Police forensics scientist, Barry Allen, is leaving police headquarters when he receives word about a robbery. Allen investigates, as the Flash. Arriving on the scene, the Flash sees a rainbow illuminating the roof of the Centrex Art Museum. Inside the museum, the Flash encounters two security guards, incapacitated by grief. The Flash encounters the culprit behind their condition, the Rainbow Raider. The Flash manages to dodge the Rainbow Raider's attack, then tackles him to the floor. The Rainbow Raider counters by reflecting black beams, from his goggles, off a mirror, into the Flash's back. With the Flash momentarily stunned, the Rainbow Raider escapes.

Central City police officers fare no better in stopping the Rainbow Raider from escaping. Inside the museum, the officers note that the Rainbow Raider has signed his name, in place of one of the stolen paintings. The Flash races home. The black beams that struck him have bled out every trace of color in both his body and uniform, leaving him white as chalk. In his secret lair, on the outskirts of Central City, the Rainbow Raider reflects on his past. The Rainbow Raider, as Roy G. Bivolo, had been a child prodigy, with a talent for painting. He was also completely color-blind. His inability to see colors ruined his artistic aspirations.

His father, a gifted optometrist, vowed to find away to compensate for his son's condition. On his death bed, Bivolo's father presented him with a pair of "Prisma-Goggles". Bivolo thought the googles would finally allow him to see colors, but found that his world was still painted in shades of grey. Accidentally brushing his fingers over a trigger, Bivolo was startled to see the goggles emit a rainbow. Bivolo soon discovered that he could ride the rainbow. Pouring over his father's notes, Bivolo learned that the Prisma-Goggles could also emit any single color of the rainbow, affecting the corresponding emotional state of his victims. Blue would instill overwhelming sadness. Red would instill murderous fury.

Bivolo realizes that the "compensation" his father offered was not regarding his eyesight, but his lifestyle. Bivolo becomes the Rainbow Raider, and sets out to steal the great works of art, solely out of spite. If he cannot enjoy them due to his color-blindedness, then no one else shall gaze upon them either. Fiona Webb delivers a piece of mail to Allen. Still chalk-white, Allen has Webb slide the missive under his door, so as not to reveal his condition to her. Allen covers his body in flesh tone make-up, then dyes his hair blonde. Though his appearance is a little off, it's normal enough looking to allow him to go to work.

Arriving an hour and ten minutes late draws a lecture form Allen's new boss, police captain Darryl Frye. Allen overhears a television broadcast regarding the opening of the new Skytop Art Gallery. Realizing that it's a perfect target for the Rainbow Raider, Allen goes into action, as the Flash. Sure enough, the Rainbow Raider has struck again. His red beams of rage have whipped the patrons up into a murderous fury, causing a full blown riot. Racing up the side of a building and onto the Rainbow Raider's rainbow bridge, the Flash closes on his quarry. The Rainbow Raider blinds the Flash with a dazzling display of light, causing the Flash to fall from the rainbow bridge.

The Flash plummets into a junk yard, saving himself by vibrating his molecules into intangibility. As the Flash exits the car he fell through, he notices that his body is no longer chalk-white. Instead it has become an emerald green, the same color as the car. Testing out a theory, the Flash vibrates through a yellow school bus, and adds that color to his hue. Vibrating through multiple vehicles, the Flash picks up all the colors of the rainbow. Returning his molecular vibrations to normal, the Flash returns to his normal pigmentation. After dodging the Rainbow Raider's attack, the Flash buries his foe in the junkyard, before removing the Rainbow Raider's weaponized goggles. The Flash's newest foe has met his defeat.

Notes:

• This issue contains the Hostess Superhero Ad, Batman in "Catman on the Prowl"