Every day this August I'll be spotlighting strange but ultimately endearing comic stories, one a day (basically, we're talking lots and lots of Silver Age comic books).

Today we look at 1959's Flash #109, "Return of the Mirror Master." Written by John Broome and drawn by Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella.

In this tale, we see a hint of why Barry Allen was willing to go along with the rest of the Justice League in brainwashing Dr. Light during Identity Crisis.

I actually believe this issue marked the first time that a Flash villain returned to the book (which obviously would become a major part of the book over the years, as Flash's Rogues practically became as important to the title as the Flash himself).

In any event, Mirror Master escapes from prison and goes to rob a bank. The Flash shows up to stop him...



When he goes to meet up with his girlfriend, Iris Allen, though, she has finally had enough of his lateness...



Commenter J.C. Calhoun had a great point - at noon he was 10 minutes late. So their date was for 11:50? That's kinda weird.

Later, Mirror Master shrinks Barry down to size and throws him off of a roof. Luckily, "science" tells us that small animals can land safely when thrown off of roofs and that Barry (of course) has a source of radiation that will make him grow back to normal size.



That's what Barry does and he pretty easily defeats the Mirror Master in Round Three of their match. However, this is where the story takes an interesting turn, as Barry figures, eh, why not use this guy's stuff to my own personal benefit?



And it pays off!



You don't normally see smug looks like that in a Silver Age Comic coming from anyone but Superman after he made Lois Lane feel stupid. Well done, Barry!

Of course, Broome couldn't help but throw in one last little "wah waaah" moment...



Awesome.

If you have any stories that you'd like to see featured this month, e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com!