The Last Johnny Quick Story

The Last

We spoke a bit previously about Johnny Quick, DC’s alternative super-speedster who occupied the back pages of first MORE FUN COMICS and then ADVENTURE COMICS during the Golden Age of Comics. Johnny was a long-running second banana character whose adventures were typically better-drawn than the company’s more mainstay fast hero, the Flash. But also, as a back-pager, Johnny was somewhat insulated from the need to maintain a certain sales profile. Accordingly, his strip continued for a full five years beyond when the Flash had been sent to the showers, giving him the leg-up on longevity.

Eventually, though, in 1954, rising costs and shrinking page counts did Johnny and his magic speed formula in. His final bow until the Silver Age came in ADVENTURE COMICS #207. The story’s author is unknown, but the artwork was provided by Ralph Kayo. It’s an undistinguished outing, one that gives no indication that it would be the final exploit of the character for a long while.

With ADVENTURE COMICS #208, Johnny’s spot in the center of the magazine was taken up by Aquaman, who had been a rotating feature for some time. The trio of Superboy, Aquaman and Green Arrow would continue to hold the series right through into the Silver Age. It’s perhaps worth noting that all three characters–Green Arrow, Aquaman and Johnny Quick–had been created by editor Mort Weisinger, and that may have influenced their ability to stick around when other similar features were falling by the wayside.

By the time of this story, Johnny’s visual bag of tricks was somewhat curtailed. Gone were the days when artist Mort Meskin would use a novel approach to depicting the character’s speed, illustrating multiple figures of the character accomplishing whatever task was put before him. In this final tale, you could be forgiven for not even realizing that Johnny was meant to be whip-fast.

Published

15 thoughts on “The Last Johnny Quick Story”

  1. I have liked what I read of Johnny Quick after he was revived in ‘modern’ times and it’s always a pleasant surprise to find his series was a cut above others in the Golden age.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  2. like a lot of readers my age, grew to like JQ in All Star Squadron and then his later stuff with Jesse that Waid and others wrote in the 90s.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Same. Hard to recall now if I 1st saw JQ in A-S..S. (eye roll) 😉 or in Overstreet’s Price Guide. O.P.G. was a great reference for me. My father had an extensive baseball card collection, and sometimes he’d find comics he knew other collectors wanted, and trade them for baseball cards. O.P.G. was where I first learned of the Black Terror, Fighting Yank, the blond Golden Age Wonder Man, and many others.

      I really liked Oscar Jiminez’s styled Johnny Quick in his & Mark Waid’s “Flash” issues. I believe Johnny was killed by Savitar.

      Like

      Reply

  4. Re-reading the 1980’s “All-Star Squadron” issues, Johnny was a bit obnoxious. His insecurities about Flash being more famous, or about his relationship with Libby (Liberty Belle) Lawrence are more tedious to read in my older years. He was really self-absorbed. But I also considered him part of my preferred core group of All-Stars; along with Belle, Dannette (Firbrand), Commander Steel, Amazing Man, and Robot-Man. I liked seeing Hawkman, Green Lantern, and Doctor Fate, too. But the previous 6 didn’t have the strong ties to the JSA the latter 3 had, and that group of 6 just felt like a well balanced team.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. The first time you read All-Star Squadron and saw the pairing of Liberty Belle and Johnny Quick did your mind go to Miss America and the Whizzer?

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

      1. Wow, I didn’t know that. Was that established in the Golden Age, or did Roy pair them up in “The Invaders”?

        Like

      3. Nuklon from Infinity, Inc? Sorry, I meant Miss America & the Whizzer. Was their romantic relationship legit Golden Age era comics, or retconned decades later in “The Invaders”? The same Whizzer we were told might’ve been the father of Wanda & Pietro? 😉

        Like

      5. My mind never went there, at least, but it does now.

        The idea that Roy would have established a Whizzer/Miss America romance (maybe based on a couple of lines in the two All-Winners Squad stories), and then re-created it in ALL-STAR with Johnny and Libby seems pretty obvious. Roy, at least, must have seen the parallels.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. Last Johnny Quick story and a decade later his name would be given to a villain: Johnny Quick of Earth-3 [ Justice League of America#29 ( August 1964 ) Crime Syndicate of America ]. As far as I can tell he was the only DC golden age hero whose name was given to a villain.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Completely agreed. This story lost me at the opening. “Save her, somebody!” “sweeps the lady to safety …” – She fell a few feet into a swimming pool. Even if she can’t swim herself, there’s a whole crowd of people around, many of whom are strong swimmers. And later when the crooks start the fire, she just stands around. If she thinks her life is in danger, she can just get out the room (which would be the smart thing to do anyway, to let firefighters deal with it without other people in the way). Plus Tubby acts like a complete idiot throughout.

      I understand they had pages to fill, and not every story can be a classic. . There might have been a decent romcom plot buried here about Johnny helping Tubby woo a girl, and hilarity ensues. But this one had nothing.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Leave a comment