The Flash (Jay Garrick)

== History Origin==

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

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 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. However, Jay would fluctuate in and out of retirement, helping out Barry or Wally West 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.

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 villain 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 Force. He used his super-speed to trap Johnny Sorrow inside the Speed Force, but the battle propelled Jay 3,000 years into Earth's past. He arrived in ancient Egypt, where he met Teth-Adam, the sorcerer Nabu and Prince Khufu Kha-Taar (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.

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.

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 Force to restart Garrick’s heart. [10] The Kingdom

With the coming of Gog, Jay, along with the rest of the higher ups of the JSA are very apprehensive of the deities' motivations. When it appears that Gog's actions are becoming highly questionable, an argument ensues between the JSA members who thinks he is a good and benevolent being sent to help the Earth, and those who don't. The team becomes fractured as they decide to learn more about Gog.

When the rebellious half of the JSA shows up to tell the other half what Gog is doing to the planet, a battle ensues. For the JSA's defying of Gog and his will, he undoes all the "miracles" he has done for them. Gog decides to punish the JSA starting with turning Jay into lightning, so that he could power an entire continent. While he was saved from the effects by Superman's intervention, the process had already started to take place, causing him to move at high speeds and turning his body into pure Speed Force. Dr. Mid-Nite suggests they slow him down before his body disperses. Powers and AbilitiesEdit Powers Speed Force Conduit[hide] • Accelerated Healing - Speed Force conduits are not invulnerable nor durable enough to sustain damage however if they are harmed they will heal at high speeds. Any normal wear and tear damage to their bodies are almost instantly healed.

• Decelerated Aging - Speed Force conduits have a slowed aging process. This power can be imparted on their most intimate loved ones by extended contact rather than distribution.

• Energy Construct Creation - Speed Force conduits can use the matter generated by their speed to create solid objects such as walls or bridges. This power requires constant concentration and reapplication of the construct for it to remain stable. Flash's after images are also construct creations.

• Flight - Speed Force conduits can rotate their arms and spin their bodies like tops to achieve something of a kind of helicopter flight. However, with practice conduits can even achieve controllable flight if launched at high speeds. Despite their flight abilities they are always faster on their feet.

• Increased Perceptions - Speed Force conduits traveling at the speed of sound may miss important events as they run by. The Speed Force grants them enhanced senses that allow them to see, hear, smell, touch and/or taste at an increased speed and understand it as it is processed.

• Infinite Mass Punch - Speed Force conduits have an increased level of strength added to their bodies which they can impart in different ways. Certain speedsters can strength each and every move they make however this requires attention and stress for each movement and therefore is almost never used. In most cases conduits can focus the Speed Force's extra-dimensional energies into one massive punch; when used in practiced this punch pushed a metahuman from one continent to another.

• Phasing - Speed Force conduits can vibrate their molecules so quickly that they can achieve intangibility for short bursts allowing them to phase through objects.

• Self-Sustenance - Speed Force conduits travel at incredible speeds which cause their bodies to work overtime. In situations where their bodies may be too fast for them to breathe they may impart on the Speed Force for sustenance. However, this almost always results in the conduits having an increased metabolism at all times requiring them to constantly refill their energy supplies.

• Sharing the Force - Speed Force conduits can allow their friends or family members to run along side them at their equaled speeds. Certain conduits who may only have minor access to the Force may achieve full levels of the Force due to the main conduit's association with it.

• Speed Force Aura - People who are propelled by the conduits during high speed situations can survive the harsh conditions associated with mach speeds. When the conduit must rescue an individual from a burning building these individuals will be protected while within the aura.

• Speed Force Conduit - People who, for whatever reason, are connected to the Speed Force are sometimes called Speed Force Conduits. This means that they are connected to the Speed Force and are tethered to it. Some characters may control their Speed Force imparted powers in different ways such as only Superhuman Strength or even directed through Lighting but no matter their adaptions they are still connected to the Force.

• Steal Speed - Speed Force conduits can steal the accelerated motion or momentum from objects or people to reduce their speed or even virtually stop them. Conduits may also steal the speed from other Speedsters or other fast moving people.

• Supercharged Brain Activity - Sometimes neglected by Speedsters who only operate at superhuman speeds and never slow down enough to understand their full potential; Speedsters can access superhuman levels in their brains further than processing information. They can test theories, understand difficult equations and run trial and error in their brains at superhuman speeds. Different conduits access this activity in different ways.

• Superhuman Endurance - Speed Force conduits have to access the Speed Force for a number of different tasks. Most Speedsters use their superhuman speed and react at superhuman speeds; therefore, they must run for extended periods or operate for a large amount of time. Their bodies can handle the stresses of superhuman racing without noticeable distress.

• Superhuman Speed - Speed Force conduits have one main ability above all else. Conduits are connected to the barrier and accumulation of all Speed known in their universe. These characters immediately understand how to run at superhuman speeds and their bodies instinctively understand how to react at high-speed situations. Older speedsters have a reduced but maxed speed of 770mph which is just below sonic booms allowing them to react to situations without causing civilians undo stress. Speedsters in their prime can travel at much faster speeds such as the max level of recorded aided speed on Earth and even reach the speed of light with enough willpower. It is possible for conduits to travel much faster than the speed of light however such levels require an incredible amount of stress. Speedsters unaccustomed to their max level of speeds may detach themselves from the Speed Force or even become part of the Speed Force by accident. • Vortex Creations - Speed Force conduits that plant themselves on the ground and rotate their extremities can cause an incredible amount of wind to burst through their focused funnel. Most Speedsters use this ability automatically when they run reducing the air currents around their body to low enough levels to no longer inhibit their speed. Creatively, Speedsters can create tornadoes and gusts with their arms.