It’s time to map the DC Universe! In June, I’ll be joining with Near Mint Condition to launch the Tigereyes Most Wanted DC Omnibus 2nd Annual Poll! This post explains every Flash omnibus that does NOT exist – all of which will appear as options on the 2025 poll.
Through the end of May I’ll be covering DC entire publishing history by mapping missing omnibus volumes to fill in every gap in your DC oversize shelf! That’s all leading to the kickoff of the Tigereyes Most Wanted DC Omnibus 2nd Annual Poll on Near Mint Condition the first week of June.
If Batman, Green Lantern, and Justice League occupy DC’s top tier of characters who get prioritized for omnibus coverage, Flash is not too far behind. DC has started (but not quite finished) omnibus lines for all his other major single-writer periods – William Messner-Loebs, Mark Waid, Geoff Johns, and Joshua Williamson.
Outside of completing those runs, what’s left? All of the Golden and Bronze Ages, plus a gap during New 52 and the period after Williamson. That means there are plenty of Flash book still to come even when DC completes all four of those popular periods.
If you’re not sure of what to vote for, stick around for a list of books vetted by a gang of the biggest mapping nerds on the internet with explanations from yours truly – keeper of the most-definitive guides to collected editions on the planet.
Or, if you don’t care about omnibuses, just use this post to learn about DC history and find some great comics to read!
This post covers the following speculated omnibus volumes:
- Flash Omnibus Mapping – Golden, Silver, & Bronze Age
- Flash: Jay Garrick, Golden Age Omnibus Vol. 1 (1940 & on)
- Flash, The Bronze Age Omnibus Vol. 1 (1970 & on)
- Flash: The Trial of the Flash (1983 – 1985) [final Pre-Crisis volume]
- Flash Omnibus Mapping – Post-Crisis to Flashpoint
- Flash by William Messner-Loebs Vol. 2 (1989 – 1992) [fills the gap prior to Waid]
- Impulse, Vol. 1 by Waid & Messner-Loebs (1995 – 1998)
- Flash by Mark Waid Vol. 3 (1999 – 2000) [includes Flash/Lantern; could optionally recollect Millar/Morrison]
- Flash: The Fastest Man Alive AKA Geoff Johns Companion (2005 – 2008) [continues beyond/around Flash by Johns Vol. 2-3]
- Flash Omnibus Mapping – Post-Flashpoint: New 52, Rebirth, & Infinite Frontier
- Flash by Robert Vendetti, The New 52 Omnibus (2013 – 2016) [follows Manapul/Buccellato]
- Flash: The Rebirth of Wally West (2016 – 2023) [collects Wally’s return, Heroes in Crisis, Flash Forward, etc]
- Flash by Joshua Williamson Vol 3 (of 3) (2019 – 2020)
- Flash, The Infinite Frontier Omnibus by Jeremy Adams (2021 – 2023) [follows Williamson]
Remember: These titles and mappings are a suggestion of how DC could assemble these books. Your vote on the poll is a vote in favor of DC creating a book with that title or covering that period, NOT an endorsement of a specific map. Maps are presented as a proof of concept and to help you build your personal reading list.
Want to check out all of the other voting options for the 2025 Tigereyes Poll? Check out my 2025 Tigereyes poll options overview page that explains the poll, how to vote, and every title that will appear – including links to all of the posts in this series.
Intensely researched posts like this one are made possible via the support of Patrons of Crushing Krisis. For less than the cost of a single comic issue a month you can fuel my in-depth comics coverage, plus gain access to dozens of exclusive collecting guides & reading orders – including all of the Crushing Comics Guide to DC Comics.
Flash Omnibus Mapping – Golden, Silver, & Bronze Age
Flash has a solid start on his Pre-Crisis omnibuses since his Silver Age has been completely collected(!!!). But, we still need a hefty shelf of both Golden and Bronze Age books to wrap up his Pre-Crisis material. To see all of these issues and how they are barely collected, visit the Guide to Flash.
