The Flash

Jay Garrick, a college student, accidentally inhaled the vapors of hard water while smoking in a laboratory, granting him the ability to move at superhuman speed—making him DC's first Scarlet Speedster and one of the earliest heroes of the Golden Age.

Few characters carry the weight of comics history quite like The Flash — a Golden Age original who first crackled onto the page in Flash Comics #1 back in 1940, conjured by John B. Wentworth and Stan Asch at a moment when the entire superhero genre was still finding its footing. What's remarkable is the sheer endurance: from that 1940 debut through 2025, spanning roughly 85 years of publication history, The Flash has remained a cornerstone of the DC universe, racking up 212 catalog appearances across landmark series like Flash Comics, Justice League of America, and Flash. With 22 key issues to their name, this is a character whose story has genuinely mattered to collectors and readers alike — and the company they keep says it all, sharing adventures with titans like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Hawkman. Whether you're chasing Golden Age classics or tracing one of comics' longest-running legacies, The Flash is an essential piece of the DC tapestry.