Barry Allen started his carrier in the comics in 1956 until 1985 and then he was absent on until 2009. His modern-age series called The Flash: Rebirth when he returned. After that 2 trades came (In comics, a trade paperback (often shortened to trade) is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme.) called The Flash Vol. 1: The Dastardly Death of the Rogues and The Flash Vol. 2: The Road to Flashpoint.
After these, a HUGE event came that changed everything called Flashpont that "reset" the continuity and started the New 52 age and it's first story-line called The Flash, Vol. 1: Move Forward or alternatively The Flash: Starting Line (DC Essential Edition) This series (New52) lasted till Spring 2016 and collected 9 trades (the show you watched is based on this era). In early 2016 DC Rebirth came (only name change, everything is continued from New52) but a huge exception: a long missing character came back to the grand scene who was missing for so long. Rebirth's first trade is The Flash Vol. 1: Lightning Strikes Twice
So if you are interested in Barry (overall) start with The Flash: Rebirth and move onward to Flashpont, but you can just start with The Flash, Vol. 1: Move Forward or DC Rebirth and The Flash Vol. 1: Lightning Strikes Twice, then read everything up to today. (currently there is a Flash event called Flash War coming out)
But if you are interested in old material, the best place to start is The Flash: The Silver Age Vol. 1, the first comics where Barry showed up.
(there is an omnibus on sale at the moment (a collection of multiple trades) called The Flash By Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato Omnibus that collects the first 4 trades of the New 52 era.
Flash is an easy one. Tons of great Flash stories and plenty of them with Captain Cold in it. The Flash: Rebirth is considered one of those definitive Flash stories, not to be confused by DC Universe Rebirth - The Flash which is also pretty good. Both of those are good starting points. If you want more, check out Flashpoint (stand alone story that gets a little involved with continuity at the end) and The Flash: Vol 3 of the Rebirth series for a little Captain Cold fix.
The Blue Beetle Rebirth series is a good place to start for the character. I enjoyed the first few issues but eventually dropped it for the sake of my wallet. The New 52 Blue Beetle series might also be worth a look but I've never read it so I don't really know.
I don't know nearly enough about Firestorm stories besides the events he's appeared in so I got nothing for you there.
Barry Allen started his carrier in the comics in 1959 until 1985 and then he was absent on until 2009. His modern-age series called The Flash: Rebirth when he returned. After that 2 trades came (In comics, a trade paperback (often shortened to trade) is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme.) called The Flash Vol. 1: The Dastardly Death of the Rogues and The Flash Vol. 2: The Road to Flashpoint.
After these, a HUGE event came that changed everything called Flashpont that "reset" the continuity and started the New 52 age and it's first story-line called The Flash, Vol. 1: Move Forward . This series (New52) lasted till Spring 2016 and collected 9 trades (the show you watched is based on this era). In early 2016 DC Rebirth came (only name change, everything is continued from New52) but a huge exception: a long missing character came back to the grand scene who was missing for so long. Rebirth's first trade is The Flash Vol. 1: Lightning Strikes Twice
So if you are interested in Barry (overall) start with The Flash: Rebirth and move onward to Flashpont, but you can just start with The Flash, Vol. 1: Move Forward or DC Rebirth and The Flash Vol. 1: Lightning Strikes Twice, then read everything up to today. (currently there is a Flash event called Flash War coming out)
(there is an omnibus on sale at the moment (a collection of multiple trades) called The Flash By Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato Omnibus that collects the first 4 trades of the New 52 era.
Tv show The Flash with Barry Allen? If so, then
Barry Allen started his carrier in the comics in 1959 until 1985 and then he was absent on until 2009. His modern-age series called The Flash: Rebirth when he returned. After that 2 trades came (In comics, a trade paperback (often shortened to trade) is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme.) called The Flash Vol. 1: The Dastardly Death of the Rogues and The Flash Vol. 2: The Road to Flashpoint.