Flash: Jay Garrick, Golden Age Vol. 1 (1940 & on)
The Golden Age material of Jay Garrick as The Flash is severely under-collected. He has only ever had a pair of DC’s full-color archive volumes, which barley scratched the surface of collecting his two titles.
This would begin to collect Flash Comics (1940) #1-104 (January 1940 – February 1949) and All-Flash (1941) #1-32 (Summer 1941 – Dec/Jan 1947/48).
Jay Garrick was usually the lead story in Flash Comics (1940), which was actually an anthology comic much like Action Comics (1937). Garrick’s lead story was usually 10-14 pages plus the cover. However, All-Flash (1941) was a Flash solo series could include 40-50 pages of Flash content in each issue!
That means that this content roughly accounts for 1350 pages of Flash Comics (1940) and 1440 pages of All-Flash (1941), meaning this omnibus line would need to be a minimum of four volumes.
Three Flash Silver Age volumes fit here.
Flash: The Bronze Age Omnibus Vol. 1 (1970 & on)
This volume picks up directly from the completed Silver Age line with The Flash (1959) #200.
This line would have a lot of material to cover – The Flash (1959) #200-350, plus other material including World’s Finest #198–199 (November–December 1970), DC Special Series #11: Flash Spectacular 1978, DC Comics Presents #1–2 (August–October 1978), and Adventure Comics #459–466 (1978–1979).
Flash: The Trial of the Flash (1983 – 1985) [final Pre-Crisis volume]
We’ve been extremely resistant to carving up any of the Bronze Age or 80s omnibus lines to pull out specific stories as poll options, as that just splits vote. However, we’re making an specific exception here because The Flash – like Justice League – has a specific famous era at the end of his pre-Crisis run that would easily fit into one omnibus.
This would collect Flash (1959) #321-350 and Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985) #8
Flash Omnibus Mapping – Post-Crisis to Flashpoint
The Flash is one of DC’s best-collected characters when it comes to modern omnibuses! In fact, there’s very little content of Barry Allen or Wally West left to collect in omnibus prior to Flashpoint. If anything, DC has a problem seeing things through to completion – since three of these four omnibuses are sequels to existing content.
To see all of these issues and how they are currently collected (including all of the existing omnibuses – but, not Impulse), visit the Guide to Flash.
The Flash by William Messner-Loebs and Greg LaRocque fits here, directly after Crisis.
Flash by William Messner-Loebs Vol. 2 (1989 – 1992)
This sequel to a 2024 omnibus would completely fill the gap prior to Mark Waid’s first Flash omnibus, which begins with Flash (1987) #62.
This would collect Flash (1987) #29-61 and Flash Special (1990) #1.
The Flash by Mark Waid Vol. 1-2 fit here.
Impulse, Vol. 1 by Waid & Messner-Loebs (1995 – 1998)
Barry Allen and Wally West weren’t the only two speedsters in Post-Crisis DC comics! Bart Allen, a Flash of the future, had his own long-running series as Impulse.
While the series itself ran for 89 issues, there’s also crossover material and later Impulse comics to take into account, so it’s hard to say if this would be two volumes or more.
This would begin to collect Impulse (1995) #1-89, Annual 1-2, and One Million, plus one-shots and crossovers. William Messner-Loebs writes through issue #49, but that might be too much for a first volume – especially if this extends to more than two volumes.
Flash by Mark Waid Vol. 3 (1999 – 2000) [includes Flash/Lantern; could optionally recollect Millar/Morrison]
The second Flash by Mark Waid omnibus out least year predictably concluded at issue #129, just before Mark Millar and Grant Morrison take over the title for a year with issues #130-141.
That run has been collected in its own Deluxe Hardcover, so it seems likely this would skip over it to continue with Mark Waid’s return. But, if you want to believe this would recollect that Millar/Morrison material, go wild! It could happen.
We already know what material after that will need to be collected into this book, since it has been mapped in paperbacks that wrap up this run.
This would collect Flash (1987) #142-163 & Annual 12, The Flash Secret Files (1997) #1-2, Speed Force #1, The Life Story of the Flash OGN, The Flash 80-Page Giant (1998) #1, and Flash & Green Lantern: The Brave and the Bold (1999) #1-6.
