Flash Fridays – The Flash #345 May 1985

As the opening narration box exclaims: “A far-flung era in the distant future many centuries removed from the typical travails of life in 1985…” we see a prisoner, shown only as a field of energy, breaking out of a max-containment facility. Even though we can’t see the prisoner, I think we all pretty much know who it is (If you don’t, then you have to say three hail Mary’s, and hop back and start this blog thread again from the very beginning, froggy). The joy is immediate because we get to see some Carmine Infantino’s futuristic cityscapes, something at which he has no compeers. That alone is worth the 75 cent going rate for the book back then. The tableau then quickly shifts to the the courtroom where Kid Flash (Wally West, and one more hail Mary if you didn’t know that) is testifying for the prosecution in the Flash’s Murder trial. As he does so, he points out several ways by which the Flash could have disabled the Reverse-Flash without killing him. Despite Cecile Horton’s attempt to undercut it, the testimony is devastating. “Jump-cut to the blurry escapee from the far flung (you just can’t use flung enough as far as I’m concerned) future breaking into police headquarters and Barry Allen’s police lab leaving behind a puddle of glowing liquid on the floor in which you can see Flash boot prints (for my money, those traction treads were the coolest addition to the new uniform of the Flash when Carmine designed the new Silver Age look (and you don’t know what I’m talking about… aww forget it). Once again the blurred figure assaults the police headquarters only this time as a semi-solid figure. He enters the computer lab and removes some information from the computer. It’s later determined that certain selective information has been excised. More significantly, it’s info on every member of the Flash’s rogues gallery. 

Next we jump to the home of Barry Allen’s parents where we find Cecile Horton outside the house spying on them. She see’s Barry’s mother holding the uniform of the Flash and begins to put two and two together. Cecile then meets with the Flash later that night on a bench in the park, and tells him trust her no matter what happens in court the next day. Cecile plans to show that Barry Allen is the Flash and that the Reverse-Flash had murdered his first wife Iris West and was about to murder his new bride thus providing ample cause for the Flash’s anxiety in trying to stop the Revers-Flash at all costs. 

In the courtroom, she pulls of the Flash’s mask to reveal… a man with dark hair and dark bushy eyebrows who looks nothing at all like Barry Allen. Next: Dead Man’s bluff.