The Flash - where to start reading?

I've read a few bits and bobs recently featuring the Flash and i think he's a really cool character. In fact, I've kinda always thought he was but never bought any comics for some reason.

Given how complicated the Marvel and DC universes are and how many different people have taken on each role, it can be a fucker to work out where to start reading.

Can anyone tell me where a good place to start with for The Flash would be? I'm a fan of 80s-90s artwork (and more recent stuff although I'm not a big fan of the very realistic computer art) and thought picking up after Barry Allen's death might be a good idea, but I couldn't even work out if there was a trade paper back that would allow me to do that or what.

I know a lot of people love Barry Allen over Wally West, so I thought I might start with 'The Flash Archives Vol.1' which seems to be the start of the Silver Age Barry Allen era.

Any suggestions?

Also, while I'm here, can anyone suggest the exact same thing for Doctor Strange? Where would you start for him?

Fuck it, I just bought 'The Flash Archives Vol.1'.

http://www.zianet.com/comic-booksupe...archives01.jpg

^^any good?

Barry Allen was a more deeper Flash (via his origin story versus Wally's) than Wally West but i love Wally West now as the Flash

Because West was around long before he became The Flash, I couldn't work out where to start with him.

Book I bought hasn't arrived yet, but I'll see how I get on with that.

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Originally Posted by Spinx

Because West was around long before he became The Flash, I couldn't work out where to start with him.

Book I bought hasn't arrived yet, but I'll see how I get on with that.

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umm Barry Allen was the silver age Flash whom succeeded Jay Garrick
here these evidence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_flash#Barry_Allen) i know my flash history pretty well

Im a fan of both Barry and Wally but since watching the Justice League cartoon I gained an appreciation for Wally over Barry because of his general personality.

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Originally Posted by SHEEPISH LORD OF CHAOS

umm Barry Allen was the silver age Flash whom succeeded Jay Garrick
here these evidence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_flash#Barry_Allen) i know my flash history pretty well

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I think you misunderstood me. I was saying that West was already around as Kid Flash before he took over from Allen, so I didn't know where to start reading his story.

The best TPB to jump into for Wally is The Return of Barry Allen. It's THE story that cemented Wally as the Flash and made the book one of the best on the shelves at the time. All the TPBs by Mark Waid and Geoff Johns are great.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Spinx

I think you misunderstood me. I was saying that West was already around as Kid Flash before he took over from Allen, so I didn't know where to start reading his story.

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sorry sphinx i misunderstood my bad homes......yeah ur right i forgot that wally west was iris west's nephew when barry allen was still the flash and he was impulse/kid flash

I guess the best way to start reading just West would be to start at Infinite Crisis. The annoying thing is that for some reason all the tpb collecting West Flash stories, seem to start from about issue #65 of The Flash vol.2. Why are the first 64 odd issues not in any collection? Hopefully they'll bring out an omnibus type thing starting from #1.

read the old george perez run of new teen titans. its from the early 80s, and Wally was kid flash back then. he quit being kid flash at the same time dick greyson hung up his robin outfit. but its pretty good reading. and CRISIS ON INFINATE EARTHS is a good one too. thats when barry dies and wally decides to become the flash.

man I just caught up on some of the marvel Universe shit and DC shit if anyone needs anything(DC Countdown, any X-Men I got alot of they shit, etc...)just hit me with a pm