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[The Liars Club] Base of Operations: Keystone City, Kansas
First Appearance: Flash Comics #44 (August 1943)

During the 1940s, the Keystone City Liars’ Club would meet to swap wild, imaginative stories. Each year, the wildest tale would win a trophy. Jay Garrick would often win by telling impossible-sounding stories about the Flash’s adventures.

Upon winning, Jay would often insist that his stories were true. In at least one instance, “The City of Shifting Sand,” another witness to the events was present. (All-Flash #22, 1946) The one time Jay admitted the story was made up, “The Story of the First Santa Claus,” the rest of the club refused to believe him. They were convinced it must have been true, and therefore not eligible for the prize. (Comic Cavalcade #13, 1945)

Time travel featured in several of Jay’s stories for the Liars’ Club. In the first story (Flash Comics #44, 1943), the Flash accidentally found himself in the year 2443 and had to destroy a wandering star that had entered Earth’s solar system. The Santa Claus story involved a time machine invented by the Dimwits. “The Race Through Time” (Comic Cavalcade #19, 1947) featured a crook, Tag Madden, gaining temporary super-speed, and a chase that took them both back to prehistory (intervening in various historical events along the way) and forward to a distant future in which the last humans prepare to leave a dying Earth.

Text by Kelson Vibber. Do not copy without permission.

Top of Page Art

  • Comic Cavalcade #14 (April–May 1946) - Jon Chester Kozlak (according to GCD)

Golden Age Appearances (possibly incomplete)

  • Flash Comics #44 (August 1943): untitled, Gardner Fox
  • Comic Cavalcade #9 (Winter 1944): “Tale of the Winged Horse,” Gardner Fox
  • Comic Cavalcade #13 (Winter 1945): “The Story of the First Santa Claus,” Gardner Fox
  • All-Flash #18 (Spring 1945): “The Flash Has the Time of His Life,” Gardner Fox
  • Comic Cavalcade #14 (April–May 1946): “The Fourth-Dimensional House,” Gardner Fox
  • All-Flash #22 (April–May 1946): “The City of Shifting Sand,” John Broome (reprint info)
  • Comic Cavalcade #19 (February–March 1947): “The Race Through Time,” Gardner Fox
  • All-Flash #30 (August–September 1947): “The Land Beyond the Picture,” Robert Kanigher

Notes

Individual members of the club are rarely named. Those who have been named include Bill and Tom, in the first story, and Jenks, in “The Land Beyond the Picture” (1947).