The Flash #338

Oct 1984 · DC · 0.75 USD; 0.95 CAD; 0.30 GBP

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“Revenge of the Rogues!”

★ 1st appearance — Big Sir

About this Issue

The Flash #338 marks the debut of Big Sir (Dufus P. Ratchet), a significant villain-turned-occasional-antihero who would go on to appear in Justice League International and DC Rebirth-era comics, as well as live-action television. The issue also carries an early connective thread to Crisis on Infinite Earths by name-dropping the Monitor and his assistant Lyla — without either character appearing on-panel — making it one of the first issues of the ongoing Flash series to acknowledge the universe-altering event that would claim Barry Allen's life less than a year later. It sits at a dramatically charged moment in Barry Allen's life: sandwiched between his murder trial and his eventual sacrifice, the issue illustrates how writer Cary Bates kept the entire Rogues Gallery mobilized against a hero already fighting for his freedom in court, raising the narrative and moral stakes of the 'Trial of the Flash' arc to their highest point. The issue is also notable as a chapter in Carmine Infantino's celebrated late return to the very title he defined in the Silver Age.

writer Cary Bates · artist Carmine Infantino · inker Frank McLaughlin · colorist Carl Gafford · letterer Ben Oda · cover Carmine Infantino, Klaus Janson

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (VF) $5

CGC 9.8 · 22 in census $44

CGC 9.6 · 5 in census $20*

CGC 9.4 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 9.2 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 9.0 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 8.5 none in existence

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CGC 8.0 none in existence

CGC 7.5 · 1 in census $20*

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Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

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CGC 9.8 $120 1 listing Raw — NM $79.25 1 listing

Raw — NM- ▾ $26.4–$31.2 2 listings

NM- $26.4 NM- $31.2

Raw — FN ▾ $6.9–$9.45 2 listings

FN · Variant $6.9 FN $9.45

Raw / ungraded ▾ $4.2–$10 13 listings

Raw / ungraded $4.2 Raw / ungraded $4.22 Newsstand $4.95 Raw / ungraded $5.23 Raw / ungraded $5.52 Raw / ungraded $5.89 Raw / ungraded $6.57 Raw / ungraded $6.99 Raw / ungraded $6.99 Raw / ungraded $7.91 Raw / ungraded $8.75 Newsstand $9.5 Raw / ungraded $10

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FN/VF $4.61 GOOD $4.83 VERY FINE $4.99 NM $4.99 NM $5 Newsstand $5 VF+ $6.99 MINT $8

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History

The Flash #338 was scripted and edited by Cary Bates — credited internally as 'C.B.' — with interior pencils by Carmine Infantino, inked by Frank McLaughlin, colored by Carl Gafford, and lettered by Ben Oda; the cover was penciled by Infantino and inked by Klaus Janson, with Tom Condon serving as managing editor. The issue was part of the two-year 'Trial of the Flash' saga that Bates and Infantino built as the climactic, concluding chapter of Barry Allen's original run, a storyline that DC editorial had been steering toward Crisis on Infinite Earths and the eventual cancellation of the series at issue #350. Infantino's return to Flash — the title most closely identified with his career — was noted by contemporary and later critics as a creative homecoming, with observers remarking on his experimentally composed page layouts during this late run.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of Big Sir (Dufus P. Ratchet), a mentally disabled giant weaponized by the Rogues as their proxy against the Flash, created by writer Cary Bates and artist Carmine Infantino.
Story title: 'The Revenge of the Rogues!' — the Rogues (Captain Cold, Mirror Master, Trickster, Captain Boomerang, Weather Wizard) arm Big Sir with a suit of Monitor-supplied high-tech armor after blaming the Flash for the Pied Piper's nervous breakdown.
Big Sir's armor — including a flight-capable exosuit and energy mace — was provided in-story by the Monitor, making this issue one of the earliest on-panel connections between that pre-Crisis character and the Flash series.
The issue contains a scene in which the Monitor and his assistant Lyla are mentioned but do not appear, functioning as an early Crisis on Infinite Earths narrative seed embedded in the ongoing Flash title.
Interior art: pencils by Carmine Infantino, inks by Frank McLaughlin; cover art: pencils by Carmine Infantino, inks by Klaus Janson.
The issue falls within the broader 'Trial of the Flash' arc (The Flash #323–350), written by Cary Bates — a saga that lasted two years and served as the final sustained storyline of Barry Allen's original ongoing series before his death in Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Big Sir went on to appear in subsequent Flash issues (#339–341), was later depicted in DC's 'Who's Who' directory, and was eventually recruited into the Injustice League and Justice League Antarctica; he also appeared in live action, portrayed by Bill Goldberg in Season 4 of The CW's The Flash (2018).
Flash #338 was omitted from the 2011 black-and-white trade paperback Showcase Presents: The Trial of the Flash (which collected #323–327, 329–336, and 340–350), meaning the Big Sir introduction arc (#337–339) is among the few 'Trial' chapters not yet reprinted in a collected edition.