Right before
The Flash
was revived in
Showcase #4
, there were several short-lived attempts to bring back super-heroes, who had all but disappeared by 1949, replaced by horror, western, and romance comics.
One of the better characters debuted in 1954...
Mild-mannered professor Keith Spencer lived in "Atom City" (an obvious surogate for Los Alamos), somewhere in the SouthWest USA.
Spencer was also Captain Flash, who could set off a "miniature atomic explosion" inside his body by clapping his hands, which made him super-strong, super-fast, and near-invulnerable for brief periods.
Like most heroes, he had a teen sidekick, Ricky Davis, who, like
Bucky (
Captain America's partner) and
Tim (
Black Terror's aide) didn't have a secret identity and was referred to as "Ricky" in and out of costume.
As
Captain Flash, most of Spencer's time was taken up either dealing with Communist spies trying to steal atomic technology or disasters created when the technology went awry, which happened with alarming frequency!
Art was by veteran Mike Sekowsky, who later became one of Silver Age's most prolific pencilers, working on numerous titles including
Justice League of America
,
T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents
, and
Metal Men
,
The series only ran four issues before the publisher, Sterling Comics, went bankrupt in 1955.
Ironically,
Captain Flash was the company's best-selling title, showing that superheroes were viable again!
Of course,
we at
Atomic Kommie Comics™have
always believed that superheroes are marketable, and
Captain Flash is no exception!
That's why we've included
him in our new
Lost Heroes of the Silver Age of Comics™ line featuring some of the characters who also filled the magazine racks of the 1950s and '60s along with the better-known Marvel and DC heroes and heroines!
Welcome back,
Captain Flash! (But for God's sake,
don't applaud!) ;-)
, the classic 1938 Errol Flynn flick
, and several Golden Age comics covers (including Classics Illustrated)!
, 
!