Comic Book Origins: Where Did the Lightning Bolt Come From?

Last week I posted about the origin of Batman and answered the gripping question of where the bat that flew through Bruce Wayne's window come from?

Today I will examine a question from the origin of the Flash.

Art by Carmine Infantino & Joe Kubert  

The combination of every chemical known on Earth and being fried by a lightning bolt:

a) burned Barry to a crisp, leaving an unrecognizable corpse.

b) afflicts Barry with cancer and he dies a slow painful death approximately 5 months later.

c) gives Barry super speed which he combines with his love of comic books to become the Flash! 

It's a comic book! Of course it's "c".  

But here's a question:  

Where did the lighting bolt come from? 

Well, it was this guy!

art by Carmine Infantino & Joe Giella 

Mopee was a magical imp who caused the "accident" that gave Barry Allen his super speed powers.  

By the way, DC super heroes having a magical imp to contend with pretty much a given.

• Superman had Mister Mxyzptlk.
• Batman had Bat-Mite! 
• Green Lantern had Myrwhydden!
• Aquaman had Qwsp!

So naturally the Flash had to get his own magical imp in the form of Mopee who caused the Flash to exist?

Mostly fans and creators have all kind of agreed to never speak of this again. 

But in Secret Origins Annual#1, writer Robert Loren Fleming postulated another answer to the question, "Where did the lightning come from?" 

Taking off from the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths#8 where the Flash is outrunning the Anti-Monitor's energy cannon to save the universe from destruction (or something), Barry runs so fast that his body breaks down from matter to energy and where does that energy go?  

Art by Carmine Infantino & Murphy Anderson  

Yep, the lightning bolt that strikes Barry Allen is...  Barry Allen. 

Which is kind of cool and poetic and probably doesn't count since Geoff Johns brought back Barry Allen about 15 years ago now.  

So where did the lightning bolt come from? It was just an unexpected thunder storm. Sometimes, shit just happens. 

Unless Mopee made it happen? 

NO! Let's not go there!