FLASH I (Jay Garrick)	BIOGRAPHY
Created by Gardner Fox and Harry Lampert

Flash (Jay Garrick)

PERSONAL DATA

Real Name: Jay Garrick
Full Name: Jason Peter "Jay" Garrick
Identity: Public
Occupation: Adventurer, Research scientist, semi-retired
Place of Birth: Hibbardsville, Kansas
Citizenship: American
Marital Status: Married
Known Relatives: Joseph Garrick (father, deceased), Joan Garrick (wife), Major Arthur Williams, ret. (father-in-law, presumed deceased), Jimmy (adopted son, deceased)
Base of Operation: Keystone City, KS
Group Affiliation(s): Justice Society of America II, formerly All-Star Squadron, Justice Society of America, Justice League America, JSA, Justice Society of America II
Gender: Male
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 179 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Brown, now grey at temples
First Appearance: Flash Comics #1 (January 1940)
Creators: Gardner Fox and Harry Lampert

By moving my body back and forth, I can become invisible to human eyes - because my nervous reactions are twenty times faster than normal - what to me is just a little weaving motion is so fast to the human eye that I cannot be seen. - Flash Quote taken from Flash Comics #5 (May 1940)

OVERVIEW

Science student Jay Garrick accidentally inhaled fumes from an experimental substance called 'hard water' and found that he had been given the gift of super-speed as a result. He became the Flash, a founding member of the Justice Society, and battled the forces of evil, in the form of saboteurs and super-villains, for a long time. He and his wife Joan were both present at the accident which bathed most of the Justice Society with rejuvenating rays, and the two continue to have a close relationship, also being very fond of the current Flash, Wally West and his new wife Linda Park. Jay remains active as a hero and charter member of the new JSA. He is also mentoring Kid Flash, the young speedster following in the footsteps of Wally West.

HISTORY

Jay Garrick was an average child of the early 20th Century, filling his head with the tales of Whip Whirlwind; the speedster from the dime novels that he read. His dreams of speed filled his days on the football field, even at Midwestern University, where he majored in Physics and Chemistry while trying to hold onto his place on the team. His coach's nickname for him "Leadfoot", showed no promise for him, but this didn't matter to the girl he was trying to impress, Joan Williams.

After another hard day of being the receiving end of Coach's terror and classes, Jay was burning the midnight oil in the chemistry labs, hoping to analyze a new "heavy water" compound. Weariness and the fumes from the chemicals overtook him, and Jay passed out, only to be exposed to the "heavy water" compounds and other chemicals. Rescued by his friend Elliot Sherman, Jay lay in a coma for more than three weeks as his body altered to utilize the energies that it could tap. When he awoke, he found that he could move at terrific speeds. At his next (and final) game, "Leadfoot" Garrick set college records for receiving and touchdowns scored in a single quarter. He knew that these abilities could be used for a greater good than just athletics, so after transferring to Keystone University to receive his Masters degree in Chemistry and Physics (his reading speed had also increased), Jay Garrick set out to aid humanity as the red and blue blur known as...The Flash!

After graduation, he landed a job as a researcher at Keystone Labs in Keystone City. With his girlfriend (and fiancee), Joan Williams, fought crime beginning in late 1939. He was soon awarded an honorary position as a law-enforcement agent in Keystone City, an unusual arrangement among mystery men at the time.

Several months later, as he hit his maximum speed, he became able to tap into the Speed Force, an other-worldly energy force that expanded his abilities almost infinitely, limited only by his imagination.

Two years later, The Flash met first another hero, the Green Lantern and then several others as a founding member of the Justice Society of America. The Flash was the first chairman of the group, and later in 1941, the first to take an honorary membership as his duties in Keystone City began to take up more of his time. He nominated the likable, but often-confused, Johnny Thunder as his replacement. The Flash, along with the other members of the JSA, were bathed in "chronal radiations" that served to keep them vital in the coming decades. When he was captured along with the active JSA members, he and the others were also charter members of the All-Star Squadron.

After World War II, The Flash returned to active membership in the Justice Society, but did not return to the role of chairman. Jay served with the group until 1951, when the US government demanded that he reveal his ID to them in order to be "above suspicion", then took a leave from his heroic identity and married Joan Williams. A little more than a year later, though, he began to be semi-active in and around Keystone City, and occasionally doing covert work for the government. In his private life, Jay and Joan purchased Keystone Labs and renaming it Garrick Laboratories, began to delve into pure research as time allowed.

During this time, unable to have children of their own, Jay and Joan adopted a baby named Jimmy, who died after only four months.

Over two decades ago, Jay revealed his true identity to the general public However, three of the Flash's enemies, the Thinker, the Shade and the Fiddler, combined their knowledge and created a way of removing Keystone City from the realms and memories of humanity. Trapped along with the population of Keystone and aging at a slightly slower pace, the populace remained in a timeless limbo until freed by another speedster who had taken up the name of Flash, Barry Allen, who aided him in defeating the three villains and returning Keystone City to its rightful dimension. Jay soon afterward teamed up with his old friends in the JSA and began to fight crime at least semi-actively in Keystone City. Jay and the new Flash began a friendship that lasted for years until Barry's death during The Crisis. Soon afterward, nearly all the JSA members were trapped in a Norse god's counterfeit gotterdamerung - doomed, it seemed, to re-enact the final battle of the gods for all time.

After being freed, Jay and several other members began adventuring on a semi-regular basis, with Jay being asked to lead the unorganized Justice League America for a short time to instill in them the concepts of teamwork and leadership.

After the devastating loss of four members of the JSA during the Zero Hour Crisis, Jay and the other active members felt that their time had passed. However, after helping out the "Flash Family", and seeing a third generation of heroes needing their guidance, Jay and the still-active members of the Justice Society reformed, admitting in their legacies and continuing to fight the good fight. Jay and Joan took a particular shine to Jakeem Thunder, heir to the Thunderbolt.

After elder speedster Max Mercury was lost battling Rival, Jay and Joan took in young Bart Allen, the speedster known (at the time) as Impulse. Hoping to give him a steady home life, their plans were shattered when Joan was diagnosed with a form of leukemia. Luckily, it turns out that the illness was a ruse by Rival working with a reformed Injustice Society.

Recently, Jay, Wally West (the third person to use the name Flash) and Bart Allen (then known as Kid Flash II) tried to imprison Superboy-Prime in the Speed Force. After losing Wally and Bart in the Force, Jay found that his connection to it was severed. At present, his top speed is about Mach 3 (or 2100 mph). With the return of West and his family, Garrick is now in command of greater speed, but no where near his former highs.

POWERS AND WEAPONS

The first Flash was able to speed at multiples of the speed of light, had control of his molecular vibration (which he could alter its alignment by vibrating at super-speeds) where he could pass through solid objects and keep his head slightly out of phase to hid his identity. He had an invisible aura that extended past his body that protected him from the increased heat that would accompany travel at high speeds. These powers, unknown to him at the time, were due to his connection with the Speed Force, an other-dimensional, nearly sentient energy field that powers all super speedsters. At the height of his abilities, he could time-travel and dimensionally transport unaided, by speeding up and controlling the vibration speed of his molecules.

As Jay aged, he began to slow, so now he can only time travel with mechanical aids or with another higher powered speedster.

CHRONOLOGY

For a definitive list of appearances of Flash in chronological order click here

PROFILE REFERENCES

Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #8 (October 1985)

Flash Annual Vol. 2 #3 ([June] 1989)
Flash Secret Files #1 (November 1997)
JSA Secret Files #1 (August 1999)