It’s holiday time! No color combination is so immediately identifiable with this season of the year than red and green. The two are complementary colors, opposite each other on the color wheel, and they look great together. Though that doesn’t quite explain why DC’s embodiment of those colors—the Flash and Green Lantern—are such good buddies. Why should a speedy scientist and a test pilot with a power ring get along so well? Whatever the reason, and whatever the season, there’s no separating the Scarlet Speedster and the Emerald Gladiator. Here are seven of their most bromantic adventures…
 

Green Lantern #13, “The Duel of the Super-Heroes!”

The Golden Age Green Lantern, Alan Scott, and the Golden Age Flash, Jay Garrick, worked together on the Justice Society throughout the 1940s until the team went into semi-retirement. But the first proper one-on-one team-up between a Flash and a Lantern would take place in the Silver Age, in June 1962’s Green Lantern #13. Hal Jordan and Barry Allen had first appeared together in 1960’s Brave and the Bold #28, as part of the first appearance of the Justice League of America. In “The Duel of the Super-Heroes!,” written by John Broome and penciled by Gil Kane, they learn each other's secret identities after Barry accompanies his girlfriend Iris West on assignment to interview hotshot test pilot Hal. Together, the two heroes prevent the alien Spectrans from taking over Earth.
 

The Flash #143, "Trail of the False Green Lanterns”

March 1964’s The Flash #143, “Trail of the False Green Lanterns,” is written by John Broome and penciled by Carmine Infantino and marks the first team-up to make our list from the Flash’s ongoing comic. The Flash/Lantern team-ups of the 1960s always felt natural for two chief reasons: 1.) John Broome wrote and editor Julie Schwartz edited both of their titles. It was Schwartz who first came up with the idea to bring back the Golden Age heroes in new science-based incarnations. 2.) Both Barry Allen and Hal Jordan were, essentially, policemen, with Barry a scientist for the Central City Police Department and Hal, in his alter ego, a space cop appointed by the Guardians of the Universe. Here, they battle three Green Lantern duplicates, created by scientist T.O. Morrow, who’d go on to construct the android superhero Red Tornado.
 

Green Lantern #43, "Catastrophic Crimes of Major Disaster!"

Both Carmine Infantino and Gil Kane’s sleek midcentury styles were well-suited for the two space age heroes they’d co-created. Those styles would only improve throughout the decade. By the time of March 1966’s Green Lantern #43, written by Gardner Fox and penciled by Kane (aided by Syd Greene’s charming, cartoony inks), the latter artist’s work at DC had reached an apex. Here, the super bros’ girlfriends learn their secret identities (albeit temporarily) as they battle a new villain, Major Disaster.
 

Green Lantern #66-67, “Fast Friends?”

After Barry Allen was killed in 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths, his former sidekick Wally West inherited the Flash’s name and costume. Then, after Coast City was destroyed, Hal Jordan went mad and became the evil Parallax in 1994’s Green Lantern #50. His successor as Earth’s Green Lantern was comic book artist Kyle Rayner. Wally and Kyle’s first solo team-up, in July 1995’s Green Lantern #66 and #67, written by Ron Marz and penciled by Paul Pelletier, found them battling the third incarnation of longtime Lantern villain Sonar. The two are uneasy allies at first, with Wally dismissing Kyle as an unproven upstart. But by the end of “Fast Friends?”, they come to a grudging mutual respect.
 

Green Lantern/Flash: Faster Friends

Reluctant allies Kyle Rayner and Wally West reunite to rescue the original Green Lantern (Alan Scott) and Flash (Jay Garrick) in 1997’s two-issue “Faster Friends.” Green Lantern/Flash: Faster Friends Part 1 (told from Kyle’s perspective) is written by Ron Marz and penciled by Bart Sears, Andy Smith, Jeff Johnson, Ron Lim and Tom Grindberg. Flash/Green Lantern: Faster Friends Part 2 (told from Wally’s POV), meanwhile, is written by Mark Waid and penciled by Val Semeiks. While it’s nice to see Alan and Jay finally paired together outside of a Justice Society title, it’s even more satisfying to hear Jay tell their squabbling Modern Age counterparts to get their act together. “Flashes and Green Lanterns are meant to be friends,” he says. “You two buttheads will figure that out sooner or later. And when you do, you just may be the greatest team of all.”
 

Flash & Green Lantern: The Brave and the Bold

With most of DC’s heroes getting new origins in the post-Crisis era, their first meetings were also reimagined. Mark Waid—THE expert in all things Silver Age—had already retconned the original Justice League’s origin in 1998’s JLA: Year One, so it made sense for him to write Barry Allen and Hal Jordan’s first solo team-up title, set early in their careers. In 1999’s six-issue Flash/Green Lantern: The Brave and the Bold, penciled and inked by JLA: Year One artist Barry Kitson, Waid gives us an affectionate take on the two icons in six blissfully self-contained single-issue stories, guest starring the likes of Wally West, Alan Scott and Jay Garrick.
 

Justice League, “The Brave and the Bold,” Parts I and II

2001’s Justice League animated series featured defining takes on the Wally West Flash (voiced by Michael Rosenbaum) and John Stewart Green Lantern (voiced by Phil LaMarr). Their pairing took center stage in “The Brave and the Bold,” the show’s twelfth and thirteenth episodes. It’s a different dynamic than most Flash/Lantern duos, but no-nonsense, ex-marine John and wisecracking, devil-may-care Wally perfectly complement each other.
 

Green Lantern #4, “Fast Friends”

Okay, we get it. Green Lantern and the Flash are “fast friends.” But even if the title of this storyline is cribbed from earlier ones, this is a must-read comic for fans of the characters and the definitive take on the Flash and Green Lantern’s relationship post-Rebirth. Writer Jeremy Adams has won praise for writing both heroes’ books, and in October 2023’s Green Lantern #4, with stunning art by Xermanico, he looks at Barry and Hal’s steadfast friendship. “Fast Friends” finds the two saving Coast City from Sinestro and Los Angeles from Major Disaster. Along the way, they find time to catch up, reminding us why even now, over six decades later, they still go great together.
 

Joseph McCabe writes about comics, film and superhero history for DC.com. Follow him on Instagram at @joe_mccabe_editor.

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Joseph McCabe and the talent interviewed and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.