As the 1940s superheroes had faded in popularity, crime and horror comics had taken their place. The voices associating comics with juvenile delinquency had grown louder. The comic book industry had suffered in recent years. We even got a glimpse of him reading a comic book about a fictional Jay Garrick Flash. He was still super-fast, but the character had a new costume, new personal history, new everything. Instead Showcase #4 (cover date October 1956) featured police scientist Barry Allen as the Flash.

In 1956, Julius Schwartz - the editor of Flash Comics, Green Lantern and All-Star Comics – tasked writer Robert Kanigher and artist Carmine Infantino with reviving the Flash. Issue 58 was retitled All-Star Western, and the superheroes were gone, replaced by tales of cowboys and Indians. But that came to an end with All-Star Comics #57, cover-dated Feb-March 1951. All these classic Golden Age characters continued on for another few years as part of the Justice Society of America in All-Star Comics. Green Lantern (aka Alan Scott, currently a radio broadcaster) had his final solo adventures in Green Lantern #38, cover dated May-June 1949. 1949 saw the final solo Golden Age appearances of the Flash (aka research scientist Jay Garrick), Hawkman (aka Carter Hall, re-incarnation of the Egyptian Prince Khufu), the Atom (college student Al Pratt) and the Black Canary (aka Dinah Drake). That line is one of cancellation and revitalization. It’s easy enough to pinpoint the line between the Golden Age and Silver Age for most superheroes. Comics fans and historians often refer to the late 1950s and the 1960s as a “Silver Age” of Comics.

Robin 1993 1 chuck dixon