Comments on: Who’d’a thunk it? (Uncovering the origin of the Thinker)

By: The Dimwits and the Thinker « Speed Force

The Dimwits and the Thinker « Speed Force — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:35:18 +0000

[...] Originally posted at K-Squared Ramblings [...]

By: Wait…What? (Golden-Age Hijinks) « Speed Force

Wait…What? (Golden-Age Hijinks) « Speed Force — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:29:21 +0000

[...] Flash’s dimwitted sidekicks buy a restaurant and accidentally turn people invisible when they use an alien plant in their salads. (To top things off, it ties into the otherwise-serious origin of the Thinker.) The Silver Age had [...]

By: The Mechanical Brain « Speed Force

The Mechanical Brain « Speed Force — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:13:38 +0000

[...] so that his inventions wouldn’t call into the wrong hands. Oddly enough, his first appearance leads directly into the first appearance of the Thinker! [...]

By: Kelson

Kelson — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 07:23:16 +0000

Update on Karma: I determined that it first appeared in the previous issue. Amazingly enough, I found a reasonably-priced copy of All-Flash #11 fast enough that it barely had time to register on my want list. It took me three sittings to get through the story (it's even more heavily focused on Winky, Blinky and Noddy), but I've finally posted a full write-up on the planet Karma.

By: Kelson

Kelson — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 21:13:09 +0000

Yeah, the Thinker was the closest thing Jay Garrick had to an arch-enemy (since the Golden Age series made very little use of recurring villains). He appeared six times from 1943-1948, plus one more story that would have appeared in 1949 if the series hadn’t been canceled. It was eventually printed as a backup story in 1972.

With so much of the early Flash stuff out of print, he’s mainly known these days as part of the trio from “Flash of Two Worlds” (Flash v.1 #123), the first meeting of Jay Garrick and Barry Allen. He teamed up with the Fiddler and the Shade in that story to terrorize Keystone City.

He still shows up from time to time, most recently in the new Checkmate (as someone pointed out to me yesterday).

By: West

West — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 18:35:14 +0000

I’m not sure I knew that DC ever had a “The Thinker” character. Kinda neat.