A lost page of history. Few people seem to remember Jay Garrick, the original Flash, stopping World War II in late 1940. Including the participants, who made it drag on another 5 years. But it did happen... in Flash Comics #12 (on the stands October 1940). First, some context, courtesy of Action Comics #31, released that same month:
Whether or not the U.S. is in fray, 80% of the world is at war. Also note that DC Comics endorsed the use of chemical weapons back then. Gulp! You know what we need, right? A superhero CREATED by dangerous chemicals. (You never see someone develop powers from getting hit by a bullet, do you? Bullets hitting other people, that's another story, but I digress.) That hero is the Flash! And the ambassador of a small country - let's call it Kurtavia - asks Jay for help via a radio broadcast because another country - let's call it Nural - is invading it from all sides. Any resemblance to Germany and Poland/Czechoslovakia/Denmark (map suggests the Netherlands or Belgium, but that's prescient) is purely... let's use the word coincidental, but as with the rest, we know what we're actually trying to say.
Superheroes usually stick to domestic problems, but in this case, the Flash agrees, and less than 10 minutes later, he's in Kurtavia, saving lives and hobbling war machinery (including U-boats... again, not fooling anybody).
They are surprisingly easy to disable. But that's not enough to end all war. Apparently, THIS is:
It's not losing the guns, or the bombs, or the subs, or the planes. It's the uniforms. The clothes make the man, and you can't have a nude army. Maybe we can develop a chemical attack that eats through textiles, I dunno. At the end, the Flash has disarmed Nural and armed Kurtavia (sure they won't then become a problem... what is this, U.S. foreign policy?), and he's sabotaged
Berlin's the Nuralian capital's power plant and "crippled the nation". It sues for peace.
He doesn't even stick around to get his medal, because real heroes don't do it for the rewards. Also, real heroes don't want to stick around to see the consequences of their work, like Kurtavia turning around and invading Nural with all their shiny new weapons.
Three cheers for peace!
Comments