Flash #300.
Flash #300 (August ’81) was a 48-page no-ads issue by Cary Bates, classic Flash artist Carmine Infantino, and Bob Smith. Underneath the wraparound cover (showing the Flash feeding knuckle sandwiches to his many villains) we find Barry Allen, heavily bandaged, stuck in a hospital bed. Apparently the accident that gave Allen his super-speed powers instead burned him severely, and his entire Flash career was nothing more than a delusion to cope with his injuries. Allen’s not convinced, of course, and as the story progresses he flashes (har har) back on his own origin, his career, and his friends and allies (like the Elongated Man and Green Lantern). He also goes over the origins of all the villains in his rogues gallery trying to determine which one is most likely responsible for his predicament. It’s a nice overview of the character’s history, as drawn by the one artist most associated with the Flash.
A nice touch is one of Fred Hembeck‘s patented illustrated essays on the inside front and back covers, where he looks at some of the Flash’s more bizarre adventures, accompanied by his fun cover recreations: “I’ve got the strangest feeling I’m being turned into a puppet!” says the Flash; “Just how does one get the feeling he’s being ‘puppetized’?” is Fred’s reasonable response.
By the way, the Wally West Flash series only needs another 35 issues or so, and there will be as many issues of the current version of the Flash as of the Barry Allen Flash. How weird is that? It seems like just yesterday I was buying the first issue of the new Flash series off the shelf.
