Absolute Flash is the latest book in the critically acclaimed Absolute Universe from DC Comics, and certainly deserves to stand alongside its predecessors Absolute Batman, Absolute Superman and Absolute Wonder Woman. Each book has reimagined DC’s superhero pantheon in a more dismal world influenced by Darkseid energy, as established in the DC All-In Special. Absolute Flash heralds in the second wave of Absolute books, which also includes Absolute Martian Manhunter and Absolute Green Lantern. If the first issue of Absolute Flash is any indication, the line absolutely continues to catch lightning in a bottle.
Superstar comics creator Jeff Lemire (Black Hammer, Minor Arcana) brings his best writing to Absolute Flash along with the kinetic Nick Robles (Behold, Behemoth) on art duties. Lemire also currently writes the JSA series for the primary DC Universe, featuring the Justice Society characters, in a career trajectory that mirrors the same books that Geoff Johns wrote for DC in the mid-2000s. Interestingly, Johns was partly responsible for originally bringing Lemire into DC Comics with the launch of Sweet Tooth for Vertigo in 2009, so it is a special moment for Lemire to remix and restore the character of Wally West to new heights.
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Wally West Is the First and Only Flash This Time
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Absolute Flash #1 starts in media res as Wally West runs at super-speed through a desert. He is clearly afraid of something that has occurred, but readers are yet to be clued in on exactly what happened. Overlapping captions convey the intense speed at which he’s thinking and freaking out, but when Wally intentionally breathes and slows down, his mind retreats to two days ago. However, it’s unclear if Wally, who is only 15 years old in the Absolute Universe, has traveled back in time to two days ago, because the narrative jumps as if it’s a shocking transition, or if Wally is merely flashing back to a recent memory.
Wally is established to be an obsessive over-thinker who is prone to anxiety and panic attacks. His mother used to be able to comfort him in those moments, but after she recently passed away, Wally feels utterly alone. He walks back to his home on the Fort Fox military base, which is a nod in name to The Flash’s original co-creator, Gardner Fox, who launched the Golden Age Flash in the pages of 1940’s Flash Comics #1. The guards give Wally some stress about being out past curfew, but Dr. Barry Allen arrives to vouch for him and escort him home. He sees some of himself in young Wally, and tries to be a friend.
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Fans of The Flash, no matter how casual, will recognize Barry Allen as the classic Silver Age version of The Flash, who was featured in The CW’s long-running TV series with Grant Gustin as well as the Ezra Miller feature film. Barry Allen traditionally mentored Wally West as his sidekick Kid Flash. Even in the Absolute Universe, both characters are depicted similarly to their Silver Age looks in that Barry has military-cut blonde hair while Wally is freckled with wavy red hair. When they reach Wally’s house, Barry asks if Wally wants to see something cool, so they go to his lab and check out his work on Project Olympus.
Barry Allen develops cutting-edge science in physics and biology in a defense project for the government, but weapons are only the surface of what can be accomplished. Several apes and monkeys are present, clearly involved in experiments at Project Olympus. Barry suggests maybe he could pull some strings, and Wally could work for him part-time. However, Wally’s father, Dr. Rudy West, angrily barges into the lab. The guards called him after they caught Wally sneaking into the fort, but Wally explains that he only lost track of time. He wasn’t hanging out with any delinquent friends, because there’s no one else his age at the fort.
The Rogues Hunt for Wally West
A Hero Is Only As Good As His Villains
Back in the now, or two days later, Wally considers his recent choices. He never should have checked out the lab with Barry, or even kept living with his father after his mother passed away. Perhaps Wally did not jump back in time earlier, but it was simply a unique framing device to simulate as if he was unstuck in time, like Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. However, The Flash is well-known for being a time-travel forward character, so at this stage, anything is valid and possible. At the very least, Wally’s already active mind is super-charged and his over-thinking allows him to easily relive recent events.
