It seems remarkable to me at this later date that I bought (or was bought) only two comics between subscription issues of FLASH arriving, but that appears to be the case. I can only guess so many years later that my attention must have been at least somewhat diverted by the other elements of youth in that era: baseball cards, candy, slurpees, toys of one sort or another, etc. Still, it feels strange.
Anyway, before you knew it, the mailman had brought me another folded-in-half issue of my favorite super hero’s adventures. I can recall, after getting and reading the book, I showed it to a local friend who was over playing and asked him if he could identify the killer on the cover. He picked Heat Wave “because he has a gun.” But let’s leave the reveal until it shows up naturally in the story.
The issue opens up with a reprise of the situation established on the cover. However, it’s all a tableau set up using wax dummies in the Flash Museum. Incidentally, this was my first encounter with the concept of the Flash Museum, and while it seems strange for an active super hero to have a museum dedicated to him now, as a kid I accepted it completely–why WOULDN’T the Flash have a museum? Despite the precautions taken by museum curator Dexter Miles, a photographer gets a snapshot of the display, and before you know it, it’s headline news in Central City.
Worryingly, all four of the Rogues in question are at large at the moment (despite most of them having been captured again a few issues previous), so any one of them could be the guilty party, sending a message to the Flash about his impending demise. Dexter calls the Allen household, hoping to enlist Barry’s help in contacting the Flash–which turns out to be super-easy, since they’re the same person. Flash speeds over to the Museum, arriving just as some dodo criminals are in the process of attempting to loot it.
Now, I’m not a criminal mastermind, but it seems to me that attempting to rob a super hero museum devoted to a very-much-still-active crime-fighter is a good way to find yourself behind bars. And that’s precisely what happens, in a fast-paced action sequence. Afterwards, Dexter and Flash consult with one another, and Flash reveals that it was actually he who set up the display with the wax figures. You see, he’s been targeted by a mysterious assassin called Saber-Tooth, whom nobody has ever seen, and he was hoping that stirring up some media publicity would smoke the killer out of hiding.
Suddenly, Flash is struck down by the weapons from all four of the wax figures. Turns out that Dexter has been replaced by Saber-Tooth as a method of getting close enough to Flash to finish him off. But when Sabre-Tooth heads out to eliminate his prisoner, the real Dexter, Flash appears and captures him. His impersonation had been sussed out earlier, as the Dexter who phoned the Allen residence didn’t remember their new lodger Stacy Conwell, whom Dexter had met and complimented earlier.And we, the readers, never do get to see Saber-Tooth’s true face, so his identity remains a mystery.
Meanwhile, on the planet Que, Green lantern picks up from where we left of last issue–with the Emerald Crusader insensate due to the soporific atmosphere, and with a battle about to break out between an Earth tank crew and their equivalent among the alien Sposm, all for the betting pleasure of a pair of ratlike alien gamblers.
GL’s ring is able to revive him, but he’s still in the midst of a battle. During the fight, the Omnitron that the aliens use to increase the aggression of their players is shattered, causing their own long-dormant feelings of hate and aggression to cause them to attack one another. When one kills the other, the fighting is stopped, and Green lantern delivers a pithy and perhaps-too-on-the-nose Anti-War platitude before going about getting everybody back home.
The Tom Brevoort Experience 