The Flash #106

The Flash #106

Originally released in 1959

Written by John Broome

Art by Carmine Infantino

Despite the numbering of the issue, this is one of Barry Allen's earliest stories.  He started out as the Flash in an anthology series called "Showcase", and when he moved to his own series, they picked up the numbering from the Golden Age Flash, Jay Garrick, whose comic ended at issue 104.  This issue marks the first appearance of Gorilla Grodd, though the creators of the issue showed remarkable restraint by not putting him on the cover.  Instead, they focused on another new villain, the Pied Piper.

Despite Piper getting top billing, Grodd gets the first story, which also introduces Gorilla City and the benevolent gorilla Solovar.  Solovar was captured by humans and sold to a circus, keeping silent so that he doesn't risk revealing the hidden location of Gorilla City.  However, Solovar knows how to control the minds of others, and Grodd wants that information so badly that he's willing to go to North America to get it.

Of the two stories in this issue, Grodd's is the most entertaining due to the sheer ridiculousness of the premise.  The main reason why Barry is involved in this plot at all is because there's a gorilla roaming the city streets, and Barry's actor friend believes that he is that gorilla, since he dresses up as a gorilla for work.  The threat is resolved extremely quickly, but it's fun while it lasts.

The Pied Piper's story is more of a straightforward cops-and-robbers story; the Pied Piper is trying to commit heists using the power of sound, while the Flash tries to stop him.  From what I've read of Mark Waid's run on the Flash, the Piper becomes more of a heroic figure (or at least an ally to the Flash) during Wally West's time as the Flash, which leaves me wondering how he gets to there from here.

There's some entertaining/silly applications of their powers, showing that there's more to the Flash than just running fast. (even if windmills do not work that way)  The Flash struggles more in this story, as the Pied Piper gets away from the Flash twice before eventually being caught; it likely helps that the story was more straightforward, whereas the first one had to establish Grodd, Gorilla City, and other concepts that were less grounded.

My main issue with this series is the Flash himself.  With Superman, it was clear from his first appearance that he was the sort of person who didn't consider any problem to be too big or too small to solve.  Gangsters, war profiteers, a wrongful execution, domestic abuse - he'd do what he could to stop any of that.  In Batman #1, Batman was a darker character than Superman, both in design and in personality, but despite trying to scare criminals, he still tries to be a role model for children.  Their interactions with other characters, like Lois Lane or Dick Grayson, helped to flesh out who they were and what set them apart.  Barry Allen, on the other hand, comes across as the superhero equivalent of plain white bread - he's "generically heroic," for the lack of a better phrase, but we don't get much of a personality out of him in either identity.

In theory, his interactions with his fiancée Iris West should help with that, but from what I've read of their Silver Age stories, her interactions with Barry usually boil down to Iris complaining that Barry's too slow.  Maybe when Wally is introduced as Kid Flash, that will help to develop Barry and make him feel more three-dimensional.