Blogotional: Comic Art

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Comic Art

There are a lot of famous comic book covers out there, but few that have set the course for a whole company like the one at right here. In the intermittent series on speedsters, I thought we'd look at the "Golden Age Flash"

Most the characters that DC succeeded with when the Silver Age started (early 60's) were revamps from the so-called "Golden Age" (WWII), but this cover, for the first time brought together the characters of the same name from both ages. Man, did it cause a stir.

Wasn't long before all the Golden Ager's were showing up throughout the DC line. That lead to the whole "multiple earths thing, which later came crashing down, and has now begun to expand again. All from that one little cover - it has virtually defined the great story arcs that have driven the entire DC line since it's publication.

The Golden Age Flash, Jay Garrick, is perhaps the most popular, certainly the most recognizable, of the discontinuously published Golden Agers. One must exclude Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman since they never ceased to be published during the dark days between the ages. I love his classic look, but it had to be revamped in the Silver Age since his face shows. When the Silver Age started you just weren't a superhero unless you had a secret identity, and that mandated a mask.

But the look is classic - literally. Based on depictions of the ancient mythological character of Mercury with the winged helmet, GA Flash is a character born out of the actual classics.

He is still around today, acting as mentor to the current cowled Flash, and sort of riding heard over the entire speedster clan in DC as patriarch. Not to mention his role as teacher of new heros and patriarch of the Justice Society. A stable family man, in a world of emotional super-drama, I really like the character as a call back to by-gone days when super-heroes really were good examples of how to live a life.

I'll leave you with some original art from the creators of the original Flash.