The Flash (1959)

Barry Allen arrived as DC's Silver Age Flash in 1959, headlining his own series from issue #105 -- a number carried over from the Golden Age's Flash Comics. A police scientist in Central City, Barry gained super-speed after a freak laboratory accident combined chemicals and lightning. Editor Julius Schwartz shaped the book's direction, with John Broome and Gardner Fox writing science-tinged adventures and Carmine Infantino delivering the sleek artwork that gave the Silver Age much of its visual identity.

The series built one of comics' most colorful villain rosters: Mirror Master, Gorilla Grodd, Captain Boomerang, the Trickster, Heat Wave, and the Reverse-Flash, among others. It also introduced Wally West as Kid Flash in #110 and established the concept of parallel Earths in #123's "Flash of Two Worlds," a concept that reshaped DC continuity for decades. The run ended at #350 in 1985, with Barry Allen sacrificing himself in Crisis on Infinite Earths.