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Jay Garrick was born
in 1918 and little is known of his early life until he became a science
major at Midwestern University. In those days, Garrick was a sub-par
member of the University football team and attracted to Joan Williams,
the daughter of an Army Major. Williams snubbed Garrick for the football
team captain, rejecting Garrick as a "scrub." Though somewhat
untalented at football, Garrick excelled in science. His work with one
of his mentors, Professor Hughes, led to new insights about the nature
of "hard water". One night, in a late experiment, Garrick
paused to indulge his smoking habit around 3 AM. Lighting the cigarette,
Garrick knocked over some of the "hard water", spilling it and
several other chemicals. Garrick was overcome by the fumes and lay
unconscious in the laboratory for hours until Hughes arrived to check
his progress the next morning. Garrick was rushed to a local hospital
and lay in a coma for weeks. When he regained consciousness, one of the
doctor's confided to Hughes that Garrick's test results were highly
unusual, indicative of an extremely accelerated metabolism. When Garrick
was released, he immediately discovered that he had the power of
super-speed, as he caught Joan Garrick getting on a bus in the blink of
an eye. Over the next few days, Jay Garrick explored his powers,
participating in a college football game which he won by using just a
bit of his accelerated abilities. As time passed, Garrick graduated
Midwestern and moved on. Joan Williams joined her father in Washington
and the two parted ways.
Garrick landed a job as an assistant professor at Coleman University in
New York. After reading news of the fledgling mystery-men, he was
inspired to create a costumed identity of his own, The Flash, to battle
crime. A few weeks later, Joan Williams visited from Washington with
dire news: her father had been kidnapped by a gang of criminals known as
the Faultless Four. Joan appealed to Garrick to rescue her father in the
guise of the Flash. As she explained, an assassin fired a gun from a
passing car at Joan Williams. Garrick stopped the bullet and agreed to
help the Flash. When the assassin returned disguised as an undertaker to
verify Williams death, Garrick followed him as the Flash. Doing so led
him to follow the assassin (who was a member of the Faultless Four) to
its hideout . There he rescued Major Williams and returned him home.
Afterwards, the Flash returned to he hideout and learned the Four's
intention to create a distraction at Coney Island to cover a second
attempt on the Williams. The next day, the Flash thwarted the attempt at
Coney and then returned the Faultless Four's hideaway to finish them
off. As he confronted them, Sieur Satan, the leader of the Four, threw a
switch and electrocuted the 3 other members of Four in an attempt to
also slay the Flash. The hero however had followed Satan as he slipped
out to throw the switch and pursued him as he fled. Ultimately, the
Flash drove Satan's car from the road, seemingly killing him (Flash
Comics #1).
Afterwards Garrick and Joan Williams became a steady couple and she
often covered for him as the Flash. In late 1940, Flash was selected by
U.S. Intelligence to join Batman and Green Lantern on an undercover
operation in England, an act which resulted in their capture by Nazi
forces and transport to Berlin. The three were later rescued by Dr. Fate
and Hourman and joined the pursuit of Hitler's Valkyries across the
ocean. The defeat of the Valkyries led to the formation of the Justice
Society and the Flash was a charter member (DC Special #29). He left the
JSA in 1941 (All-Star Comics #6) and was semi-active for the rest of the
war. He also became a regular member of the All-Star Squadron after its
formation (All-Star Squadron #3). The Flash participated in the JSA's
pursuit of Ian Karkull in late 1941, a case in which he again
encountered Seiur Satan, who had not been killed in 1940. As Karkull
died, Garrick and Joan Williams were exposed to the radiation which
added years and vitality to the rest of their lives (All-Star Squadron
Annual #3).
In 1942, The Flash battled a villain that had the power of darkness at
his command. The Shade, an immortal whose real name has never been
revealed, used a cane endowed with the power of Erebus to rob Keystone
under a veil of impenetrable night (Flash #35). Later that year, he
tangled with Peter Merkel, a small-time thief who used his naturally
"triple-jointed" limbs to facilitate his robberies as the Rag
Doll (Flash Comics #36). In 1943, Keystone City DA Clifford Devoe
masterminded a series of crimes while using his position and intellect
to overcome legal obstacles afterward, a practice that earner him the
moniker, "The Thinker" (All-Flash Comics #12). Each of these
criminals became recurrent foes for the Flash throughout his career.
In 1945, the Flash rejoined the Justice Society of America full-time
(All-Star Comics #25). Jay Garrick became am independent researcher in
Keystone City and engaged to Joan Williams. In 1947, The Flash
encountered two more significant adversaries: The Star Sapphire and the
Fiddler. The Star Sapphire claimed to be an alien princess from a
temporally displaced planet on which she was the sole inhabitant. She
attempted to revive life of her world by sapping the oxygen out of Earth
and transferring to her world (All-Flash #32). The Fiddler was really
Isaac Bowin, a petty thief who had learned the secret of hypnotic music
while in an Indian prison. In his first encounter with the Flash, he
used the serendipitous concert by his twin brother to confuse the Flash
(All-Flash #32). He was ultimately defeated but returned to battle the
Flash later that year (Flash #93).
Another important adversary was Rose Canton, also known as the Thorn.
