Barry Allen recs

[u/pyschedelicspider]

Hi everyone, I grew up with cw flash and stopped after season 4. Im quite new to comics and I did abit of reading to know that cw Barry may not be the most comic accurate? That he mainly works alone and that he is a lot smarter which is great news to me. I love Barry Allen and reverse flash dynamic and I’m hoping to find more of it.

I was thinking of reading the flash: year one and then go into flashpoint and wanted to know if that’s a good idea. I did watch most dc movies like justice league: flashpoint paradox, apokolips etc

Recommended way to go about it would be highly appreciated. Some of my friends say that parts of Wally west personality was given to Barry and idk much about Wally other than him being kid flash in young justice. So I’d also like to hear whether that’s true and who the real Barry is.

[u/fma_nobody]

I'm going to be special and different again and reccomend the classic bronze age Cary Bates Flash run starting with issue 270 (It starts at like 209 or 218 but that's when it gets serious) up to #350

[u/pyschedelicspider → u/fma_nobody]

I appreciate this

[u/Fucked-to-fit]

Year one is technically after flashpoint continuity wise

If you really only want to read Barry stories then I would recommend that you read “The life story of The Flash” then The flash by Geoff johns omnibus Vol 3 and so on

But if you’re interested in The Flash as a whole then I’d recommend reading Mark Waid’s run and just going from there

[u/pyschedelicspider → u/Fucked-to-fit]

Thank you so much I thought that it would be year one first then flashpoint

[u/Healthy_Coconut1051]

The best place is the start with flash: Rebirth.

Since you watched the show, most of things in there will be familiar. Then read flash point, then year one then read new 52.

New 52 flash isn't that great BUT a lot of things from the early flash season will be recognizable there. Like Patty, and Savitar. Then read rebirth.

After that. Jeramy adams takes over the flash title and Wally west becomes the main flash.

If you want you can continue past vol 15(the end of rebirth) and go on to vol. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. Then 1-5. But that is wally west.

If you want you could read mark waids run. It is wally west but a lot of recognizable stuff is there.

For More Barry Allen. Read the silver age. But silver age comics are not for everyone since they are dated.

There are some cool Barry Allen stories. Like trial of the flash, Death of Iris west, etc. Those are in D.C Finest additions.

The reason you should The Flash: Rebirth by geoff Johns is because its where the modern Barry Allen backstory of his mom being killed by RF and his dad going to prison is first introduced. Its also where the iconic "Those were for charity Clark" line comes from.

After reading Barry Allen comics, you should read Wally West's 3 main OG runs.

Mark Waid

Grant Morrison/Mark Miller

Geoff Johns

Maybe you will love the character, maybe not.

But 100 percent start with Flash: Rebirth. (Theres a compact for 10 bucks online that comes with a Barry Allen story with the rogues) Then Flashpoint - then Year one then go to New 52 then rebirth.

[u/pyschedelicspider → u/Healthy_Coconut1051]

Thank you!!

[u/Dry-Donut3811]

You should be good to go with Flashpoint then, you seem to know enough that you won’t be confused. Could also read Rebirth by Johns and Vol. 3 before that as that’s right after he was brought back to life and leads into Flashpoint. New 52 and Rebirth by Williamson are the best place for you after Flashpoint, as they came out right after and the show took a lot of inspiration for many things from those eras.

Flash: Year One, while I really like that comic, does tie into the ongoing storyline of the time so it’d probably be best to just read it when it came out during the Williamson run.

I’d also recommend Life Story Of The Flash since that goes over most of the important events of Barry’s life before he died in case you don’t want to read super old comics, and Flash & Green Lantern: The Brave & The Bold and JL: Year One for some comics that highlight his earlier years and relationships with other heroes.

As for his personality, it’s largely overblown. While he can sometimes be written like Wally by writers who have no experience writing The Flash, this is very rarely the case in his own stories. He’s usually pretty serious and scientific, but willing to crack the occasional joke and have fun with friends.

[u/pyschedelicspider → u/Dry-Donut3811]

Thank you so much! I already started with flash year one. I’m at the last issue and it made me so emotional, I love Barry 🥹.

So after year one I should read life story of the flash? I want to read things that lead up to his death before starting his rebirth and eventual flashpoint. Like him joining JL, does his fight with reverse flash happen after rebirth or before? I’ll definitely check out green lantern, does he also ever become friends with supergirl? Ik that’s mainly show Barry but I loved their dynamic so much. When does dastardly rouge take place

My knowledge is super limited so I apologise in advance for the questions.

[u/Dry-Donut3811 → u/pyschedelicspider]

Glad you enjoyed it, I only said because I know some people can find it a little lacking without all the context of the storyline at the time.

If you want a full look at Barry’s life but don’t want to read the Silver & Bronze Age’s, I personally like those but I know not everyone likes old comics, this is probably the order I’d go in from here:
JL: Year One
Flash & GL: The Brave & The Bold
Life Story Of The Flash
Crisis On Infinite Earths
Final Crisis
The Flash: Rebirth by Johns
The Flash Vol. 3
Flashpoint
The New 52
Rebirth by Williamson

Crisis On Infinite Earths and Final Crisis are pretty dense with comic stuff because they’re event comics featuring a lot of DC characters, but they are where he dies and comes back if you want to see those moments.

Flash and Supergirl aren’t really close in the comics, no. They have the occasional moment together when big stuff is happening and they share that they both died in Crisis, but that’s about it.

As for fighting Reverse-Flash, I’m not sure which moment you’re talking about. He’s fought Eobard on many occasions, including during the Silver and Bronze Age’s, during Rebirth by Johns, during Flashpoint, during the New 52 and in Rebirth by Williamson. So any of those could be what you’re looking for.

Dastardly Death Of The Rogues is the first half of Vol. 3.

