When last we saw our hero, the Flash had just been reduced to a steaming puddle by the villainous Molder; which I can't help but think would be a major setback for most heroes. Except maybe Mr. Bill, I suppose.
As we saw the previous issue, the Elongated Man had been transformed into the Molder, by E-M taking a hit of his gingold-booster for his powers, while being carried at super-speed by the Flash. The Molder turns on his criminal partner, figuring he was no longer needed, although he only melts him into the ground rather than murdering him. Still, an ambulance crew scrapes what's left of the Flash off the tarmac and takes him to the hospital, where he's given a bed--seriously, I don't know what else they thought they could do for him. Fluids, maybe?
Iris is trying to keep it together, working on a Flash retrospective at the TV station, when she gets a visit from Sue Dibny, who has to tell her Ralph was Flash's killer. They have this discussion, somewhat unwisely, at a coffee shop, and are overheard by an eavesdropping Russian spy! Still, Iris disguises herself as a nurse and sneaks in to see the Flash, and gives him a good electric shock, which revives the Flash and causes a small explosion, throwing her through a window! Flash saves her, and the next day gets to work saving Ralph, with a gingold antidote made from a tree infected with fungus. When Sue won't answer the phone, Flash heads over to see her, and finds her the prisoner of Russian spies, who were using her as a hostage to get the Molder to destroy a defector's pro-America art exhibit. Flash beats up those spies, then injects the Molder with the antidote at super-speed, and together he and Ralph beat up the rest of the spies. Easy as pie.
The Russian spy angle feels a bit out of the blue, even for a book like this! Still, probably had to get that page count up somehow. Somewhat amusingly, a letter that issue notes suburban square Barry's "Flash alias has not brought any deep emotional scars," and while the letter writer considers that a positive, that's definitely been rolled back in recent years.
2 comments:
Jesus, only in the Silver Age could a co-worker/friend be turned into a villain then back again without any long-term consequences.
And how the fuck does having stretchy, elastic powers morph into being able to melt people? Silver Age logic that's why.
Not Ralph! I love Ralph! And Sue!
Can we stop having depressingly dark crap from DC this summer and just bring the Dibnys and Booster back?
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