Showcase #13
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeShowcase #13 is the third tryout outing for Barry Allen's Silver Age Flash — the character whose debut in Showcase #4 is widely credited with igniting the Silver Age of Comics — and it delivers one of his most consequential villain introductions: the first appearance and origin of Albert Desmond as Mister Element, the chemistry-obsessed criminal who would evolve into Doctor Alchemy, a mainstay of the Flash's Rogues Gallery across decades of comics, animation, and live-action television. The issue sits at the center of one of the most productive creative streaks in DC's Silver Age history, as editor Julius Schwartz, writers Robert Kanigher and John Broome, and penciller Carmine Infantino were rapidly building the world of Central City — its supporting cast, its science-fiction tone, and the logic of Barry Allen's speed powers — in exactly the anthology context Showcase was designed to test before a character earned a solo title. Together, the four Showcase Flash issues formed the creative bridge between Barry Allen's debut and the launch of his own ongoing title, The Flash, beginning with issue #105 in 1959. That any one of those tryout issues could anchor the first appearance of a villain with the longevity of Mister Element/Doctor Alchemy underscores just how rapidly and deliberately Broome and Infantino were constructing the mythology that would define the Scarlet Speedster for generations.
In "Around the World in 80 Minutes!", police scientist Barry Allen uses his innovative radio watch to intercept desperate S.O.S. calls from across the globe, launching him on a high-stakes race to save lives before time runs out. With each signal pulling him to a new crisis, he must push his limits to cross continents in mere minutes.
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Showcase was DC's purpose-built tryout anthology, conceived to road-test new or revived concepts without the financial exposure of an ongoing title, and the Flash occupied four of its issues between 1956 and 1958 before graduating to his own series. By the time #13 went on sale in January 1958, Julius Schwartz had assembled a reliable creative rotation: Robert Kanigher handled the globe-trotting lead story 'Around the World in 80 Minutes,' while John Broome — whose knack for building psychologically layered villains was already evident — wrote the backup 'Master of the Elements,' the story that introduced Mister Element. The Grand Comics Database records Whitney Ellsworth as the indicia editor while confirming Schwartz as the actual editorial voice, consistent with the standard DC practice of the period. Broome's choice to give his new villain a dissociative identity — a law-abiding chemist whose criminal alter ego uses elemental science as a weapon — was notably sophisticated for 1958 and set a character template that would pay off immediately in the very next issue, Showcase #14, where Desmond's imprisoned good-side persona learns of the Philosopher's Stone and resurfaces as Doctor Alchemy.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover date: March 1958; on-sale date: January 19, 1958 (per Grand Comics Database). This is the third appearance of Barry Allen as the Silver Age Flash, following Showcase #4 (1956) and Showcase #8 (1957).
- Story 1 — 'Around the World in 80 Minutes' (14 pages): Written by Robert Kanigher, pencilled by Carmine Infantino, inked by Joe Giella, edited by Julius Schwartz. Flash races around the globe — Paris, Egypt, the Himalayas, and the Pacific — to stop criminals and still make his date with Iris West, exploiting the International Date Line as the story's resolution.
- Story 2 — 'Master of the Elements' (12 pages): Written by John Broome, pencilled by Carmine Infantino, inked by Frank Giacoia, edited by Julius Schwartz.
- FIRST APPEARANCE & ORIGIN: Albert Desmond as Mister Element — a chemist with dissociative identity disorder whose criminal personality employs an element-transmuting gun and names his henchmen after the inert noble gases. This is the debut of the character who would later become Doctor Alchemy (first appearing under that identity in the very next issue, Showcase #14).
- In-universe power rule established: This issue defines that the Flash cannot vibrate through vanadium or materials denser than it, an early contribution to the internal logic of Barry Allen's speedster abilities.
- Iris West appears in both stories as Barry Allen's girlfriend, continuing her role from Showcase #4 and #8; her presence grounds the domestic stakes that run through all four Silver Age Showcase Flash tryout issues.
- Reprinted in: 80-Page Giant #4 (October 1964); The Flash Archives, Volume 1 (1996); Flash Chronicles, Volume 1; Showcase Presents: The Flash, Volume 1 (2007); and The Flash: The Silver Age Omnibus, Volume 1 — making both stories broadly accessible to modern readers.
- Doctor Alchemy / Mister Element adaptations: The character appeared in Justice League Unlimited ('Flash and Substance') and was portrayed by Tom Felton (with Tobin Bell voicing the masked version) in Season 3 of The CW's The Flash (2016).
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Reprints
↩ Reprints Flash Comics #99 (1948)
Reprinted in The Hundred Comic Monthly #22 (1958), Mammoth Annual #1 (1959), Flash Annual #1 (1963), 80 Page Giant Magazine #4 (1964), Flash Album #1 (1965), Superman #22/1968 (1968), Superman et Batman #15 (1968), Batman #969 (1979), The Essential Showcase 1956-1959 #[nn] (1993), The Flash Archives #1 (1996), Flash Annual No. 1 Replica Edition #1 (2001), Showcase Presents: The Flash #1 (2007), The Flash Chronicles #1 (2009), Showcase Presents: Showcase #1 (2012), The Flash Omnibus #1 (2014), The Flash: The Silver Age #1 (2016), The Flash: The Silver Age Omnibus #1 (2019), DC Finest: The Flash: The Human Thunderbolt #[nn] (2025)
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