Flashing through the Decades

Last Friday I posted something talking about the Flash and the different artists that worked the book in the 1970's and 1980's. The post was mainly about the art and I had hoped to pull off something fancy by showing a similar theme, in this case the Flash running, and how different artists depicted it. One artist would use speed lines and one would use different 'after images' of the Flash and one would just get crazy with it the older he got.

My twelve-year-old son Ashton didn't get it.

"I didn't like today's blog, Dad." He started. In all unfairness, he hasn't liked any of my blogs yet. I don't think he likes the idea of me blogging. "I get that you were trying to show the different artists on Flash, but you should have talked about the things that made them different."





Fair enough. I thought I was writing a little too much, and a more visual post would break the routine. Still feeling my way around this blog thing. However, last week's post was just a primer for this post.

As I said last week, I recently finished a re-read of the Flash. Every appearance outside of the Justice League for the Barry Allen version of the Flash, from 1956 to 1985. I enjoyed it immensely, as these straight-runs are a thing for me. And this Flash will always be the true Flash for me. I think that sort of thing is determined by one's childhood.




Much has been said about how Superman and Batman have been able to change themselves over the decades to appeal to the widest audience possible. Superman going from the anti-authority figure in the 1930's, Nazi fighter in the 1940's, super authority figure in the 1950's, and ending up a thorough square in the 1960's. A little lost in the culture. Once you've hit 'super authority figure', it's hard to come back from that with the hippies. But he did.

Not much has been said about other heroes. They don't change as much. Probably because they don't stretch out into other media as much as Superman and Batman do.




Barry Allen started out in the fifties with a crew cut and very much an authority figure. He was a police scientist, working the forensics before it was cool. It took him until the early seventies to get a new haircut. But his personality was always very stiff. I've come to see him second only to Superman in his staunch beliefs on right and wrong.



What's most interesting to me here is how the book changed over the decades. There were only a few main writers for the Flash. Robert Kanigher and John Broome got things started in the 1950's. Gardner Fox joined them for some stories in the early 1960's. And Frank Robbins took over in the late 1960's with some stories by Mike Friedrich. But all these stories were very plot-driven. Done-in-one stories usually heavily routed in science fiction. It was obvious these guys had a story to tell, the Flash character and setting were just the tools to tell it.




Cary Bates wrote his first Flash story in May of 1968. He was the first Flash writer who grew up as a fan of the character. He wasn't telling stories that just happened to have the Flash in them. He was definitely writing the Flash. He took over the book as regular writer in 1973. He continued as regular writer for the Flash until the book was cancelled in 1985. For the decades of the 1970s and 1980s he controlled the Flash's destiny. And these stories were very different between the two decades, despite having the same writer.




This is the first time one of my re-reads has turned up something like this. Usually such a dramatic shift in story is because of a different writer coming in. In this case, I think it was editorial direction.




In the 1970s, Bates wrote short, action packed, done-in-one-issue stories. Conflict was the main thrust of the story, rather than plot. Not violence by today's standards, but definite action. These were obviously reaching out to a young audience of bike-riding kids at the 7-Eleven looking for something fun to spend their thirty-five cents on.




In the 1980s, Bates' stories changed drastically. He started adding more drama, and the stories started stretching over multi-issue story arcs. The Flash's wife died, right after they decided to start having kids. The Flash took several issues to find out who the real killer was and resolve the murder. He moved, got neighbors and new supporting cast members, started to actually be depicted at his job at the police station, and started to date. Then, after meeting and romancing another woman, he was about to marry again when the same villain who murdered his first wife showed up and tried to do it again. During the ensuing battle, Flash snapped the villains neck and killed him instantly.








The trial of the Flash was unprecedented in comics, stretched over two years or so, and turned out to be quite boring. I give Bates props for the ambition. If he was being told to ramp up the drama, he did that quite a bit.




These stories were not written for the casual reader. They were written for the repeat buyers showing up in the new comic book stores that had started to pop up. These customers were a little older than the bike-and-convenience-store crowd.




It was neat to stumble upon this example of the comics actually trying to change themselves to meet the needs of their greatest comic audience. However, I do believe this ultimately led to their downfall. In the 1940's, comics were for kids and sold everywhere and a single issue could sell in the millions. Today, finding comics appropriate for kids is tough, they're only sold in specialty shops, and the companies are happy with book that sells in the tens of thousands.

It's more complex than that. With price and competing entertainment factoring in. All I know is that I miss being able to hop on my bike and peddle down to the 7-Eleven to see what's on the spinner racks and maybe get a piece of candy for the bike ride home.

Thanks,
DCD