Jason Garrick (New Earth)

From DC Database

The Flash

Gallery

Real Name

Jason Peter Garrick

Current Alias

The Flash

Aliases

Jay Garrick; Fastest Man Alive; the Crimson Comet

Identity

Public

Alignment

Good

Affiliation

Justice Society of America, formerly All-Star Squadron

Relatives

Joan Garrick (wife); Arthur Williams (father-in-law, deceased); unnamed son (deceased), Bart Allen (Flash, ward, deceased)

Universe

New Earth

Base Of Operations

Keystone City

Characteristics

Gender

Male

Height

5' 11"

Weight

179 lbs (81 kg)

Eyes

Blue

Hair

Brown

Unusual Features

None

Status

Citizenship

American

Marital Status

Married

Occupation

Adventurer; Founder, Owner and Director of Garrick Laboratories Inc.; retired Research Scientist

Education

Bachelors degree from Midwestern University in chemistry and physics

Origin

Origin

Inhaled heavy water vapors which activated his latent metagene back in the 1940's

Place of Birth

Hibbardsville, Kansas

Creators

Gardner Fox and Harry Lampert

First appearance

Flash Comics #1

History

Early Career

As a boy, Jay Garrick used to read pulp magazine stories of the turn-of-the-century super-hero, Whip Whirlwind. Little did he know that he would be granted the same powers of super speed.

Jay would go to Midwestern University in Keystone City. He was double-majoring in chemistry and physics. An experiment he was working on during his junior year was to purify hard water without any residual radiation in a cyclotron. When a test tube of the hard water was accidentally spilled, the fumes knocked him out. His friend Elliot Shapiro dragged him from the lab. After a week of unconsciousness, during which Jay's metabolism increased and his body rejected nutrients, he discovered that he had been given superhuman speed by the accident, and he used this speed as the superhero, Flash ^[1].

JSA/WW II

Jay was an active member of the Justice Society of America. Like the rest of his comrades, certain spells kept him from aging much as the years went by.

Jay also remained a prominent scientist. He worked at Chemical Research Incorporated^[2] before founding the Keystone-based Garrick Laboratories.

Three of Jay's enemies, the Fiddler, the Thinker, and the Shade, built a resonator that vibrated Keystone City out of real space, putting its citizens in suspended animation, and causing the rest of the world to forget the city's existence. However, much later, Barry Allen discovered the lost city when he vibrated at a certain frequency. After waking up Jay, the two Flashes were able to beat the villains and save the city. After this event, Jay retired, leaving Barry to continue the mantle.^[3] However, Jay would fluctuate in and out of retirement, helping Barry or Wally West out if needed. He also continued to work as a scientist. When the very life on Earth was threatened by solar flare radiation, Jay was put in charge of the situation by the government.^[4]

Jay eventually disappeared, along with the rest of the JSA, and Joan believed him to be dead. He returned, however, and soon was back in action with Wally.

When Professor Zoom arrived at Jay's doorstep on Christmas Eve, genuinely believing to be Barry Allen and convincing everyone else, Jay and Joan let him stay with them. Soon, however, it became obvious of this Barry's malevolent intent. After it was falsely revealed that Wally had died in a Combine trap, Jay rounded up his old cronies Johnny Quick and Max Mercury, and together they went after Barry. They were defeated quite handily. In a subsequent fight with Barry, whose identity had been revealed by Wally as Professor Zoom, at the state penitentiary, Jay's leg was broken.

Zero Hour

During Zero Hour, all the members of the JSA were aged to their chronological ages by the villan Extant, including Jay. He stripped himself of his Flash symbol, giving up. Soon, however, he was back in action with Wally West.

Wally brought in Jay to help teach Bart the ways of super-speed, an adventure that soon transformed into a fight against Kobra. Jay was unable to participate for long, however, because of sheer fatigue.

