The Flash

Gr 11 Up DC is promoting its backlog of classic superheroes once again with this collection of mostly late '50s to early '60s issues of The Flash . Unfortunately, one person's classic is another person's lackluster read. While the artwork has all of the comic's typical style, with boldface names and shock lines surrounding each fight and explosion, the villains-Captain Cold and Gorilla Grodd-seem buffoonish now rather than menacing. In one panel, a destroyed rocket ship prevents our heroes from returning safely home. Yet in the very next panel, the Flash has fixed everything with his super-speedy mechanical ability. It's hard enough to recall the drama around such story lines as an adult reader, and younger readers who don't recall the Soviet Union or the space race certainly won't. These issues are set in the postwar years when the modern technologies we have become inured to were new and exciting. This series is billed as the Library of Classics and for collectors, it is perfect. But for young readers growing up in the MySpace age, it appears tame or simply absurd.-John Leighton, Brooklyn Public Library, NY