Showcase #4
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeShowcase #4 is the single issue most consistently credited with igniting the Silver Age of comic books: by replacing the Golden Age Jay Garrick with an entirely new, science-fiction-inflected Barry Allen, DC demonstrated that superhero comics could be commercially viable again after years of genre decline, a proof-of-concept that directly triggered a wave of similar revivals at DC and, eventually, the Marvel superhero explosion of the early 1960s. The issue also introduced the narrative device of treating Golden Age heroes as fictional characters within the Silver Age world — Barry is shown reading a Flash Comics issue — a meta-layer of storytelling that would later be resolved through the Multiverse concept first fully realized in The Flash #123 (1961). Barry Allen's subsequent adventures seeded DC's entire interconnected universe structure, and his death in Crisis on Infinite Earths #8 (1985) remained one of the medium's most consequential character sacrifices for over two decades.
In "Mystery of the Human Thunderbolt!", a lab accident fused lightning and chemicals, transforming Barry Allen into the fastest man alive—armed with a costume inspired by the Flash of the 1940s. Now, he must confront a new foe: the Turtle Man, known as "The Slowest Man Alive." Written by Robert Kanigher and illustrated by Carmine Infantino, with inks by Joe Kubert and lettering by Gaspar Saladino, this 1956 Showcase #4 features a cover by Infantino and Kubert.
In a flash of lightning and a lab mishap, Barry Allen gains super-speed and dons a costume inspired by the Flash of the 1940s—just in time to confront the enigmatic Turtle Man, known as "The Slowest Man Alive."
In "The Man Who Broke the Time Barrier!", the criminal Mazdan is sentenced to be exiled to a distant future—only to be hurled backward into the 20th century by a malfunctioning time device, where he’s swiftly apprehended by the Flash. This 1956 tale blends sci-fi intrigue with the speed-powered hero’s signature resolve, as a dangerous fugitive from tomorrow lands in the present, unprepared for the justice waiting in the streets of his own time.
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By 1956, DC's superhero output had contracted severely; outside of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, nearly every Golden Age costumed hero had been cancelled. Editor Julius Schwartz, drawing on his background as a science-fiction literary agent, proposed testing the market with a completely reimagined Flash using the anthology try-out title Showcase, which carried no ongoing commitment if sales disappointed. Schwartz assigned writer Robert Kanigher to script the origin story and John Broome to write the second tale in the issue, with Carmine Infantino — who had coincidentally drawn the very last Golden Age Flash Comics issue in 1949 — returning to pencil both stories and design Barry's sleek new red-and-yellow costume, and Joe Kubert inking throughout. The issue went on sale in July 1956 with an October cover date, and its strong reader response led to three further Flash try-outs in Showcase #8, #13, and #14 before Julius Schwartz launched Barry Allen into his own ongoing series with The Flash #105 in 1959.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance and origin of Barry Allen as the Silver Age Flash (cover date: October 1956; on-sale: July 1956).
- First appearance of Iris West, Barry Allen's fiancée and later wife, created by Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino.
- First appearance of the Turtle Man (later simply the Turtle), Barry's debut villain, described in the story as 'the Slowest Man Alive.'
- The issue contains two stories with a split writing credit: 'Mystery of the Human Thunderbolt!' (script: Robert Kanigher) and 'The Man Who Broke the Time Barrier!' (script: John Broome); both penciled by Carmine Infantino and inked by Joe Kubert, with Julius Schwartz as editor.
- Infantino's new costume design — a form-fitting red suit with yellow lightning-bolt accents and a ring that stores the compressed uniform — broke completely from Jay Garrick's winged-helmet Golden Age look and became one of the most recognizable superhero designs of the 20th century.
- Barry's first appearance shows him reading an old issue of Flash Comics, explicitly treating Jay Garrick as a fictional character — a narrative device later retconned into the DC Multiverse when the two Flashes met on parallel Earths in The Flash #123 (1961).
- Showcase was DC's dedicated try-out anthology; the Flash's success here led directly to further Showcase appearances (#8, #13, #14) and ultimately to Barry Allen's own ongoing series, The Flash #105 (February 1959), which continued the numbering from Jay Garrick's cancelled Flash Comics (#104, 1949).
- The complete issue has been reprinted multiple times, including DC Silver Age Classics: Showcase #4, The Flash Archives Vol. 1, Millennium Edition: Showcase #4, Showcase Presents: The Flash Vol. 1, The Flash Chronicles Vol. 1, and The Flash Omnibus Vol. 1, as well as in DC Finest: The Flash: The Human Thunderbolt (2024).
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Reprints
Reprinted in The Hundred Comic Monthly #3 (1960), Secret Origins #1 (1961), The Brave and the Bold #44 (1962), The Flash #136 (1963), Flash Annual #1 (1963), Superserien spesialnummer #[nn] (1967), Superman #16/1968 (1968), Superman et Batman #13 (1968), The Flash #214 (1972), The Flash #215 (1972), Secret Origins #1 (1973), Superman Presents World's Finest Comic Monthly #105 (1974), Flash #25 (1975), Secret Origins of the Super DC Heroes #[nn] (1976), Secret Origins of the Super DC Heroes #[nn] (1976), Batman #925 (1978), The Super Heroes #8 (1981), The Comic Book in America: An Illustrated History #[nn] (1989), The Greatest Flash Stories Ever Told #[nn] (1991), DC Silver Age Classics Showcase 4 #[nn] (1992), The Greatest Flash Stories Ever Told #[nn] (1992), The Essential Showcase 1956-1959 #[nn] (1993), The Flash Archives #1 (1996), Secret Origins Replica Edition #1 (1998) + 17 more
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