Barry Allen is back. Who is Barry Allen, you ask? Well he is MY Flash. Every generation has his own DC superhero version, and my Flash is the 60’s version, Barry Allen, just as my Green Lantern is Hal Jordan (not Kyle Ryner or John Stewart). He is not necessarily the first Flash (the first one is Jay Garrick, the one with the arinola head gear, who first appeared in the 40’s), but he ushered in the Silver Age of Comics which for me is still the best. Youngsters, yes, you, youngsters, might be more familiar with Wally West, the one in the Justice League cartoons, and the one who has been donning the mantle since Barry Allen’s death in 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths. It has been 24 years since Barry Allen sacrificed himself to save the universe from the anti-Monitor, and he is finally alive again. His actual return, which was quite Meh in the Final Crisis (no thanks to you, Grant Morrison), will now be fleshed out in a five-part mini-series, Flash: Rebirth, written by the excellent Geoff Johns and illustrated by the excellent Ethan Van Sciver. It is now just in its first issue, and I am already feeling some real love towards Flash. This must explain my years of apathy towards the Flash character–it wasn’t Barry.

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