Flash #1...or something like that...
In 1956, The man, who we know as the Fastest Man Alive (aka Barry Allen, the Flash), first appeared in Showcase #4. After four successful appearances in that series, he was given a series of his own; this series! So, without further ado...lets look at The Flash #105!
Revisiting the past
In the comic book universe, its only been a year since Barry was stuck by lightning and given super-speed to become the Flash. Of course, as any person who can do the math knows, this was actually published 2 years and 5 months after his first appearance. Being the first issue of this series, there is a flash back (get it? Flash back? never mind...) to his origin story and what better way to revisit the past than have a villain from 8 million years ago?
Katmos
Katmos was an entertaining villain. He was a real threat to flash, so I can see why the writer (John Broome) created a villain like him. That being said, I also see why he didn't appear again after this comic (well if you don't count those reprints of this issue and that story). It would be hard for writers to think up stories for a guy whose main purose was to reclaim the earth as his domain. If a villain has one purpose, it would be hard to change that purpose to make new stories with that charcter. Also, there are villains like Mirror Master who more enertaining.
Mirror Master
This is also the first appearance of the original Mirror Master, aka Sam Scudder. His story was pretty good, though some of the illusions he created from his mirrors had me agreeing with Barry that they were rediculous...and when a comic book character agrees that its ridiculous, then you know you're in trouble!
Conclusion
This was a pretty good issue. I read this issue BEFORE i read Showcase #4, so I was not really impressed with it until I reread it after the four showcases. As far as first issues go, this was...alright. not the best. However, if you make this the 5th issue, then this issue is good. I loved that they kept with the original numbering from Jay Garrick series "Flash comics" (though it confused me completely when I was looking at my cd and thought for sure i didn't have beginning of the series). Good issue. not the best I've personally read so far of the five issues of Flash I've read, but good all the same...
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