After these, a HUGE event came that changed everything called Flashpont that "reset" the continuity and started the New 52 age and it's first story-line called The Flash, Vol. 1: Move Forward . This series (New52) lasted till Spring 2016 and collected 9 trades (the show you watched is based on this era). In early 2016 DC Rebirth came (only name change, everything is continued from New52) but a huge exception: a long missing character came back to the grand scene who was missing for so long. Rebirth's first trade is The Flash Vol. 1: Lightning Strikes Twice
So if you are interested in Barry (overall) start with The Flash: Rebirth and move onward to Flashpont, but you can just start with The Flash, Vol. 1: Move Forward or DC Rebirth and The Flash Vol. 1: Lightning Strikes Twice, then read everything up to today. (currently there is a Flash event called Flash War coming out)
(there is an omnibus on sale at the moment (a collection of multiple trades) called The Flash By Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato Omnibus that collects the first 4 trades of the New 52 era.
This is a reading order for Barry Allen. If you want to read the best of the best Flash comics you'd want to read Mark Waid's Flash from issues 62-129, Morrison/Millar Flash, The rest of Waid's Flash then into Geoff John's Flash. All of these runs feature Wally West as the Flash and they're slowly being released in trade format. (Waid's Flash book 1 is out with book 2 coming out this month, Morrison/Millar Flash is in one trade and Geoff Johns Flash currently has 3 trades out with 4 coming out later this year) All of these books are what the show is based off of. Stuff like Zoom, Thawne masquerading as a friend, Savitar and the Speed Force are all used in these books. They are by FAR the best Flash stories ever.
The Flash Dastardly Death of The Rogues is the best Barry Allen story, it is a must read
This is the reading order for Barry, Wally West as the Flash however, has the best Flash stories ever. For Wally he has great books like the Flash by Mark Waid (Book 1 currently out and book 2 is coming out next month), the Flash by Morrison/Millar and the Flash by Geoff Johns (books 1-3 currently out)
Modern Barry Allen Reading Order:
The Flash Dastardly Death of The Rogues is the best Barry Allen story, it is a must read
This is the reading order for Barry Allen I recommend all of these. My favorite Flash series would be Flash by Geoff John's though. Books 1-3 are out right now and I love them so much
•The Flash Dastardly Death of The Rogues is the best Barry Allen story, it is a must read
These are all the modern Barry Allen Books in the order they occur. If you want to read the best of the best Flash stories The Flash by Mark Waid volume 1 is out and The Flash by Geoff Johns volumes 1-3 but these feature Wally West as the Flash who (in most people on this sub's opinion) is the best Flash. Wally is also my personal favorite comics character. So here's my Barry Allen reading order with brief explanations:
•The Flash Dastardly Death of The Rogues is the best Barry Allen story, it is a must read
Barry Allen Reading Order: Flash Rebirth brings Bary up to speed with the world and shows him dealing with being a man out of time. This story kind of demeans Wally as character in my opinion, it makes him seem incapable of doing much and shows Barry doing things Wally can't do in this story despite Wally showing he's convincingly surpassed his mentor. I'd talk more about this but this isn't he post for that. The Flash Dastardly Death of The Rogues is the best Barry Allen story, it is a must read Flash: Road to Flashpoint. This story is pretty alright, the collected version has a lot of interesting one shots and such and it directly leads into Flashpoint. This doesn't get recommended often, but I enjoyed it and I think it should be at least mentioned Flashpoint kicks off the New 52 and is a very well written Barry Allen story. This leads into the New 52 series The Flash New 52 Vol 1-4 Collected in this omnibus. This has absolutely stunning art and it's the same art team that did Dastardly Death of the Rogues, the artists also double as the writers and they capture a good Barry Allen in my opinion. This run is great but everything after is pretty mediocre DC Universe Rebirth is a great story and Barry and a certain other speedster are very relevant to the story The Flash Rebirth (2016) is the current ongoing, you can digitally purchase it or buy the issues individually from Midtown Comics (The website) or your LCBS. I'm linking the first volume of this run.
This is the reading order for Barry Allen, I recommend all of this.