Recent Years

A few years ago, the Justice Society of America reformed to help the JLA against an imminent threat rising from the 5th Dimension. While fighting the mad imp, Lkz, Jay and his JSA teammates helped to free the Spectre. This, in addition to the untimely death of longtime ally, Wesley Dodds (the Sandman), prompted the remaining JSA members to fully come out of retirement. Flash worked alongside contemporaries Alan Scott and Ted Grant to train a new era of heroes upholding the legacies of veterans such as Mister Terrific, the Star-Spangled Kid and Hawkgirl.^[5]

One of the adventures of the revitalized JSA included a battle with an old foe named Johnny Sorrow. During this incident, Jay had his first true brush with the Speed Field. He used his super-speed to trap Johnny Sorrow inside the field, but the battle propelled Jay three-thousand years into Earth's past. He arrived in ancient Egypt, where he met Teth Adam, the sorcerer Nabu and Prince Khu Kha-Tarr (all three of whom were analogs to Jay's future-teammates, Black Adam, Doctor Fate and Hawkman). With the aid of a device known as the Claw of Horus, Jay was able to return to his normal time period. ^[6]

A short time later, Jay and his wife, Joan, took young Jakeem Thunder under their wing. Longing for the child they never had, the Garricks invited Jakeem to stay in their home in Keystone City.

One of Jay's most harrowing battles in recent history involved an old war-time foe, the Dragon King. The Dragon King gained possession of the legendary Spear of Destiny, and used it to take control of Jay's mind. He forced Jay to engage in a brutal fight with his close ally, Wildcat – a fight that cost Wildcat nearly all of his nine lives. ^[7]

Recently, a major battle with the Gentleman Ghost, as well as the aftershocks of the Infinite Crisis event destabilized the ranks of the Justice Society. Jay Garrick has joined with charter members Alan Scott and Ted Grant in an effort to reform the Justice Society of America. ^[8] He has also devoted a portion of his time towards aiding Bart Allen – the latest inheritor to the legacy of the Flash, with protecting his home town Keystone City. ^[9]

Recently, Jay has been helping Bart Allen against the crazed efforts of his former friend, Griffin Grey. Griffin stole a device from S.T.A.R. Labs designed to steal the Speed Force from Jay’s body. The intense radiation produced by the machine weakened Garrick to the point of death. However, Bart Allen found him moments later and channeled lightning from the Speed Field to restart Garrick’s heart. ^[10]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Speed Force Conduit: Speed Force is a vaguely defined extra-dimensional energy force from which most superspeed-powered heroes draw their powers. The Speed Force serves as the ultimate measure of velocity in the DCU. They are often referred to in terms of barriers: Sound barrier, Light barrier, Time Barrier, Dimensional Barrier, and finally the Speed Force Barrier. While all speedsters are powered by the force, Garrick mainlines the power from the force itself and cannot be cut off from the source, unlike the others. Wally has, on several occasions, sped faster than light and been pulled into and exited the Speed Force by his own volition.

Superhuman Endurance

Superhuman Speed: Jay was born with a metagene allowing him these abilities. The first Flash was able to speed at multiples of the speed of light. He can run and move their limbs at superhuman speeds. Jay is able to run across the surface of large bodies of water such as oceans. Jay can create wind vortexes by running in circles or rotating his arms and legs. At the height of his abilities, he could time-travel and dimensionally transport unaided, by speeding up and controlling the vibration speed of his molecules. As Jay aged, he began to slow, so now he can only time travel with mechanical aids or with another higher powered speedster. Without the Speed Force, Jay's top speed is around the speed of sound 770 mph. While not as fast as Wally West, with the speed force supplementing him, Jay can top speeds just short of light. After Wally West's return and the speed force Jay can move at these once again. His power allow him to run along the surface of bodies of water and up the sides of buildings.

• Speed Force Aura: The Flash's body is surrounded by what he calls his "speed force aura". This aura protects him and anyone who is running with him or carried by him, from the effects of using his speed. This includes friction and airborne particulate matter. It may also protect him from injury from high speed impacts such as punches he delivers and receives from his opponents. He does seem to possess some level of superhuman resistance to injury but this does not extend far past normal physical interactions, as received from normal combat.

