A lot of people who are reading Infinite Crisis are not hardcore DC fans; even if you are a DC fan, you may not have read the Flash for the past 20 years. What is the Speed Force and who were those guys in Infinite Crisis #4? To answer that, we are going to go back to the beginning-to Barry Allen, the Flash of the Silver Age of comic books.

Barry Allen always assumed that his origin was tied up with a bolt of lightning striking his laboratory. The chemicals that splashed over his body supposedly transformed him into the scarlet speedster. But in a flashback shown in Speed Force Special #1 (1997), we could see that Barry started to doubt this theory. After an encounter with a villain called Cobalt Blue, who seemed to withdraw the speed power from both Barry and Wally West (Kid Flash at that point), Barry suspected a greater force was at work.

Everyone knows by now that Barry Allen died in the original Crisis on Infinite Earths mini-series. He went out like a hero, running circles around the Anti-Monitor's machine in order to destroy it. However, what most new fans won't know is that this is only half of the story…

In 1988, DC published Flash Annual 2 (Vol. 2), featuring the Secret Origin of Barry Allen. It was written by a wonderful writer named Robert Loren Fleming and drawn by Flash's co-creator, Carmine Infantino. In this story, which actually covered most of Barry Allen's life, we see at the end that he transformed into a creature of pure energy…

…and eventually became a lightning bolt, going back in time and striking Barry's lab full of chemicals. In effect, he created himself. Who knows if DC's current generation of writers remembers this annual? Is it still canon? But I like it, only if I can say that the lightning bolt is not an endless, repeating loop, and that it eventually goes to the Speed Force. We would have to wait seven years to ask these questions...

In Flash #1 Vol.2 (1987), we see that Wally West is making good on his promise to become the Flash (which he stated at the end of Crisis). His speed power is nowhere near Barry's, as he can barely match the speed of sound. A trip across America to deliver vital supplies takes an hour and Wally's so exhausted at the end that he has to scarf down a ton of fast food to restore his energy.

Wally's quest to regain Barry's speed was a recurring theme in the new Flash's first 90 issues. When Mark Waid took over, Wally's scientist friends kept telling him that it wasn't possible for any human being to run as fast as Barry. After a trip through time, (courtesy of Zero Hour) Wally runs past the speed of light-but he pays a price. In Flash 95, Linda stumbles through a doorway to find that Wally is becoming a being of pure energy!

To make matters worse, Wally's seen a glimpse of the future-that he will die saving Linda-dissipating into pure energy. Despite all of Wally's best efforts to avoid his fate, it comes true at the hands of Kobra. In Flash 99, Kobra fires an energy weapon at Linda. In order to stop it, Wally must run faster than ever before. He saves Linda and explodes in a flash of light.

In Flash 100, Central City has a big problem. It is sealed off from the rest of the DC Universe, and Kobra's terrorist cell is in control. Linda Park proves she is no pushover and manages to survive on her own. Just as Kobra finally corners Linda and gets ready to kill her, Wally returns, surrounded by bolts of lightning. He defeats Kobra using speed powers we've never seen him wield.