con or something 25-30 years ago and to this day have not gotten or read the first part of the story!

 

 

Yeah, I bought Flash 258 off the stands back in the late 70s but never got to read the conclusion in 259 until many, many years later. To my, at that time, 10 year old (or so) mind, I really thought the Flash had been killed.

[faster friends]

i picked them up mostly for the Firestorm back-up story. I hope that was the Bronze books

 

The Keith Giffen Dr. Fate back ups were really good also. I think it was around #305 to #313 or so

[johnenock]

i picked them up mostly for the Firestorm back-up story. I hope that was the Bronze books

 

The Keith Giffen Dr. Fate back ups were really good also. I think it was around #305 to #313 or so

 

That is my favorite era of Flash...the covers with Fate are great.

[JuliusSeizure]

A few fond and random BA Flash memories over lunch hour...

 

* My first Flash issue was #279. I was about 7. The villain was Yorkin, an escaped convict who had been turned into a Frankenstein-like life-force vampire. He totally freaked me out (in a way that 7-year-old boys like getting freaked out), and he appeared to be a real heavyweight since at this point in the storyline it looked like he had killed the Flash's wife. I remember practicing my 'Yorkin death grip' on friends and family at the time.

 

* Speaking of Iris's death - I came a little late to the Flash so I already had issues of DC comics with that full page ad for #275 with the masquerade party cover announcing the death of 'someone'. Once I got into the storyline, I HAD to have that issue. Coveted it like the Hope Diamond. But, it was months old and if I even knew about back issue dealers, none I could get my parents to take me to had it. What to do? Well, I taped 40 cents to a piece of cardboard and wrote to DC Comics in NYC begging for a copy. A month or so later it came in the mail! Along with a letter saying, "We don't normally do this, but..." A DC fan for life!

 

* One of my favorite comic reading memories of childhood is getting the entire Golden Glider / Ringmaster story from 261-264 at a convention and devouring it all at once.

 

* Cool story in #268, where Barry Allen's GA comic collection, and Flash #26 in particular, figure prominently in the plot.

 

* It's been said elsewhere that Infantino's artwork on this title isn't his best work and I agree with that. But his depiction of the Flash's father as possessed by the ghost of the Top (roughly 297-303) was awesomely creepy.

 

* The Doctor Fate stories were really good. Doctor Fate has always had my favorite superhero costume. Actually Fate was the best thing about the book at the time, as the Flash stories were in a bit of a slump, IMO. The Colonel Computron stories were bad in a kitschy way - the villian is supposedly gunning for Wiggins because the latter has been exploiting his/her engineering talent - but he somehow has the resources to build an elaborate HQ with sophisticated death-traps, and AN ENORMOUS TIME-TRAVELLING BOOMERANG. The Silver Age called, they want their goofy plot-devices back. I kid because I love, I never missed an issue.

 

* Well, until the Flash-murderer story and trial which ended the run. I did sour on the title for awhile (but eventually went back and filled in the gaps). I think what killed it is allowing Cary Bates to edit himself as writer. Bates wrote a lot of great Flash stories over the years, but without an editor, not only did the story meander hopelessly for awhile, but the plot holes, issue-to-issue inconsistencies, and even spelling mistakes got embarrassing.

[Spider-Variant]

A few fond and random BA Flash memories over lunch hour...

 

* My first Flash issue was #279. I was about 7. The villain was Yorkin, an escaped convict who had been turned into a Frankenstein-like life-force vampire. He totally freaked me out (in a way that 7-year-old boys like getting freaked out), and he appeared to be a real heavyweight since at this point in the storyline it looked like he had killed the Flash's wife. I remember practicing my 'Yorkin death grip' on friends and family at the time.

 

* Speaking of Iris's death - I came a little late to the Flash so I already had issues of DC comics with that full page ad for #275 with the masquerade party cover announcing the death of 'someone'. Once I got into the storyline, I HAD to have that issue. Coveted it like the Hope Diamond. But, it was months old and if I even knew about back issue dealers, none I could get my parents to take me to had it. What to do? Well, I taped 40 cents to a piece of cardboard and wrote to DC Comics in NYC begging for a copy. A month or so later it came in the mail! Along with a letter saying, "We don't normally do this, but..." A DC fan for life!

 

* One of my favorite comic reading memories of childhood is getting the entire Golden Glider / Ringmaster story from 261-264 at a convention and devouring it all at once.

 

* Cool story in #268, where Barry Allen's GA comic collection, and Flash #26 in particular, figure prominently in the plot.

 

* It's been said elsewhere that Infantino's artwork on this title isn't his best work and I agree with that. But his depiction of the Flash's father as possessed by the ghost of the Top (roughly 297-303) was awesomely creepy.

 

* The Doctor Fate stories were really good. Doctor Fate has always had my favorite superhero costume. Actually Fate was the best thing about the book at the time, as the Flash stories were in a bit of a slump, IMO. The Colonel Computron stories were bad in a kitschy way - the villian is supposedly gunning for Wiggins because the latter has been exploiting his/her engineering talent - but he somehow has the resources to build an elaborate HQ with sophisticated death-traps, and AN ENORMOUS TIME-TRAVELLING BOOMERANG. The Silver Age called, they want their goofy plot-devices back. I kid because I love, I never missed an issue.

