Tom versus the Flash number 194 or Experiments in Bigamy.

Welcome back for the Flash number 194, the February 1970 issue entitled The Bridecast Two Shadows, written by John Broom, penciled by Ross Andrew, inked by Mike Esposito, edited by Julie Schwartz, and featuring a cover

by Neil Adams. A cover, tangentially, yes, involved. There's a bride. The devil is in it. It's

arguable whether the devil's involved in the comic, but we'll get to that in just a minute. We start in a

run-down hotel in Central City, an attractive raven-haired beauty gets out of bed, thinking,

I must find him, I must find my love. She runs out of the hotel. The elderly clerk doesn't

seem to notice. She's outside looking around. Her love.

She said that. She lost her love. Where's her fiance? Well, she sees a poster of the flesh,

and she's drawn to it, and she suddenly realizes that's him. That's her love. I do have to mention

the poster says, help Flash and your

police fight crime report violators. Flash gets a way bigger billing than the police do on this

sign. You should call the police first. You can't contact the Flash directly. We zoom in closer and closer onto the poster.

It's an action photo of the flash punching something.

And as we're getting closer,

of us, and the panel changes until that poster configuration

is the reality of the panel,

and we see the flash punching a dude in an owl costume.

That's right. He's fighting the owl gang.

A group of guys who obviously moved into town saw that your big-name criminals have a gimmick.

They're going to be owl guys. They got owl helmets, you know, nice brown tunics, the whole outfit.

They also have these red projectors on their chest that allow them to see in darkness

and allows them to blind their foes. Of course, it doesn't really help against the flash.

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