Every Race Must Have A Finish Line... - Looking Back At The CW's Arrowverse - Part 1

After nine seasons, The Flash has come to an end, signalling the end of the Arrowverse as a whole after a decade on air. How did we get here? And was it worth it in the end?

Last week, on Wednesday 24th May, the series finale of The Flash aired on The CW. The final episode, the conclusion of the four-part “graphic novel” titled “A New World”, featured a bombastic final race against time for Barry Allen, played by Grant Gustin, against a bevy of heavyweight evil speedsters, including his eternal nemesis Eobard Thawne, aka the Reverse Flash, played by Tom Cavanagh. After nine seasons of good versus evil battles on cosmic, worlds-ending scales, it wasn’t these two archenemies going at it one final time, but Thawne’s seasons-dead ancestor, the unlucky-in-love-and-life detective Eddie Thawne, who gave Barry his greatest challenge.

In the immortal words of Inigo Montoya, “Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.”

The Flash has never been a straightforward show. Somehow, a high-concept science-fiction show featuring super speedsters, parallel timelines, doppelgangers, an entire multiverse and timeline-breaking time travel, ran for nearly a decade, all thanks to a little show called Arrow (2012).

Arrow, starring Stephen Amell, acted as a launchpad for not only The Flash (2014), but also Constantine (2014), Supergirl (2015), Legends of Tomorrow (2016), Black Lightning (2018), Batwoman (2019), Stargirl (2020) and Superman & Lois (2021). And don’t forget about the animated shows that followed, namely Vixen (2015) and Freedom Fighters: The Ray (2017).

That’s 11 individual series with 808 episodes combined, across 46 seasons.

Say what you will about the failings of Warner Bros’ DC Extended Universe and their catastrophic failure to launch a shared cinematic franchise on par with Marvel’s own, but that’s 808 episodes of roughly 45 minutes runtime each, across a decade. That’s roughly 36,360 hours of superhero content, more so than the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s output combined.

Why are we not talking about that? Why are we not celebrating that?

We’ll get to that.

(And yes, I know that Constantine started on NBC, but was retroactively folded into the Arrowverse by way of an Arrow Season 4 episode. I know Supergirl launched on CBS but jumped to The CW with Season 2. I know that Stargirl and Superman & Lois “don’t count” because they’re not set on “Earth-1”, I know, I know, I know, but actually, come on, do you know? You cannot deny the success of these 11 individual series that made up a television empire. I’m not leaving any of them out.

So. I want to talk about The Flash. Which means I have to start by talking about Arrow.

Arrow focused on the adventures of a man known as Oliver Queen, who, in the comics, was a billionaire playboy who ended up shipwrecked on a deserted island and had to survive on his wits until his eventual rescue. When Oliver returned to civilisation, he adopted the identity of “Green Arrow” to wage war against crime, having learned that something-something-privilege-arrows-crime-prevention.

Green Arrow (and his sidekick Speedy!) debuted in More Fun Comics #73 (1941), created by renowned Golden Age creators Mort Weisinger and artist George Papp. In the space of a year, Weisinger created the likes of Aquaman, Green Arrow, Johnny Quick and Vigilante for National Periodicals, who later became DC Comics. In 1942, he was conscripted into the US Army, and when he returned to the publisher four years later, he was given stewardship of various high-level titles such as the Superman and Batman family of books. He was a demanding, sometimes cruel, regularly rude, but undoubtedly successful editorial force, and his time on the Superman books— an era that lasted until his retirement from comics in 1970— resulted in the introduction of Superman’s cousin Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl; his loyal dog, Krypto; the treacherous ghostly prison dimension known as the Phantom Zone; the tragic bottle city of Kandor; and a whole host of Kryptonite varieties, with all their myriad and deadly effects.

George Papp’s career in comics was also interrupted by World War II. Prior to his military career, not only had he introduced Green Arrow, but he also introduced Congo Bill in More Fun Comics #56 (1940), about a globe-trotting adventurer who could swap minds with a legendary golden gorilla, which he used to protect his adopted home of Africa.

A-N-Y-W-A-Y.

When Papp returned from the war, he continued to draw Green Arrow in both Adventure Comics and World's Finest Comics until 1958. similar to Weisinger, Papp was instrumental in introducing iconic and long-lasting characters and concepts to the Superman universe, including illustrating the first Bizarro serial appearance in Superboy #68 (1958), as well as the first appearances of both the villainous General Zod and the Phantom Zone in Adventure Comics #283 (1961).

Back to Green Arrow, though. Weisinger and Papp were up front about the character’s inspirations. The character’s creators said he was based on a combination of Batman and Robin Hood, as well as the The Green Archer, a popular silent film serial from 1940.