 

* Well, until the Flash-murderer story and trial which ended the run. I did sour on the title for awhile (but eventually went back and filled in the gaps). I think what killed it is allowing Cary Bates to edit himself as writer. Bates wrote a lot of great Flash stories over the years, but without an editor, not only did the story meander hopelessly for awhile, but the plot holes, issue-to-issue inconsistencies, and even spelling mistakes got embarrassing.

 

Wow, great stories JuliusSeizure. I think my last issue was #300. Issue #235 was the first issue of the Flash I remember owning. I'm currently rereading the run, some good memories, but the stories don't hold up as well as they did when I was 10.

 

 

 

[JuliusSeizure]

A few fond and random BA Flash memories over lunch hour...

 

* My first Flash issue was #279. I was about 7. The villain was Yorkin, an escaped convict who had been turned into a Frankenstein-like life-force vampire. He totally freaked me out (in a way that 7-year-old boys like getting freaked out), and he appeared to be a real heavyweight since at this point in the storyline it looked like he had killed the Flash's wife. I remember practicing my 'Yorkin death grip' on friends and family at the time.

 

* Speaking of Iris's death - I came a little late to the Flash so I already had issues of DC comics with that full page ad for #275 with the masquerade party cover announcing the death of 'someone'. Once I got into the storyline, I HAD to have that issue. Coveted it like the Hope Diamond. But, it was months old and if I even knew about back issue dealers, none I could get my parents to take me to had it. What to do? Well, I taped 40 cents to a piece of cardboard and wrote to DC Comics in NYC begging for a copy. A month or so later it came in the mail! Along with a letter saying, "We don't normally do this, but..." A DC fan for life!

 

* One of my favorite comic reading memories of childhood is getting the entire Golden Glider / Ringmaster story from 261-264 at a convention and devouring it all at once.

 

* Cool story in #268, where Barry Allen's GA comic collection, and Flash #26 in particular, figure prominently in the plot.

 

* It's been said elsewhere that Infantino's artwork on this title isn't his best work and I agree with that. But his depiction of the Flash's father as possessed by the ghost of the Top (roughly 297-303) was awesomely creepy.

 

* The Doctor Fate stories were really good. Doctor Fate has always had my favorite superhero costume. Actually Fate was the best thing about the book at the time, as the Flash stories were in a bit of a slump, IMO. The Colonel Computron stories were bad in a kitschy way - the villian is supposedly gunning for Wiggins because the latter has been exploiting his/her engineering talent - but he somehow has the resources to build an elaborate HQ with sophisticated death-traps, and AN ENORMOUS TIME-TRAVELLING BOOMERANG. The Silver Age called, they want their goofy plot-devices back. I kid because I love, I never missed an issue.

 

* Well, until the Flash-murderer story and trial which ended the run. I did sour on the title for awhile (but eventually went back and filled in the gaps). I think what killed it is allowing Cary Bates to edit himself as writer. Bates wrote a lot of great Flash stories over the years, but without an editor, not only did the story meander hopelessly for awhile, but the plot holes, issue-to-issue inconsistencies, and even spelling mistakes got embarrassing.

 

Wow, great stories JuliusSeizure. I think my last issue was #300. Issue #235 was the first issue of the Flash I remember owning. I'm currently rereading the run, some good memories, but the stories don't hold up as well as they did when I was 10.

 

 

Thanks! #300 was a pretty good place to stop, IMO, though you missed out on the Dr. Fate backups (and the Creeper ones, too, which I forgot about but which were quite good).

 

Don't know if you ever read the Mirror Master story in #306 (I think), about MM trying to rescue a woman he had fallen in love with who was trapped in a mirror. It feels hokey to even write that, but at the time (10 yrs old or whatever) the ending felt really powerful to me. I just kept thinking about it.

 

I can't wait till my kids discover all these great comics. I had to scour the Tri-State area for 10 years to amass them all, they will just have to lug them out of the garage!

[Spider-Variant]

Well, still a lot of brainwashing going on. I just finished the issues where Golden Gilder brainwashed Iris into falling in love with the Ringmaster.

 

The brainwashing was a common plot device used to shake things up more and more. But even without the brainwashing, characters seemed to act odd.

 

[40sJohn]

I loves me some Flash!

 

Seriously, as a kid in the '70s, nothing was better than going to the 7-eleven to buy baseball cards, wacky packages, candy and comics - Superman, Batman and...The Flash. He has always been on my favorites.

[Flash105]

The only comics I had as a kid were some Bugs Bunny and Disney comics and one day she came home with a three pack from the grocery store. It had a Wonder Woman which I gave to my brother, a Batman which I do not remember, and Flash 257. I was hooked instantly and still love him to this day. I always liked Irv Novick's art and thought he did the Flash very well.

 

The story of the death of Iris was huge and basically dominated the book until the end of the run. I always wondered if it was a knock off on the Gwen Stacy death.

 

I loved 276, the issue that the Justice League guest starred in that I left in the car and reread it so much it basically fell apart and yellowed from the back dash.

[Hepcat]

I really enjoyed Irv Novick's work on this series and he will always be my favorite Flash artist. He seemed to nail the anatomy of the Flash for me. He was a decent story teller as far as layouts went as well.

 

Much as I like Carmine Infantino's early Silver Age Flash artwork, I have to agree. Irv Novick was great on the Flash!

 

Here are some of my favourite early Bronze Age Flash covers: