InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I promise."

dr_hermes (dr_hermes) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-10-27 21:35:00

Entry tags:

char: flash/jay garrick, era: golden age

Oh, all right, I suppose I'll have a secret identity
For years, the official word on the original Flash was that he didn't need to wear a mask because he constantly kept up a state of vibration that blurred his features enough to make them unrecognizable. This never seemed plausible to me, anyway; depending on how automatic vibrating your face could be (would it be like constantly blinking fast every time you're in public?), the Flash was knocked unconscious or gassed or drugged plenty of times in those Golden Age stories, so crooks got a good long look at his mug. (Later, around 1978, Jay Garrick publicly announced his true identity, being semi-retired anyway.The funny part is that, in the early stories following his origin, Jay not only didn't try to conceal his powers as his civilian self, he went out of his way to flaunt them in front of crowds. This sure seems understandable; he was a college student, a young man suddenly given an astonishing gift and how many people of that age would not want to show it off? Actually, how many would think there would be any reason to hide their new abilities?

___

This is from FLASH COMICS# 6, June 1940. Jay has graduated and spent a few months making headlines fighting crime as the Flash. Although he still performs his super-speed stunts in his regular clothes whenever convenient, he has made red and blue costume with the lightning bolt insignia, as well as the winged helmet of Mercury*, famous. Yet here he is at the pre-Olympic tryouts, using his real name... in front of a packed stadium, with lots of photographers and newsreel cameramen, as well as radio commentators, pulling shenanigans like this. After pulling this, it would be hard to find anyone in the civilized world who didn't know that Jay Garrick had superhuman speed that seems supernatural. This at the same time the Flash is making headlines.

At this time, Jay seems to be known as the Flash to everyone he went to college with, the police and the army. By FLASH COMICS# 17 (May 1941), he is still fooling around by playing baseball against himself out in public. Yet at the end of the story, despite the fact he has just demonstrated his powers at a baseball game (with the Redskins!), doing stuff like running three bases on a bunt. For some reason, he seems to have gotten the idea that a secret identity is good form (maybe hanging out with his pals in the new Justice Society has made him want to be more like them), so he starts claiming that even though he has exceptional speed, he's not as fast as the Flash himself.

Well, maybe. I don't think he fooled anyone. He never seemed determined to keep his secret, and I suppose people just went along with it out of politeness. ("So, you said you'll talk to the Flash, Jay? Right, your friend the Flash, wink wink nudge nudge") Sort of like when you know a friend has a sordid phase in their lives that you just avoid mentioning.

[Scripts by Gardner Fox; art by Harry Lampert, EE Hibbard, and Hal Sharp]

*Actually, I believe Hermes/Mercury actually wore a wide-brimmed cloth hat called a petasus, rather than a metal helmet. Maybe Jay was misled by a bronze statue of the god.

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psychop_rex
2009-10-28 09:05 am UTC (link)

I love the idea of someone just casually deciding that now that he has powers, he'll be a superhero, and not really bothering to hide this fact from anyone he knows. The fact that he's a college student at the time makes this particularly appropriate - it's like the world's biggest change in future careers.

'Man, finals were brutal this year, huh? Oh, well, at least it's summer... So what classes do you think you'll sign up for next semester, Jay?'

'Well, I HAD been planning on taking Advanced Biochemistry when I got back, but I've decided to change my major.'

'Oh, yeah? To what?'

'Well, see, I had this lab accident a few months back, and ever since then I can run fast enough to catch bullets, so I've gotten this red shirt with a lightning bolt, see, and I plan on battling the forces of evil - so I'll probably be taking Criminology 1 instead.'

'Ah. Well, good luck with that.'

(Reply to this)

	catbirdseat 2009-10-28 01:25 pm UTC (link)
	Cool :) I love Jay. He's so uncomplicated and angst-free. In a world built on secrets and lies and whatnot, that makes a character quite special. (Reply to this) (Thread)

jaybee3
2009-10-28 02:05 pm UTC (link)

Yeah, I especially loved the fact that he's not one of those super-heroes that always have to keep lying about and/or keeping their significant others from their secret from the start. Joan knew from the beginning, she was pretty much the first person he told and they were only dating at that point. The fact that he was the Flash and she was in on it actually brought them closer together.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

alschroeder
2009-10-28 03:33 pm UTC (link)

I had no idea that Jay was THAT casual about his secret identity early on. Thanks for reprinting these. I notice they also kept the speed to more realistic limits---a thousand MPH, not faster than light, in these early stories. Today, Jay (or Wally or Barry) would cover two thousand miles in two seconds, not three hours.

This reminds me of the Human Torch's early run in STRANGE TALES (the Johnny Storm one, not his android predecessor) where even though everyone knew his sister was the Invisible Girl, supposedly nobody except a few friends who had left knew Johnny Storm was the Human Torch, and he pulled various tricks to have room to change his identity.

This went on for a little while, and then the high schoolers he was "fooling" revealed the truth---they had known all along he was the Torch, and were just giving him his space, as it were, if he wanted to pretend to be a "normal" teen-ager.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	arkyramone 2009-10-28 05:06 pm UTC (link)
	the best part of that run+ Johnny & Jay have been upsized in power several times since then. (johnny flame would die if over used) (Reply to this) (Parent)