WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.000 Are you ready? Yeah. Are you with it? 2 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:04.000 Yeah. Okay, let's go. 3 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:05.000 You know what to do. 4 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:08.000 The whole world's watching and counting on you. 5 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:13.000 And all you people listening out there. Everybody everywhere. 6 00:00:13.000 --> 00:01:16.000 Hang on, hang on, hang on. Welcome to Checkered Past, a loving postmodern examination of the. Go. Go. Check. Branded comic magazines published by DC Comics between February 1966 and August 1967. I'm Dr. Bob, and each week I'll be your guide on this trippy tour through 535 mid century masterpieces of graphic noveldom. This week, Flash 169. Cover date April, May 1967. Cover price, 25 cents. Cover artists Carmine Infantineau and Joe Giella. Edited by Julius Schwartz. Featuring Beware the Atomic Grenade, written by John Broom. Authority, art by Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella. And the Mirror Master's Magic Bullet, written by John Broome. Art by Carmine Infantineau and Murphy Anderson. And the Return of the Super Gorilla, written by John Broom. Art by Carmine Infantineau and Joe Giella. Are you ready? Are you with it? Then away we go. Go. 7 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:43.000 If you're walking in the shadows Then it's time that you get wise. I just forget about your troubles and open up your eyes. When you wear a smile the world will shout hooray. You gotta turn on the sunshine. You're gonna push the blues away. 8 00:01:43.000 --> 00:02:31.000 Barry Allen's friend Anton Previn, a fashion designer, has arrived in Central City. Barry introduces him to Iris and learns from her that a new villain, the top, has been committing crimes. Then Barry is guarding a rare mirror exhibit at an art museum when the Mirror Master arrives to steal the mirrors in the collection. Finally, Gorilla Grodd escapes from Guerrilla City. Solivar, the city's head scientist, contacts the Flash to help find Grodd. Flash runs to Guerrilla City and learns that Grodd has. Has retained his force of mind abilities. Confused? Don't worry. I'll be right back with Dr. Husband to explain everything. It's an 80 page giant. 80 page giant? It's a comic that's got 80 pages. An 80 page giant. 9 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:32.000 Let's go. 10 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:42.000 An 80 page giant. Spring has sprung and there's mucus in my lungs. Something's in the air and I feel it everywhere. 11 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:43.000 I'm so sorry. 12 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:45.000 Well, it's not your fault. 13 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:51.000 No, this time I suppose because you look so handsome today. 14 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:52.000 Well, I. Thank you. 15 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:54.000 I love that shirt. 16 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:57.000 It's. I'm wearing a 1950s bowling shirt. Listener. 17 00:02:57.000 --> 00:02:59.000 It's retro though. It's not an authentic like. 18 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:00.000 Right, right, right. 19 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:01.000 It's so cool. 20 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:06.000 But there was a time not so long ago I wouldn't have been able to button it up. 21 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:07.000 That's, that's true. 22 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:12.000 I dropped a couple of stone. I said stone for our international listeners. 23 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:19.000 Yes, well, so, yes, you, you were complaining to me earlier today about the allergies, weren't you? 24 00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:23.000 Yeah, I've got that sinusy drippy sore throat thing. 25 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:46.000 Listener. We live in the mid Atlantic states and everything is blooming. And I, I, I say this not because I'm, I don't, I'm not saying that I'm better than you or anything. You know, I have terrible allergies in the spring and the fall. And so a couple weeks ago I started taking Zyrtec and Flonase and I'm feeling great. 26 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:53.000 Well, I procrastinate, as you know. Yes, but we can't procrastinate today because we've got a flash 80 page giant. 27 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:54.000 80 page giant. 28 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:59.000 And we both have things to do, so we've got to speed through it. 29 00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:01.000 No kidding. 30 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:14.000 It's the whirlwind adventures of the fastest men alive. It's flash number 169. It's an 80 page giant. It's a choice collection of the Scarlet Speedster's most treacherous traps. Deadly dooms. 31 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:15.000 Yes. 32 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:17.000 Well, are you excited? 33 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:18.000 I was until I started reading them. 34 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:21.000 Oh, no. What happened? 35 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:29.000 Well, I turned the pages and the content inside was stupid. And so there we go. 36 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:33.000 But these are classic Flash tales. 37 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:34.000 Yes. 38 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:37.000 In fact, it's a choice collection. 39 00:04:37.000 --> 00:04:50.000 That choice is a very liberal term. No, it's not. Awful listener. Just bear with me. It's okay. It's just the same sort of trope over and over again. Let's trap Flash with some sort of gimmick. 40 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:51.000 Yeah. 41 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:52.000 Yeah. 42 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:57.000 Well, you know, Flash is known for his rogues gallery of unique villains. 43 00:04:57.000 --> 00:04:58.000 Is he? 44 00:04:58.000 --> 00:04:59.000 Yes. 45 00:04:58.000 --> 00:04:59.000 Okay. 46 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:34.000 In fact, there's one story I had a very tough choice to make. Whether to cover a Gorilla Grodd or Abracadabra. But I believe we have covered Abracadabra on this podcast. So I went with Gorilla Grodd. The Flash, the mighty Flash, speedier than a streak of lightning. Almost met his match when he found himself challenged by an incredible foe who called himself the Top and whose forte was spinning objects all the way from children's toys to mighty bombs of destruction. 47 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:51.000 Beware the atomic grenade. It was very clever of himself to call himself the Top because he spins. He spins. Wow, that's so clever. We call himself Spinnerette, you know, or the Rotator, or I feel like there 48 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:54.000 is a spinneret somewhere. 49 00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:57.000 Oh. 50 00:05:57.000 --> 00:06:07.000 The top is a super villain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. His name is Roscoe Dillon. 51 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:08.000 Okay. 52 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:14.000 He's a small time crook who turns his childhood obsession with Topps into a criminal Persona. 53 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:15.000 Okay. 54 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:16.000 He's dead now. 55 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:26.000 Oh, no. How did he die? Flung himself off the earth. What an unfortunate thing. I'm so sad. Oh, I'm so sad. 56 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:28.000 And then he got mental powers. 57 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:33.000 Oh, 58 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:38.000 I'm trying to read Wikipedia. I don't remember. He died before I was reading comics. 59 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:41.000 Okay, so how unfortunate. 60 00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:42.000 I know. 61 00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:49.000 Yeah. We don't have any more of him, so let's. Shall we dive into the actual story itself? I can guarantee you I'm going to have a few tangents. 62 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:55.000 All right, just off the transatlantic plane, an international celebrity gets in touch with an old friend. 63 00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:57.000 Shall I do his voice since he's French? 64 00:06:57.000 --> 00:06:58.000 Yes, please. 65 00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:02.000 Barry, this is Anton Preven. I have just now arrived into your country. 66 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:07.000 Anton, this is wonderful. Where are you? At the airport. I'll pick you up. 67 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:12.000 No, no, no, no. Stay where you are, Bar. I have a reason for coming to see you. See you soon, mon ami. 68 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:31.000 Well, Barry thinks this is exciting. I met Anton on a trip to Paris five years ago, and we became fast friends. Since then, we corresponded, and I've watched his meteoric rise in the world. He's now the world's foremost designer of women's fashions. When I tell Iris about this, she'll flip. 69 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:32.000 Miss? 70 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:33.000 Yes? 71 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:33.000 Is he homosexual, please? 72 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:44.000 Well, I assume so. I mean, even if not, not all fashion designers are homosexual. No, but this one, there are women fashion designers. 73 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:46.000 This one dresses like a homosexual. 74 00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:50.000 Well, he's also French. You have to bear that in mind. So. 75 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:54.000 That's true. Didn't we love seeing the fashions in the windows when we went to Milan? 76 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:57.000 Oh, yes. In Italy. And what do they call it? 77 00:07:57.000 --> 00:07:58.000 The men's fashion? 