Geography of Comics: The Flash (and the JLA)

My favorite character.

There have been four Flashes to date; Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, Wally West and Bart Allen.
In case you don't know (or couldn't work out from the name) the Flash has the power of super speed. All (except for Bart) got their power after some sort of chemical spill or inhalation.

Although it's been proven numerous times that he can't actually travel at the speed of light*, he still has his undoubted merits.

The Flash first appeared in the Flash Comics #1, from All-American Publications (one of the original companies that eventually became DC).

He's about as American as it gets, from the dashing good looks to the caffeine drenched journalist girlfriend.

He's chivalrous, successful, powerful and athletic (well, obviously), the epitome of the American Dream.

He plays an important role in the Justice League of America, defending Aquaman (see Geoff Johns, The Flash: Wonderland for an insight into this), and therefore plays an important role in the American comic-book culture.

The JLA was "founded"in 1962, slap in the middle of the cold war (okay, well the actual middle was 1969, but it's close enough). This was largely political, dealing with fears and paranoia extremely relevant to the day. These fears are 'fought' by the all American (and Kryptonian, Amazonian, Atlantic among others, but all were extremely American in spirit and were thinly masked to be The American Dream).

The villains are also thinly masked, with Despero, The Key, Shaggy Man, T.O. Morrow, closely resembling 'American Villains' of 1962, but most notable are Imperiex-Prime and Darkseid.

The JLA later slides into the Justice League of the Universe, which is much more politically correct, I suppose.

Anyway, the Flash is a very important character, a point which can't be stressed enough.
For proof, see this video: