DC Special Series #1
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeDC Special Series #1 — cover-titled '5-Star Super-Hero Spectacular' — holds a double distinction in Bronze Age publishing history: it is simultaneously the launch issue of DC's ambitious umbrella anthology vehicle and one of the earliest entries in the company's then-novel Dollar Comics format, an 80-page, ad-free package that publisher Jenette Kahn championed as a direct response to comics' declining page-count-to-price ratio. The issue also carries a quiet but durable character milestone: it marks the first appearance of Patty Spivot, Barry Allen's police-lab assistant, who would eventually be reimagined as a major supporting character and love interest across multiple continuities and adapted for The CW's live-action Flash television series. Its Batman story doubles as an unofficial conclusion to the cancelled Kobra ongoing, giving that short-lived corner of the DC Universe a proper narrative endpoint it would never otherwise have had.
In "How to Prevent a Flash," a mysterious ancient guardian stirs as a black hole hurtles toward Oa, threatening the Green Lantern Corps. With the energy of his long-forgotten foes echoing the power of the Lantern rings, the fate of the universe hangs in the balance. Written by Denny O'Neil and illustrated by Joe Staton, with colors by Liz Berube and letters by Ben Oda, this 1977 issue features a striking cover by Neal Adams.
In "How to Prevent a Flash," Barry Allen faces a terrifying repeat of his origin when lightning strikes his lab again, spilling chemicals and triggering a surge of speed he must control to save his colleague Jo—before the same accident that gave him powers could destroy them both.
In "He Who Slaughters!", an ancient guardian stirs as a black hole threatens Oa, drawn to the eerie echo of the Green Lantern rings—whose power resonates with the very force that once doomed his enemies. The story unfolds as cosmic dread meets forgotten might, with no clear ally in sight.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The series launched in June 1977 under incoming publisher Jenette Kahn, who had taken over DC in 1976 and sought to improve the reader's value proposition with a larger, advertisement-light format that cost one dollar rather than the standard thirty-five cents. DC Special Series #1 assembled a writers' room's worth of Bronze Age talent — Cary Bates and Irv Novick on Flash, Denny O'Neil and Joe Staton on Green Lantern, Gerry Conway and Dick Dillin on Aquaman, Paul Kupperberg and Steve Stiles on the Atom — with Martin Pasko, Michael Netzer (then credited as Mike Nasser), and Joe Rubinstein closing things out on Batman. The Batman/Kobra story had a notable salvage origin: it had been plotted and partially prepared for the unpublished Kobra #8 before that series was cancelled, and was subsequently rewritten to fit this anthology context.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published with a cover date of September 1977, with an on-sale date of June 16, 1977, per DC house ads and the Catalog of Copyright Entries.
- The issue's cover title is '5-Star Super-Hero Spectacular'; the umbrella title 'DC Special Series' appeared only in the indicia, not on the cover.
- It is among the earliest Dollar Comics DC produced — an 80-page, ad-free format championed by publisher Jenette Kahn to restore comics' eroding page-count-to-price value.
- First appearance of Patty Spivot, created by writer Cary Bates and artist Irv Novick in the Flash story 'How to Prevent a Flash,' in which Barry Allen imagines his lab assistant gaining super-speed after a near-repeat of his own origin accident.
- The Batman/Kobra story 'The Dead on Arrival Conspiracy' (written by Martin Pasko, penciled by Michael Netzer/Nasser, inked by Joe Rubinstein) was originally scripted for the cancelled Kobra #8 and rewritten to serve as the de facto finale of that series.
- The issue features five standalone stories spotlighting five separate DC heroes: The Flash, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Aquaman, the Atom, and Batman.
- The Flash story 'How to Prevent a Flash' was later reprinted in the DC anthology collection The Greatest Flash Stories Ever Told (1991), and the Batman/Kobra story was reprinted in the trade paperback Kobra: Resurrection (2010).
- Patty Spivot was later adapted for television, portrayed by Shantel VanSanten in Season 2 of The CW's The Flash, beginning with the episode 'The Flash of Two Worlds.'
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Comic Reader #144 (1977), Superman #22/1977 (1977), Wundergirl #21 (1977), Roter Blitz #23 (1978), Hercule #17 (1980), Hercule #21 (1981), Faucon Noir #23 (1981), Superamigos #11 (1986), The Greatest Flash Stories Ever Told #[nn] (1991), The Greatest Flash Stories Ever Told #[nn] (1992), Kobra: Resurrection #[nn] (2010), Justice League of America: The Bronze Age Omnibus #3 (2021)
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