78 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:00.000 The risorgimento. When the people walk down the street. Yes. 79 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:01.000 Was that what it's called? 80 00:08:01.000 --> 00:08:02.000 Resorgame? 81 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:03.000 No, no, no. 82 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:06.000 Oh, passeggiata. Passeggiata. 83 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:07.000 Thank you. 84 00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:09.000 Risorgimento. 85 00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:20.000 That's an English term. That's a term in music. Music history. What? Risorgimento. It's Italian. That's an Italian opera history term. 86 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:21.000 Yes. 87 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:22.000 I used verismo in class today, by the way. 88 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:23.000 Atta girl. 89 00:08:23.000 --> 00:08:24.000 Yeah. 90 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:33.000 I'm wondering how police scientist Barry Allen on a trip to Paris five years ago, which is probably he was single then. 91 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:34.000 How? 92 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:41.000 He ran into an fashion designer. Is he like my sister? That he'll just walk into a bar and talk to everyone and make friends all over the world. 93 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:42.000 I envy her for that. 94 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:43.000 I know. 95 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:44.000 She has such a talent for that. 96 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:47.000 You can talk about her all you want because she won't be listening to this. 97 00:08:47.000 --> 00:09:01.000 Oh, that girl. Your younger sister can walk into any bar anywhere in the United States or in the world. In the world. What am I saying? In the world. And just strike up a conversation with anyone that can speak English, and she will make friends immediately. 98 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:09.000 She just the other day sent us all an Instagram reel of a guy from Wales that she met in Croatia. 99 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:10.000 Yes. 100 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:11.000 And they're still corresponding. 101 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:13.000 Yes. He's a singer. 102 00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:17.000 I wonder if someday he'll come to the United States and call her on the telephone from the airport. 103 00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:34.000 I don't know. So shortly, the research scientist, who in his secret identity is none other than the Amazing Flash, receives the answer. That is great, Barry. In this portfolio are my latest creations, but I want to keep them a secret until tomorrow when they are unveiled to the public. 104 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:46.000 I see. Well, you've come to the correct place, Anton. I'll put your designs here in this headquarters safe. Now, you can be sure no one will get a look at them until you're ready. 105 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:50.000 Ah, what a relief. Now we have a long talk, eh? 106 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:52.000 I guess so. They go to lunch. 107 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:55.000 Mm. 108 00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:59.000 Now. So, Anton, you want to meet some American women? 109 00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:03.000 Look at his hand up in the air. And his hand on the hip. He's. 110 00:10:03.000 --> 00:10:04.000 He's for sure gay. 111 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:10.000 Yes, yes. To get your opinions on clothes, Barry. I am most curious about their point of view. 112 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:17.000 Well, he's gonna take her over to the offices of Picture News to meet Iris. Her eyes will pop. 113 00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:21.000 Oh, so he's gonna take her to see his reporter girlfriend. 114 00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:25.000 Yes. But shortly, it's Barry who receives a surprise. 115 00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:48.000 You mean you haven't heard the news? Barry, an amazing new criminal has just appeared in Central City. And I've just written up. I've just written up. I've just written up the story. This is where, like, I was literally just pages into this and was like, eye roll, eye roll. A new criminal who we will learn is called the top. 116 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:49.000 Yes. 117 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:55.000 Whose gimmick is throwing tops. And she wrote up the story. 118 00:10:55.000 --> 00:11:00.000 She's a news hen. What else is she gonna do about it? 119 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:07.000 Just appeared. The criminal just appeared. Like, his friend came in from Paris. 120 00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:10.000 Now, they were at lunch for some hours. 121 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:11.000 Oh, okay, okay. 122 00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:14.000 If you carefully read your text boxes. 123 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:16.000 Oh, you're right. Some hours. So there was enough time. 124 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:20.000 Barry even thinks there. It must have happened while I was tied up with Anton? Oh, so? 125 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:24.000 Oh, I didn't do that. 126 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:49.000 He burst on the scene in an outlandish costume. People were at first amused, but they didn't laugh for long. At Wimble's department store he robbed the payroll. On the crowd filled street after his escape, he seemed to come to a dead end. But as people rushed at him, he threw a top which shot out plastic streamers like confetti entangling the passersby. 127 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:52.000 It was stronger than plastic, though. 128 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:53.000 Sure. 129 00:11:53.000 --> 00:11:54.000 Steel, like. 130 00:11:53.000 --> 00:11:58.000 Strong as steel. And so he got away. And every policeman in the city has been alerted? 131 00:11:58.000 --> 00:11:59.000 That's true. 132 00:11:59.000 --> 00:12:08.000 Well, this sounds like something the Flash better attend to. But first, meet Anton Previn. 133 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:13.000 The anton Previn? Gosh, Ms. West, you are beautiful. 134 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:27.000 Imagine me face to face with Anton Previn. Well, they've forgotten Barry's existence. So off he goes, and Iris and Anton go for, I guess, more lunch. 135 00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:28.000 Anton's pretty hungry. 136 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:39.000 I find Anton perfectly fascinating. He's driven all thoughts of the top and the story I wrote from my mind. He's the sort that invites confidence. 137 00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:42.000 Tell me more about you and Barry, Iris. 138 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:53.000 Well, I do feel Barry could be more romantic. Anton. When we first met, he was very attentive. But now he seems to take me for granted. 139 00:12:53.000 --> 00:13:02.000 If you will permit certain suggestions with me. Barry likes it when I hold him closely and cup my hand on the small of his back. 140 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:07.000 It doesn't say that. Bless her. 141 00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:21.000 He says. He says, if you will permit me certain suggestions. No offense, dear, but a change in hairstyle and makeup. Just a sousant of difference, if you like. I myself will personally supervise the new Iris West. 142 00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:24.000 Oh, Anton, you really would. 143 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:30.000 I'll speak no more. We start at once with the transformation. Come, Ms. West. 144 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:43.000 Well, all right. While Iris prepares to give her boyfriend Barry a bit of a surprise, what of the young scientist himself? He wasted not a moment. For as soon as he was outside the picture due's office, he changed to the Flash. 145 00:13:43.000 --> 00:13:51.000 We do not need an explanation of how he changes into the Flash because this little sequence happens in every single story. 146 00:13:51.000 --> 00:14:00.000 Yes, yes. Well, you never know. You're gonna have a new reader, right? So he takes off searching the city, but there's no sign of the top. 147 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:12.000 Mm. Mm. But then he overhears on the radio. The police radio. Car 124, Car 1 and 24 proceed immediately to the armored car company at the corner of Market and Main. A robbery in progress. 148 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:15.000 Well, Flash thinks he better check it out just in case. 149 00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:16.000 Mm. 150 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:54.000 Well, probably Barry. If it's a robbery in progress. You ought to check it out no matter what. All right. He comes to the corner of Main and Market. And he does indeed find the top. Catches him red handed. The top throws a top on the ground. It's got a smoke bomb. Nobody. The cops are helpless. But Barry runs right into the smoke. And to the astonishment of the crimson comet, the top starts whirling. Just like one of those tops he throws. 151 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:55.000 Wow. 152 00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:56.000 It's a little stunt. 153 00:14:56.000 --> 00:14:58.000 It's fascinating. 154 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:00.000 A little stunt he's been saving. 155 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.000 Boy, I would be really intimidated by that. As if somebody's spinning like a pool. 156 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:11.000 Well, look at that. His spinning action sends the Flash flying. He loses his balance and goes oofed on the ground. 