Jason Peter Garrick was born in the blue-collar capital of the United States, Keystone City, as World War Two entered its second year. His mother passing away as he entered his toddler years, Jay often spent his days at the neighbouring Shapiro household as his father, Joseph, struggled to make ends meet at the Keystone Motors assembly line. There he befriended Elliot, the youngest Shapiro – of the same age as each other, together they developed an interest in science, Jay becoming enraptured by it. Whenever Joseph would come home from work, the young Garrick would pester his father into taking him to the Keystone Science Museum, a trip Joseph was glad to undertake; what little time he got to spend with his son was precious to him, and he wouldn’t have been fit to call himself a good father had he denied Jay his passion.
Jay was particularly interested in physics. One of his fondest memories of high school, brushing aside his first kiss, drink, and car, was a class excursion to Dr. Garrison Slate’s lab, located at a large facility not far from the Van Buren Bridge – Central City, tall and bright, stretched over the horizon on the other side of the Missouri River. It was there, in the place that would later become S.T.A.R. Labs, that Jay was introduced to the truly theoretical side of physics: antimatter, dark energy, M-theory and string theory, to name a few – concepts that flew over his fellow peers’ heads, but only served to intensify the flame that burned for science in his heart.
After graduating from Keystone High School, Jay and Elliot began their tertiary education at Midwestern University. Recently turned eighteen, Jay wanted to waste no time on vacation – knowledge waits for no man, after all. It was a stupid saying, all things considered, but it was amusing; worth the exasperation he got out of Elliot each time he said it, that much was certain.
It was during his college years that Jay met the two people that would come to define his life in very different ways: Edward Clariss and Joan Williams. Studying chemistry and physics, Jay met Eddie in class. An aspiring scientist like himself, Eddie became a fast friend with Jay, the two bonding over their passion for the uncertain. They, along with Elliot, became inseparable over time, a trio of friends that rarely drifted from one another. Whenever they could make room for some free time, be it from school or from work (Jay had begun interning at Dr. Slate’s lab), they would frequent a local café not far from the university; when their twenty-first birthdays came, they migrated to the neighbouring bar, O’Shaughnessy’s. On one of their countless visits, Jay met the woman that would go on to become his wife. Joan Williams was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Blond hair curled neatly just below her shoulders, her blue eyes met his from across the room – he asked her out on a date that night, and on many nights following. It wasn’t too long before they got serious.
By the time Jay, Eddie and Elliot received their doctorates, Garrison Slate’s lab had been expanded and reopened as S.T.A.R. Labs. The trio all managed to land jobs there, earning a steady paycheck as they continued to study for their post-doctorates. It was then, in the hot summer of 1966, that the Accident occurred; a freak accident, with a one-in-a-million chance of actually happening – Jay wasn’t even in a lab at the time. Storm clouds hanging low, he and Joan were leaving their apartment for dinner with Elliot and Eddie. Having forgotten his watch inside, Jay ran back to get it. The lightning struck him on his way outside.
Jay awoke at Keystone General Hospital the next day, apparently unscathed. With the doctors deeming his condition stable, he was released later that evening, Joan sending him straight to bed despite his protests. He soon discovered, however, that he wasn’t completely unchanged – he was now an embodiment of the theoretical that had occupied his mind since high school. Time slowed down at seemingly random intervals; his hands would shake faster than he could see them; and more shockingly than anything else, he could run from one point to another at speeds greater than that of a bullet. After his super-speed surfaced, Jay began assessing it, getting a feel for his powers. Sharing his secret with Elliot, Eddie and Joan, the former two helped run tests – they were just as fascinated by Jay’s abilities as he was, if not more. It was through these tests that Jay discovered that his speed came from a power source: an other-dimensional energy field which he called the Speed Force. Further studying its effects, he found that a heat-resistant fabric would not be necessary to protect his clothing from extreme friction, as what he dubbed the “Speed Force Aura” already took care of that hassle. It was a very happy convenience, that was certain, but it left Elliot a little annoyed, regardless, as he was forced to scrap his designs for a tripolymer material that would have done the job just as well.
After a few months of testing, Jay came clean to his friends and girlfriend about his intended use for his powers: helping others. Supported by the three of them, he assembled a costume: a long-sleeved red shirt with a lightning motif, a pair of jeans, red boots, and his grandfather’s World War One doughboy helmet, modified with a set of Mercury’s wings. In the November of 1966, Jay debuted on Keystone City’s streets as the first Flash.
He took to being a hero naturally, fitting into the role as easily as a hand fits into a glove. The Flash was loved all around Keystone – someone that its people knew they could count on. Whereas the Sandman was the terror of Gotham, Flash was the patron saint of Keystone. The only people that feared him were the criminals too slow to avoid him, which, in this case, happened to be every criminal in the city. His first true triumph over Keystone’s criminal element was his apprehension of Michael Krugor, the chess-obsessed crimelord who ruled over much of the city’s underworld. Although Krugor was a very intelligent man capable of forming strategies in the blink of an eye, his mind was too slow to keep up with Jay’s, and within the span of a few weeks he witnessed his empire get toppled by a scientist in a Halloween costume. After his triumph over Krugor’s organisation, Jay’s roster of enemies only grew both in number and power.
So occupied was Jay by his new responsibility as a superhero that he didn’t notice Eddie’s strange new behaviour. As the Flash’s fame grew, Eddie’s obsession with Jay’s powers did, too. Determined to replicate them, he began working on a substance called “Velocity,” using what he knew about the Speed Force as a baseline… keeping his friends in the dark.
Jay proposed to Joan in December, 1968, after just over a year as the Flash. They married not long after, the ceremony a small one, with only their close friends and immediate family in attendance. Elliot and Eddie shared the role of best man.
Shortly after Jay and Joan’s marriage, Jay encountered the mysterious “Mr. Black” as the Flash. An enigmatic man with the ability to manipulate the dark, Black took a special interest in Jay that saw him toying with the speedster for many years to come. Shade, as he would later come to call himself, proved to be one of Jay’s most formidable foes, made unpredictable by his unclear motivation, often leading Flash on wild goose chases, playing with his mind and his patience.
Member
Dion
An Outsider
Lord Wraith
