WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Flash #761, by Joshua Williamson, Howard Porter, Hi-Fi and Steve Wands, on sale now.
In recent issues of The Flash, Eobard Thawne assembled his own Reverse-Flash Family by traveling through time and picking and choosing some of Barry Allen's worst villains to recruit them to join his cause. However, when the Flash reunited with multiple other speedsters such as Jay Garrick, Bart Allen and Wallace West, Thawne revealed the full breadth of his Legion of Zoom: in truth, he had dozens of villains ready to take on the newly reunited Flash Family, and he unleashed them all at the close of The Flash #760.
And as The Flash#761 begins, the Flash Family is in an overwhelming battle against an entire army of villains. The battle threatens to destroy all of Central City and, in order to get some much needed reinforcements, Max Mercury takes a bit of time to meditate and, through the Speed Force, he calls in his very own army of speedsters. This legion of Flashes features the return of plenty of fan-favorite speedsters such as Kingdom Come Flash, Tangent Flash and many more.
However, the biggest surprise here may be the return of the New 52's Earth-2 Flash, Jay Garrick.
Following the events of 2011's event series Flashpoint, the continuity of the DC Universe was streamlined and its entire history was altered in what would become known as the New 52 timeline. As a result, the original Jay Garrick (and the entire Justice Society of America) was erased from the past, making Barry Allen the first and only Flash. However, this new version of reality would eventually introduce its own version of Jay Garrick on a parallel world called Earth-2. The Earth-2 comic series would essentially introduce the New 52's version of the Justice Society, featuring such characters as Alan Scott's Green Lantern, Hawkgirl and more on a parallel world.
On Earth-2, a young Jay Garrick went to find what he believed to be a meteor after it fell nearby. However, he found the Roman god Mercury instead. Mercury had just been attacked by the forces of Apokolips, and he gave Jay super-speed abilities so that he would be able to fight back as a superhero before he died. After this, Jay would become Earth-2's Flash and fight alongside his world's other superheroes until the old continuity and the original Jay Garrick returned in the DC Rebirth era.
After this, the New 52's Jay Garrick was all but erased and forgotten about as history was restored. The real Jay Garrick's place in the past was re-established, and the Flash Family would be made whole again.
But now, The Flash #761 brings back The New 52's Jay Garrick after Max Mercury reaches across space and time to unite all Flashes from across reality. But the big question here is who is this version of Jay Garrick? Was he plucked from the alternate timeline of the New 52, or was he taken from the parallel world Earth-52? After all, Doomsday Clock restored aspects of the history of the DC Universe as it was before Flashpoint, but it also revealed that the New 52 universe still existed as a parallel world on Earth-52. Therefore, it's likely that this Jay Garrick doesn't come from the past, but an alternate reality.
In one panel, This Jay Garrick and the Earth-0 Jay Garrick even recreate the cover to "The Flash of Two Worlds," the 1961 story that introduced Barry Allen to Jay Garrick in Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino's The Flash #123. That suggests that this Garrick may indeed be from another reality.
Wherever he ultimately is from, it's sure nice to see this Justice Society hero run again, especially alongside the entire Flash Family.