DC Comics Presents: Flash # 1 By Koppy McFad Aug 21, 2004 - 15:18:00 PM

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DC COMICS
WRITER: Jeph Loeb, Denny O'Neil
ARTISTS: Doug Manhke, Mike Farmer, Ed McGuiness, Dexter Vines
COVER: Alex Ross

This is another tribute issue to the late, legendary comic book editor Julie Schwartz. The two stories take off from a classic Schwartz comic cover of the 1960s showing the Flash asking the reader not to miss this issue as his life depends upon it. The writers are supposed to craft their stories based on this premise. The first story by Loeb and McGuiness sort of cheats on the rules. Basically, it is a clever tale with Barry Allen using his super-speed to complement his skills as a police detective in order to trick a baddie into revealing himself. Some nice cameos by classic villains and charming art to go along with it but no real attempt to match the outrageous concept of a comic character telling the fans his life depends on reading his book.

The second story by O'Neil and Mahnke is a little more faithful to the cover. Julie actually makes an appearance in this story where the Flash gets hit by an alien weapon that will cause him to cease to exist unless he can make enough people believe in him. The plot is the height of contrivance, not up to the best of Gardner Fox or John Broome but at least there is a strong sense of fun to the whole thing as well as an educational look on how comics are created. The art is fittingly light-hearted, quite appropriate considering the absurd situation. Both stories are pleasing tributes to the Silver-Age, when Schwartz was revolutionizing comics. But they also show that they just don't make em like they used to.

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