Synopsis:
Without the mentor…without the family…without the Speed Force, what’s left is the Absolute Scarlet Speedster!
Review:
The Absolute DC experiment continues with the fourth title in the franchise, Absolute Flash. As one of the core DC superheroes, The Flash is key to any approach to the larger universe, especially in recent years. This take on the character suggests something similar, but there are far more questions than answers in the first issue.
Writer Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth) and artist Nick Robles present a fast, intriguing story with bold, striking visuals. Lemire’s knack for the off-kilter manifests in the story early and often. There are hints of time travel and government conspiracies, as well as nods to greater DC history (the Barry Allen Easter egg at the end is… well, to die for).
This take centers on Wally West, who longtime DC fans know as the third incarnation of The Flash. Introduced in the 1990s, Wally is a younger, more modern character who has since become as beloved as Barry Allen and Jay Garrick, the Silver and Golden Age Flashes respectively. So much of The Flash’s story in the mainline continuity is about legacy, a tradition going back to the landmark “Flash of Two Worlds” story from The Flash #123, which arguably established the multiverse concept in superhero comics.
This first issue is titled “Of Two Worlds,” an interesting nod that doesn’t get much in the way of investigation. Like much of the story, it may be about the future. We’re going back from it to the past right away to learn who Wally West is.
Here, Wally’s an Army brat, the son of a man bouncing around from assignment to assignment. Something strange is up at the base – though Barry Allen just invites Wally down to view what I can only assume are ultra trop secret experiments on animals – and Wally’s father wants to keep his son away from it.
Wally’s also bouncing around in time it seems, running so fast he races back into his consciousness days before. That plot thread is left unresolved – and dangling for future exploitation – and it leaves the issue feeling a little less grounded than say Absolute Batman #1 or Absolute Wonder Woman #1. That’s unexpected, as Wally is by far the most grounded of the Absolute heroes to appear so far in terms of who he is as a person. He’s a normal teenager, it seems, until he’s not.
You connect easily with Wally. He has no friends, no roots, and no mother. He’s looking for something to hold him down, but from the first page, he’s skipping across the desert and maybe (probably) time, as well. Wally’s experience echoes the modern one, where life occurs so rapidly, and often scrolls by so quickly, you’re left witless. The entire issue unfolds like a social media feed, giving us context only through association, and our familiarity with the characters and their histories.
Robles’ art lends the book a slightly edgier look than most superhero fare, and his approach to Wally’s super speed is very dynamic. The colors by Adriano Lucas amplify the speed effect, and overall, contribute to making this issue absolutely pop. Strong reds, yellows, and blues skew toward a 90s DayGlo vibe which sets the book apart from the other Absolute books, where so far, the color palette is fairly muted.
Overall, the book is off to a strong start that sets it apart not only from the DC mainline universe, but the other Absolute books as well.
Leave a Reply