Flash Silver Age: key issues and their real values

The Flash's Silver Age begins on the day Showcase #4 hit newsstands in the autumn of 1956 — the single issue credited with launching the broader Silver Age of American comics. Barry Allen, a police forensic scientist, gains his powers in circumstances deliberately echoing those of Jay Garrick (the original 1940 Flash): a lightning bolt strikes a rack of chemicals and a man finds himself moving at supersonic speed. Within three years, the revived series would produce four of DC's most important key issues.

This guide cites only verifiable data: records documented by Heritage Auctions and GoCollect, creative credits confirmed by primary sources. Our eBay tool (eBay.fr + eBay.com, June 2026) returns zero or sub-threshold listings for all these Silver Age keys — they are too scarce on the secondary market to produce a reliable median. Documented auction results are the only meaningful benchmark.

Flash Silver Age key issue table (documented data, June 2026)

Auction records are the sole reliable reference for these issues: eBay volume is either zero or below the 15-listing threshold for every key below.

Record sources: Heritage Auctions, GoCollect, QualityComix.

Showcase #4 (1956): the issue that launched the Silver Age

On sale in the autumn of 1956, Showcase #4 introduces Barry Allen — a forensic chemist at the Central City Police Department — who is doused in electrified chemicals during a freak laboratory accident and becomes the new Flash. The origin story is written by Robert Kanigher; a second Flash story in the same issue is scripted by John Broome. Both are pencilled by Carmine Infantino and inked by Joe Kubert, under the editorial direction of Julius Schwartz. The Kanigher/Broome/Infantino/Schwartz combination reinvented the superhero genre at a moment when it had nearly collapsed, and historians credit this specific issue as the starting gun of the Silver Age.

The sole CGC NM+ 9.6 copy — the highest-graded example in the census, with no copies higher — realised $900,000 at Heritage Auctions' January 2024 Comics & Comic Art Signature Auction. This is the all-time record for a Silver Age DC comic. The same copy had previously sold for $179,250 in 2009 at its prior public auction appearance. Mid-grade copies (VF/NM and below) trade in the thousands to tens of thousands of dollars depending on CGC grade, though volume remains very thin.

The Flash #105 (1959): first issue of the ongoing Silver Age series

After three further appearances in Showcase (#8, #13 and #14), Barry Allen earned a dedicated ongoing series in 1959. The numbering picked up where Flash Comics had left off in 1949 — making The Flash vol.1 #105 the effective first issue of the Silver Age run. The issue also introduces Mirror Master, one of the most enduring members of the Flash's Rogue's Gallery. The CGC census counts only three copies in 9.4 and none higher; documented records settle around $38,838 (Heritage 2011) for that top grade across multiple sources. Our eBay tool returns a single active listing — far below the 15-listing minimum for a reliable median.

The Flash #110 (1959): Kid Flash and Weather Wizard

Cover-dated December 1959, The Flash #110 packs two landmark first appearances into a single issue. Wally West — the nephew of Barry Allen's girlfriend Iris West — accidentally recreates the chemical accident that gave his uncle superspeed and becomes Kid Flash; Wally would eventually take over the Flash mantle entirely in 1987 (vol.2). The same issue also debuts Weather Wizard. Script by John Broome, art by Carmine Infantino. A CGC 9.2 copy reached ~$16,500 at Heritage Auctions in 2012. Our eBay tool returns zero active listings for this issue.

The Flash #123 (1961): Flash of Two Worlds and the DC multiverse

Published in September 1961, The Flash #123 is arguably the most consequential single issue in the entire run. In "Flash of Two Worlds!", written by Gardner Fox and drawn by Carmine Infantino (inks by Joe Giella), Barry Allen is accidentally vibrated into a parallel universe where Jay Garrick — the 1940 Flash — is alive and real. It is the first time DC Comics formally establishes the concept of parallel Earths and the multiverse, christening the alternate world Earth-Two. That idea has structured DC's continuity ever since and underpins the multiverse narratives of the CW television universe and contemporary DC films. A CGC 9.4 copy from the Western Penn pedigree sold for ~$23,000 at Heritage Auctions in 2004. Our eBay tool returns zero listings.

The Flash #139 (1963): first appearance of the Reverse-Flash

In September 1963, John Broome and Carmine Infantino introduced the character who would become the Flash's greatest recurring villain: Eobard Thawne, alias Professor Zoom — the Reverse-Flash. A 25th-century scientist who replicated the Flash's speed force accident and was driven to obsession upon discovering he was fated to become the hero's arch-enemy, Thawne has anchored Flash storytelling ever since. The role is central to the CW's The Flash series (Grant Gustin, 2014–2023) and featured prominently in the 2023 Ezra Miller film. The CGC 9.6 copy — the highest graded example on record — sold for $8,365 in 2006. In mid-grade (CGC 5.0–6.0), copies circulate in the range of a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.