It’s so interesting that due to various contractual and licensing issues, whenever the producers of a DC superhero franchise on TV want to use Batman, it feels like they end up with Green Arrow. Consider Smallville (2001), who introduced a very brooding version of Oliver Queen in 2007’s Season 6. It’s a well-known piece of trivia that series creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar lobbied Warner Bros. to introduce Bruce Wayne to the show, but because the studio didn’t like the idea of having two Batmen in live action at the same time, the request was repeatedly turned down. That lead to the introduction of Oliver Queen, and the rest was… kind of history? Arrow’s version of the Emerald Archer feels like he’s steeped in Bat-lore, especially when you get to the use of Batman’s archenemies, including Ra’s and Talia Al Ghul, the League of Assassins, and more.

Green Arrow didn’t stay static from his debut in 1941. There were various famous runs that kept the character relevant, including a 1957 stint by Captain America co-creator Jack Kirby that ran across Adventure Comics #250-256 and World's Finest Comics #96-99. He debuted his most iconic look in Bob Haney and Neal Adams’ The Brave and the Bold #85 (1969), which was followed up on by Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams, when the pair took over Green Lantern in 1970 and it was renamed Green Lantern / Green Arrow, starting a run of acclaimed stories that ran from #76 to #89 (1972), when low sales and Adams’ trouble keeping up with deadlines resulted in the book’s cancellation.

Green Arrow continued to appear in various back-ups and a four-issue miniseries, but didn’t headline his own ongoing book again until 1987, when artist Mike Grell’s debuted Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters, a miniseries that took the character into the so-called Dark Age of Comics, an era that started with the arrival of Watchmen (1986). And yes, there were darker books that came out before then, such as V for Vendetta (1982) and Ronin (1983), but it was really Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns (1986) that made the grim and gritty, “post modern”, Cold War adjacent tone the presiding one for years to come.

Grell’s miniseries was so popular that it led to the launch of Green Arrow’s first ever solo ongoing series. He wrote the title from 1988 all the way through to 1993, delivering eight issues that redefined the character for a whole new era.

And then Oliver Queen blew himself up.

Green Arrow and Superman had teamed up to save Metropolis from a group of eco-terrorists, who rigged a bomb to destroy the city. Oliver’s hand was on the trigger, stuck in the innerworkings of the explosive device. The only way to save Green Arrow’s life would be for Superman to remove the vigilante’s arm— a reference to The Dark Knight Returns’ one-armed portrayal of the Emerald Archer— and Oliver refused to let him. What use is an archer with one arm? So, he willingly set off the bomb above the sea, before it could reach the skies over Metropolis. And he died.

For six years between 1995 and 2001, Oliver’s illegitimate son, Connor Hawke, took up the mantle of Green Arrow, and it stayed that way until Kevin Smith and Phil Hester’s iconic arc “Quiver“, which lead to the ressurection of Oliver Queen, and a new status quo for the character. There have been subsequent adventures, subsequent stories. The most influential of those on Arrow was Andy Diggle and Jock’s Green Arrow: Year One (2007), which directly inspired the flashbacks that took place throughout the early seasons of the show. So inspirational, in fact, that showrunner Marc Guggenheim named David Ramsey’s character, John Diggle, after the writer.

I was trying to talk about The Flash, wasn’t I?

The character of The Flash was first introduced to comics in Flash Comics #1 (1940), published by All-American Publications, and created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert. His origin was as simple as they come: College student Jay Garrick, taking a moment away from his studies in a laboratory, accidentally inhales heavy water vapors during a smoke break and and gains superspeed.

The Golden Age of Comics was so simple.

Donning a helmet that summoned allusions to the Roman God Mercury and the headwear worn during World War I, Jay fought crime as The Flash, and after being featured in issues of All-Star Comics (1940), he gained another solo title, the aptly titled quarterly public All-Flash (1941).

Before we press on, let’s talk about the team that created Jay Garrick. Born in 1911, Gardner Fox is known as one of the most vital and prolific voices in comics. In a 2016 tribute from the now defunct ComicsAlliance site, they estimate he has written more than 4,000 comics stories, with 1,500 odd being for DC Comics. This man was the cornerstone of what would become DC Comics, and you see his creations thriving to this day. He introduced Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl, as well as the mystical Doctor Fate and the winged Hawkman, who were most recently adapted to the Silver Screen in Black Adam (2022). He also created the original Sandman, who later inspired Neil Gaiman’s prestigious series The Sandman (1989). He wrote the early adventures of the Justice Society of America and later recreated the “all-star” team concept as the Justice League of America. But, perhaps most importantly to The Flash, he also introduced the concept of the Multiverse to DC Comics in the 1961 story "Flash of Two Worlds!". Speaking of…

But most importantly to me, in Adventure Comics #61 (1941) he co-created Starman with artist Jack Burnley. I’ll talk about why that’s important some day, I promise.

Harry Lampert was born in 1916, and reading up on his own start made me realise how lucky some of the guys were back in the day. Lampert worked under the legendary Max Fleischer, and worked on early episodes of Betty Boop (1930) and Popeye (1933). Lampert worked on the first two issues of Flash Comics before pivoting to more comedic work, as was his preference, and produced work for the likes of Esquire, The New York Times and TIME Magazine. Later on, he founded the Lampert Agency, an advertising company that produced an array of award-winning ads, before retiring to follow his true passion… bridge instruction. The man wrote six books about playing bridge (and one pamphlet), and was a licensed by the American Contract Bridge League to teach the game.

