Countdown #43 "A Tale Of Two Cities" BY STEVE CHUNG Last week in Countdown, the heroes gathered in Keystone City to honor one of their own. But why is Keystone City such an important place in the DCU? What is the special legacy that connects Keystone City to Central City? We've got answers to keep you on the fast track in this Countdown ....
During a performance for the Picture News Orphan Fund Group, the Flash does a variation on the Indian Rope Trick, and disappears from sight.
By vibrating his body at super-speed, the Scarlet Speedster finds himself outside what he believes to be Central City. As he returns to the city, the Flash sees that the Memorial Tower and the Sports Stadium are no longer standing. He fears that he may have gone through some sort of time-warp, and arrived at a time before they were built. The community center is dusty from long being unused, and now with worry, the Fastest Man On Earth heads cross town to see Iris Allen. Instead of the Picture News Building, the Keystone City Herald Building stands in its place.
The date on the Keystone City Herald reads June 14, 1961. The date is correct, but the place definitely is not. The Flash is in the present, but Central City is nowhere to be found. The Scarlet Speedster then realizes what is so special about Keystone City and one of its citizens. In a phone booth, he finds the name and address of Jay Garrick of Keystone City. When he reaches 78th Street, the Fastest Man Alive changes clothes, and rings the doorbell as Barry Allen.
The police scientist rings the doorbell at 5252 78th Street, and when the door opens, Barry is face to face with Jay Garrick. Once inside, he tells Jay and Joan Garrick what he knows about him. It was at Midwestern University in 1940 where Jay Garrick was overcome by some hard water fumes.
After some time in the hospital, Jay recovered, and became the Flash. He would fight crime and criminals in his quest to overcome injustice. Naturally, the Garricks wonder how the stranger could possibly know so much about them. Pressing the ring, a costume shoots out of it, and Barry Allen once again becomes the Flash. On his Earth, the police scientist is the Scarlet Speedster, just as Jay is the Flash on his own Earth. When he performed his trick at the community center, his vibrations enabled him to bridge the gap between worlds, and reach this parallel world.
Thing evolved in much the same way on both Earths. The Scarlet Speedster tells Mr. and Mrs. Garrick how a lightning bolt struck his lab equipment, and bathed him with chemicals. Barry Allen would soon discover how easily he could outrun a taxicab.
Having read Jay's adventures as a child, Barry was inspired to become the Flash. When asked by Jay how anyone could possibly have read about him, he learns that a writer named Gardner Fox wrote about these stories which came to him in dreams. Fox must have been "tuned in" to Jay's Earth. The Flash comic book was discontinued in 1949, the same year that Jay retired as the Flash.
A series of unusual thefts in Keystone City has Jay Garrick about to make a comeback as the Flash. With the authorities baffled by the crimes, Jay sees it as a chance to do his civic duty, and Barry Allen is glad to aid his childhood hero in solving these strange crimes.
Unbeknownst to the Flashes, three men are behind the crimes: the Thinker, the Fiddler, and the Shade. Each of them a master criminal and an awesome adversary of the Flash.
The Thinker is after the Neptune Cup, and is ready to send his old foe for a loop when he comes after him.
The Shade is after a historical curio valued at over five million dollars. The shady villain makes his escape via speedboat, but he hasn't reckoned with the arrival of the Scarlet Speedster from another Earth. Being a reader of the old Flash Comics, he recognizes the Shade at once. A blackout stunt enables the Shade to make good his escape.
While the Thinker and the Shade compare notes on the different versions of their old foe, the Fiddler has managed to trap the two speedsters beneath the spell of his music.
When the Fiddler commands the Flashes to steal priceless jewelry from the museum, they manage to place the small gems in their ears, and break free of the musical spell. Once the criminals have been jailed, the Fastest Man on Earth-One returns to the spot where he arrived. He hopes that Jay will come to visit him some time. Now that he's out of retirement, Jay Garrick will continue to be the Flash. The "first" Flash watches the "new" Flash vibrate faster and faster until he fades from sight.
"Flash Of Two Worlds!" took place in The Flash #123 (September, 1961) by Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino, Joe Giella, and Gaspar Saladino.