Canton was a classic schizophrenic, a split personality. The
"Rose" part of her character was a gentle assistant to
Professor Hollis, a botanist on Tashmi Island. While there, Rose
developed her second personality, the Thorn. The Thorn despised the
insipid Rose and murdered her beloved mentor. She then traveled to
Keystone City and engaged the Flash on 2 occasions, eluding capture each
time by slipping back into her "Rose" persona (Flash #89,
Flash #96). In their third encounter, she again "became" Rose
but the Flash had determined her secret. Contacting the Green Lantern
and Wonder Woman, he arranged for Rose to be treated by Amazon
psychotherapists on Transformation Island. Rose, however, had become
infatuated with Green Lantern and returned to him many years later (Lois
Lane #113, Infinity Inc. Annual #1).
In late 1948, Joan Williams convinced the Flash to maker her an honest
woman. The two wed and took up residence in the Keystone City suburbs.
The Flash retired as that resident super-hero, ceding that role to the
Spider. When the Spider was revealed as corrupt, the Flash returned to
active duty. (The Shade #3). The Flash was an active member of the
Justice Society during its last case and was present at the HUAC
meetings in 1951. He declined to reveal his identity during those
meetings and retired along with the rest of his fellow JSA members.
During this time, he married Joan Williams and they settled into a life
of marital harmony. The Garricks had no children.
During the early 1960's, Keystone City was subdued by 3 master
criminals; the Fiddler, The Thinker and the Shade. The residents were
lulled into a deep sleep while the three looted the city. The dissonance
produced by the device keeping the city subdued was detected in the
Earth-1 dimension by the Barry Allen, the Flash of E-2. By adjusting his
vibrations to the same "frequency," he traveled to E-2 and
tracked down Jay Garrick. The two combined forces and defeated the 3
villains and Keystone was restored to normal (Flash Vol. 1, #123). At
this point the Flash returned to active duty. The Flash ventured to E-1
shortly thereafter and helped the Flash of E-1 defeat the Trickster and
Captain Cold (Flash #129). Shortly thereafter, Vandal Savage captured
several other recently active members of the JSA. The Flash then
solicited the aid of Barry Allen, the Flash of E-1 and the two overcame
Savage, freeing the Justice Society. This landmark case marked the
returned of the Justice Society to active duty in the world of law
enforcement (Flash #137).
The Flash continued in active duty, engaging a number of his traditional
adversaries (The Shade - Flash #151, The Fiddler - Flash #201, Vandal
Savage - Flash #215, #235-36, The Rag Doll and the Thinker Flash #229)
as well as aiding the Flash of E-1 in a number of cases (Abra Kadabra -
Flash #170, #247, the Golden Man - Flash #173, Gorilla Grodd - Flash
Spectacular #1). As a member of the Justice Society, Garrick also
participated in numerous adventures with the Justice League of America.
Jay Garrick revealed his identity to the public in an issue of
"We" magazine in the late 1970's (Flash Spectacular #1), an
act which later caused him some grief with the Thorn (All-Star Comics
#73). Up until the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Jay Garrick was one of the
most active members of the Justice Society, taking part in almost every
case. After the Crisis, the various Earths were merged into one and
Keystone City is now the sister city of Central City, traditional home
of the Earth-1 Flash. Shortly after the Crisis, the Flash joined his JSA
comrades in an attempt to forestall Ragnarok, the Twilight if the Gods.
This act kept the JSA in Limbo for 3 years, leaving Joan Garrick under
the assumption she was a widow. For some months after, Mrs. Garrick
believed her husband dead, informed of his absence only by an impersonal
government telegram (Flash (Vol. 2) Annual #3). When the Flash returned
to Earth (Armageddon Inferno #4), he at once took up his membership
again in the Justice Society (Justice Society 1-10, JLE #47-50). He also
has taken upon a mentoring role of the current heir to the legend of the
Flash, Wally West (beginning in Flash vol.. 2 #73) and spent a very
brief stint with Justice League America (JLA #78-79,91).
During the Zero Hour, Flash joined the JSA in the first strike against
Extant. Like the rest of the JSA, Flash was aged to his normal
chronological age. Upon the defeat of the JSA and their retreat to
Earth, the Flash stripped himself of symbolic logo, the lightning bolt,
and announced his retirement (Zero Hour #3). It seems, however, that the
Speed Force that drives the Flash's velocity has retarded the effects of
Extant's spells and like any legend, the Flash was unable to avoid the
lure of action and has again joined Wally West in the pursuit of justice
(Flash vol.2 #100, #108-111). He has recently celebrated his 50th
anniversary with Joan Garrick and has even taken over the role of
Keystone's prime protectors on occasion. Like many of his Justice
Society comrades, Jay Garrick continues to demonstrate the prestige of
Golden Age super-heroes in modern day comics society.
Jay recently joined with several JSA members to aid the Justice
League in defending the Earth from the effects of a war between a pair
of 5th Dimensional imps, one of which was Johnny Thunder's Thunderbolt.
Following this mission, the remaining active survivors of the JSA, Green
Lantern I, The Flash I, Wildcat I, joined with several younger heroes
(Sand, Atom-Smasher, Stripesy, Starman VII, & Hawkgirl II) to form a
new Justice Society.
Notes:
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As the first Flash, Jay has
inspired generations of Flashes, including, Barry Allen, Wally West, and
Impulse.
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