Jason Peter "Jay" Garrick is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is the first character known as the Flash. The character first appeared in Flash Comics #1 (January 1940), created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert. Garrick gained the ability to move at superhuman speed due to a laboratory accident. Jay chose to fight crime as a costumed vigilante, while calling himself "the Flash". Jay Garrick has made numerous appearances in other media. The character made its live-action debut as a cameo in the television series Smallville, played by Billy Mitchell. It later appeared as a recurring character in the Arrowverse television series The Flash, played by John Wesley Shipp, and in a guest capacity in the television series Stargirl, played again by Shipp. Publication history The character of Jay Garrick was created by Gardner Fox (Writer) and Harry Lampert (Artist). His first appearance was in Flash Comics #1, the pilot issue of Flash Comics, which was published in 1940 by All-American Publications. He was soon featured in All-Star Comics as part of the Justice Society of America. In 1941, he got his own solo comic book series, All-Flash. After World War II, superheroes declined in popularity, causing many of the Flash's comic book series to be canceled. All-Flash was canceled in 1948 after 32 issues. Flash Comics was canceled in 1949 after 104 issues. All-Star Comics was canceled in 1951 after 57 issues, marking Garrick's last Golden Age appearance. Garrick would not appear again for ten years, and never got another solo series. In 1956, DC Comics reinvented the Flash character, giving him a new costume, name, and background. This new Flash, named Barry Allen, was completely unrelated to Jay Garrick. In fact, Garrick had never existed, as far as the new books were concerned. Barry Allen's first appearance shows him reading a copy of Flash Comics, lamenting that Garrick was "just a character some writer dreamed up". Readers welcomed the new Flash, but still had an interest in the old one. Jay Garrick made a guest appearance in Flash #123. In this issue, Garrick was treated as residing in a parallel universe (Earth-Two), which allowed the character to exist without any continuity conflicts with Barry Allen (who existed on Earth-One), yet allowed him to make guest appearances in Silver Age books. For most of the 60s and 70s, Garrick made