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Comics : Spotlight
Last Updated: Jul 5, 2008 - 8:12:15 PM



The Flashes' Secret Ids Going Public: Part Four - A Normal Life
By Cury
May 6, 2003 - 7:05:00 PM

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...As was the idea since Flash #1. So far as Flash's 3rd issue, Wally doesn't have a secret identity per se, he just doesn't care- but the public in general isn't aware he's the Flash (or aware of "the Flash's real name" if you will).

In Flash #5 (10/87), after moving in from his shabby Brooklyn apartment to a mansion in Southampton, Long Island (bought with some of the lottery money), Wally is surprised by the editorial of a local newspaper, about the town's liability insurance being cancelled since Wally moved in. Enraged, Wally meets the President of the City Council in a nearby restaurant:

City Council President: "(...)The truth is, Mr. West, your realtor was under obligation to tell us that he was selling that property to a super-powered individual(...)"

So there you go. By the time of Flash #5, the hero's identity is no longer a secret to the world at large. But can we say the Flash revealed his identity in that issue? No!

What about the other issues? No- there isn't a specific moment he revealed his identity as the Flash to the world- it was a gradual process since #1. (I'll get to Flash Annual #8's controversial "Year One" tale... and then return to Green Arrow #17, fellow Flash-fans... just hang in there!)

In fact... ever since he finished High School, Wally wasn't very comfortable with his secret identity. Take a look at the 1978 "Dollar Comics" Flash Spectacular (written by Cary Bates). Upon his imminent graduation, Wally chooses to tell his parents he's Kid Flash- and once the ceremony is over, he actually tells Barry (then the Flash) that he is planning to drop his super-hero career once he finishes College!

There are echoes of that story in Secret Origins Annual #2 (again), when Wally recalls a time during the trial of the Flash (when Barry- as the Flash- was in jail for the murder of Professor Zoom) in which he's talking to Barry and says he's quitting being Kid Flash once he's gone to College- that he wants to lead a normal life, lead a family, etc. (Interestingly enough, this same Flash Spectacular featured Jay Garrick, the original Flash, then of Earth-2, revealing his secret identity to the general public in a magazine article for the first time!)

But on to Barry's death & beyond:

Barry, as the Flash, died in the Crisis- but we never got to see his funeral nor anything. Barry's widow Iris Allen's book The Life Story of the Flash (late-1997, written by Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn) doesn't mention a thing about secret identities or Barry's funeral- but (and I'm nitpicking here) there is a picture of a Daily Planet (newspaper) of the time, with the headline, "Flash perishes."

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Read related reviews such as:

Captain Cold
Mirror Master
Justice league Flash
Silver Age Flash and Kid Flash Set



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© Copyright 2002-2008, Coolstreak Cartoons Inc. - All rights Reserved. All other texts, images, characters and trademarks are copyright their respective owners. Use of material in this document(including reproduction, modification, distribution, electronic transmission or republication) without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.

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