157 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:13.000 True. 158 00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:22.000 Everyone in the city will soon learn that the top always comes out on top. Hehe. 159 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:35.000 I hope no one ever overheard him say that because they point and laugh at him. On the edge of town, seclusion of his hideout, an old Fashioned. Excuse me. An old abandoned blacksmith shop. The top notch thief relaxes. 160 00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:55.000 45,000, 46,000. Not bad for a guy who a little while back was only Roscoe Dillon, a penny aunty crook. And not even a successful one at that. When I think how far I've come in just a few months and how much farther I'm going to go, it makes my head swim like a top. 161 00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:58.000 Oh my God, I'm so funny. 162 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:14.000 And I owe it all to one simple thing. When I was a kid, I came across an old box in an attic full of tops. I soon learned that the objects were old fashioned tops that were very popular with fellows many years earlier. 163 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:22.000 So I bought a box of some old junk. It's a good thing that he didn't find a box of bear traps. Yes, right. He would have become the bear trap. 164 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:24.000 Or rifles or something. 165 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:33.000 Or staples. No, no one can stand up against the power, strength and quick, quick clickety danger of the stapler. 166 00:16:33.000 --> 00:16:46.000 Or remember when you were a kid, did you go to the dentist? My dentist had a box of Gee gaws. No, erase. Remember those erasers that you'd stick and it'd be like the Frito Bandito or Fred Flintstone or something? 167 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:47.000 Yeah. 168 00:16:47.000 --> 00:17:16.000 Box of character erasers. I'm the character eraser, all right. Later, when as fate and my destiny would have it, I drifted into crime, there came a day when I thought of using my old boyhood hobby of spinning tops to give myself a new method of operating. That's it. As soon as I get out, I'll study everything I can get a hold of on Tops. I'll become an expert on tops, and then we'll see. 169 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:17.000 I love how you say that. 170 00:17:17.000 --> 00:17:35.000 Tops are amazing. They're linked up with intricate scientific devices like gyroscopes. Although they've been just about forgotten, they are the basis for some of the most startling advances in science. I feel like tops have not been forgotten. No, I know what a top is. 171 00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:36.000 I'm wearing a top right now. 172 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:41.000 You sure are. I mean, we have dreidels everywhere every year at Hanukkah. 173 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:47.000 Yes. That no one's forgotten the magic of tops. We also know what gyroscopes are. 174 00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:51.000 Yes, yes. And close relative fidget spinners. 175 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:53.000 Yes, 176 00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:59.000 Roscoe, Maybe there was a fallow period in the 60s when everyone had forgotten tops. 177 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:00.000 Had forgotten about tops. 178 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:06.000 Or maybe the writer of this story was just an adult and didn't think anybody played with tops anymore. 179 00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:10.000 Maybe he just didn't have any toys as a child. Well, no, he would have known about tops. 180 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:13.000 He would have known about tops and hoops with sticks. 181 00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:17.000 Maybe the writer of this thing grew up in an orphanage and the only toy he had was a top. 182 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:44.000 Oh, let's see, though. What if he grew up in an orphanage? It's written by John Broom, I believe. Let me check my carefully constructed notes. Yes, John Broom. John Broom, who additionally used the pseudonyms John Osgood and Edgar Ray Merritt. Now, Broom was born Irving Broom to a Jewish family. He would have had tops. 183 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:45.000 He would have had dreidels. 184 00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:52.000 Once a year, of course. Come on. John Broom. Well, he didn't grow up in an orphanage. 185 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:57.000 I'm surprised he didn't say that. You know, tops are the greatest thing since sliced bread. 186 00:18:57.000 --> 00:19:02.000 But he was born in 1913. Maybe he grew up in a tenement house in New York City. 187 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:03.000 Yes. 188 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:08.000 He died in Chiang mai, Thailand, aged 85. 189 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:09.000 Thailand? 190 00:19:09.000 --> 00:19:10.000 Yes. 191 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:13.000 My goodness. Wow. 192 00:19:13.000 --> 00:19:37.000 Well, you know, it's cheap to retire there, and they have a lot of tops. So he gave himself a new uniform to suit his new personality. And I've got to hand it to Roscoe Dillon. Not everybody can get away with horizontal stripes. He can. But, brother, he does. Now, these crimes he's committed so far were just practice runs now. 193 00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:51.000 Oh, wait, you skipped over something. What? He's talking about how he learned to spin himself like a top at incredible speed. And simultaneously, he made a startling discovery. The spinning action increased his brain power. 194 00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:57.000 Yes, because by spinning, he drives the cells of his brain towards the outside of his brain, and that gives him increased brain power. 195 00:19:57.000 --> 00:19:59.000 That's not what he says. But Is that what you've. 196 00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:02.000 That's what I just read a while ago, yes. 197 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:03.000 Oh. 198 00:20:03.000 --> 00:20:13.000 Now, why be a hunted criminal when I can run the whole world, which itself is merely a gigantic top? 199 00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:14.000 Well, that's quite a leap. 200 00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:34.000 This is like. Did you ever read the Little Dot? Richie Rich's friend, Little Dot, who was obsessed with dots. And she saw everything. She saw if it was round, she imagined it was a dot. She called it a dot. So in. In her world, the Earth would be a giant dot. Giant spinning dot. 201 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:42.000 And since her name was Dot, she could, of course, she could make the leap from running her life to running the world. 202 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:56.000 Yes, with ease. And do you know, she was so popular that not only did she have her own eponymous comic, but she also had the equivalent of an 80 page giant little Dots. Dot Land. 203 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:57.000 Oh my God. 204 00:20:57.000 --> 00:21:23.000 And a spinoff series, Little Dot's Uncles, CPO Sharkey. Now, later that very afternoon, a startling figure cuts into all television channels to announce, unless all the people on Earth recognize me as their ruler at once, I shall destroy half the Earth by means of a secret device I have constructed based on the inner principle of Tops. 205 00:21:23.000 --> 00:21:27.000 That's an incredible leap from a childhood toy to the destroyer of the world. 206 00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:47.000 Yes. As the startling pronouncement throws the nation into a furor, one individual at least remains calm but grim. It's the Flash. Whether the Top can carry out his terrible threat or not, I've got to stop him before he can even try. And there's one possible way to track him down by means of that all channel broadcast of his. 207 00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:53.000 At breathtaking pace, the Scarlet clad Speedster carries out a novel tracking procedure. 208 00:21:53.000 --> 00:22:25.000 By vibrating at super speed, he can detect the directions along which the TOPS broadcast traveled to different TV stations around the City. City. And by following up these trails, I should locate my quarry at the point where they intersect or their point of origin. It's 1967. How many TV stations could Central City have? Four at most. Yeah, maybe five if they have an independent channel. But you've got three networks of PBS, and I don't even know if PBS existed in 1967. I guess it must have. 209 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:26.000 I don't know. 210 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:28.000 Oh, I'm just gonna say yes. 211 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:30.000 Okay. 212 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:33.000 You know, I was so jealous of Indianapolis when I was growing up. 213 00:22:33.000 --> 00:22:34.000 Why? 214 00:22:34.000 --> 00:23:07.000 Because in my town we only had the three networks, plus pbs, and PBS reception was always spotty. And then when I was about, I don't know, 10 or 11, my grandmother got cable TV, which showed an Indiana Indianapolis station which was an independent station, not one of the networks and not pbs. And they showed just old cartoons that I'd never seen and reruns of shows I'd never seen, like petticoat junction and F troop. 215 00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:08.000 I'm surprised. 216 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:10.000 It was like a whole new world opened up to me. 217 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:17.000 I'm surprised you didn't pack one of those hobo sacks on a stick and put it and walk the tracks to indianapolis to set up a new shop there to live there. 218 00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:24.000 Well, it was a much shorter walk to my grandmother's house, and she had air conditioning also, so kind of worked out for the best. 219 00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:26.000 Why didn't I think of that? 220 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:48.000 Soon, on the outskirts of central city, he finds the top, whose superior mental powers derived from spinning. Told him he would have to deal with you before I took over the world. So he's ready with some specially prepared bola tops. Bolas, of course, are two tops tied together with a string. 