I have been struggling with these for lord knows how long! The Silver Age ones are okay, but the Golden Age ones are getting annoying. I'll start off with Flash Comics (Vol 1), which are nicely collected in the Golden Age Flash Archives Volumes 1 and 2. Volume 1 collects 1 - 17 quite nicely, but it is Volume 2 I have an issue with. Volume 2 collects 18 - 24, and there are no more Golden Age Flash Archives after Volume 2. So, how am I meant to read 25 onwards? I'll admit that a small few like Flash Comics #86 are reprinted in other TPs like "The Greatest Flash Stories Ever Told", but if they're so great, why aren't they reprinted in Golden Age Flash Archives? Also, that is at least 50 Golden Age Flash stories I'll struggle to read. If you know any suggestions on how to read these, please let me know.
Another issue I have is All-Flash (Vol 1). I can only find 2 complete comics with all stories there, and those 2 are the first 2 that are collected in the Golden Age Flash Archives Vol. 2. All-Flash 31 was collected in The Flash: A Celebration of 75 Years. The first time I saw it I was wanting to throw a party. Then I noticed that only 2 stories from that comic were reprinted, and a third one called "Twisted Destinies" wasn't. With that, my happiness quickly turned into a hatred of the way DC have reprinted old Flash comics.
I later bought The Flash: The Silver Age Volume 4 so that I'd be able to read some old Flash comics that were reprinted in The Flash (Vol 1) #160 (I also needed the other Silver Age stories at that time). My bad, as it turns out that The Flash: The Silver Age Volume 4 doesn't collect The Flash (Vol 1) #160 at all, only its cover. I felt like crying. I quickly realised that it wouldn't be easy reading stories from All-Flash 3 - 30. I counted 45 Flash stories from All-Flash comics that weren't collected in TPs. To kick me where it hurts even further, I had a look for All-Flash Comics in "The Greatest Flash Stories Ever Told", and there wasn't even a single story.
If you know any good methods on how to get all these stories without it costing thousands, please tell me.
I'll also admit to me originally writing this post thinking it would only be on Golden Age Flash comics, but saw a recurring pattern.
Since I left off at All-Star Comics, I figured I'd go onto The Flash (Vol 1) next. The issues 104-199 are okay, but then issues 200 - 350 aren't collected in TPs either! The way these are collected is especially rubbish, as in The Flash: A Celebration of 75 Years, it collects 215, 233 and 275. It shows issue 275 (which I'm okay with), but then doesn't go into any depth at all on the effect it had on Barry's life, which the following 8 comics did. It makes very little sense to work so hard to show how badly it affected Barry's life, and then when it's time to put it in a TP you cut that bit out. Also, because of TPs, there are certain numbers between issues 200 and 350 which are collected in TPs. This makes it so much harder to get the ones you don't already have, because you have to make a list of the ones not collected in TPs to make sure you don't have the same one twice and waste money. This is due to TPs picking out comics from The Flash (Vol 1) randomly and with no sense at all, making it ridiculous to get your head round.
Due to me just mentioning The Flash: The Silver Age Volume Four, finishing the Flash (Vol 1) paragraph and just buying the TP recently, it would make sense to mention it next. I really don't have much to complain about, except my issue with The Flash #160 and how it only gave me the comic cover, and none of the stories. Other than that, the TP was nothing but good, as it had nice artwork, good stories, and the back of the TP shows every character inside it, so that you know what you're in for. I'm not complaining that they didn't do it, but DC could've put the rest of the Flash: The Silver Age Volumes in the back with all the comics they collect too, but that can easily be sorted out with a quick Google search, so this isn't really a complaint.
I'll move onto The Flash (Vol 2), make my final point and leave it there, as I think this post may be too long already. I have already mentioned The Flash (Vol 2) in a previous post, so I'll keep it as brief as possible. Issue 1 is nicely collected by A Celebration of 75 Years, and then the next comic in a TP is issue 62 in Mark Waid Book One. I have the same problem here as I do in The Flash (Vol 1). They have missed another huge chunk out of The Flash and moved on. I've noticed this part of The Flash (Vol 2) isn't that bad for TPs reprinting random comics from it, so I won't complain about that too much. I've also noticed that I can't find issues 142 - 163 collected in any TPs.
As an example, here's a quote from DC: "A thrilling new volume collecting THE FLASH #207-211 and #213-217!" What was wrong with issue 212? My point here is that I think the way the TPs collect Flash comics is just garbage, as they leave out comics all the time.
My final point is the "The Flash: A Celebration of 75 Years" TP, as I have mentioned it quite a few times in this post. This TP is in my opinion both good and bad. I'll do the good points first. Firstly, the TP does collect some of the Flash's "harder to get" comics, such as All-Flash #31 from 1947, which isn't collected in any other TP. Also, it collects Flash comics from every different decade, which for me is nice to see, as we get to watch The Flash slowly morph into the comic I love and I see different variations of the character, falling in love with each one as I go. Finally, it has a nice introduction to each era of the Flash, with 5 parts altogether being nicely seperated. So DC, congratulations on that.
Now I'll mention the things I disliked about the TP (there will be a point I have mentioned before in this post). Firstly, I'll start with the one that's least important. It has a dust jacket/dust cover, and it partially gets in the way when trying to read the comics. Of course, you can take it off and this is me being whiny, but it's still something I dislike. Another thing I dislike is that it only collects two comics from All-Flash #31. A good analogy: That's like being close to the finish line in a marathon while you're in 1st place, and then dropping out for no reason at the last minute. It does also collect some of the Flash's greatest adventures, but there is a problem I have with how it has done this which is quite similar to the point I made earlier on The Flash (Vol 1) #275. It also collects Flashpoint #5. The next comic before that one is The Flash: Rebirth #1.
I understand that you might only put in the first comic of the series to show the reader that it is a good series and maybe intrigue them into reading the rest of the story or maybe help them save money by showing them the first bit of the story they don't like first so they don't waste money on the rest of the series, but collecting only the last issue of a series is absolutely pointless. This means that you're showing them spoilers to a story they may not have read at that point, you're throwing them into the story with no basic idea of what's going on so everything just seems random, and you didn't give them the rest of the story, so everything that was supposed to build up tension to the finale and make the finale seem special is now gone, and you're left with a pointless, spoiler-filled random story that you can't make sense out of in the middle of stories that you actually like.
I will also mention that there is a column on the back of the dust jacket/dust cover that says "More Classic Adventures of the FASTEST MAN ALIVE". The idea is okay, as the reader will obviously be interested in the Flash to pick up the book. What's not okay is that every single recommendation they did is rubbish. That's not because I think the TPs themselves are bad, but the only recommendations are the TPs that collect the comics already in "A Celebration of 75 Years". In other words, it is recommending what you have already read. Great.
If you think you know any suitable way for me to fill these gaps of Flash Comics DC have missed, please tell me. Also, if you want to add anything onto one of my points, feel free.