I was pleased to see that in the mid-1990s, Lampert was invited to comic conventions, and he discovered how popular and influential his creation was, as I think it’s so important that people are given their laurels within their time, and when they’re not, it’s a massive missed opportunity.

You look at the way Marvel mistreated Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby, the way DC managed to screw over Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, how Batman creator Bob Kane was credited as the sole defining voice of Batman, despite the vital contributions of Bill Finger, Sheldon Moldoff, Jack Burnley , and the aforementioned Gardner Fox. Did you know that Marvel used to issue paychecks to their creatives with vouchers on the back saying that by signing it, the creative renounced all rights to whatever they created? Which meant they couldn't sign the paycheck without also signing the voucher? There are too many Golden and Silver Age creatives who got trampled on by the Big Two publishers, and it’s vital we try to recognise the best and brightest while we can.

After a strong run (nice) and after a decline in the popularity of superheroes in a post World War II landscape, Jay Garrick slowly lost his head of steam. All-Flash was cancelled in 1948 after 32 issues. Flash Comics was cancelled in 1949 with 104 issues to its name, and then, finally, All-Star Comics was cancelled in 1951 after 57 issues. The Flash was finished.

For five years.

Debuting in Showcase #4 (1956), the team of editor Julie Schwartz, writer Robert Kanigher and artists Carmine Infantino and Joe Kubert, introduced Barry Allen, the new Flash. Struck by lightning, doused in chemicals, the perpetually late CSI could suddenly run faster than the eye could see, and with these powers— and inspired by the comic books he read that starred Jay Garrick— Barry became The Flash. In 1959, three year after Barry’s first appearance, DC relaunched Flash Comics, with him in the lead, renaming the book to The Flash, and continued the numbering with #105.

This was part of DC’s push toward revamping Golden Age characters into the Silver Age, so we eventually saw new versions of Green Lantern in Showcase #22 (1959), Hawkman in The Brave and the Bold #34 (1961) and more.

Joining the villainous Captain Cold, who debuted in Showcase #8 (1957), The Flash's "Rogues" (as they became known) expanded in1959 to include the telepathic and homicidal super-intelligent ape Gorilla Grodd (#106) and the mirror-dimension hopping thief known as the Mirror Master (#105). In 1960, the Australian mercenary and crook, Captain Boomerang debuted (#117), along with the weather-manipulating Weather Wizard (#110). Eventually,1963 gifted us the flamethrower-wielding Heat Wave (#140) and Barry’s opposite, the sociopathic speedster called Professor Zoom (#139).

The book ran for 245 issues, and Barry’s life ran the gamut of experiences. He married the love of his life, Iris West, in The Flash #165 (1966), only for her to be murdered by Professor Zoom thirteen years later in The Flash #275 (1979). He had a sidekick, Kid Flash, who debuted in The Flash #110 (1959), who would later surpass the original… but that’s a story for another time. Barry was a founding member of the Justice League of America, as depicted in Justice League of America #9 (1960). He was the first hero to bridge the multiverse, which he first did accidentally in The Flash #123 (1961), which resulted in his meeting his Earth-2 equivalent, Jay Garrick.

Not only that, but along with his own time-and-space-bending adventures, he was also instrumental in various crises across multiple earths that teamed the Justice League with the Justice Society of America, firstly in Justice League of America #21 (1963). He even managed to find love again in Fiona Webb, but when Professor Zoom tried to murder her as he had Iris, Barry snapped… and broke the evil speedster’s neck in The Flash #324 (1983). Barry was put on trial, found guilty due to some mind control machinations put in place by Zoom, but eventually retired in peace to the 30th century, where he lived happily ever after with a resurrected Iris, had kids— the future Tornado Twins!— and made a life together. That was the status quo as of The Flash #350 (1985).

…Barry and Iris’ happy ending lasted a handful of months in “real time” before Crisis On Infinite Earths, the multiverse-spanning homage to all those original crossovers between the various worlds, arrived. Barry was plucked out of his future retirement by the Anti-Monitor, and sacrificed himself to save all of existence.

From a thematic standpoint, it made sense for Barry to die during the events of Crisis On Infinite Earths. He was the epitome of the Silver Age, the era of DC publishing that drove the line toward this storytelling moment. It had been Barry’s actions during The Flash #123 back in 1961, when he travelled to Earth-2, that opened the door to the DC multiverse. If the multiverse was coming to an end nearly twenty-five years later, than who better to pay the price, to save everybody, than the one who started it all? So, in November 1985, only a month after The Flash #350 hit the stands, Crisis on Infinite Earths #8 landed, and with it, Barry Allen’s final sacrifice.

Shame it didn’t take.

Just as Oliver Queen came back, so did Barry. You can’t keep a good hero down. Unlike Oliver though, instead of six years, it took Barry twenty-three. And a hell of a lot happened between 1985 and 2008.

More on that next time. I’ve got a deadline to hit. As ever:

To Be Continued…