The bottle Is not only the fastest man alive – he is a pillar of DC Comics. He’s been racing through the panels and pages since 1940, and his stories are some of the fastest-paced, most nail-biting and most heartfelt that the comics industry has to offer, all told by the best and the Brightest creators of our time.
Throughout his comic book history, The bottle Has changed many times. He is a beacon of hope, he is somehow always late for social engagements, but most of all, he will never stop running the race. From Jay Garrick to Barry Allen to Wally West and more, it’s incredibly difficult to establish a character that can’t exactly be nailed down, considering there’s an 80-year wealth of stories to choose from.
However, here they are: The best Flash stories that will make any beginner fall in love with comicsAnd every veteran fan remembers why he fell in love in the first place.
10
Flash and Green Lantern: The Brave and the Bold (1999-2000)
Created by Mark Waid, Tom Peyer, Barry Kitson
It’s not often that a superhero comic centers around a buddy-buddy friendship as its main story, but this is exactly where the Brave and the bold Beautiful. The six-issue mini-series describes the various intricacies of lifelong friends Green Lantern and The Flash as they deal with shadow versions of themselves, the original Star Sapphire, switching psychics and the grief of lost loved ones. Each issue marks a different moment in DC history for two heroes who, at the time of publication, are both dead in the main timeline—and sorely missed.
The brave and the bold is a fantastic walk down memory lane for fans of the Silver Age in a time of modern, flashy comics. As DC’s current continuity is a constant wake of world-shattering crisis events, it’s nice to read a down-to-earth story that defines a key Justice League friendship, especially if it’s about camping on an alien planet. After all, the Flashes are known for their loyal friendships.
9
The Flash: Running Scared (2017)
Created by Joshua Williamson, Paul Pelletier, Carmine Di Giandomencio, Neil Googe, Howard Porter and Hi-Fi Design
Just when Barry Allen thought he was finally and truly dead, his age-old nemesis, Rivers-Flash, returns apparently unkillable. in run scared, Eobard Thawne finally brings Barry Allen to the brink when he threatens the love of his life, Iris West, and changes Flash’s powers, connecting him to the negative Speed ​​Force that starts to change his personality. this volume is about the psychology of villains and how they bring out the dark side in heroes when you push them a step too far.
Reverse-Flash has been trying to ruin Barry Allen’s life for a long time. Interestingly, Eobard Thawne is first and foremost a Flash fan, as he grew up in the 25th century with Barry Allen as a historical hero. Finally, the story arc answers the question that Barry Allen begs to know: just why is Rivers-Flash so intent on ruining his life? Running scared Ends with a twist that hearkens back to The Flash’s first fight with Reverse-Flash but in an unexpected way that changes both hero and villain forever.
8
flashpoint (2011)
Created by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert
When Barry Allen decides to go back in time and save his mother from murder, he affects a change in the DC universe so massive reverberations are still felt to this day. After changing the timeline, Barry Allen finds that he has lost his powers and the whole world is falling apart, giving him a choice to make: become the Flash again and save the world or keep his mother alive – but not if the Reverse-Flash , his mother’s murderer, that’s it.
The comic introduced fans to the successful world of Flashpoint, where Thomas Wayne is Batman and Martha Wayne is the Joker. Flashpoint has been revisited many times, and the otherworldly Batman has even entered DC’s mainstream continuity, as both a hero and a villain in Batman’s own Gotham. More than that, the timeline reset was one of the biggest changes in the history of comics, erasing many characters from existence, like Wally West.
7
Black Night (2009-2010)
Created by Geoff Johns, Ethan Van Scriver, Peter Tomasi, Dave Gibbons and Ivan Reis
As the undead being Nekron assembles a Black Lantern Corps made from the zombified bodies of every superhero and villain who has died in DC history, it’s up to best friends, Green Lantern and Flash, to assemble a new team of Lanterns to fight for the Life of the universe. Barry Allen, who has to escape death one more time, never loses hope, and this is the reason why he was chosen to become the first human avatar for the Blue Lanterns – the embodied symbol of hope.
Nothing less should be expected for the DC hero who has his very own museum. Unlike Batman, the Flash’s central city knows that he is their savior, protector, and most of all, their friend. While Superman is also a symbol of hope, it is the Flash who is human at heart and has always been a relatable hero for the people. For lifelong Flash fans, this comic is a megaphone to reinforce how much Barry Allen means to the comics world.
6
Infinite Crisis #4 (2006)
Created by Geoff Johns, Phil Jimenez, George Pérez, Ivan Reis and Jerry Ordway
As endless worlds are clashing together and universes are collapsing, a parallel version of Superboy-Prime goes on a rampage to kill all the heroes of the DC universe. To stop him, the full force of the Flash family rushes him into the Speed ​​Force, and it is here that Flash fans get their first glimpse of the soon-to-be-resurrected Barry Allen stepping forward to help Bart Allen tame Superboy-Prime in The nick of time.
The Flash Family is a key component of the Central City Heroes, but they differ from other hero groups such as the Bat-Family in that they do not have separate titles and there is no hierarchy. Infinite Crisis Sees four different Flashes come together as equals, wearing the uniform of the Scarlet Speedster. To see this generation of legacies rippling through time, especially through a dead Barry Allen running back to help his grandson, was a groundbreaking moment that influenced Barry Allen’s later and permanent return.
5
The Flash: The Flash (2004)
Created by Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins
Barry Allen has Reverse-Flash, and Wally West has Zoomer, a former friend of West’s who became a speedster by freak accident in a mirror of Flash’s origin story. Like any Reverse-Flash, Zoomer is the dark side of the speed force, and as such, he brings terror to Wally West’s life, threatening the lives of his wife and their unborn twins. Ending in a haunting tragedy for the Flash and a sobering defeat for Zoom, Flash is a demonstration of how even the fastest man alive might have to stop and catch his breath.
This arc not only completes Geoff John’s run of The bottle detailing Wally West as the mantle-bearer, but it showcases a new speedster superpower that doesn’t have to do with the Speed ​​Force. Zoom’s ability to manipulate time has given new life to the Flash franchise. Geoff Johns would also go on to write most of the other landmark Flash stories, and Flash is where he first proved that he could make the Flash family DC’s most beloved heroes.
4
The Flash: Rebirth (2009-2010)
Created by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Scriver
Legacy collided in The Flash: Rebirth As Barry Allen rises back onto the scene after his universal sacrifice Crisis on Infinite Earths. Escaping the Speed ​​Force, with death still hot on his heels, he has no choice but to keep running just to stay alive. No Flash is ever alone though, and with his family of the fastest speedsters by his side, he is able to avoid death and finally rest his feet.
3
DC Universe Rebirth #1 (2016)
Created by Geoff Johns, Gary Frank, Ivan Reis, Ethan Van Scriver, Phil Jimenez
as with FlashpointWhen the timeline needs to be reset to usher in a new era of DC, just call on Flash. The acclaimed Rebirth era saw a return to DC’s most popular heroes with Wally West at the helm. The rebirth, mirroring Barry Allen’s own, reveals Wally West trapped in the speed force, oblivious to the entire universe and trying to communicate with his loved ones to bring him back. At a pivotal moment when Wally West calls out to his uncle and mentor, Barry Allen, the Flash pulls him back into the timeline, Return the legacy of the Flashes that have been broken for far too long.
2
The Flash: The Human Rights (1998)
Created by Mark Millar, Grant Morrison, Paul Ryan, Ron Wagner, Pop Mahan and Josh Hood
Fighting weird villains is nothing new to The Flash, but when aliens threaten the demise of Earth unless an Earthling beats them in an intergalactic race, it’s a little outside the Scarlet Speedster’s wheelhouse. However, even though the aliens can teleport in less than an attosecond, the fastest man alive goes on a space odyssey to win the race and also save the human race. Pushing himself to his limit, Wally will not only win the race – He ends up taking his time too.
Mark Millar and Grant Morrison’s work on the Flash in the zany story arcs of the 90s features the Flash at the height of his powers. Not only introducing key concepts such as the Speed ​​Force, it is in this comic that the Flash first moves out of the fast-paced criminal world of his own home town, fighting human criminals like Captain Cold and Mirror Lord, and becoming a hero who Can stop cosmic catastrophes. Wally West, arguably the fastest of the Flashes, shows feat after feat the human rights, And he’s still not slow.
1
The Flash: The Black Flash (1998)
Created by Mark Millar, Grant Morrison, Paul Ryan, Ron Wagner, Pop Mahan and Josh Hood
Death is hot on the Flash’s heels again, except this is the first instance of the Flash outrunning Death in Flash history. Death takes the form of a Black Flash, a reaper figure who comes to take away the souls of all the speedsters connected to the Speed ​​Force. In an era-defining moment for the Flash, Wally West does the unthinkable and races forward into the future, beyond time, beyond life, thereby rendering death and the Black Flash meaningless.
Always pushing the boundaries, running faster and faster, the Flash finally reaches its absolute peak of its speed in The Black Flash In a way no other hero has been able to match since, not even the Flash himself. Pitted against a new godly villain just raised the stakes high enough for The Flash to conquer death—and if he can do that, that means The Flash is practically immortal. for The bottleThere will always be more stories, and there will always be another race to run.