NEW YORK (AP) -- He's so fast, he can even outrun death: Barry Allen, aka The Flash, is speeding back to life 23 years after being killed off.

Allen was the second man - though not the last - to don the trademark red costume decorated with a lightning bolt as DC Comics' "Fastest Man Alive."

His death in 1985 became legendary among comic book fans. He was vaporized preserving the universe.

Now he joins the tradition of super-heroes like Captain America and Superman who have died only to be resurrected later on.

Yet, unlike his revived peers who were dead just a few issues, Allen was gone so long that his rebirth comes as a surprise.

Grant Morrison, who along with Geoff Johns is responsible for resurrecting The Flash in the last panel of "DC Universe #0," said comic book characters don't have to stay dead.

"We can do anything with them, and we can make them come back and make them defy death," Morrison said.

Allen's incarnation of The Flash was first introduced in 1956 and helped lead to a revitalization of super-heroes in comic books during a time when westerns and war themes dominated.

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