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The other reason I’ve seen cited for the secret identity is that it’s there for a sort of subconscious moral reason. Like the writers didn’t like the idea of having a character with all kinds of power who could just go around doing whatever he wanted. So they made up the secret identity as the price the superhero paid for getting to jump around on rooftops and have cool adventures. I may be saying this badly. I got it from what I remember of my last reading of Peter Coogan’s ‘Superhero: The Secret Origin of a Genre’.

I thought it was Wally West who had his secret identity re-concealed, not Barry Allen

I can think of another good real-world reason to have a secret identity: in this celebrity crazed world, the costume takes media attention away from you, allowing you to have a normal life, well, in theory, anyway.

I’m a little surprised you took this angle John for the Flash because the one thing that strikes me about the Silver Age Flash (particularly in the first Showcase volume) is the Heinlein/Asimov/early SF writers vibe to it, where everything is based on some scientific idea but taken at some unusual angle (and if it abandons that approach, it’s usually to go nuts on the loopy pseudoscience).

For me, the storytelling engine of the Flash is that it’s about the science: it’s a character that not only runs fast but can vary his molecular density by vibrating and so the Flash wins the day quite often through science. I probably learned more about physics and optics through The Flash than I did in high school science.

Alan Moore took to calling his superheroes science heroes and to me The Flash would be the greatest example of that.

On the topic of secret identitys, I always felt that it depended on the character whether or not it made sense.

Flash doesn’t need a secret identity. Neither does Captain America, Green Lantern, the FF, or most super-heroes.

Spider-Man, because of Gwen’s death, needs one. The trope of protecting loved ones rarely makes sense because most of the time the loved ones are directly or indirectly in harm’s way anyway. It’s probably how the hero and the civilian met (Superman and Lois, I’m looking at you). But, because the Goblin killed Gwen specifically to get at Spider-Man whom he knew was Peter, that gives a strong reason for Peter to protect his identity.

Batman also has a good reason. His other identity is a public figure. If it were public knowledge that Wayne were Batman, it could affect the politics and economics of Gotham, if not the country. This reason has worked for Iron Man as well as even when Stark wasn’t a political or economic figure, he wanted to be.

As for Flash? I loved the DCAU JLU episode where Lex and Flash trade brains and Lex decides to find out who Flash is by taking off the mask, and realizes that it is just another face in the crowd.

I’d also like to point out that, technically, Superman doesn’t have a secret identity. The public knows that he is Kal-El, alien from another planet. And, to even speculate that he would have a third identity with which to walk among humans as one of them would be paranoia of a level that even Lex has intentionally turned away from (and, that, interestingly, Batman embrased).

It isn’t the glasses that disguises Clark, it is the cultural expectation that he is who he is. Wonder Woman is Wonder Woman. Human Torch is Human Torch. They may have other names they were born with, but that’s secondary to who they “really” are.

Theno

So, how does he get the costume back in the ring? Run it through the dryer on high heat a few times? Is this the effect Woolite has on unstable molecules? Does he have to sit on the ring afterwards to get it to latch like you do an over-stuffed suitcase? Just wondering.

I thought it was Wally West who had his secret identity re-concealed, not Barry Allen

It was Wally, though at the same time, he had Barry’s identity posthumously re-concealed.

Back to the main topic, there was a story in Legends of the DC Universe #15-17 (1999) that really made use of this, with Barry working the same case from two approaches: the super-hero, running around and tracking things down, and the forensic scientist, collecting evidence and analyzing it in the lab. They created a new villain, Dark Matter (spoilers for the story).

So, how does he get the costume back in the ring?

(I can’t believe I even sort-of remember this.) Somewhere it was explained that the fabric expanded on contact with air, and that an electric shock produced by the ring would drive the nitrogen (IIRC) out, shrinking it again. Though that doesn’t explain how the thing is drawn into the ring, or why the costume didn’t shrink every time the Flash got zapped by electricity.

One thing that struck me about Green Lantern in the same era is how little test piloting he actually did, and the reason’s pretty clear; it’s about the worst job imaginable to be pulled away from onto a case. It’s occasionally possible to have the test plane itself diverted, but that only works so often and only in some situations (not so often when fighting bank robbers, for example). It’s easy for a reporter or a police scientist to slip away, but if a test pilot flies off for parts unknown, people notice.

was there a batman story telling engine examination that was over looked?

Yes, last week’s entry was on Batman, it was a few days late on my site and as a result, I don’t think Brian was able to get it up over on this site. So it was really my fault, but you can all just surf over to my blog on the handy link that Brian provides at the top of every entry, scroll down a bit, and read it over there.

I don’t know; maybe I’m old fashioned… But it seems to me that in todays flaky world of constant media coverage, paparazzi and stalkers; a secret identity makes more sense than ever.

I mean, it’s so obvious to me, that it almost seems like a waste of time to even try to explain it.

For startes, I know a guy who had a winning lottery ticket but when it was all said and done… and split between all the winners… he only got like $550. But still, because his name was a matter of public record, there was a time when he would get so many letters (from people telling him how bad they had it and wanting him to help them out financially) that the Post Office started delivering package slips and asking him to come pick his own mail at the post office.

Now imagine if you could change the course of mighty rivers? Or built a house at Super-speed?

‘Nuff Said.

Don’t real-life undercover cops, FBI agents, CIA agents and special forces-types all essentially have secret identities? I know anyone with a security clearance in government is told never to talk about their work with family members. It’s basically to keep someone from unknowingly blabbing state secrets to their hairdresser, and also to protect them from being kidnapped and held for ransom. You could certainly argue how plausible those scenarios actually are, and I’m sure wives and moms do end up hearing some things they aren’t supposed to, but I think the principle here is the same as superheroes. So maybe it’s not all just to help drive plotlines.

Love the storytelling engine posts, by the way. I learn a lot from these.

Actually, Denny, a friend of mine has a top secret government job. His wife has told me that she doesn’t know what he does.

She told me a story of a trip the two of them took. He had to go to a meeting in DC, and she went with him because they were going to spend the rest of the weekend with her family in Pittsburgh.

She wasn’t allowed to sit in the car in the parking lot while he was in the meeting. Whatever it was they were discussing, it was considered a security leak for her to be on the property even though she was outside the building. He had to drop her off at the mall and come back to get her after he was done.

But, he doesn’t have to conceal his name from us. So, that’s not really a secret identity.

Theno

I miss secret identities, but I always had a major gripe about them:

the whole “protect your loved ones” rationale only works if you don’t have *precisely the same loves ones as a super-hero that you have in your private life.* Superman is traditionally by far the worst offender: his core traditional supporting cast of Lois, Perry, Jimmy, Lana, and Pete were all close to Superman (and known to be so), as well as to Clark. When you go around calling yourself “Superman’s pal” or “Superman’s girlfriend,” it hardly protects you that you don’t realize you’re also Clark Kent’s pal or Clark Kent’s not-girlfriend.

Most of the Silver Age DC pantheon were guilty of this to some degree. The Clark-Lois-Superman love triangle got reiterated ad infinitum. The primal trope of “putting on a mask and rescuing the girl who wouldn’t otherwise give you the time of day, and get secret solace from the fact that the hero she fell in love with is shlubby you who she scorns” that’s always been part of the wish-fulfillment part of superheroics hopelessly gums up the works of the “protect your loved ones” rationale. If Superman wants to protect Clark’s loved ones, he should never be seen with them in public…