221 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:49.000 Mm. 222 00:23:49.000 --> 00:24:06.000 And the flash is trapped. He can't move. And now he's ready to get rid of the flash By a unique method worthy of the top. Time for him to move his giant atomic grenade outside and start it spinning. 223 00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:16.000 So this grenade, this atomic grenade, has the power to destroy half the earth. Does the top actually understand that if he destroys half the earth, it's gonna have a really bad effect on the other half? 224 00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:45.000 On the remaining half? Yeah, probably not. He probably didn't think that through. Also, apparently, this grenade can spin for 10 hours because that's how long the governments of earth have to make up their minds whether to surrender to him or not. At the end of 10 hours, the atomic grenade will slow down, and as soon as it stops, it will explode, Destroying this half of the earth. But it won't hurt me when it goes off, Because I'll be on the other side of the globe by then and safe from harm. 225 00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:51.000 I was thinking that if the top had not said that the earth was like a top and therefore he could rule the earth. 226 00:24:51.000 --> 00:24:52.000 Yes. 227 00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:56.000 I would have called him a flat earther and just thought, well, if I destroy this half of the earth, I'll 228 00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:58.000 just go, like breaking a cookie in half. 229 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:01.000 Cookie in half. Yeah, yeah. 230 00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:06.000 But, you know, if he goes to the other side of the earth, you, know where he'll be? Thailand. 231 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:07.000 Oh. 232 00:25:07.000 --> 00:25:23.000 Oh, John. Vroom. Deep cut. Meanwhile, where is the flash? Sad to tell you, our hero is at this moment in a situation fraught with the direst peril. He's inside the atomic grenade, and he's spinning like. What is that? Ride affair. 233 00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:36.000 Tilt the world. All right. Yeah. The gravitron the one we lean back. And then. And then if it goes so fast, the. The platform that you're on is on wheels, and it goes up to the ceiling. It's called the Gravitron. Yes, it is. That's what it's called. 234 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:51.000 The first time I rode one of those, I was in junior high school, and I had a very fashionable puka shell choker. Well, if you're wearing a choker on Gravitron, you actually get choked. 235 00:25:51.000 --> 00:25:53.000 It wasn't that bad. 236 00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:54.000 It was pretty bad. 237 00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:54.000 It just felt bad. 238 00:25:54.000 --> 00:26:09.000 I was a fat child, so everything hurt more. Plus, it wouldn't. Because I was fat. I didn't ever really get the full effect. I just slid down like ooze. Like the Green glob. 239 00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:11.000 He doesn't spin fast enough to whip 240 00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:12.000 me up to the ceiling. 241 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:29.000 Make her go faster. I'm slipping. Calling upon every. Well, now the Flash sees that the grenade is slowing down. And so calling upon every ounce of his fantastic. Speedability. That's one word. Speed. Ability. 242 00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:30.000 Speed. Ability. 243 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:42.000 Flash vibrates himself at such a rate that the molecules of his body slip as the molecules of the grenade wall. And the grenade continues to slow down. So it flashes, runs around it, makes it speed up again. 244 00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:45.000 Yeah, because he doesn't want it to stop spinning, Otherwise it'll explode. 245 00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.000 I can't keep this pace up forever, so I've got to figure out how to remove this danger for good. 246 00:26:49.000 --> 00:26:57.000 Well, he speeds up, and then he speeds it up and then builds up its momentum and then launches it out into outer space. 247 00:26:57.000 --> 00:27:35.000 But it's got to go faster. Faster. I've set it up at better than escape velocity, which we learn. Seven miles a second. It's a flash fact. It's going so fast, it will never return to Earth. And now to track down the top. At incredible super speed, the Flash threads its way over countless thousands of miles and finally. Oh, not Thailand. North coast of Africa. So the top now understands why his atomic grenade didn't go off. And now, top, you're going to spin. Topsy Turvy. 248 00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:37.000 This is a little weird. 249 00:27:37.000 --> 00:28:03.000 Yeah. So he gets that. I guess he gets that bolo top throws around the top, turns him upside down, starts him spinning. Oh, no, that's not the bolo. That's Tops flying out of his costume, which who knows where he's keeping those because he doesn't have a belt or anything. All right, he turns the top upside down, starts him spinning until he drills into the earth and strikes oil. 250 00:28:03.000 --> 00:28:08.000 So I had a problem with this. Yeah, the top yeah, the super villain. 251 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:09.000 Yes. 252 00:28:09.000 --> 00:28:10.000 Does not have superpowers. 253 00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.000 He can spin super fast, but not. He's got brain power. 254 00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:28.000 Okay, but he doesn't have super skin or super healing ability or steel like skin or anything like that. Right. So if he spins fast enough that his body becomes a drill and drills down deep into the earth and strikes oil. 255 00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:30.000 Yep. 256 00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:40.000 He would. By the time he reached down, I don't know, 10ft or so. Yeah, he would just be a skeleton with mushy, fleshy parts. He would be dead. 257 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:41.000 Sure. 258 00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:45.000 Flash would have literally killed him doing what he did. 259 00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:55.000 Well, now the Flash did start him spinning. So maybe the Flash's super speed aura is protecting him as he spins down into the Earth. 260 00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.000 I know there's a listener out there who agrees with me. 261 00:28:59.000 --> 00:29:17.000 Shortly, he carries the top back across the ocean, predicting that the courts will sentence you to at least 1,000 years in jail. Well, that's one consolation. No convict can top that prison term. 262 00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:22.000 Later, with the top safely behind bars, Barry Allen appears once more at police headquarters. 263 00:29:22.000 --> 00:29:27.000 Now to return these valuable fashion signs to Anton Previn. 264 00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:33.000 Remember, this whole story started with his friend, the fashion designer. We're gonna come back to that. Okay, go ahead. 265 00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:42.000 With the top. In jail, there's hardly any danger anymore that they'll be stolen. There probably was not much danger that they'd be stolen before this point. 266 00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:50.000 However, when Barry goes in, goes to keep an appointment with Ant. Iris. Well, Barry, what do you think of the new Iris? 267 00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:52.000 She's so beautiful, I'm speechless. 268 00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:59.000 Barry hasn't said a word. That means he doesn't like it. And if Barry doesn't approve, I don't care what anyone else says. 269 00:29:59.000 --> 00:30:02.000 Fuck Barry. Isis. Isis. Iris. 270 00:30:02.000 --> 00:30:05.000 Iris. 271 00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:12.000 Later, with Anton's visit only a memory, frankly, I feel better this way, too. Barry. 272 00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:18.000 So she goes back to her old hairstyle. Yeah, her old matronly. She looks like an old school. June. Allison. June. 273 00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:19.000 June. 274 00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:23.000 Who is the woman who was the mother on Lost in Space? 275 00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:24.000 Oh, June Lockhart. 276 00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:25.000 June Lockhart. She looks like June Lockhart. 277 00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:26.000 Yeah. 278 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:30.000 Yeah. 279 00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:36.000 All right, Barry, fine. You like the old Iris? Good for you. She's gonna die, too. 280 00:30:36.000 --> 00:30:37.000 Oh, God. 281 00:30:37.000 --> 00:30:38.000 Oh. 282 00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:39.000 Oh, they remind me. 283 00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:41.000 Oh. 284 00:30:41.000 --> 00:31:07.000 So I taught Song Song lit today, right? And I am behind the class in the class by about a week and a half. And so I'm trying my best to get through these. These things, but it's my favorite section of the class. American Art Song. American and British Art Songs. And so I forgot. I usually go through and update all my notes to see who's dead, Right? 285 00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:08.000 Yeah. 286 00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:33.000 Now, I told the children about how you and I will watch old movies and. And some. Just once in a while, out of the blue, one of us will go, she's dead. Yeah, he's dead. Everybody in this scene is dead. Right? So I started with a history of American art song, right? And I'm doing it. And that there's people on there, like Ned Rorem in my notes and somebody else who had just a born date on there, Right? 287 00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:34.000 Right. 288 00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:37.000 Because for some reason, I forgot to change their. Add their death date. 289 00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:38.000 Right? 