• Phasing: The Flash's powers allow him to perform a number of speed-related feats. The Flash has always possessed the ability to control his speed and angular momentum at the molecular level, and control his molecular interactions to allow his body to pass through any substance. There have been only a few superdense materials that the Flash has not been able to penetrate with this power. Certain forcefields also seem to negate this power.

• Increased Perceptions: The Flash possesses the ability to alter his perceptions so that falling objects can appear to be standing still and can be caught and moved back to their normal position. He can do this so quickly as to have it happen invisibly to the normal human eye. The Flash's reaction time is so increased as to perform feats of speed such as removing the momentum from bullets and fast moving objects thrown at him or at others.

• Supercharged Brain Activity: The Flash's mental abilities are also increased in speed, simple computations can be done at lightning speeds, and his ability to perform normal feats at increased speeds has allow him to build hundreds of force field generators in a matter of hours, move sandbags to cover a beach or search an entire area for something as small as a paper clip. Jay Garrick has done so and has become a jack of all trades in several disciplines and languages.

• Sharing the Force: Since his interaction with the Speed Force, he may also lend his speed and angular momentum to another object or person. This may allow others to run alongside with the Flash. He may still allow his molecular structure to pass through object but now after he passes through an object, the object is now supercharged with a chaotic energy, and explodes seconds after his passing through it. If he shares the Speed Force with another meta with superspeed capabilities such as Superman, that metahuman can now exceed the speed of light but does not become aware of the Speed Dimension.

• Steal the Force: Since his interaction with the Speed Force, he may also lend his speed and angular momentum to another object or person. Now with his control of inertia, he can probably reduce the speed of a falling object directly by applying the speed force in reverse, to leech momentum from the object.

• Vortex Creations: By running in a circle at a certain speed, Flash is able to create a vortex with a variety of affects. One effect is pulling the air away from the center in order to suffocate an enemy. Another effect is levitating whoever and whatever was in the center. Also, able to send anyone or anything into another dimension when running around them. Some other effects are acting as barriers to movement or funnels for toxic gas's. The Flash also can spin his arms to create directed funnels of hurricane speed air that can knock down barriers or reduce the speed of a falling object. When putting out forest fires, what flash does when he runs around the perimeter is create a pocket tornado. The updraft lowers the temperature inside the funnel and raises the fire off the ground which takes away it's fuel source.

Decelerated Aging: his absorption of coronal energies early in his career, decreased the effectiveness of time and age on his body slightly.

Abilities

Chemist: Jay Garrick is a trained chemist.

Strength level

Jay possesses the strength level of a man his age, size and weight who engages in intensive regular exercise.

Weaknesses

None known.

Paraphernalia

Equipment: Jay wears a winged helmet that is made of a very durable metal.
Transportation: None known.
Weapons: Jay has been known to throw his helmet as a weapon on occasion.

Notes

• Although this character was originally introduced during DC's Earth-Two era of publication, their existence following the events of the 1985-86 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths remains intact. However, some elements of the character's Pre-Crisis history may have been altered or removed for Post-Crisis New Earth continuity, and should be considered apocryphal.
  

Trivia

• Jay Garrick's street address is 5252 78th Street, Keystone City, Kansas.

See Also

• Discuss Jason Garrick (New Earth) on the forums
• Appearances of Jason Garrick (New Earth) (Chronological)
• Appearances of Jason Garrick (New Earth) (Alphabetical)
• Character Gallery: Jason Garrick (New Earth)
• Fan-Art Gallery: Jason Garrick (New Earth)
• Quotations by Jason Garrick (New Earth)

Recommended Reading

• None.

Links and References

• Flash (Jay Garrick) at Wikipedia.org
  
• Flash biography page at the Unofficial Guide to the DC Universe
• Jay Garrick at Flash: Those Who Ride the Lightning
  

Footnotes