| rdfs:comment | - Jason Peter Garrick is a college student prior to 1940 (retconned from 1938) who accidentally inhaled hard water vapor after falling asleep in his laboratory where he had been working (later stories would change this to heavy water vapor). As a result, he finds that he can run at superhuman speed and has similarly fast reflexes (retcons imply the inhalation simply activated a latent metagene). After a brief career as a college football star, he dons a red shirt with a lightning bolt and a stylized metal helmet with wings (based on images of the Roman god Mercury) and begins to fight crime as the Flash. The helmet belonged to Jay's father, Joseph, who fought during World War I. He has been seen using the helmet as a weapon/type of shield, as seen in Infinite Crisis. He has also used it to d
- A college student in 1939 Keystone City, Jay Garrick was a bright young man who had two loves: science, and Joan Allen. Unfortunately for Jay, Joan was the type of girl who prefered jocks over nerds, and was rebuffed for not being a football player. One night, while working with hard water molecules, Jay accidentally knocked the vials over, and inhaled the fumes of the chemicals. Said molecules accelerated Jay's reflexes and metabolism to superhuman levels, granting him superhuman speed which he used to become a player on his school's football team.
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| abstract | - Jason Peter Garrick is a college student prior to 1940 (retconned from 1938) who accidentally inhaled hard water vapor after falling asleep in his laboratory where he had been working (later stories would change this to heavy water vapor). As a result, he finds that he can run at superhuman speed and has similarly fast reflexes (retcons imply the inhalation simply activated a latent metagene). After a brief career as a college football star, he dons a red shirt with a lightning bolt and a stylized metal helmet with wings (based on images of the Roman god Mercury) and begins to fight crime as the Flash. The helmet belonged to Jay's father, Joseph, who fought during World War I. He has been seen using the helmet as a weapon/type of shield, as seen in Infinite Crisis. He has also used it to direct a beam of light at Eclipso. His first case involves battling the Faultless Four, a group of blackmailers. In the early stories, it seems to be widely known that Garrick was the Flash. Like the Flashes who followed him, Garrick became a close friend of the Green Lantern of his time, Alan Scott, whom he met through the Justice Society of America.
- A college student in 1939 Keystone City, Jay Garrick was a bright young man who had two loves: science, and Joan Allen. Unfortunately for Jay, Joan was the type of girl who prefered jocks over nerds, and was rebuffed for not being a football player. One night, while working with hard water molecules, Jay accidentally knocked the vials over, and inhaled the fumes of the chemicals. Said molecules accelerated Jay's reflexes and metabolism to superhuman levels, granting him superhuman speed which he used to become a player on his school's football team. But such a life was not for him, as he botched a drive-by shooting meant for Joan, conducted by a quartet of criminals in order to force her father to reveal the location of a research base. Deciding to use his power for good, Jay put together a uniform consisting of a scarlet sweater and boots, blue tights, and his father's WWI helmet with golden wings attatched to it. Foiling the criminals's plans, and causing them to commit accidental suicide (it was the Golden Age, heroes were allowed to kill bad guys or at the least drive them to their deaths), Jay continued as the Flash, battling such odd villains as the Thinker, the Fiddler, and the Shade before calling it quits in 1949 and marrying Joan. Years later, Jay came out of retirement after meeting his successor, Barry Allen, and continues to fight crime both alone and as a member of the Justice Society of America.
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