Annual 10-11 and issue One Million are omitted from both the Waid paperback line and the Millar/Morrison Deluxe, so they could appear here.
The Flash by Geoff Johns Vol. 1-2 fit here, the Vol. 3 runs alongside the next book.
Flash: The Fastest Man Alive AKA Geoff Johns Companion (2005 – 2008) [continues beyond/around Flash by Johns Vol. 2-3]
This book would mean that Flash’s 2000s pre-Flashpoint material would finally be collected in its entirety!
Much of Flash’s late-00s content is written by Geoff Johns and collected in a trio of existing omnibuses. However, the main Flash title continued running even after Johns departed to continue his narrative in events and mini-series.
In that post-Johns run Wally West heads off to Infinite Crisis, Bart Allen AKA Impulse graduates to being Flash in his own series, and then the Flash ongoing returned with Wally West back as the lead!
This would continues beyond/around Flash by Johns Vol. 2-3 to collect Flash (1987) #226-230 (Wally West, which continues to Infinite Crisis), Flash: The Fastest Man Alive (2006) #1-13 (Bart Allen), All-Flash (2008) #1, and Flash (1987) #231-247 (the return of Wally West). It may also need material from Countdown #43 (2007) and Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #1-5.
Flash Omnibus Mapping – Post-Flashpoint:
New 52, Rebirth, & Infinite Frontier
Flash has done extraordinarily well for himself when it comes to Post-Flashpoint omnibuses coverage – with a book of his mildly-popular New 52 run and two volumes of Joshua Williamson’s lengthy run on his Rebirth series. However, that means we only have partial coverage of both of those ongoing series that still need to be completed! To see all of these issues and how they are currently collected (including the two existing omnibuses), visit the Guide to Flash.
The Flash by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato fits here.
Flash by Robert Vendetti, The New 52 Omnibus (2013 – 2016) [follows Manapul/Buccellato]
This directly follows the Francis Manapul & Brian Buccellato Omnibus to collect the remainder of New 52 Flash.
This would collect New 52 Flash (2011) #26-52 & Annual 2-4, The Flash: Futures End (2014) #1, and Secret Origins (2014) #7.
Flash: The Rebirth of Wally West (2016 – 2023) [collects Wally’s return, Heroes in Crisis, Flash Forward, etc]
What’s this? I can’t take credit! It came from DBZALLSTAR last year on the Near Mint Condition Discord, and it did surprisingly well on the poll… better than several other Flash books.
This would be a Wally-centric collection of his return in the DC Rebirth Special, his reunion with the Titans, his downfall in Heroes in Crisis, his cosmic rebirth in Flash Forward, and his eventual return in Flash.
This would collect DC Rebirth (2016) #1, material from Titans (2016), Heroes In Crisis (2018) #1-9, Flash Forward (2019) # 1-6, material from Dark Nights: Death Metal (2020) #1-7, and material from The Flash (2016) #763-800.
Flash by Joshua Williamson Vol. 1-2 fit here.
Flash by Joshua Williamson Vol. 3 (of 3) (2019 – 2020)
With a second Joshua Williamson volume due out later this year, we’re now just one book away from having his massive Rebirth run completely collected!
This would collect Flash (2016) #70-88, 750-762, & Annual 3
Flash, The Infinite Frontier Omnibus by Jeremy Adams (2021 – 2023) [follows Williamson]
Jeremy Adams wrote the reunited Flash clan in the first genuine “Flash Family” run we’ve had since Flashpoint, which highlighted all of the many Flashes of the DC Universe!
This would collect Flash (2016) #763-800, Annual 2021, The Flash: One-Minute War Special (2023) #1, and the “War for Earth-3” crossover (The War for Earth-3 (2022) #1, Suicide Squad (2021) #13, The Flash (2016) #780, Teen Titans Academy (2021) #13, and The War for Earth-3 (2021) #2). It could also add Aquaman & The Flash: Voidsong (2022) #1-3.
Simon Spurrier’s run on Flash is still ongoing and just kicked off a big story arc, so it’s too soon for us to map it!
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