In post-Crisis continuity, the Flash fought crime in Keystone City before disappearing. All that remained was the dim memory of the man who could run faster than the wind, and was regarded by children as a fairy tale. In Central City, where Barry Allen lives, there is a bridge which leads to somewhere, but no one can remember where. At night, when the wind blows, some have claimed to have heard music, and seen the lights of a distant city. These are the stories told by children, and are remembered by few others.
On this world, the Fastest Man on this new world performs a show for the orphans at the Central City Community Center.
At the climax of the show, the Flash begins to spin around like a human cyclone. The audience hears a noise and a ghostly wind which makes everything float in the air. It is at this point that the Scarlet Speedster stops.
After the show, the Fastest Man Alive comments to Iris Allen about the harmonic tone he heard when he reached a certain rate of vibration. He knows that it's too precise, too sustained to be a natural phenomenon. From the community center to the bridge, the Flash puts his theory to the test. When he matches his previous rate of vibration, the Scarlet Speedster is in for a surprise.
He sees another city vibrating slightly out of synch with the rest of the world. The city is vibrating in harmony with the tone. After seeing the streets filled with sleepwalkers, the Fastest Man Alive checks out a nearby newsstand and reads the headline of the Keystone City Herald. As he recalls Keystone City's most famous citizen, the Flash is now aware that the harmonics also phased out Keystone City from their memories.
With the theft of an entire city, only one man could possibly help him now. After locating the Garricks, he finds both Jay and Joan in a hypnotic trance.
As a child, it was Jay Garrick who inspired Barry Allen. Now it was Barry who used his super-speed to vibrate him awake. Now awake, Jay tells him about the three villains who finally managed to get the better of him. Not knowing what to make of the younger man, he knows that he could use his help.
The bad guys are in their headquarters at the outskirts of town. The Fiddler may have been the one who built the giant resonator to shift Keystone City out of real space, but it was the Thinker who thought of it first.
The Shade suggests that they extend their control to the rest of the country.
In the center of town, the Fiddler plays a tune to bring down the buildings. When the Shade suggests that they kill some people to pass the time, the Thinker puts his thoughts into motion. One moment, the Shade is admiring the brilliant carnage about to occur, the next moment finds him witnessing the arrival of two Flashes.
Between the two of them, the Flashes are able to deal with the girder, and the entranced construction worker beneath it.
The Shade is the first to try to make a getaway via speedboat, but he is caught in a giant whirlpool, and waterspout created at super-speed.
The Fiddler tries to use his violin, but against the original Flash, he may as well be standing still. One punch later, the villainous violinist is unconscious on the ground.
As for the Thinker, he is given a head start, and the next second finds two sets of hands taking his Thinking Cap to pieces.
At the villains' secret hideout, the Flashes use super-vibration to take out the giant violin. With it destroyed, Keystone City would soon return to its proper dimension.
From either side of the bridge, people from Central City and Keystone City met one another for the first time in years.
From that day on, both cities would share in the legacy of the Flash, and those who would follow in the tradition started by Jay Garrick.
Secret Origins #50 (August, 1990) gave readers a new version of "Flash Of Two Worlds" by Grant Morrison, Mike Parobeck, Romeo Tanghal, Albert De Guzman, Tom Ziuko, Michael Eury, and Mark Waid.
Because Pennsylvania is known as "The Keystone State", I always thought Keystone City was in Pennsylvania. Then when I fund out that part of Philadelphia is known as "Central City", I thought that that was the inspiration for the home of the Silver Age Flash. So for me, the Flashes always came from Pennsylvania.
Until Geoff Johns seemed to place Central City/Keystone City farther into the Midwest...
And when did Star City get placed in Connecticut? I thought Star City was more midwestern?
Posts: 662 | Registered: Jan 2002
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It makes sense to me that the Flashes always came from Pennsylvania.
It just so happens that our very own Jen Contino hails from Pennsylvania, and this would definitely explain how she's able to get all those interviews, articles, etc in so short a time.
Well, that, and I think her favorite color is red.
Thanks for reading!
Posts: 3532 | From: San Bruno | Registered: Aug 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Steve Chung: It just so happens that our very own Jen Contino hails from Pennsylvania, and this would definitely explain how she's able to get all those interviews, articles, etc in so short a time.
Well, that, and I think her favorite color is red.
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