History: (Flash II #190 (fb)) - Hartley Rathaway was born into an old money family, and his parents were upset because he was born deaf, and they couldn’t accept that their child wasn’t perfect. After spending millions to cure him they met Doc Magnus, who replaced Hartley’s cochlea and tympanic membranes with robotics that gave him metahuman hearing. Hartley fell in love with music, escaping the banality of his life discovering the classics as well as modern music. Hartley grew up to be an outsider in his family, and when he came out of the closet he became estranged from his parents.

(Flash II #190 (fb)) - Hartley decided to design his own instruments, and hoped to create instruments with a higher range and better reverb than anything on the market. Instead he found a way to build musical instruments that functioned as sonic weapons. In a fit of boredom he used them for petty crimes, and was thrilled to finally have a sense of control over his life. He took the identity of Pied Piper and embarked on a life of crime.

(Flash I #106) - Pied Piper made his debut in Central City, planning on taking over organized crime. He used his pipe to compel a group of crooks to come to his hideout and made the case that they should follow him because he would lead them to the greatest crimewave the city had ever known. His only concern was the Flash, so he planned on eliminating him before the superhero had a chance to ruin his schemes. Piper and his men broke into a jewelry store and the safe of a skyscraper office, but left all the money and valuables untouched. Piper sent out a radio message challenging the Flash to try and stop him from completing the crimes he started. Flash confronted Piper and his gang at the skyscraper office but Piper used vibrations from his pipe to freeze Flash in place. The crooks made their getaway, but hadn’t counted on Flash using his own vibrations to free himself and pursue them. Piper used his pipe to stir a tidal wave from the Central city Lake, knocking him out. Flash recovered and sped to the jewelry store to go another round with Pied Piper. Piper’s pipe caused an earthquake that opened a crevasse under Flash. Flash used his superspeed to run up the side of the crevasse and then created a windmill by whirling his arm at superspeed, knocking out Pied Piper and his gang.

(Flash II #215 (fb)) - The reincarnated Top went berserk an attacked Piper and other members of Flash’s Rogues Gallery. Flash subdued him, and Top once again passed away.

(Flash II #140) - Pied Piper and his boyfriend James attended Linda Park's funeral. Piper used his old connections to the supervillain community to get them to call a temporary cease-fire in honor of Linda.

(Flash II #189 (fb, BTS)) - Piper discovered his parents murdered by a mirror duplicate of himself created by Mirror Master. Mirror Master hypnotized Piper into believing he killed his own parents.

(Flash II #178, 179) - The KCPD arrested Piper for the murder of his parents, and he made a tearful confession. Piper was booked and sent to jail. Flash visited him in Keystone City Jail, and Piper told him he honestly didn’t know if he was guilty. The Jokerized Killer Elite broke into Piper’s cell and infected him with joker-juice. The Jokerize Piper and Captain Boomerang attacked Flash, but Piper was only infected with a small dose. He shook off its’ effects and helped Flash defeat Boomerang. Piper was transferred to Iron Heights, where Gregory Wolfe welcomed him back by tying him up and sending in prison guards to give him a beating.

(Flash II #189, 190) - Piper escaped Iron Heights because he couldn’t stand the constant abuse from the guards, and came to F.B.I. agent James Jesse office looking for help in clearing his name. Jesse refused, and this led to a brief scuffle because Jesse wanted to take him into custody. Piper escaped, but Jesse managed to slip a tracer onto Piper’s costume. Jesse found him in the company of Heat Wave, and offered them both a position in a new F.B.I. program.

(Flash II #210) - Piper and Heat Wave trained together in James Jesse’s F.B.I. program.

(Flash II #215) - Firehawk, Booster Gold and Blue Beetle interrogated Heat Wave about the death of Sue Dibny. He told them he knew nothing, and reminded them he was a reformed villain. When they continued badgering him Pied Piper put them to sleep with his pipes.

(Flash II #216) - Jesse informed Pied Piper, Heat Wave and Magenta that their end goal as F.B.I. agents was to take down the Rogues once and for all. The Rogues made the F.B.I. nervous because they were a rare example of organized supercrime, and Jesse wanted them gone before any other supervillains decided to follow suite.

(Flash II #217) - Piper admitted to James that he fealt bad about Boomerang’s death despite the fact Boomerang was never nice to him. They both wished they could have attended the funeral, but the Rogues weren’t about to share its location with them.

(Flash II #218) - Pied Piper reminded Heat Wave they were out to take down the Rogues, not get revenge on them.

(Flash II #1/2) - Piper, Heat Wave, Magenta and Trickster apprehended Replicant.

(Flash II #220-225) - Piper and the reformed Rogues confronted Flash’s Rogues Gallery in their hq after the villains broke into F.B.I. hq and slaughtered a number of guards in an attempt to find Boomerang’s body. The two groups battled across Central City, and Flash showed up to battle the villains. Top interrupted the battle to undo the mental programming he’d used to turn some of the Rogues to the side of good. He turned Trickster and Heat Wave back to the side of evil, but Pied Piper had legitimately reformed and stayed good. His mind was fractured by the Top’s manipulations, and Flash left Piper in the care of Linda Park. When Piper awoke he found that Linda was also watching over Ashley Zoloman. Linda started having stomach pains, so Ashley and Piper rushed her to the hospital Flash and Zoom’s battle caused a ripple in time that led to Linda becoming pregnant again in the present and giving birth to twins.

(Flash II #226) - Wally convinced Piper to go mountain-climbing with him. Near the top Wally had to stop because he suffered from altitude sickness, but Piper and the rest of the group went ahead and were caught in a snowstorm. Wally changed to Flash and rescued them all.

Comments: Created by John Broome & Carmine Infantino.

Pied Piper received a profile in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #18 and Whp's Who in the DC Universe #16.

Pied Piper's appearance in Flash I #106 was reprinted in 80 Page Giant Magazine #9.

Pied Piper had cameos in Flash II #181, 183, 188, 195, 204, 207, 213.

Pied Piper was named after the musician of folklore.

All characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Please visit The Official DC Comics Site at: http://www.batman.com