Flash 226 page 16 by Steve Lightle

Yet another page from this story with great art by Lightle. Basically two half splashes with some inserts for story progression.

The first big panel is great in the sense we really get a feel that our hero is lost in his predicament. Alone and sick in snowy mountains trying to find lost people, his venting of his frustration is really well staged by Lightle here, screaming at the void. The sense of depth of those mountain is exceptional here with Lightle use of light and his feathery inking technique used to give us various levels of proximity within the mountain range.

The first insert gives us Flash seemingly running around not knowing what to do where he gets a wake up call in the second in that his friend needs his help. The fact that he is facing left and not right, going against the normal story flow, subconsciously enhances the chaotic sense of how much he feels lost.

Then the second big panel gives us an impressive Flash full body. While Lightle did a great job at conveying us his facial emotions of someone being lost and sick, I find he went a bit too far in his body build here. Great use of light again with the light source coming from the right.

Then the last insert is a nice vertical panel that cuts in all that horizontality, with the speed force effect coming from the shadow into the light as they go down the mountain.

As always with Lightle, the storytelling flows effortlessly and is mastered. The last element I want to underline is the weight of the characters as regards their elements here. In both horizontal panels, the Flash’s feet are weighing in the snow rather than standing on it (like many lesser artists would draw it). Same goes for Piper in the first panel as he lays in the snow and the last with it dripping from his shoes. These are details that show how attentive a storyteller Lightle was IMHO.