- "My name is Wally West. Today I am twenty years old."
- ―Wally West
| "Happy Birthday Wally!" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| The Flash | |
| Title: | "Happy Birthday Wally!" |
| Volume: | 2 |
| Number: | 1 |
| Cover price: | .75 |
| Cover date: | June, 1987 |
| Publisher: | DC Comics |
| Credits | |
| Chief: | Jenette Kahn |
| Ex. Ed: | Dick Giordano |
| Writers: | Mike Baron |
| Pencilers: | Jackson Guice |
| Inkers: | Larry Mahlstedt |
| Cover artists: | Jackson Guice |
| Cover inker: | Larry Mahlstedt |
| Cover colorist: | Anthony Tollin |
| Colorists: | Carl Gafford |
| Letterers: | Steve Haynie |
| Editors: | Mike Gold |
| Navigation | |
| Previous: | — |
| Next: | Flash #2 |
"Happy Birthday Wally" is the title to the first issue from the second The Flash ongoing comic book series published by DC Comics. It was written by Mike Baron with artwork by Jackson Guice and inks by Larry Mahlstedt. It was colored by Carl Gafford with lettering by Steve Haynie. The story was edited by Mike Gold. This issue shipped with a June, 1987 cover date and carries a cover price of .75 per copy (US).
"Happy Birthday Wally!"[]
Wally's Titans friends throw a surprise party for his twentieth birthday. During the party, he gets an emergency call from the hospital. He is needed to deliver a heart for a transplant patient, writer Eugenie Hedstrom, from New York to Seattle. He convinces the doctors to give him health insurance in return for his help.
While passing through Wyoming, he witnesses Vandal Savage throttle a private investigator to death.
After delivering the heart and speaking with Hedstrom, Wally flies back to New York. The Third World Liberation Army attempts to hijack the flight, but Wally stops them, spraining his wrist in the process. Upon returning to his apartment, he discovers that a lottery ticket he had purchased before the party just made him a millionaire. Then he notices a present he had not seen before. Opening it, he discovers a human heart. Vandal Savage is in his apartment.
Appearances[]
Featured characters
Supporting characters
- Changeling, Garfield Logan
- Cyborg, Victor Stone
- Frances Kane
- Nightwing, Dick Grayson
- Wonder Girl, Donna Troy
Villains
Minor characters
- Doctor Aikens
- Doctor Cummings
- Doctor Peterson
- Eugene Hedstrom
- Harold Halston
Organizations
- Teen Titans
- Third World Liberation Army
Races & Animals
Locations
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- Stapleton Airport
-
-
- St. Mary's Children's Hospital
-
- Thermopolis
Items
Vehicles
Powers
Miscellaneous
Notes & Trivia[]
- The character of Wally West was created by writer John Broome and artist Carmine Infantino. He first appeared in the second story featured in The Flash #110 from January, 1960 titled "Meet Kid Flash!"
- This issue carries the approval stamp of the Comics Code Authority.
- This issue is reprinted in the Greatest Flash Stories Ever Told trade paperback collection, originally release in February, 1991. It was re-released in June, 1992.
- This issue is reprinted in the Flash: A Celebration of 75 Years hardcover collection, published in June, 2015.
- This issue is reprinted in the Flash: Savage Velocity trade paperback collection, published in November, 2020.
- This issue is reproduced as Dollar Comics: Flash #1 in April, 2020.
- The tagline to this issue is "Presenting... The New Flash".
- Combining the issue totals of both volume one and volume two, this would be Legacy number 351. Flash 351 redirects to this page.
- This issue establishes that Wally West is twenty-years-old as per this issue.
- This is the first, and to date, only known appearance of the Third World Liberation Army.
- This is the only appearance of Eugene Hedstrom. He is murdered by Vandal Savage, who rips out his heart and leaves it as a gift for Wally West. Vandal sucks at giving birthday presents.
- Wally West mentions that Hank Hall, aka Hawk passed through the same airport as he a few months earlier, referencing the events of Teen Titans Spotlight #7, which was also written by Mike Baron and illustrated by Jackson Guice. This was Stapleton Airport in Denver, Colorado.
- Wally West and Frances Kane chronologically appeared last in New Teen Titans, Volume 2 #31.
- This is the first Post-Crisis appearance of Vandal Savage. He previously appeared in Crisis on Infinite Earths #9. He appears next in The Flash #2.
- The appearance of the Teen Titans in this issue takes place in between New Teen Titans, Volume 2 #31 and New Teen Titans, Volume 2 #32.
- Changeling appears next in Teen Titans Spotlight #9.
- This is the first and only appearance of Harold Halston, who is a private investigator from Thermopolis, Wyoming. He is strangled to death by Vandal Savage in this issue.