The Flash #139
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeThe Flash #139 (September 1963) introduced Eobard Thawne — Professor Zoom, the Reverse-Flash — who has endured for over six decades as Barry Allen's defining archenemy, reshaping what it means for a speedster to have a nemesis. The issue planted seeds that eventually grew into some of DC's most consequential storytelling: Thawne's obsession with Barry would directly drive the murder of Iris West-Allen, Barry's own killing of Zoom, the Trial of the Flash, and ultimately the Flashpoint event that restructured the entire DC Universe. Beyond its narrative legacy, the story cemented time travel as a structural pillar of Flash mythology, establishing the premise that Barry's legacy could ricochet dangerously across centuries. The Flash already had a rich rogues' gallery by 1963, but this issue gave him something none of the Rogues could be — a dark reflection of himself, a future fan turned mortal enemy.
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The issue was crafted by the longtime Silver Age Flash team of writer John Broome and penciler Carmine Infantino, who together had been building Barry Allen's world since Showcase #4 in 1956 and were at the height of their collaboration by 1963. Interior art was inked by Joe Giella with lettering by Gaspar Saladino, while the cover received inks from Murphy Anderson — a distinction that makes the book a showcase of multiple DC Silver Age talents. The story was published during a remarkably fertile creative moment: DC's editors and writers were experimenting heavily with time travel, parallel Earths, and the idea that the superhero mantle could transcend generations, and Broome channeled all of that into a single elegant premise — a criminal fan from the 25th century who reverse-engineers a hero's own costume to become that hero's worst nightmare.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance and origin of Eobard Thawne (Professor Zoom / the Reverse-Flash), cover-dated September 1963.
- Created by writer John Broome and penciler Carmine Infantino; interior inks by Joe Giella, cover inks by Murphy Anderson, lettering by Gaspar Saladino.
- The lead story is titled 'Menace of the Reverse-Flash!' and spans approximately 24–25 pages across three chapters.
- In the story, Thawne is a 25th-century criminal who recovers a Flash costume from a time capsule, amplifies its residual speed energy, reverses the color scheme to yellow and red, and adopts the identity of Professor Zoom.
- The issue also features a prominent use of Flash's Cosmic Treadmill as the mechanism for time travel to the 25th century — reinforcing it as a core Flash story device.
- Thawne is not named 'Eobard Thawne' in this issue; his full name was not introduced until The Flash #153.
- The story was reprinted in The Flash #205 (April–May 1971), The Flash Archives Vol. 5, and DC Comics Presents: The Flash Vol. 2 #1 (2011).
- Reverse-Flash's next appearance after this debut came in The Flash #147.
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Reprints
Reprinted in The Flash #205 (1971), Showcase Presents: The Flash #2 (2008), The Flash Archives #5 (2009), DC Comics Presents: The Flash #1 (2011), Alter Ego #117 (2013), DC Comics Graphic Novel Collection #61 (2016), The Flash: The Silver Age Omnibus #2 (2017), The Flash: The Silver Age #3 (2018), Flash Rogues: Reverse-Flash #[nn] (2019)
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