Pre-Crisis Primer: Race to the Crisis

The Flash 323-329

“The Trial of The Flash Part 1”

I love opposite arch-nemesis characters. The covers for this book are amazing!

Hi Barry Allen, let's get to know you as much as we can before...well...we'll get to that when the time comes.

Barry Allen has a pretty keen life: for starters he's The Flash, fastest man on the planet (possibly universe); and yes he's faster than Superman, he has to be, or else why would he exist? Back to Barry: he's a successful forensic scientist with the Central City police; he's set to be married to Fiona Webb, a woman who loves him very much; and his arch nemesis, the Reverse Flash (aka Prof. Zoom!), a psychopath from the future so obsessed with the Flash, he duplicated the speed powers and enjoys screwing with Barry by killing his wives. That last one's not so keen.

"If you're dead, I can satisfy myself with your screams of pain!"

While Wally West, Kid Flash, is having problems of his own in the Teen Titans books, Barry's about to have the mother of all bad days. He is to be married to Fiona Webb, five years after the death of his previous wife, Iris West, at the hands of The Reverse Flash (serious dick) whom Barry then left trapped in limbo to pretty much rot in eternity. As Barry is literally in his tux and ready to leave for the nuptials, one of the Oan Guardians (whom we met here) takes it upon himself to deliver a warning, based on Barry's friendship with the indisposed Hal Jordan (Green Lantern, indisposed here) (continuity!), that Reverse Flash was able to break free of limbo and has made his way to Earth.

Using comic book logic to deduce that Reverse Flash must be on Earth for revenge on Flash by killing Fiona Webb, Barry suits up as the Flash and leaves his bride-to-be standing at the altar. Notwithstanding, Barry is dead-on about Reverse Flash's need to do some wife-killing and the two end up slugging out while crisscrossing the world several times over as super-speedsters are want to do, the entire fight ending in a very dramatic moment where Reverse Flash is racing right to Fiona who is distraught, wandering outside the church, because no one knows what happened to Barry. The villain rushes towards Fiona, his arm outstretched, poised to ram his hand through her skull when Barry dashes in front of him and flat-out breaks the Reverse Flash's fucking neck in order to stop him. Exit one super-villain.

Reverse Flash is nude in that coffin.

Whew.

Of course, Flash did not mean to kill Reverse Flash, but the means in which he grabbed the criminal speedster's head and the speeds at which they were moving resulted in a yellow-suited corpse at the end of the day and one couldn't really fault Barry for not feeling all too terrible about it.

The killing happens in front of several witnesses, most of whom do not know of Barry's double-life as the Flash. With Barry Allen officially missing and the Reverse Flash dead in public, Flash is eventually arrested for the crime where a grand jury determines he will stand trail for the crime of murder. And while the Flash languishes in the public eye and Fiona Webb is in the hospital with a severe case of shock regarding what she went through, Flash decides Barry Allen must go missing until everything is sorted, and super-villain Gorilla Grodd (another giant malevolent ape!) does what bad guys do and schemes for the sake of scheming. 

Speeding tickets.

In addition to the impending attacks from Gorilla Grodd, Flash must also contend with his teammates in the Justice League. While the League has, as part of its charter, clauses which prevent members from interfering in the lives of other members unless asked, they are worried that Flash's impending trial might effect their ability to function as a team. This being the case, a mock-hearing is held over whether or not to eject Barry from the League in his time of need. The team decides against this by the slimmest margin, Superman casting the deciding vote to retain Flash's membership in the League.

This update consists of eight issues, all the opening salvo of the epic 'Trial of Flash' story that will ultimately span 27 issues and lead directly into the 'Crisis on Infinite Earths.' This is my first time reading this story, which is one of I wanted to read for a while now. 'Trial of Flash' touches on most of the aspects Flash's life up until this point: his entire support cast, love interests, and almost every recurring villain to have plagued The Flash. We'll be able to examine his entire world as it crumbles around him. 

The Justice League are not helpful friends.

 

These issues are gold, and if you'll forgive the awful pun: the pacing is absolutely breakneck. It's interesting that the book that opened up the Silver Age, Flash, jettisons a lot of the sillier story trappings to tell a story very much ground in reality: that of a beloved celebrity hero making a huge mistake and being publicly scorned for such an act. Funny how modern some comics from 1983 can be.