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[The Russells]
Known Relatives: Iris (daughter), Barry Allen (son-in-law), Don Allen (grandson), Dawn Allen (granddaughter), Bart Allen (great-grandson), Jenni Ognats (great-granddaughter), Philip and Cynthia Russell (Eric’s 20th-century ancestors)
Home: Central City of the 30th Century.
Occupations: Scientists
Hair (Eric) black, later gray; (Fran) brown, later gray
First Appearance: Flash #203, February 1971

[Sending their daughter to the past] Mid-30th-century scientists Eric and Fran Russell lived in a time of global nuclear war. Fearing for their own safety and that of their daughter, they began forbidden research into time travel, based partly on early research by 27th-century physicist John Fox. As the East prepared a devastating assault on Central City, they placed their infant daughter Iris in the escape pod and sent her a thousand years into the past, where she was adopted by Ira and Nadine West.

The Russells survived the war, and kept up with their time travel research, eventually contacting their daughter. Since she had married the second Flash, the couple were able to visit her parents from time to time. (In fact, their son-in-law was instrumental in helping the post-war world unite.)

After their daughter’s 20th-century death, they were prepared to perform a “psychic transplant,” restoring her to life in their own time (see Details on Iris West). They helped her contact her husband and bring him to the future, and much later sent her into the past once again with their great-grandson Bart.

The Russells have frequently been on the wrong side of authority, first for their research and later for their ties to the Allen family, when a Thawne became President of Earth.

Text by Kelson Vibber. Do not copy without permission.

Top of Page Art

  • Old couple: Impulse #74 (July 2001) - Carlo Barberi and Juan Vlasco
  • Escape: Flash (first series) #203 (February 1971) - Irv Novick & Murphy Anderson

Silver-Age Flash Appearances

  • Flash #203 (February 1971): “The Flash’s Wife is a Two-Timer!” Robert Kanigher
  • Flash #210 (November 1971): “An Earth Divided,” Cary Bates
  • Flash #237 (November 1975): “The 1,000-Year Separation!” Cary Bates
  • Flash #260 (April 1978): “The 1000 Year-Old Root!” Cary Bates
  • Flash #350 (October 1985): “Flash Flees,” Cary Bates

Legacy-Era Flash Appearances

  • Flash #91–92 (June–July 1994): “Out of Time” and “Reckless Youth Chapter 1: Speed Kills,” Mark Waid
  • The Life Story of the Flash (1997), Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn
  • Flash 80-Page Giant #1 (August 1998): “Split Seconds,” Brian Augustyn
  • Impulse #25 (May 1997): “You and Me Against the World,” Mark Waid
  • Impulse #73–75 (June–August 2001): “Dark Tomorrow,” Todd Dezago