290 00:31:38.000 --> 00:32:01.000 So as I'm going through and I'm talking to her, and I go, oh, he's dead. And then I go, and I'm going through it. Today was an overview of the entire body of literature. And I said, just a quick overview. And I said, oh, he's dead. They got the giggles. And one of them, out of the blue, said, it's like you're watching one of your movies. Which was a deep cut. I never thought they were paying attention to that. 291 00:32:01.000 --> 00:32:02.000 God loved them. 292 00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:05.000 I know, right? 293 00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:21.000 In the duel between the sizzling man of super speed and his tricky antagonist, the Mirror Master, the Flash was confident of victory, until a surprise trap was sprung on this beaster and turned him into an obedient slave of his foe, 294 00:32:21.000 --> 00:32:40.000 the Mirror Master's magic bullet. Okay, this is the story that pissed me off. Not the top story. The Mirror Master, what does he do? He stands around with mirrors and does things with mirrors. 295 00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:41.000 Yeah. 296 00:32:41.000 --> 00:32:46.000 This makes him a rogue. This makes him a villain. What the hell? 297 00:32:46.000 --> 00:32:49.000 He's one of Flash's major villains. 298 00:32:49.000 --> 00:32:50.000 What? 299 00:32:50.000 --> 00:33:01.000 He also died, and there's a new one now, but he can also, like, go inside. Like, he can teleport through a mirror. They can go in and then reappear in a mirror. Okay, not in this story, obviously. 300 00:33:01.000 --> 00:33:05.000 No, this one, he's just some Joe Schmo. There's a bunch of mirrors laying around his apartment. 301 00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.000 Well, when he was a child, he found a box full of mirrors up in the attic. 302 00:33:09.000 --> 00:33:10.000 Which people had forgotten about. 303 00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:11.000 Which people had forgotten about. 304 00:33:11.000 --> 00:33:12.000 Right? 305 00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:34.000 So, okay, all right. Barry's at work. He notices something on the official Teletype machine in his laboratory. Ever since Mirror Master broke jail by one of his fantastic mirror tricks, I've been hoping to get on his trail, and now maybe I've got a league. League? I can't talk today. A league. 306 00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:36.000 You sound like me. 307 00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:50.000 And the Duke of Ferrand will unveil this afternoon the fabulous collection of antique mirrors that he has brought to this country. Heirlooms of his family for centuries. Wow, that's a fabulous collection of mirrors. 308 00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:52.000 About as exciting as going to the paper museum. 309 00:33:52.000 --> 00:34:26.000 Remember? And I know you do. When we first moved to Florida, and I was unemployed, and I was setting up the house to teach private voice lessons, and our colleague from school came and brought a mirror for my little voice studio. She walked in and presented it and said, you've got to have a mirror. Mirror, mirror, mirror, she said three times out loud. In hindsight, maybe she was hexing us. 310 00:34:26.000 --> 00:34:28.000 Maybe. Oh, yeah, she. 311 00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:31.000 Maybe she could get into our house through the mirror. 312 00:34:31.000 --> 00:34:40.000 Oh, my gosh. I hadn't thought about that. She had created a portal. She stopped by unannounced. That used to piss me off. 313 00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:43.000 Really? I think she only did one time. That one time when she brought the mirror. 314 00:34:43.000 --> 00:34:47.000 No, she did twice. Both times she stopped by unannounced. 315 00:34:47.000 --> 00:34:58.000 Okay, well, that's. You know, that's never stopped by unannounced. My mother would go to anywhere. She would drive across the country, and if she had a third cousin, she'd roll up to their house and drop in. 316 00:34:58.000 --> 00:34:59.000 Hi. 317 00:34:59.000 --> 00:35:18.000 I brought you ten pounds of Vidalia onions from Georgia. That's a true story, actually. Listener. All right, now, unless I miss my guess, says police scientist Barry Allen, this bound to attract the Mirror Master like a honey hive draws bees. 318 00:35:18.000 --> 00:35:22.000 Good God, I've lost my. Where are you? In the middle of the page. 319 00:35:22.000 --> 00:35:23.000 Yes. 320 00:35:22.000 --> 00:35:23.000 Okay. 321 00:35:22.000 --> 00:35:42.000 So Barry later approaches the Museum of Antique Arts, having managed to get headquarters to assign him as part of the police protection force for the Duke of Ferrand's exhibition at the museum. Mm. Inside, Barry is introduced to the Duke's daughter, Bettina. 322 00:35:42.000 --> 00:35:45.000 Yeah, I think she's gonna remain single for a long time. 323 00:35:45.000 --> 00:36:14.000 Why? Because she's such a weird face? Yes, well, you know, they're likely inbred British royalty. I don't know if he's British, but European. Would you like Bettina to show you around the collection, Mr. Allen? She knows as much about it as anyone. That duke looks like John Waters. He does? With little mustache and everything. Unfortunately, Bettina also looks like John Waters, 324 00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:18.000 so let me see if I can do her voice. So, is she British? 325 00:36:18.000 --> 00:36:28.000 I don't. Let's just make her. Since we're talking about old movies, let's make her that amorphous European ish accent from the 1930s movies. 326 00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:41.000 This mirror comes from Roman days, Mr. Allen. It's not of glass at all, but a highly polished metal. And. And this hand mirror, ringed with gems, is reputed to have been Used by Marie Antoinette. 327 00:36:41.000 --> 00:36:45.000 It seems a pity your father has to part with all these, Miss Bettina. 328 00:36:45.000 --> 00:37:00.000 Yes, but we must, Mr. Allen. Taxes are so high in England. Oh, she is okay. But we must, Mr. Allen. Taxes are so high in England that Father must realize the cash from these mirrors in order to keep our estate going. 329 00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:13.000 Oh, Bettina, why don't you open up your estate to public tours and then allow a television show or a moving picture to film there outside, another visitor is about to make her appearance. 330 00:37:13.000 --> 00:37:26.000 Barry and I have a sort of date. A sort of date? Yeah, a sort of. When I told him over the phone I'd been assigned to this exhibition by my paper, Picture News. Why she has to say that in her brain? Why don't you see that? It's like. 331 00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:31.000 What if it's someone's first issue of the Flash? Okay, he's got to get all the information out. 332 00:37:31.000 --> 00:37:36.000 I'm gonna run to the grocery store, Food lion, to get some groceries later on. 333 00:37:36.000 --> 00:37:41.000 Well, now that makes sense, since there's three grocery stores within driving distance here. Okay, Food Lion's not the best one. 334 00:37:41.000 --> 00:37:45.000 When I told him over the phone that I'd been assigned to this exhibition by my paper, Picture News. 335 00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:46.000 Is she English now too? 336 00:37:46.000 --> 00:37:55.000 I'm sorry. He said it would be. He said he would be here too, but he didn't say why. I might as well go on. And Barry will be late as usual. 337 00:37:55.000 --> 00:38:01.000 Well, how do you like that? There's Barry, and I see he is on time. And I see why he's with that 338 00:38:01.000 --> 00:38:07.000 squishy faced girl, Mrs. Baroness Pug. 339 00:38:07.000 --> 00:38:10.000 Now Barry tries to get Iris attention as she walks. 340 00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:11.000 Well, there's Iris now. 341 00:38:11.000 --> 00:38:12.000 Well, hi. 342 00:38:11.000 --> 00:38:12.000 Hi, Iris. 343 00:38:12.000 --> 00:38:16.000 Humph. I must remind myself never to speak to Barry Allen again. 344 00:38:16.000 --> 00:38:17.000 Oh, those must be the new neighbors. 345 00:38:17.000 --> 00:38:21.000 The unmitigated gall of those men. Where? I can't see. 346 00:38:21.000 --> 00:38:25.000 Well, they've already walked past. He's got a really, really long white beard. Have you seen him? 347 00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:26.000 Oh, I have. Yes. 348 00:38:26.000 --> 00:38:30.000 Yes, they're very friendly. I wave at them once in a while. 349 00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:36.000 Well, are they in the bully's house or in the way back sits off the road? House? 350 00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:41.000 I don't know. I don't know whose house they're in. I'm afraid to go back there. I've been so scarred. 351 00:38:41.000 --> 00:38:42.000 I know, right? 352 00:38:42.000 --> 00:38:44.000 I don't take the dogs. I don't dare take the dogs back there. 353 00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:45.000 Elephants? 354 00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:46.000 No, no. 355 00:38:46.000 --> 00:39:07.000 Meanwhile, as Barry suspected, the collection has aroused someone else's attention. Mirror Master has rented an apartment alongside the museum and setting up a Few hidden mirrors. I can view the fabulous collection at my leisure. No one in there realizes that the Mirror Master is about to pull one of his famous coos. But I'm wasting time. 356 00:39:07.000 --> 00:39:11.000 It's a good thing he sits around in the privacy of his own apartment with his hood on. 357 00:39:11.000 --> 00:39:19.000 I never understood his costume because he's got, like, giant ear maxi pads. Green maxi pads. 358 00:39:19.000 --> 00:39:23.000 Green maxi pads. That's exactly it. Yes. Yeah. 359 00:39:23.000 --> 00:39:40.000 All right. He has pre cut a section of wall between the apartment and the museum. That seems like a security risk because he needs the mirror collection for his own collection. Barry sees him carrying. 360 00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:42.000 That's something I understand. 361 00:39:42.000 --> 00:39:43.000 What? 362 00:39:43.000 --> 00:39:48.000 Like, just feeling like you've gotta have something. Oh, they're the walkers. Oh, I like her hair. 363 00:39:48.000 --> 00:39:49.000 Our dog's gonna bark. 364 00:39:49.000 --> 00:39:50.000 Yes. 365 00:39:49.000 --> 00:39:50.000 Has she got a haircut? 366 00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:53.000 It's. It looks like it's been straightened a little bit. It's. 367 00:39:53.000 --> 00:39:54.000 Oh, it's cute. 368 00:39:54.000 --> 00:39:55.000 You'll see your hair in a second. 369 00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:56.000 Is it bouncy? 370 00:39:55.000 --> 00:40:04.000 Because maybe he is catching the wind. But. But it looks really like. Like, very springy. Like, not springy springy. Like, like the. The. The just. 371 00:40:04.000 --> 00:40:05.000 You mean the seasonal. 