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    The Flash #114

    The Flash » The Flash #114 - The Big Freeze! / King of the Beatniks! released by DC Comics on August 1, 1960.

    Short summary describing this issue.

    The Big Freeze! / King of the Beatniks! last edited by MickRory on 03/01/23 04:29PM View full history

    Captain Cold breaks out of jail and proposes to Iris West--after turning everyone in the city into frozen statues!

    The Big Freeze!

    Reporter Iris West and her boyfriend, police forensics scientist, Barry Allen, are en route to a parole board hearing. Allen waits out in the car, giving him the chance to change into his Flash costume. Moving at super-speed, the Flash reaches the parole board, before West. The Flash, and West, are both there to offer testimony to bar the release of inmate Leonard Snart, the notorious Captain Cold. The Flash's testimony sways the board, who deny Snart an early release. The Flash tells West that he has business with a few other inmates, then quickly doffs his costume and returns to the car, where West finds Allen waiting for her. His parole denied, Snart moves forward with his plan for escape.

    Using a tiny refrigeration device, cobbled together during his long months of incarceration, Snart freezes the bars on the window. Brittle from the cold, the bars are easily shattered. Snart is spotted crossing the prison yard, but quickly freezes the two penal officers solid. Luring the Flash out of state with a phony report of his whereabouts, Snart, as Captain Cold, calls on West. Captain Cold professes his love for West, then proposes marriage. When West refuses, Captain Cold activates a pulse device on his belt that freezes every living thing in Central City. West is given an ultimatum. Marry Captain Cold, or else Central City will stay frozen forever.

    The Flash returns, and manages to gain entry through the ice sheaf covering Central City, by vibrating like a drill. Captain Cold ices up the road in front of the Flash, to buy himself time to mount a better offensive. Suddenly, the Flash sees a giant insect looming before him. Remembering Captain Cold's ability to cast illusions, the Flash races right through the horrific mirage. A massive flow of ice closes on the Flash. Believing it to be another illusory attack, the Flash runs right into it, encasing himself in ice. Vibrating at super-speed, the Flash is able to dig a channel out in the ice, and escape. Before Captain Cold can mount another attack, the Flash buffets him with high-velocity winds, rendering Captain Cold unconscious. Reversing the thermometer-like controls on Captain Cold's belt instantly thaws out Central City.

    King Of The Beatniks!

    Schoolteacher Linda Grant informs Principal Mason that she falsely accused honor student, James King, of cheating. By the time Grant realizes her mistake, King has runaway from home. Calling on King's friend, Wally West, Grant inquires as to King's whereabouts. West doesn't know, but he intends to find out, as Kid Flash. Recalling that King had a cousin, Paul, in York City, Kid Flash begins his search there. While scouring the city, Kid Flash spies a window washer falling from his scaffolding. Kid Flash empties a moving truck of it's blankets, and piles them underneath the window washer, breaking his fall.

    Kid Flash locates King in a rundown tenement building, being held against his will. It turns out that King's cousin, Paul, is the self-styled "King of The Beatniks". Paul, and his associates are really a gang of thieves, masquerading as beatniks, to throw the police off their trail. When King refuses to join his cousin in criminal activities, the boy is locked up in their abode. Moving so fast he is invisible to the naked eye, Kid Flash eavesdrops on the Beatniks to learn their plans. Kid Flash follows the Beatniks out to Brown's Furs. Still moving too fast to be seen, Kid Flash returns the stolen furs back to the warehouse, as fast as the thieves can load them into their truck.

    Kid Flash, though, is felled when one of the thieves accidentally swings open the warehouse door. Knocked unconscious by the heavy door, Kid Flash instantly revives at the sound of gunfire. So fast is Kid Flash, he is able to dodge the gunshot that jarred him back to consciousness. Trapping the Beatniks in his super-speed wake, Kid Flash marches them all to jail. King returns to Blue Valley, where Grant publicly apologizes to him for accusing him of cheating. King wins the track meet for Blue Valley, a feat West takes pride in, for getting King back to Blue Valley in time to compete.

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    A Cold proposal 0

    I've been reading the new DC New 52 series of Flash (whose art is very amazing) and there was this very small moment of interaction between Iris West and Captain Cold in issue #3 of that series. It only lasts a few frames, but I was reminded of that interaction when I read this issue recently.The Good: Captain Cold ♥'s Iris West?Iris West was really used as a plot device in this early Flash series, so one of the highlights of this issue was more "screen time" for Iris. Not only that, but she als...

    4 out of 4 found this review helpful.
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