The Flash #289

The cover of The Flash #289 presents the Scarlet Speedster looking genuinely alarmed as two costumed villains — Mr. Element and Dr. Alchemy — clash in a fiery confrontation right before him, with the cover copy posing the intriguing question of how two alter-egos of the same man, Al Desmond, can be fighting each other. A corner inset teases Firestorm, the Nuclear Man, promising eight extra pages of the hero back in action. With cover art by Don Heck and Dick Giordano, this September 1980 issue offers a delightfully offbeat puzzle that makes it easy to see why The Flash kept readers coming back month after month.