372 00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:08.000 The seasonal, yeah. It looks lovely. Look at it. Do you see it yet? 373 00:40:08.000 --> 00:40:09.000 No. 374 00:40:08.000 --> 00:40:09.000 Did you see her? 375 00:40:09.000 --> 00:40:12.000 Oh, there they are. But I can't see her. I go into the tree. 376 00:40:12.000 --> 00:40:13.000 Oh, okay. 377 00:40:13.000 --> 00:40:25.000 For heaven's sakes. Well, maybe Butler won't see her. And he won't bark. He doesn't bark at the man. Where were we? Barry sees the Mirror Master carrying off the Roman and the Marie Antoinette mirrors. 378 00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.000 Oh, I was just saying that I know what it's like to feel like you've just got to have something. 379 00:40:29.000 --> 00:40:30.000 Oh, yeah. I for sure do, too. 380 00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:32.000 Oh, hell yes. 381 00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:41.000 All right. Mirror Master goes back through the hole in the wall. We're not allowed to explain how Barry turns into the Flash. Apparently not. 382 00:40:41.000 --> 00:40:53.000 Again. Come on. The costume's inside his ring. It springs out of his ring and it's pressurized. Springs out of his ring and becomes a full size costume. He jumps into it at super speed. There you have it, listener. 383 00:40:53.000 --> 00:41:21.000 Barry races into the apartment after Mirror Master, but he crashes into Mirror Master's mirror image. Flash, you should have realized that Mirror Master would have a mirror trick up his sleeve. Of course, now Flash is still coming after him. Now it's only natural that Mirror Master should make his escape by means of mirrors. He tosses these stolen mirrors out the window. 384 00:41:21.000 --> 00:41:22.000 The priceless stolen mirrors. 385 00:41:22.000 --> 00:41:24.000 Barry's got to go after them running 386 00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:26.000 down the road faster than the speed of Gravity. 387 00:41:26.000 --> 00:41:33.000 That's a Flash fact. By means of his extraordinary speed, the Flash is enabled to defy gravity itself and can run up and down buildings at will. 388 00:41:33.000 --> 00:41:37.000 And he gets to the ground before the mirrors crash and catches them. 389 00:41:37.000 --> 00:41:46.000 If only he could catch the Mirror Masters easily. Now, Flash goes back up to the apartment. He finds a key on the ground. 390 00:41:46.000 --> 00:41:47.000 A key? 391 00:41:47.000 --> 00:41:53.000 The key does not fit the lock, so it must be the key to another place. Possibly the secret hideout of the Mirror Master. 392 00:41:53.000 --> 00:41:55.000 So what will he do, Listener? 393 00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:57.000 He's going to put the stolen mirrors 394 00:41:57.000 --> 00:42:12.000 back where they belong and then try that key in every lock, everywhere in within miles. Within. Within every single lock? 395 00:42:12.000 --> 00:42:22.000 Yes. He's to find the Mirror Master speed. He can do it. He went to every television station in town. Why couldn't he go to every lock in town? 396 00:42:22.000 --> 00:42:24.000 There must be. He's a detective, isn't he? 397 00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:26.000 Well, he's a police scientist. 398 00:42:26.000 --> 00:42:33.000 There must be a better way to do that than to try the key in every lock at super speed. 399 00:42:33.000 --> 00:42:38.000 Well, if there is, then no one thought of it in time to get it into this story. 400 00:42:38.000 --> 00:42:39.000 Okay. 401 00:42:39.000 --> 00:42:42.000 Meanwhile, in the Mirror Master title. 402 00:42:42.000 --> 00:42:46.000 Listen, sir, I'm really not jaded like this. In real person, I'm. Well, maybe I am. 403 00:42:46.000 --> 00:42:50.000 Yes, he is. 404 00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:53.000 I think of one listener who's probably just screamed at his radio. 405 00:42:53.000 --> 00:43:43.000 Yes, he is. Mirror Master prepared the means recently to deal with the Flash by way of a mirror duplicator, a device of his own invention. Anything that happens to an image in that mirror will happen to the person himself who casts the image. And I've arranged for something interesting to happen to Flash as soon as he gets here. Flash arrives at a charming little cottage on the outskirts of town. After having tried the key in about 100,000 doors in the city. He's batting 100,000, and what do you know? It fits. He finds the Mirror Master. Mirror Master has this mirror which already has an image of the Flash on it. He shoots a gun at it, the 406 00:43:43.000 --> 00:43:50.000 mirror shatters and Flash takes hit points. Yeah, Damage. 407 00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:56.000 And when Flash opens his eyes, not long after, he's inside a bell jar. 408 00:43:56.000 --> 00:43:59.000 This is where. This is like a Bob Haney story. 409 00:43:59.000 --> 00:44:16.000 Yeah, but it's not. Amazingly enough, this was written by, well, John Broom. All of these were written by John Broom. Now, Flash is a genie in a bottle. 410 00:44:16.000 --> 00:44:24.000 A genie in a bottle. Baby, come and help me find a baby in the market on Amazon. 411 00:44:24.000 --> 00:44:25.000 What? 412 00:44:24.000 --> 00:44:27.000 Oh, so Jeannie in a bottle was Britney Spears. 413 00:44:27.000 --> 00:44:29.000 No. Christina Aguilar. 414 00:44:29.000 --> 00:44:30.000 Oh, are you sure? 415 00:44:29.000 --> 00:44:30.000 Yeah. 416 00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:42.000 Oh, then that. Forgive me, that pop culture reference made no sense at all. I was thinking about. I thought it was Britney Spears. And then Britney Spears has recently got in trouble. Adopt a baby on Amazon. She was high or something. And. Yeah, she drove her car and got arrested. 417 00:44:42.000 --> 00:44:49.000 Yeah, well, the real words are very nasty. I'm a genie in a bottle, baby 418 00:44:49.000 --> 00:44:52.000 Come and rub me the right way 419 00:44:52.000 --> 00:45:08.000 all right. Now, Mirror Master, all his life, has wanted to have a genie in a bottle. And now, at last, he's got one. So who could be a more perfect servant than Flash, the super speedster, capable of all sorts of wonders? 420 00:45:08.000 --> 00:45:12.000 Okay, so there's one thing that I don't want to have. What? 421 00:45:12.000 --> 00:45:13.000 A genie in a bottle. 422 00:45:13.000 --> 00:45:16.000 A human being in a bottle that I have to care for. 423 00:45:16.000 --> 00:45:18.000 Right. We used to call that slaves. 424 00:45:18.000 --> 00:45:23.000 Yeah, A human being, like human beings produce waste. 425 00:45:23.000 --> 00:45:26.000 Yeah, and that bottle is not that big. 426 00:45:26.000 --> 00:45:29.000 Exactly. 427 00:45:29.000 --> 00:45:44.000 All right. He breaks the bottle open after surrounding it with smoke for, you know, stage effect. For some reason, Flash is compelled to follow Mirror Master's orders. 428 00:45:44.000 --> 00:45:47.000 Yeah. He doesn't explain how he does it. 429 00:45:47.000 --> 00:45:50.000 Well, it's something to do with the vibrations. 430 00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.000 Yes. And the vibrations of paralyzes will. 431 00:45:54.000 --> 00:45:55.000 Yes. 432 00:45:54.000 --> 00:45:59.000 So it's a form of very, very strong hypnosis. 433 00:45:59.000 --> 00:46:35.000 Now, Mirror Master has heard that the taste of fresh Arabian figs is indescribable. Only we never get them fresh in this country. So I command you to go to Arabia, pluck some figs for me from the trees there and come right back. Now, hurry up, be off. Which Flash does Flash goes off. He knows that something's wrong with his mind. He shouldn't be taking orders from Mirror Master. But he can't help himself. Something's forcing him to. He runs across the ocean itself. Flash fact. Just as a shell will skip over the waves if thrown fast enough, so the incredible Flash travels so quickly he can run right over the water. 434 00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:37.000 He comes back with the figs in 435 00:46:37.000 --> 00:46:43.000 hardly any time at all. I like a figs of Araby. We have some down on the counter. 436 00:46:43.000 --> 00:46:44.000 No, not dried figs. 437 00:46:44.000 --> 00:46:48.000 Oh, well, I'm sure we can get some at the farmer's market. 438 00:46:48.000 --> 00:47:05.000 Did you know that figs can only be made by wasps? The figs are. Not germinated. Not germinated? What is that called? Pollinated. 439 00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:11.000 Pollinated by wasps. I did. Nobody hipped me to that. Dude, is that a flashback? 440 00:47:11.000 --> 00:47:12.000 Who's he barking? 441 00:47:12.000 --> 00:47:20.000 The walkers. He saw her. Now, is that a Flash fact? No, I'm just gonna say it is Flash fact. Figs can only be pollinated by wasps. 442 00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:23.000 Yeah, see, look, her hair looks lovely. 443 00:47:23.000 --> 00:47:24.000 I can't see her anymore. 444 00:47:24.000 --> 00:47:27.000 Oh, yeah, she's had it. It looks like it's been highlighted or something. 445 00:47:27.000 --> 00:47:30.000 Well, she's lovely. She's retired. She has time for that sort of thing. 446 00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:32.000 They're such nice people. 447 00:47:32.000 --> 00:47:45.000 All right, now, Mirror Master, while Flash was gone, got the yen to hold some snow from the highest peaks of the Himalayas. It's true. So off Flash goes, running up the Himalayas to get snow. 448 00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:46.000 So to get snow, keep the figs cold. 449 00:47:46.000 --> 00:48:02.000 Bring it back. Now. I'll use the snow to keep the figs fresh. All right. Since you prevented me from stealing those valuable antique mirrors, Flash, I've decided to make you steal them for me. On your way, pal. 450 00:48:02.000 --> 00:48:04.000 But at the mirror exhibition. 451 00:48:04.000 --> 00:48:14.000 Instants afterward, something's happened to me as I was going for these mirrors. If I'm right, it's a sign that the Mirror Master, in his greed, has pushed me too far. 452 00:48:14.000 --> 00:48:19.000 Back at the super swift time. What? 453 00:48:19.000 --> 00:48:22.000 Back at super swift time. Speed's the crimson comet. 454 00:48:22.000 --> 00:48:29.000 Oh, God. I put the article the in there and completely messed up the meaning in my brain of what I was reading. 