Earlier today we showed you Sami Basri’s art from the upcoming The Flash Annual #2, and now writer Brian Buccellato speaks on how this story came about and more with Den of Geek. Check out the highlights below.

Brian on how the story for Hal meets Barry came about:

I think the suggestion came from editorial, during one of our weekly phone conversations. And as soon as Will (our editor on Flash) mentioned Hal, I was sold! I mean, who doesn’t want to tell a Barry/Hal story. No-brainer, right?

Brian on how he sees Hal and Barry:

ll, these guys have VERY different personalities. Hal is the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of guy, and Barry is about as methodical a dude as you can be. All you have to do is look at their professions… Hal is a JET PILOT and Barry is a POLICE SCIENTIST. Polar opposites. So, my take is very much in line with who they are as people. I didn’t try to reinvent the wheel with this story, I just wanted to explore the nature of their differences and WHY those differences bond them as friends.

 

I think their differences as individuals is at the heart of their relationship. Nobody wants to read about two guys that agree on everything and would make the same choices. That’s not interesting. I think creators enjoy writing Barry/Hal for the same reasons they enjoy watching Kirk/Spock, Riggs/Murtaugh, C3PO/R2D2, Gilligan/Skipper and countless other pairings throughout fiction. It’s fun to watch their personal conflicts play out while they are working towards common goals.

On artist Sami Basri

While I’ve never worked with him before, I’m a huge fan of his work. He’s one of the biggest talents out there right now and I couldn’t be happier that he’s on board for this project. I can’t wait to start seeing pages!

Brian on writing this big moment:

I wrestled with the idea of writing Barry and Hal’s FIRST meeting. It was an exciting opportunity and honor to be the guy to tell that story, but I was conflicted and had to be sure that the story I was telling was worthy of being that first. I didn’t take this story lightly, and while I will always leap at the creative challenge to do more “firsts,” I won’t do it just to do it. I love these characters too much to put my own personal wants ahead of them.