I’m looking to get started on reading The Flash comics, but I don’t know where to start. I only know what I know from cartoons and CW. If I could get help on where to start — preferably his most recent origin story, whether it’s a passing mention or full story — I would greatly appreciate it.
May 20 News Section has recommendations
Just keep going downwards until reach that date
In the current comics right now, Joshua Williamson is rewriting his origin in a story arc called a The Flash: Year One. But a good jumping on point is definitely The Flash Vol. 1 Move Forward from The New 52, and then continue with that run. It was made to be the perfect jumping on point; the writing and the art are amazing and you don’t need to know anything. Alternatively, you can start with the Silver Age but bear in mind there is a lot less lore and a lot more goofy adventures. I do not recommend The Flash: Rebirth (2008) until you are a bit better versed with the character, because every piece of it from beginning to end is incredible, but it isn’t really the best to jump on with unless you understand more of the Post-Crisis mythos (Mark Waid’s run etc.).
My opinion, go to encyclopedia entry for The Flash and look at the essential history and storyline sections, it has references to golden, silver, & Bronze Age stories and issue numbers that are critical not just to the Flash, but to all of DC comics.
Flash #1 the initial creation a speedster character. The first one. Also it’s the golden age.
Showcase #4 is the birth of the silver age. The exact moment when a superhero could be reinvented as a different person, with a similar but newer/different/enhanced skill set. (The Silver Age is critical to comics because it showed that one could create ages/eras of comics. And characters were not strictly beholden to exactly what had come before)
Flash #123 is the moment when DC created “the multiverse”. The understanding that there is a multiverse(s) is critical to understanding DC comics.
There are a few other issues that will take you quickly through other eras and to the modern era.
The Flash, more so than perhaps any other character in DC comics, is a catalyst for big changes in DC, including things like Flashpoint that literally changed the entire DC timeline.
Brief historical knowledge about the character will help. It builds the foundation of the fundamental aspects/elements of the character.
Simply put: check out The Flash #70.
It’s the beginning of the current Year One arc, which is a new telling of the origin of Barry Allen’s Flash.
It’s not on DC Universe and won’t be for a very long time, but it’s worth buying, and that’s coming from someone who initially wasn’t too interested in a new origin of Barry’s Flash.