First 10 - Flash Comics

Here's a question I ask myself when I'm doing these First 10 reviews, "Why do you separate the  eras for some series, but not for others?" When it comes to The Flash, I don't intend to do a separate review of the Wally West Flash. Why not? It mainly has to do with how I intend to read the comic. For the Green Lantern comics, I would want to read the Alan Scott and Hal Jordan eras separately because I know I would get anxious for the Hal Jordan years if I just started with Alan Scott. For The Flash, I would actually want to start with Jay Garrick and read all the way through Barry Allen and Wally West. There's a method to my madness, but it's not very organized and is mainly subject to my slightest whims and nothing else whatsoever.

Anyway, I really enjoy Golden Age comics when they're well done, and The Flash is very well done in his Jay Garrick form. I don't really care for most of the other series in these issues (most of them feature non-powered tough guys who don't do too many things of interest) so after the first couple, I just started reading the stories that feature The Flash. While they were just as exciting and innovating as any of the other Golden Age series which have survived to the present day, there were a few things that made me roll my eyes a bit, like the fact that Jay Garrick is constantly spinning like a top to hide his identity while interrogating baddies. Wouldn't they be at least aware of the Tasmanian devil-ish tornado in the room? It makes sense that they wouldn't recognize the person in the blur, which seems to be the whole point of spinning, but you would definitely see the blur, right? Anyway, I'm sure that oversight is cleared up in later issues.

I have a soft spot for the speedsters of the comic book world (which is part of the reason I don't want to just dive into the modern characters who have been called The Flash without taking time to appreciate the man who came before them all). I always wished Quicksilver (or speedsters in general) had a bigger role in the Marvel Universe, and I loved the crisis (I forget which one, but it might be Infinite Crisis) which brought multiple Flashes together to run on a treadmill in order to save the multiverse. I just love the idea of superhuman speed as a power. I knew I would enjoy this comic before I even bit into it. That said, as I do more First 10's, it gets harder to put things as close to the top as I'd like. There are just so many great series and so little time, which I guess is the point. Here's where The Flash falls:

1. Batman
2. Amazing Spider-Man
3. Fantastic Four
4. Silver Age Green Lantern
5. Deadpool
6. The Flash
7. Booster Gold
8. Daredevil
9. The Punisher
10. Golden Age Green Lantern
11. The Avengers
12. Ghost Rider
13. The Defenders
14. Captain America
15. Excalibur
16. Golden Age Captain America
17. Golden Age Blue Beetle
18. Doctor Strange
19. Captain Marvel (Marvel Comics)
20. Aquaman