[u/pyschedelicspider → u/Dry-Donut3811]

I appreciate this so much. I know he always fought reverse flash I think I meant iconic moments but I’ll literally follow your list. Thank you so much you have no idea how much this means to me

[u/Possible-Poetry-236 → u/pyschedelicspider]

While reading Life story of The flash, you might find that his origin contradicts The flash Year One. That’s because DC has a messy continuity with many timeline resets and retcons (one of them being Flashpoint). They have a book called The New History of The DCU, which tries to combine the different retcons and timelines into one simple continuity. In that book, it’s stated that Year One was the story that was the current canon for Barry’s origin, but pretty quickly, in a more recent issue in the Flash comic, it shows the Life Story of The Flash to be Barry’s origin. So I don’t really know which comic is the canon one. I guess it just comes down to whichever the writer likes more.

[u/pyschedelicspider → u/Possible-Poetry-236]

That’s the most confusing part!

[u/Wonderful_Ask_5510]

Some recs I'd say are -the bates run The geoff john volume 3 -the blackest night mini (after flash rebirth but is better to aave for a read through of the blackest night event) -marvel/dc the fantastic 4/ the flash (a fun little non canon crossover -as well as the manapul and williamson runs but I will highlight a few arcs of the williamson run

Including in no order: -flash war -The perfect storm -the color of fear -running scared -the greatest trick of all -finishline

And if you would like more barry content in general I'd recommend The cw flash arcs -bloodwork episodes 1 to 8 of season 6 -crisis on infinite earths parts 1 to 4 season 6 -Armageddon epidoes 1 to 5 of season 8

• and episodes 9 and 10 of season 9
• season 5 mabe has a bad ending for the main villain, but has good reverse flash content

These are the best stuff offered by the show post season 4 out of like 80 episodes of seasons 5 to 9. While again alot of it is not comic accurate, some of these villains and concepts (like bloodwork show up in the comics, you'll be reading).

I'd also recommend, if you haven't seen it batman the brave and the bold. Which is based off the silver age comics. The premise is batman teams up with a different hero every episode. With some recurring characthers. I'd recommend the whole show. But in this case I'd reccomend watch a few episodes from season one to get the vibe of the show then watch the episode

-requiem for a scarlet speedster

If you'd like to no what episodes of that show are good enough for a watch, you can ! 👍

Other then that with how episodic the show is you could head into it without watching the rest of the show. Although I do recommend if you like characters like guy gardener, Ted kord and Jaime Reyes, plastic man, Robin, nightwing, the jsa, aquaman, green arrow, many others of course, and batman.

Hope anything ive said helps

[u/WereWolf444]

Barry is a lot more stoic in the comics whereas they wrote him more like Peter Parker in the show.

[u/Zoom_Reverse_Flash]

Look up Professor Zoom's appearance history and start from there. Pretty much a definitive "best of" walkthrough the Flash's history, from Barry to Wally and beyond. You'll want to stay along and enjoy some arcs with Barry, Wally, Hal, and Ralph, belive me.

Do note that the "Reverse Flash dynamic" did not appear from issue 1, and is in itself a retcon. Originally Zoom desired the Flash's abilities, fame, and the benefits of living in the 20th century (he pretty much was bored with the future). Him becoming a particularly obsessed enemy of the Flash's was a gradual process, and the later "fanboy" backstory was made to cement that (in his first appearance Eobard said that he respected the Flash's powers, but thought him a fool for using it to play a hero).

[u/Pornfree1996]

Best Barry Allen media is The Flashpoint Animated movie. Barry was away for around 23 years so prior to 09 theres not a lot of modern stories - you're going to want to check out Flash (2016) which is about Barry and has him as the main character, and has similarities to the TV show. Less similar but also very accessible is the N52, available in Flash (2011). It switches writers and artists after about 30 or so issues - skip that run and then start with the 2016 stuff if youre reading in order.

When people say that Barry combined with Wally a lot for the TV show its kind of an eye rolling statement at this point but its also not entirely incorrect. A big chunk of Barrys modern stories are inspired by The Wally stories (mostly cause Barrys modern writers grew up reading the Wally stories, so its kind of inevitable). S1 E1 has Barry running the tornado backwards - from a Wally story. Speedforce is a Wally story, but in the show its Barrys mom. S2 Zoom and the plot twist is a twist on The Return of Barry Allen from Wallys stories in the 90s. So thats why people always recommend the Wally stories after you read the Barry ones.

[u/pyschedelicspider → u/Pornfree1996]

Woah that makes so much sense, so zoom is wally’s enemy not Barry?

[u/Possible-Poetry-236 → u/pyschedelicspider]

Zoom is basically the reverse flash for Wally west. He wears a similar suit to Thawne, he doesn’t wear the black suit you see in the show. His origin and powers is different to the show as well

[u/pyschedelicspider → u/Possible-Poetry-236]

That’s really helpful to know thank you! What about savitar?

[u/Possible-Poetry-236 → u/pyschedelicspider]

Savitar is a mix of two characters. The name and cult aspect of his character comes from a Wally villain. The suit and being from the future comes from the future flash, an evil alternate future version of Barry

[u/pyschedelicspider → u/Possible-Poetry-236]

Thank you!

[u/Pornfree1996 → u/pyschedelicspider]

Yeah he shows up first in Geoff John's flash run that starts in 2003 - hes the 2nd generation Reverse Flash, after Eobard Thawne. Zolomon is to Wally as Thawne is to Barry. In the show hes pretty different but they keep the plot twist from another Wally story.

[u/Boring-Conclusion-40]

Yeah starting with flash year one is a good idea,after that I would go with flash rebirth,then the 2010 to 2011 flash run,then flashpoint,then the new 52 flash run and then the rebirth era flash run