DC has announced their July 2013 Annuals, including The Flash Annual #2:
THE FLASH ANNUAL #2
Written by BRIAN BUCCELLATO
Backup story written by NICOLE DUBUC
Art by SAMI BASRI
Backup story art by CULLY HAMNER
Cover by FRANCIS MANAPUL
On sale JULY 31 • 48 pg, FC, $4.99 US • RATED T
Find out how The Flash and Green Lantern first met when a case they teamed up together to solve years ago rears its head again in the present! It involves a foe neither of them can defeat on their own, and they might not have much luck together either! The outcome of this will affect The Flash for years to come… Plus, a backup story by Nicole Dubuc (the Young Justice cartoon)!
Annotations: The Trial of the Flash, #332 – “Defend The Flash…and Die?”
Welcome to the latest installment in our annotations of the collected edition of The Trial of the Flash! We analyzed related stories leading up to the summer 2011 release of Showcase Presents: The Trial of the Flash. In addition, we interviewed author Cary Bates about the buildup and the Trial itself, plus showed you what wasn’t included in the collection. Are you ready, Batman?
IN THIS ISSUE: Carmine Infantino vs. Dave Gibbons - you decide! Plus, Legal…Vultures?
Links to original artwork, scans and research are included throughout this post. For legal analysis of the story by Bob Ingersoll, go here. Tom vs. Flash took on this issue here. See you after the jump!
COVER by Carmine Infantino and Dick Giordano. Here is this month’s corresponding Green Lantern #175 cover, by Dave Gibbons. Flash and Green Lantern co-starred in each-others books this month.
PG 1: Flash was in Florida at the end of last issue, following a visit to Gorilla City and a super-speed rescue at sea, hence the palm trees.
PG 2 & 3: Here’s another video of an explosion where you can see the shockwave, for super-speed reference.
Here is the original art for page four from Comic Art Fans. It appears the same collector has page two at his personal page as part of a substantial Infantino collection.
PG 6 & 7: Rainbow Raider suits up. The Raider was last seen in the pages of Flash in issue #299, the second part of a villain two-fer with The Shade. After that story, in the pages of Brave and the Bold #194 (by Mike W. Barr with art by Infantino), Raider and Dr. X/Dr. Double-X “switched heroes” to face off against Batman and Flash, respectively. That is likely why the editor’s note at the bottom of page 7 is incomplete/incorrect. The Brave and the Bold issue is a nice bonus to Infantino’s second Flash run, along with DC Comics Presents # 73 and Tales of the Teen Titans #49.
The two-parter featuring The Shade in Flash #298 - 299 features great art by Infantino and Bob Smith, and some cool black-and-white gimmickry.
PG 9 & 10 : Flash is pretty short with the nurse in the first panel. Bates peppers Flash’s dialog with signs of stress as the story progresses. This page also has shady lawyer N.D. Redik circling in an aircraft, watching the news on the health of Flash’s injured lawyer and swooping in on the apparent vacancy on Flash’s defense. Redik pulls strings with a national newspaper columnist to gain a public “endorsement”.
PG 11 & 12: Captain Frye dropped the missing persons flyers last issue. Flash is curt with the telegram delivery man. “C. Horton” is Flash’s lawyer’s law partner and the owner of the house Flash has been using as a “temporary headquarters”.
PG 15: Visit this site to read about Melvin Belli, known as the “Father of Demonstrative Evidence”. Here is a video of F. Lee Bailey. Besides being famous defense lawyers, Belli and Bailey were also controversial public figures and were seemingly chosen to provide Redik with an level of instant characterization by association.
PG 18 - 20 : The Brave and the Bold issue mentioned above is correctly noted here.
Pages 18 - 21 of this issue feature the same script as pages 8 - 11 in Green Lantern #175. Green Lantern Hal Jordan had just returned from a lengthy period in outer space. This fact is also why Tomar-Re was sent by the Guardians in Jordan’s stead to alert Flash of Professor Zoom’s return back in issue #319.
Each issue credits only its own writer, Bates and GL’s Len Wein (former Flash editor) with the full script. Dave Gibbons and Carmine Infantino each give their own interpretation and they are fun to compare (below, numbered as Flash/Green Lantern, from original issues):
Page 18/8: Infantino / Gibbons
Page 19/9: Infantino / Gibbons
Page 20/10: Infantino (original, from Comic Art Fans) / Gibbons
Page 21/11: Infantino / Gibbons (original, from Comic Art Fans)
Which version do you like most? Let us know in the comments, and we’ll announce the winner of this matchup of masters in the next installment.
Both artists approach it from unique perspectives and disparate styles, focused on their respective stars. The Green Lantern issue will be reprinted for the first time in the upcoming Green Lantern: Sector 2814 collection of Gibbons’ work on that title.