455 00:48:29.000 --> 00:48:32.000 Okay, so Flash, Mirror Master has overplayed his hand. 456 00:48:32.000 --> 00:48:35.000 Flash, you've returned without the mirrors. What does this mean? 457 00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:55.000 You may have heard, Mirror Master, that under hypnosis, a person will not do anything he would not normally do anyway. You cannot hypnotize an honest person into committing a crime. Wha. Whaaat? And the spell you put me under was like hypnosis. When I reached out a hand for those mirrors of the exhibition, something within me snapped and I was myself again. Unfortunately for you. 458 00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:59.000 Go. That evening at the picture. So he takes him down. 459 00:48:59.000 --> 00:49:00.000 Yes, that's it. 460 00:48:59.000 --> 00:49:08.000 He takes him down and takes him into custody that evening at the Picture News office after the cunning crook has once again been placed under custody. 461 00:49:08.000 --> 00:49:15.000 But Iris, I tell you, patina means nothing to me. I was at the exhibition officially as part of the police guard. 462 00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:24.000 Oh, well, that's different, Barry. I didn't realize. And it explains why I didn't see you after the Mirror Master showed up. You went out after him, didn't you? 463 00:49:24.000 --> 00:49:30.000 That's right, Iris. And who knows? I might have caught up to him if the Flash didn't beat me to it. 464 00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:32.000 Oh, Barry. 465 00:49:32.000 --> 00:49:40.000 These stories, of course, are all reprints taking place before Barry and Iris were married. But even though they are married, she still doesn't know that he's the Flash. 466 00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:44.000 In our Continuing. In our timeline of reading. 467 00:49:44.000 --> 00:49:57.000 Yes, in our timeline of reading. Now I'VE got some bad news, Rob. What? Grodd, the amazing ape with the mind of a genius, an evil genius makes a surprise reappearance to challenge his nemesis, the Flash. 468 00:49:57.000 --> 00:49:58.000 Well, I want to say something. 469 00:49:58.000 --> 00:49:59.000 Yes? 470 00:49:59.000 --> 00:50:08.000 I liked this story because I didn't know a lot about Grodd or where he came from, or even that he was part of a race of super intelligent gorillas. 471 00:50:08.000 --> 00:50:09.000 Okay, good, good. 472 00:50:09.000 --> 00:50:11.000 I thought. I. Forgive me. Oh, my God. 473 00:50:11.000 --> 00:50:12.000 No, go. 474 00:50:12.000 --> 00:50:19.000 I'm sorry. I just did. I thought he. He was smart from some sort of scientific experiment that made him that way. 475 00:50:19.000 --> 00:50:22.000 Sure, right. Yeah. 476 00:50:22.000 --> 00:50:26.000 And so, as the story progresses, I was like, oh. Oh, isn't this interesting? 477 00:50:26.000 --> 00:50:28.000 Oh, I'm glad. Yes. 478 00:50:28.000 --> 00:50:30.000 So I'm not all that bitter, but 479 00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:32.000 you did know Gorilla Grodd from Super Friends? 480 00:50:32.000 --> 00:50:34.000 Yes, of course. 481 00:50:34.000 --> 00:50:54.000 Once again, the fastest man alive counts on his super speed to overwhelm his foe. But this time, the flash of speed turns out to be the very means by which Grodd plans to defeat the scarlet Speedster. Return of the super gorilla on a Midwestern farm. As Hank Jones begins his day's chores. 482 00:50:54.000 --> 00:50:55.000 Oh, wanna. 483 00:50:55.000 --> 00:50:58.000 He hears a noiseful morning. 484 00:50:58.000 --> 00:51:02.000 Oh. What? He's seeing that himself on his. 485 00:51:02.000 --> 00:51:12.000 A strange sort of tractor borer shoots up from below the earth as fast as he can. He goes on down the gas station to call the county sheriff. 486 00:51:12.000 --> 00:51:19.000 How should I know where it came from? But you better get out here quick. All the plants for a mile around, I think, are dying. 487 00:51:19.000 --> 00:51:21.000 Plants dying? That's no good for a farmer. 488 00:51:21.000 --> 00:51:23.000 No, of course not. That's his livelihood. 489 00:51:23.000 --> 00:51:28.000 At the same time, in a corner of New England, a forest ranger patrols. 490 00:51:28.000 --> 00:51:30.000 What's that? An earthquake? 491 00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:33.000 The next moment, another one of these strange borers. 492 00:51:33.000 --> 00:51:36.000 Where on the earth did that come from? That's my New England accent. 493 00:51:36.000 --> 00:51:37.000 That's very good. 494 00:51:36.000 --> 00:51:37.000 Thank you. 495 00:51:37.000 --> 00:51:39.000 As the ranger makes his report. 496 00:51:39.000 --> 00:51:50.000 And then, within a minute, the water in. Hold on a second. And then, within a minute, the water in every nearby well, Brook Pond Lake, had dried up. It must have something to do with that borer. 497 00:51:50.000 --> 00:51:57.000 In newspapers all over the country, extreme strange metallic objects shoot up from Earth. 498 00:51:57.000 --> 00:52:10.000 And while the thoughts of the nation are focused on the amazing mystery, elsewhere, in a city known only to one man in the entire world, another problem has arrested attention. 499 00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:20.000 Yes, it's Guerrilla City in the heart of savage Africa, where head scientist Salivar faces an emergency. 500 00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:22.000 Can you tell me anything about Guerrilla City? 501 00:52:22.000 --> 00:52:33.000 So Guerrilla City is a city of intelligent gorillas in the heart of darkest Africa. 502 00:52:33.000 --> 00:52:35.000 I gathered that from that little bubble There. 503 00:52:35.000 --> 00:53:00.000 So I believe in the previous story. I believe this is only the second appearance in the previous story, Flash discovered Gorilla City, or they summoned him for help or something, because Gorilla Grodd has mental powers above and beyond those of the other super intelligent gorillas. Oh, where was I done on the 504 00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:02.000 panel on page 47. 505 00:53:02.000 --> 00:53:39.000 So. But I believe this story is the first time that it's discussed that Guerrilla City is hidden from the world by whatever vibratory field or something. Also, Salivar later on is described as the king or leader or something of Guerrilla City. Not just lead scientist. And he wears a fabulous cape. Later on. Yes. Now there was a Congo Bill story where he discovered a city of intelligent guerrillas, which in theory is the same Guerrilla City, but did not have Guerrilla Grodd or Salivar. 506 00:53:39.000 --> 00:53:40.000 Okay. 507 00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:54.000 Or anything like that. So they found Grodd's guard unconscious. The cell door had been ripped apart, and analysis shows that he could have escaped as long as a week ago. But we only just discovered it. 508 00:53:54.000 --> 00:54:01.000 So that that gorilla has been laying there for a week, Unconscious, apparently. Oh my God. I hope he's okay. 509 00:54:01.000 --> 00:54:04.000 Oh, what would Solivar talk like? 510 00:54:04.000 --> 00:54:13.000 This is terrible news. I promised our friend Flash that we would keep Grodd well guarded. Now we must notify Flash at once. 511 00:54:13.000 --> 00:54:19.000 Swiftly, Salivar reaches for an instrument on his desk. Information. 512 00:54:19.000 --> 00:54:33.000 Get me Flash's vibration aura number. It must be on file. Flash was in Gorilla City not long ago, and the vibration recorders would automatically have registered his vibration frequency. 513 00:54:33.000 --> 00:54:35.000 I'll check. I'll check. Sir. 514 00:54:35.000 --> 00:54:38.000 That's the. That's the operator. 515 00:54:38.000 --> 00:54:51.000 Uh huh. You were right, sire. Solivar, that's a gorilla did register Flash's vibration aura. The number is gamma frequency 548321. 516 00:54:51.000 --> 00:54:54.000 Contact flash at once. I'll hold. 517 00:54:54.000 --> 00:55:02.000 Yes, sir. 518 00:55:02.000 --> 00:55:08.000 She goes Rawr. That's the whole music. 519 00:55:08.000 --> 00:55:35.000 I forgot to mention that Guerrilla City has since been discovered to have been the home of several famous simian creatures in the DC Universe. Like Sam Simeon from Angel and the Ape and Grape Ape. He's not DC Universe. He was briefly when DC was publishing all the Hanna Barbera properties. But Detective Chimp, I believe, comes from Detective or Guerrilla City. 520 00:55:35.000 --> 00:55:43.000 Oh, wow. Wow. My goodness. From the Hidden Gorilla City. An energy burst flares upward. Now this looks like an amoeba. 521 00:55:43.000 --> 00:55:46.000 No, it looks like a thought balloon. 522 00:55:46.000 --> 00:55:48.000 What is the green gaseous thing? 523 00:55:48.000 --> 00:55:49.000 Green glob. 524 00:55:49.000 --> 00:55:50.000 The green glob? 525 00:55:49.000 --> 00:55:51.000 Yes, it looks like the green glob, only it's orange. 526 00:55:51.000 --> 00:55:52.000 Orange? Orange. 527 00:55:52.000 --> 00:56:06.000 It spans the ocean, continues in the beat of an atom. Pulse into the police laboratory in Central City, where a chemist. Now he's a chemist? What is he? Police scientist? Chemist. Well, forensic scientist. We don't know. 528 00:56:06.000 --> 00:56:07.000 We don't know. 529 00:56:07.000 --> 00:56:08.000 Museum guard. 530 00:56:08.000 --> 00:56:12.000 He probably, you know, he's probably a student of life. 531 00:56:12.000 --> 00:56:13.000 Lifelong learner. 532 00:56:12.000 --> 00:56:14.000 Lifelong learner. 533 00:56:14.000 --> 00:56:23.000 All right, Flash. Contacting. Flash, this is an emergency. Stop. I love that. Great Scott. 534 00:56:23.000 --> 00:56:28.000 I hear something. But someone who knows that my secret identity is a Flash who could. 535 00:56:28.000 --> 00:56:38.000 This is Solivar. Listen, Grodd has escaped. You must get here as fast as possible. Argyrillicity. Perhaps the Earth itself is in dire danger. 536 00:56:38.000 --> 00:56:43.000 On my way. Salamar. He changes costume. We don't need to discuss that. Good. 537 00:56:43.000 --> 00:56:45.000 I'll be watching for you. 538 00:56:45.000 --> 00:56:52.000 Now he wonders, could the escape of Grodd have anything to do with the appearance of those strange metallic objects? 539 00:56:52.000 --> 00:56:53.000 Oh, my goodness. 540 00:56:53.000 --> 00:57:08.000 He crosses the Atlantic Ocean for the third time this week. And in an isolated part of Africa. Uh. Oh, yeah. Here it is. Last time Solivar took me to Guerrilla City, it was situated right here, but I can't find any trace of it. 541 00:57:08.000 --> 00:57:11.000 Now, suddenly, in a contact by. 542 00:57:11.000 --> 00:57:34.000 You're in the midst of Gorilla City at this very moment, Flash, Only you're not aware of it. We have a protective machine that cuts off our city from human senses, thus preventing anyone from knowing of its existence. Stand by. We're focusing the machine on you to bring you into our field of vibration. 543 00:57:34.000 --> 00:57:50.000 In the blink of an eye, the jungle terrain is wiped out of existence and replaced by Gorilla City. It's a clever trick. And it explains why no aircraft or explorer has ever reported seeing this hidden city. 544 00:57:50.000 --> 00:57:51.000 Mm. 545 00:57:51.000 --> 00:57:58.000 So Grodd is potentially the most dangerous creature on Earth. So how did he escape? 