The Flash #164
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeThe Flash #164 holds a quiet but meaningful place in Silver Age continuity as the direct narrative threshold to one of DC's earliest and most significant superhero weddings. Tucked onto the final page of the lead story is an in-story wedding invitation announcing that Barry Allen and Iris West are to be married in the very next issue — Flash #165 — making this issue the last chapter of the years-long courtship that had been building since Barry Allen's debut. The backup Kid Flash story, scripted by Gardner Fox, also does meaningful character work for Wally West, threading his teen-hero identity with civilian relationships and identity-protection anxiety that would remain hallmarks of his arc for decades. Together, the two stories represent the Silver Age Flash formula at its most polished: science-fiction-tinged villainy in the lead, coming-of-age stakes in the backup, all delivered in the waning months of Carmine Infantino's legendary run on the title.
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The issue was produced by the core Silver Age Flash creative team: the lead story scripted by John Broome and the backup by Gardner Fox, with Carmine Infantino on pencils, Joe Giella on inks, and Julius Schwartz as editor. Credits were confirmed from Schwartz's own editorial records, as noted by the Grand Comics Database. The issue went on sale July 21, 1966, and was published under DC's National Periodical Publications imprint, carrying the standard Comics Code Authority seal and a twelve-cent cover price. It appeared during the final stretch of Infantino's celebrated decade-long run penciling the title, which he would depart with issue #174 in November 1967.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover date: September 1966; on-sale date: July 21, 1966 (confirmed from copyright registration records).
- Two stories: 'Flash — Vandal of Central City!' (lead, scripted by John Broome) and 'The Boy Who Lost Touch with the World!' (backup, scripted by Gardner Fox).
- Art on both stories by Carmine Infantino (pencils) and Joe Giella (inks); edited by Julius Schwartz.
- Lead story villain: the Pied Piper (Hartley Rathaway), who uses sonic vibrations to disrupt the Flash's speed control, frame him for property damage, and have him arrested — then exploits the situation to loot Central City.
- The final page of the lead story contains an in-story invitation to the wedding of Barry Allen and Iris West, teasing their marriage two issues later in Flash #165 (November 1966), 'One Bridegroom Too Many!'
- Backup story stars Wally West as Kid Flash; it involves a classmate who becomes invisible and intangible after exposure to experimental conditions, visible only to Kid Flash's super-speed vision, and the story ends with Wally narrowly protecting his secret identity.
- The lead story has been reprinted at least three times: in the Norwegian comic Lynet (#2/1967), in DC's Showcase Presents: The Flash #4 (December 2012), and in The Flash: The Silver Age Omnibus #3 (September 2018).
- The Pied Piper, who anchors the lead story, was co-created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino and first appeared in The Flash #106 (1959) — making this one of several mid-series return appearances for the sonic villain.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Lynet #2/1967 (1967), Flash #3/1972 (1972), Flits Classics #2625 (1972), Teen Titans Annual No. 1, 1967 Issue #[nn] (1999), Showcase Presents: The Flash #4 (2012), The Flash: The Silver Age Omnibus #3 (2018), Top Comics Blitzmann #118
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