•The Flash Dastardly Death of The Rogues is the best Barry Allen story, it is a must read
Modern Barry Allen Reading Order: Flash Rebirth brings Bary up to speed with the world and shows him dealing with being a man out of time. This story kind of demeans Wally as character in my opinion, it makes him seem incapable of doing much and shows Barry doing things Wally can't do in this story despite Wally showing he's convincingly surpassed his mentor. I'd talk more about this but this isn't he post for that. The Flash Dastardly Death of The Rogues is the best Barry Allen story, it is a must read Flash: Road to Flashpoint. This story is pretty alright, the collected version has a lot of interesting one shots and such and it directly leads into Flashpoint. This doesn't get recommended often, but I enjoyed it and I think it should be at least mentioned Flashpoint kicks off the New 52 and is a very well written Barry Allen story. This leads into the New 52 series The Flash New 52 Vol 1-4 Collected in this omnibus. This has absolutely stunning art and it's the same art team that did Dastardly Death of the Rogues, the artists also double as the writers and they capture a good Barry Allen in my opinion. This run is great but everything after is pretty mediocre DC Universe Rebirth is a great story and Barry and a certain other speedster are very relevant to the story The Flash Rebirth (2016) is the current ongoing, you can digitally purchase it or buy the issues individually from Midtown Comics (The website) or your LCBS. I'm linking the first volume of this run.
Like others have covered there's no NEED to read the comics, but there are some amazing arcs and stories to read. A few that are easy to recommend are:
The Flash: Rebirth Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver, reintroduce Barry Allen, the modern–age Flash. But how will Barry Allen find his place in the twenty-first century? Best recommended for fans familiar with Flash mythos.
NOTE: This is not the Rebirth from this year but from 2009
The Flash: Dastardly Death of the Rogues Meet the Renegades! With the 25th Century's Flash a villain, you'd better believe the 25th Century Rogues are heroes! When one of their own is murdered, all evidence points to... Barry Allen? Solve the mystery of the murdered Mirror Monarch in this exciting volume from long time Flash scribe Geoff Johns!
The Flash: Move Forward As Mob Rule wages a campaign of crime across Central City, including an electromagnetic blast that plunges the city into darkness, The Flash learns the the only way he can capture Mob Rule and save Central City is to learn how to make his brain function even faster than before—but as much as it helps him, it also comes with a steep price.
Other Volumes in this run:
The Flash - Born to Run by Mark Waid When Wally West, the adolescent nephew of the Flash's fiancée, accidentally gained powers of superspeed, he became the Scarlet Speedster's sidekick. Growing up as his hero's protégé, Kid Flash had a childhood of amazing action and adventure. But on the day that The Flash died, Wally's carefree adolescence abruptly ended and his life as an adult began.
Mark Waid is considered many to be the definitive Flash writer, and is responsible for much of the Flash lore.
The Flash by Grant Morrison and Mark Millar Confined to a wheelchair after a run-in with the mystery villain known only as The Suit, how can The Flash protect Keystone City from evil run amok? Plus, The Flash is forced to represent Earth in an cosmos-spanning race against an alien being called Krakkl!
The Flash - Book 1 by Geoff Johns When the Flash breaks through space and time to reach a parallel Earth, it mirrors our own—except for one big difference: there is no Speed Force. Disconnected from the energy source that powers all super-speedsters, this is a world where The Flash never existed, and has become deadly for anyone who wears a mask. Powerless and hunted by the law, the only way Wally West can survive and escape is to accept help from those he trusts the least—his own Rogues Gallery!
While Mark Waid focused on rebuilding Wally, the man, Geoff Johns focused on rebuilding the Rogues, to a great effect. His villain pieces are always fascinating and the reason I come back to his run so often.
The Flash - Book 2 from Geoff Johns Wally West may be the Fastest Man Alive, but even he has trouble keeping up with the changes in his life. As the Flash continues to risk his life defending Keystone City, the threat of the Rogues grows in number. As new costumed criminals enter the battle, the Flash must do everything in his power to prevent an attack that is both deadly and personal.
i meant the old flash rebirth the one where barry returns
here have a look
http://www.amazon.com/Flash-Rebirth-Geoff-Johns/dp/1401230016
http://images.wikia.com/marvel_dc/images/3/3b/Flash_Rebirth-_Vol_1_6.jpg
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/marvel_dc/images/9/9b/Flash_Family_002.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100212061823 http://comicmad.com/wp-content/gallery-bank/gallery-uploads/o_19d8asf816ohi55n2o1keb1of10.jpg
It's in stock on Amazon for $9.95 and free shipping with prime (physical copy):
You can even have it in your mailbox tomorrow for an extra cost (at least for me).