546 00:57:58.000 --> 00:58:13.000 He outwitted us. Flash, before you left us last time, I told you Grodd had lost his force of mind power that made him so dangerous. But I was wrong. He only pretended to lose it, and he used his mental powers to effect his escape. 547 00:58:13.000 --> 00:58:15.000 But where did he go? Soluvar? 548 00:58:15.000 --> 00:58:20.000 We've been trying to track him, but so far, without success. He seems to have vanished off the 549 00:58:20.000 --> 00:58:33.000 face of the Earth at that moment, miles below the Earth's crust. Chirp. I was wondering which of us was gonna do this. Chirp, chirp. We are ready to follow your orders, Grodd. Chirp, chirp. 550 00:58:33.000 --> 00:58:34.000 Good. 551 00:58:33.000 --> 00:58:45.000 Yes. It's a race of bird people with giant heads. With giant heads? Who? For some reason, bird people live under the surface of the Earth. 552 00:58:45.000 --> 00:58:46.000 Go figure. 553 00:58:46.000 --> 00:59:48.000 They could have lived on the top of the Himalayas or in the Amazon jungle. Someplace with open skies. But no, they've chosen to live under the surface of the earth. Now, as you know, Rob, on Earth one, the Earth is hollow. And inside the earth is the land of Skartaris, which has all kinds of bird men and dinosaurs and everything. Magic wizards. You can read all about it in the pages of Warlord comics, which I'll show to you someday. The more you know, because the Warlord, my friend, wears a loincloth and a helmet, and that's it. You can imagine I liked that comic as a teen. I'm sure now the bird people don't realize it, but since Grodd came down there a week ago, they've all fallen under the spell of his force of mind power. 554 00:59:48.000 --> 00:59:53.000 The bird people live on floating islands inside the Earth, which is hollow, except for the crust. 555 00:59:53.000 --> 00:59:54.000 Yep. 556 00:59:54.000 --> 00:59:59.000 They've never imagined, until he told them, that there might be life outside of their world. 557 00:59:59.000 --> 01:00:09.000 Well, because they've lost their race memory. Because, as you know, Skartaris was originally populated by refugees from Atlantis. 558 01:00:09.000 --> 01:00:10.000 Oh, okay. 559 01:00:10.000 --> 01:00:11.000 Yeah, okay. 560 01:00:11.000 --> 01:00:14.000 So the bird person says, chirp, chirp. 561 01:00:14.000 --> 01:00:26.000 Whatever. Scientists theorized life existed on the other side of our sky, but he was laughed at. Now Grodd has convinced them that there is life on the Earth. In fact, they're ready to help me conquer the humans up there. 562 01:00:26.000 --> 01:00:40.000 But first, he needs to eliminate the most dangerous syllabar, Gorilla City, and the Flash. The Devolutionizer ray will revert the super gorillas to primitive primates, no different from the other dumb goril on Earth. 563 01:00:40.000 --> 01:00:50.000 The metal borers that the bird people shot up into the Earth at my direction were just devices to distract Solovar and his assistance from the my real threat against them. 564 01:00:50.000 --> 01:00:59.000 Another few seconds, and it will be time to send Solivar and his gorillas into their monkey past and begin his war against humanity. 565 01:00:59.000 --> 01:01:20.000 Hey, Rob, if humans are descended from Devolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys? Sorry, I've seen too much Twitter today. Okay, at that moment, directly above on Earth, 566 01:01:20.000 --> 01:01:25.000 Flash Grodd's vibratory trail has just been discovered, leading to below the Earth. 567 01:01:25.000 --> 01:01:26.000 Below the Earth? 568 01:01:26.000 --> 01:01:28.000 Yes, Straight down. 569 01:01:28.000 --> 01:01:44.000 Now I'm going after him. Solivar. This is the little trick I learned from my enemy. The I'm gonna spin so fast that I drive myself down into the surface of the Earth until I hop, hop into the hollow world below the Earth's crust. Which he does a momentary search reveals. 570 01:01:44.000 --> 01:01:46.000 Grodd. Oh, no. 571 01:01:46.000 --> 01:01:52.000 Yeah, but if he thought he was gonna stop me, he's in for a startling surprise. 572 01:01:52.000 --> 01:01:57.000 Oh, Grodd's Grodd's voice. See, he's. He's educated. 573 01:01:57.000 --> 01:01:58.000 Oh, the superfluous. 574 01:01:58.000 --> 01:01:59.000 Oh, I can't do that. 575 01:01:59.000 --> 01:02:00.000 I can't either. 576 01:02:00.000 --> 01:02:01.000 No, you'll cough. 577 01:02:01.000 --> 01:02:09.000 I will. So Flash puts on an extra burst of speed because it looks like Grodd hasn't had time to do any real harm yet. 578 01:02:09.000 --> 01:02:15.000 But as Flash hurtles across the intervening space, a strange process takes place. 579 01:02:15.000 --> 01:02:30.000 Just as Grodd theorized, Flash's super speed is causing the mola, the strange air down here inside the earth, to adhere to his body and instantly solidify around him. 580 01:02:30.000 --> 01:02:31.000 Hmm. 581 01:02:30.000 --> 01:02:40.000 By Pluto, he's still advancing, even though his weight has increased a hundredfold. It's got to stop him. Finally, it does. 582 01:02:40.000 --> 01:02:43.000 But Flash first crashes into the Devolutionizer. 583 01:02:43.000 --> 01:02:50.000 Yep, damaged. It's gonna take Grodd hours to repair, but at least Flash will no longer interfere with his plans. 584 01:02:50.000 --> 01:03:04.000 Well, they're gonna place Flash on exhibit in the city square in a casing of solidified mola. Flash will remain like that for centuries, a symbol of what will happen to anyone who seeks to prevent Grodd from becoming ruler of the Earth. 585 01:03:04.000 --> 01:03:38.000 Now, this mola is transparent enough so Flash can see out, but he can't stop thinking about how incredible it is that all along there's been a civilization down here unknown to people on the surface. A world of winged people who fly from one island to another here below the Earth. Now, he understands by the dazed look in the bird people's eyes that they must be under Grodd's force of mind trance. And it looks like they're ready to help Grodd achieve his ambition to conquer the world. 586 01:03:38.000 --> 01:03:46.000 Now he's just got to figure out a way to get out of this. What is it? Mula mola. Mola Mola encasement. 587 01:03:46.000 --> 01:04:06.000 Now, it's encased too tight for him to use his vibratory powers, but. But he can vibrate back and forth enough to work up a rocking motion to topple himself off the display pedestal in the city square. And he does. It works. He hits the ground, and the molar shatters. 588 01:04:06.000 --> 01:04:07.000 Yay. 589 01:04:07.000 --> 01:04:37.000 Flash is free and unhurt. Now, correct me if I'm wrong. Was. Okay, well, when the mola originally solidified, Grodd was firing a ray weapon at him. But that's not. He doesn't say that in his thought balloon. He just says flash's super speed is causing the mola to adhere to his body. 590 01:04:37.000 --> 01:04:38.000 Right. 591 01:04:37.000 --> 01:04:41.000 He doesn't say my ray plus the super speed. 592 01:04:41.000 --> 01:04:56.000 Yeah, because Flash keeps his super Speed in check as he's rushing toward Grodd. This time, he says he's got to control his speed. Keep it just under the critical point where it will solidify this atmosphere around him. 593 01:04:56.000 --> 01:05:17.000 Okay. He sets Grodd spinning, but Grodd is able to burst out of the whirlwind that Flash has created around him. Then Flash starts punching. At super speed, even at moderate speed, he can hit Grodd a hundred times before he can blink. 594 01:05:17.000 --> 01:05:19.000 And Grodd gets knocked out. KO'd. 595 01:05:19.000 --> 01:05:27.000 And maybe that knocked the force of mind power from him. I hope it did. At least he had no chance to use it against me. 596 01:05:27.000 --> 01:05:31.000 Yeah, so it actually did. It did work. And the bird people say chirp, chirp. 597 01:05:31.000 --> 01:05:45.000 Yes. Grodd had us in some kind of spell. But when you knocked him out, his holderness was broken. Gah. We're free. Now, as the fastest human and his captive zoom back toward the surface, the 598 01:05:45.000 --> 01:05:55.000 bird people are peaceful. Someday, when they are ready, they will pay. Someday, when they are ready, they will pay a visit to the surface. Until then, perhaps it would be best for me not to say anything about their subterranean existence. 599 01:05:55.000 --> 01:05:57.000 Probably. That's probably best. 600 01:05:57.000 --> 01:05:59.000 Yeah. 601 01:05:59.000 --> 01:06:08.000 Thanks for capturing crawd this time, Flash. Next time, we'll be more careful about watching here. 602 01:06:08.000 --> 01:06:12.000 Goodbye, Solovar. Time for me to return home. 603 01:06:12.000 --> 01:06:26.000 As Barry reads the papers later, I see that the strange metal objects vanished as mysteriously as they appeared. I hope that's the last I ever hear of the evil minded Grodd. 604 01:06:26.000 --> 01:06:35.000 What do the drills have with? How are they related to Grodd's ray de evolutionary? 605 01:06:35.000 --> 01:06:38.000 Nothing. It was just a distraction to keep Solivar and Flash busy. 606 01:06:38.000 --> 01:06:42.000 Oh, that's right. It was a distraction, wasn't it? Oh, my God. 607 01:06:42.000 --> 01:06:46.000 I know what an Intricate is. Not the last he's gonna see of Gorilla Grott, I guess. 608 01:06:46.000 --> 01:06:47.000 Oh, no. Yeah. 609 01:06:47.000 --> 01:07:06.000 Now, hawkman of Earth 2 did discover a race of bird people, I believe, in the Himalayas. Yeah, and he left a scientist there. The scientist had sex with one of the bird girls, and they had a child. 610 01:07:06.000 --> 01:07:07.000 Was it a bird child? 611 01:07:07.000 --> 01:07:08.000 It was a half bird, half human. 612 01:07:08.000 --> 01:07:09.000 Oh, my gosh. 613 01:07:09.000 --> 01:07:11.000 Superhero. North Wind. 614 01:07:11.000 --> 01:07:13.000 North Wind. 615 01:07:13.000 --> 01:07:16.000 But of course, that was Earth 2, so has nothing to do with Earth 1. 616 01:07:16.000 --> 01:07:19.000 No, it's not the same. Famously not the same. 617 01:07:19.000 --> 01:07:33.000 Not the same. Not pre crisis, as you well know. You can find us on social media, Okocheckpod. You can rate and review us wherever you get your podcast from. You can find us on our sister podcast, Nerd Orchestra. 618 01:07:33.000 --> 01:07:34.000 Nerd Orchestra. 619 01:07:34.000 --> 01:07:44.000 A new episode just dropped today and you can find us right back here. Speaking of news hens, next week with Lois Lane. 620 01:07:44.000 --> 01:07:45.000 Oh, good. 621 01:07:45.000 --> 01:07:46.000 Superman's girlfriend. Friend. 622 01:07:46.000 --> 01:08:42.000 Yes, by you don't have to be a politician. You can change it all with a s disposition. So be heavy and spread it all around. If you find yourself a frowning Just turn it upside down when you wear a smile the world weird shout hooray. You gotta turn on the sunshine. You gotta give in one time. You gotta turn on the sunshine. Push those blues away, Man, this dialectic's too much.