Flash Comics #2
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFlash Comics #2 (February 1940) is a pivotal early entry in the Golden Age anthology format: just one issue after introducing Jay Garrick and Carter Hall to the world, it already demonstrates the editorial confidence to hand Hawkman the cover — marking the first time the winged hero headlined a comic book cover. That shift in promotional real estate reflects how quickly Hawkman resonated as a visual property, and the issue's anthology structure — Flash, Hawkman, Johnny Thunder, the Whip, Cliff Cornwall, and the newly debuted Rod Rian of the Sky Police all sharing 68 pages — set a template for multi-character superhero comics that DC would refine throughout the decade. The issue also introduces Daisy Darling, Johnny Thunder's recurring supporting character, grounding that strip's comedic-adventure tone. As only the second appearance of both Jay Garrick and Carter Hall, it is essential documentation of how quickly these characters' personalities and supporting casts were being defined.
In "The Opera House Shootings," a brilliant but desperate physicist named Alexander the Great unleashes a terrifying device capable of amplifying weight a thousandfold, threatening to collapse the seaboard cities of the United States. With the clock ticking, Hawkman races to stop him, facing a menace born not of superpowers, but of scientific ambition gone awry. Written by Gardner Fox and illustrated by Dennis Neville, this 1940 Flash Comics #2 delivers a gripping blend of pulp suspense and early superhero intrigue, with a cover by Neville that captures the drama in bold, dynamic lines.
In "The Opera House Shootings," the Flash races to uncover a chilling pattern behind a series of mysterious attacks on female opera singers, each linked to a single man from their past. With the stage set for suspense and danger, the hero follows a trail of secrets that leads deep into the shadows of the city’s elite.
In "The Globe Conquerors," physicist Alexander the Great unleashes a terrifying device capable of amplifying an object’s weight a thousandfold, threatening to collapse the seaboard cities of the United States. Hawkman races against time to stop the mad scientist before his machine brings catastrophic ruin.
In "Johnny Becomes a Boxer," a lighthearted 1940 humor tale from Flash Comics #2, an unsuspecting Johnny finds himself drawn into a boxing match against the notorious Suicide Kid—only to discover that his mysterious, unexplained powers are the real reason he’s winning. The story unfolds with playful energy, blending slapstick and superhero whimsy as Johnny’s hidden abilities quietly shape the outcome.
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Flash Comics was published by All-American Publications (the imprint operating under M. C. Gaines as editor-in-chief) and reached newsstands around December 15, 1939 — a house ad in More Fun Comics #51 promoted it as on sale 'about Dec. 15th' — giving it a February 1940 cover date. The creative team overlapped almost entirely with issue #1: Gardner Fox wrote the Flash and Hawkman chapters, John B. Wentworth handled Johnny Thunder and the Whip, and Paul H. Jepson both wrote and drew the Rod Rian newspaper-reprint feature that made its first appearance here. Dennis Neville, who had drawn Hawkman's debut story, returned to both write, pencil, and ink the Hawkman chapter as well as draw the cover — cementing his early ownership of the character's visual identity.
Trivia · 9 facts
- Cover date: February 1940; promoted on sale approximately December 15, 1939 per a house ad in More Fun Comics #51.
- First Hawkman cover in comics history — Carter Hall (the Hawk-Man/Hawkman) appears as the central figure, with Flash, Cliff Cornwall, Johnny Thunder, and the Whip in inset panels; cover pencils and inks by Dennis Neville.
- Second published appearances of Jay Garrick (the Flash) and Carter Hall (Hawkman/the Hawk-Man), as well as Shiera Sanders, Joan Williams, and the Thunderbolt — all introduced in Flash Comics #1.
- First appearance of Daisy Darling, who becomes a recurring supporting character in the Johnny Thunder strip; she debuts in the chapter 'Johnny Becomes a Boxer,' written by John B. Wentworth and drawn by Stan Aschmeier.
- First appearance of Rod Rian of the Sky Police, a newspaper-reprint science-fiction feature set in the year 2500 AD, written and drawn by Paul H. Jepson; the feature ran in Flash Comics through issue #11.
- The Hawkman chapter, 'The Globe Conquerors' (script Gardner Fox, art Dennis Neville), establishes that Carter and Shiera are already engaged by their second appearance, and introduces the story beat that Hawkman's Ninth Metal is immune to gravity-based weaponry — foundational lore reprinted in Golden Age Hawkman Archives Volume 1.
- The Flash chapter, 'The Terror of Goll' (script Gardner Fox, art Harry Lampert), is reprinted in Golden Age Flash Archives Volume 1.
- The Johnny Thunder chapter, 'Johnny Becomes a Boxer,' is reprinted in JSA All-Stars Archives Volume 1; at various points in the same issue the Hawkman hero is referred to as 'Hawkman,' 'The Hawk-Man,' and 'The Hawk,' reflecting the character's still-unsettled branding in these earliest issues.
- The issue carries continuations of the Cliff Cornwall and 'Warfare in Space' text-story features begun in issue #1, as well as Part Two of Ed Wheelan's 'The Demon Dummy' picture-novel strip and the ongoing Whip serial ('Vigilantes of Seguro,' script Wentworth, art George Storm).
Cast · 18 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in Adventure Comics #46 (1940), Detective Comics #35 (1940), The Golden Age of Comic Books #[nn] (1977), Golden Age Flash Archives #1 (1999), Golden Age Hawkman Archives #1 (2006), The JSA All Stars Archives #1 (2007), Alter Ego #4
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