Magenta

Frances Kane has had one screwed-up life. As a teenager, she was the only survivor of a car crash that killed her father and brother. Her mother blamed her for their deaths, believing her to be possessed by the devil. It didn’t help that things had started to fly around in the house with Frances as the focal point. She sought help from longtime friend Wally West, whom she had already guessed was Kid Flash. Wally brought the Titans in on the case. Her mother never forgave her, even though it turned out Doctor Polaris was using her latent magnetic abilities to escape from imprisonment (New Teen Titans #17, 1982).

Frances dated Wally for a long time, but was never comfortable with her powers. She finally left Wally, feeling too pressured to be part of his super-hero world, and went to S.T.A.R. Labs to deal with her powers. There, she was treated by an unscrupulous doctor who created a second, lethal personality called Magenta, who could be triggered with a code word (Teen Titans Spotlight #16–17, 1987).

Things went downhill from there. The evil form of former Titan Raven kidnapped her and implanted a portion of her demon father’s soul (or whatever equivalent demons have) into Frances, bringing her into the world of genuine evil. Trigon was eventually defeated separately by the Titans, but his influence left Frances still unstable, and still blaming Wally for not letting her be normal.

When she next visited Keystone, she fell in with the Cicada cult, which believed that the Flash was saving lives fated to die so that they could take them. She helped the cult capture the Flash, then later joined the New Rogues Gallery. Her two personalities fought for dominance, and she finally turned on the Rogues—particularly on Girder, who wouldn’t stop harassing her.

• Primary Sources
• Art Credits
• Profiles in Print
• Appearances
• Further Notes
• Related Commentary

Primary Sources

• “The Possessing of Francis Kane” - The New Teen Titans #17 (March 1982), Marv Wolfman

Art

• Current Costume: Flash (second series) #172 (May 2001) - Scott Kolins and Doug Hazlewood
• Original Costume: Flash (second series) #80 (Early September 1993) - Mike Wieringo and José Marzan, Jr.

Profiles

• Who’s Who Update ’87 #2 as Frances Kane (September 1987)
• Flash Secret Files #3 under The Rogues (November 2001)
• The DC Comics Encyclopedia as Magenta (2004)

Significant Appearances

While firmly associated with Wally,  Kane was more of a Titans character than a Flash character. I may start adding those appearances at some point.

• Flash #1–2 (June–July 1987): “Hearts of Stone,” Mike Baron
• Flash #80–83 (September–October 1993): “Back on Track,” Mark Waid
• Flash #106 (October 1995): “Back With A Vengeance,” Mark Waid
• Flash 80-Page Giant #1 (August 1998): “The Speed of Life,” Mark Waid
• Flash #170–173 (March–June 2001): “Blood Will Run,” Geoff Johns
• Flash Secret Files #3 (November 2001): “Rogues,” Geoff Johns
• Flash #178 (November 2001): “Caged,” Geoff Johns
• Flash #184–188 (May–September 2002): “Crossfire,” Geoff Johns
• Flash #216 (January 2005): “The Secret of Barry Allen, Part Three: Spinning,” Geoff Johns (cameo)
• Flash #½ (2005): “Rogue Wars Prologue: Tricksters,” Geoff Johns (cameo)
• Flash #220–222 (May–July 2005): “Rogue War, Chapters 1–3,” Geoff Johns

Notes

Her name was originally spelled Francis. Also, no-one called her “Frankie” until Flash #80.

Related Commentary

• Rogues, not Rouge

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