However, Wally faces a new problem when a military vehicle approaches, along with a boomerang-shaped drone flying over the desert like an unidentified aerial phenomenon. The boomerang possesses an artificial intelligence which communicates with its pilot, Digger Harkness, the traditional Flash villain known as Captain Boomerang. Harkness reports to his captain, none other than Leonard Snart, aka Captain Cold, complete with his classic goggles. Along with Harkness and Snart, the military squad also includes Lisa, aka the Golden Glider, as well as Jesse the Trickster, each a familiar member of The Flash’s rogues gallery.
The boomerang drone follows Wally into a cave as he suspects that his father must have sent the rogues after him, which propels him to freak out with anxiety once again and jump back to one day ago as he plays guitar in his bedroom. His father enters the room, wanting to talk about the night before, specifically what Wally saw in the mountain at Project Olympus. The work that Rudy is doing with Barry is important, but he needs to keep Wally safe as well, which Wally believes is to his own detriment. At least Barry shows an interest in him. If Wally’s mother were still alive, she and Wally would have left Rudy long ago.
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Wally runs away from home as a thunderstorm approaches, an ominous sign for anyone who knows The Flash’s origin story. Traditionally, Barry Allen gains his super-speed powers when lightning strikes his forensic lab and bathes him in a compound of different chemicals, and several years later, Wally West received his super-speed from a near-identical situation, proving that sometimes, lightning does strike in the same place twice. Wally enters Barry’s lab, and passes a strange blue and green monkey with an elevated brain, perhaps a nod to the future involvement of Gorilla Grodd, one of the Flash’s most powerful enemies.
Wally stumbles in on Barry while he is mid-experiment, lightning striking all around while he runs within a glass orb, similar in appearance to a timesphere used by the Legion of Superheroes or Rip Hunter for time-travel throughout DC lore. Barry also wears a jumpsuit and goggles, which will clearly become The Flash costume. Barry yells at Wally to “Run!” as he has done in several pivotal moments in DC Comics history, particularly during the character’s return to life and prominence during Final Crisis. Furthermore, “Run, Barry, run!” even became a mantra for The Flash throughout the tenure of The CW live-action series.
Back in the present, the rogues chase Wally deeper into the cave. Harkness’ boomerang senses that Wally is nearby as he hides behind a cave wall, freaking out over what he did, and how his actions led to the death of Barry Allen. There is little room for doubt that Barry is now deceased, because his skeletal corpse lies on the rocky cave floor, still wearing The Flash suit with his military identification badge nearby. Now nothing but a skull, Barry’s demise mirrors his iconic death in the original Crisis on Infinite Earths, which was also the event that saw Wally West graduate from Kid Flash to The Flash to honor Barry’s sacrifice.
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Finally, in a flash-forward to one year later, an arm emerges from a piece of glass in the rubble of the Project Olympus lab, in which can only be the Absolute Universe version of the Mirror Master. He accesses the lab archives, which show images of Wally’s near future over the course of Absolute Flash in the coming months. Wally wears The Flash suit, fights a giant fire monster (perhaps The Flash villain Heatwave or Tarpit, or even Surtur from JSA), communes with the green and blue monkey with an elevated brain, as well as Speed Force tests from government scientists. Mirror Master vows to make this world fall.
The first issue of Absolute Flash effectively sets the stage for a highly unique interpretation of The Flash while still retaining all the components that make the character so special. Barry Allen remains as a mentor, the Rogues are just as loyal and tough, and the immediate world is full of sci-fi shenanigans that leaves much to examine in more detail. The Absolute Universe may have just expanded with additional series, but it’s clearly only getting started, including the imminent arrival of Dick Grayson aka Nightwing in Absolute Batman, though only time will tell if Grayson and West are as close friends as they are in the regular DC Universe.
Jeff Lemire and Nick Robles are committed to returning Wally West to the glory days of the character, back when he headlined The Flash title as a legacy hero in Barry Allen’s wake. Writers on the title throughout the 90s and 2000s like William Messner Loebs, Mark Waid, Grant Morrison, Mark Millar and Geoff Johns developed the character of Wally West to truly deserve the title of The Flash just as much as Barry Allen or Jay Garrick ever did. Lemire picks that torch back up as Absolute Flash captures a similar tone with a surefire promise to do right by fans of Wally West in particular, perhaps for the first time in a very long time.
