Item Biography
Reprints Showcase #4
First appearance of the Silver Age Flash.
"Mystery of the Human Thunderbolt!"
While working in his lab during an electrical storm, police scientist Barry Allen is struck by a bolt of lightning and crashes into a rack of chemicals, and Barry is bathed in the chemical mixture. While traveling home, he discovers he is able to move at incredible speeds.
The next day, Barry believes his new powers are just his imagination. However, when he arrives for his date with Iris West, his new-found super speed is able to stop a bullet fired by the criminal known as the Turtle Man.
Barry realizes that the lab accident has turned him into a super-speedster like his comic-book hero, the Flash. He then designs a costume for himself and a special ring that shrinks the costume for storage.
Alarmed by a burglar alarm, Barry quickly races to stop the culprit as the Flash.
He discovers that the robber is the Turtle Man, who escapes through the sewers to a nearby boat. Barry captures the Turtle Man by racing across the water.
While turning the Turtle Man over to the police, Barry is interviewed by the newspaper and he officially adopts the name "The Flash."
"The Man Who Broke the Time Barrier"
Objects across Central City are being mysteriously pulled away from their owners. When a beaker is pulled away from Barry Allen, he becomes involved as the Flash.
The Flash soon discovers the individual responsible. He is Mazdan, a criminal from the future, who was to be sent to the 50th century for imprisonment; however, his time capsule was damaged and he ended up in the 20th century. He has been stealing objects to repair his time capsule and return to his own time to enact revenge.
After a brief battle, Flash captures Mazdan; however Mazdan easily escapes from his jail cell.
The Flash finds Mazdan at the side of his time capsule, where Mazdan tells the Flash of his story. The Flash then carries Mazdan back to his own time by running faster than time itself and turns him over to the future authorities.