Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Number 2172: Captain Flash and the monster from the mirror

Captain Flash had a short run for a small publisher, Sterling. His first issue was published in 1954, before the Comics Code was implemented, and the subsequent three issues have Code seals on them. I believe that some publishers were looking to find titles that would sell after they couldn’t publish horror comics. (Sterling published one with the title Tormented, a title dropped under the Code.) None of the superheroes, including Captain Flash, lasted very long. It took another year and yet another Flash (no relation to Captain Flash), the Silver Age revival of the Golden Age Flash, to finally start turning out successful superheroes.

Captain Flash, created by Martin Smith and artist Mike Sekowsky, had another of those superhero origins that we in the real world know would kill a person. In this case a massive dose of radiation. The Captain also had another of those familiar young boys following him; a kid had no superpowers at all.

In this story from issue #1 (1954), Captain Flash encounters a being from the mirror. It ends with a promise from Captain Flash to continue the fight. He does, in issue #2, but my source is damaged so I don’t want to show it. Suffice it to say Captain Flash is in the same predicament at the end of that chapter, also. And Mirror Man does not appear in #3 or #4. He must still be out there. Maybe in your mirror.

I also noticed the Captain Flash logo bears some similarity to the later logo for DC’s Flash. Just saying.







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2 comments:

  1. Brian Barnes7:26 PM

    Actually that read like a 60s DC superhero story, certainly not like a 40s super hero tale (not a lot going on in superheroes in the intervening years.). A little too short and a little too low stakes, but interesting.

    Not only does the logo -- as you pointed out -- look similar to the flash, but the flash also has a villain named Mirror Master (I think, too lazy to look it up!) who goes in an out of mirrors! Somebody at DC was reading!

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  2. Pappy11:17 AM

    Brian, I wonder when Mike Sekowsky went to DC? I don't know if he co-created Captain Flash or not, but it makes me wonder about some of the coincidences.

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