PG 22 & 23: The matter-of-fact second panel shows some of the deterioration of the Barry Allen identity. Big reveal: C. Horton is a lady lawyer! 1984!
See you next time!
Have some DC steampunk by J.L. Straw!
I don’t know which I love more: The Flash’s prostheses or Oracle’s monocle. Or Peej’s jetpack. Or Harley’s dress!
Anyway, DC should do more Gotham by Gaslight, drawn by Ms. Straw, that’s my point.
This is the intro for the Flash segments that ran during theSuperman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure (1967-1968). Filmation produced three Flash cartoons in which the Flash and Kid Flash battled original evildoers including a giant mutated bug (The Chemo Creature, seen here), a mad scientist in a robot suit (Professor Crag), and an alien speedster (The Blue Bolt). Sadly, he didn’t actually “conquer the barriers of time and space” in any of the segments they produced.
Warner Bros. released all the non-Superman/Aquaman sequences on DVD a few years back, and I reviewed the set a couple of months after this blog went online.
Even setting aside the image quality, you can see that it’s a very different style from modern shows like Justice League Unlimited and Young Justice, or even Super-Friends.
Incidentally, one of the Green Lantern shorts is the one where Hal Jordan gets hit in the head by an angry bird.
If you’re interested in super-hero cartoon intros, you’re in for a treat. Fifteen blogs are getting together for Animated Anthem Day. Check out the rest of these superhero title sequences!
- Aquaman @ The Aquaman Shrine
- The Atom @ Power of the Atom
- Booster Gold @ BOO$TERRIFIC
- Doctor Fate @ Tower of Fate
- Firestorm @ Firestorm Fan
- Green Lantern @ The Indigo Tribe
- Hawkman @ Being Carter Hall
- Martian Manhunter @ The Idol-Head of Diabolu
- Swamp Thing @ The BLOG from the BOG
- Supergirl @ Supergirl Comic Box Commentary
- Superman @ Fortress of Baileytude
- The Vixen @ Justice League Detroit
- Wonder Woman @ Diana Prince
- DC Characters @ DC Bloodlines
Thanks to Diabolu Frank for organizing the event and The Irredeemable Shag of Firestorm Fan for inviting Speed Force to participate.
The city of Dana Point, California has a Green Lantern Street. I’ve always thought there should be a comic store on there, but I don’t think there’s really room for one.
Actually, Dana Point has a whole bunch of “Street of the ___ Lantern” names dating back to the 1920s, the biggest one being Street of the Golden Lantern. I never really thought about the rest of them in super-hero terms, but of course Blackest Night brings a while new set of X Lantern Corps.
View more Lantern Corps streets in today’s Wayback Wednesday feature.
The Circle of Fire is Complete
The Indigo Tribe has concluded its week-long event looking back at Green Lantern: Circle of Fire with a team of guest bloggers (including myself).
Here’s the complete list:
- Green Lantern: Circle of Fire #1 - Liquidcross (The Indigo Tribe)
- Green Lantern and Adam Strange by Kelson Vibber (Speed Force)
- Green Lantern and the Atom – Frank Lee Delano (Power of the Atom)
- Green Lantern and Green Lantern – Liquidcross (The Indigo Tribe)
- Green Lantern and Firestorm the Nuclear Man – The Irredeemable Shag (Firestorm Fan, with a second feature on his own blog).
- Green Lantern and Power Girl – Michael Bailey (Fortress of Baileytude)
- Green Lantern: Circle of Fire #2 - Liquidcross (The Indigo Tribe)
My review covered the team-up between Adam Strange and Green Lightning, a speedster from the future who is a descendant of both the Rayner and West families, who has inherited speed and the Green Lantern ring but can only use one power each day.
A local coffee place has set up this pair of tip jars labeled with the Flash and Green Lantern. They said that Green Lantern had been winning all week, so I put some extra in the Flash jar.
While I was there, the baristas were discussing who to put up next: Wonder Woman vs. Catwoman, or Batwoman vs. Supergirl.
Adam Strange Meets Green Lightning (Circle of Fire Review)
The Circle of Fire event at The Indigo Tribe continues, with my guest review of Green Lantern/Adam Strange (2000, Brian K. Vaughn & Cary Nord).
Green Lightning is a speedster from the future, a descendant of both Wally West and Kyle Rayner, who has inherited both super-speed and the Green Lantern ring. The two sides of her family insist that she follow their legacy alone, so that she can use only one set of powers each day — much to Adam Strange’s annoyance as they try to protect Rann from Oblivion!
Head over to The Indigo Tribe to read my review!
