No mentor, no family, no way home… The Flash can’t outrun his destiny! Zip into this review of Absolute Flash #1
Absolute Flash #1
Written by Jeff Lemire
Art and Main Cover by Nick Robles
Variant Covers: Clayton Crain, Dan Panosian, Rafael Albuquerque, Declan Shalvey, Fabrizio De Tommaso, Jeff Lemire, Otto Schmidt, Carlo Pagulayan,
Page Count: 36 pages
Release Date: March 19, 2025
This review contains spoilers
Absolute Flash is the newest entry into DC’s Absolute product line, a series of limited-issue stories in which the characters you know and love are revamped with all-new twists on their origins, allies, and abilities!
Absolute Flash #1 (re)introduces Wally West, a 15-year-old army brat – son of Colonel Rudy West, an uptight scientist working on a top-secret weapons R&D project at Fort Fox (perhaps named after original Flash co-creator Gardner Fox). Wally, the only adolescent on the base, feels deeply alone. His one friend: the genial Dr. Barry Allen. But when a freak lab accident occurs, young Wally is bestowed with the powers of superspeed! And Barry? Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves…
The 1994 Quentin Tarantino cult-classic film Pulp Fiction opens with “No, forget it, it’s too risky–” as a way of establishing, before anything else, that there’s danger beyond the pale. Absolute Flash #1 opens much the same way, plopping us right into the story, then shifting us forward and back in time as we slowly glean some context behind Wally’s terrified repetition of “What have I done?”
A cadre of militant mercs are after Wally, their motives unknown. If they squint, Flash fans will recognize these bounty hunters as the Rogues, the Flash’s infamous gallery of enemies: Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, The Trickster, and Golden Glider. Their designs and callsigns have been modernized to match the high-tech laboratory that gave Wally his powers.
Beyond the ancillary changes to setting, aesthetic, and antagonists, the most significant alteration to the Flash canon is the apparent death of Barry Allen, the first Flash (and perhaps most known to readers). The charred skeleton of the scientist sits plainly in the foreground of page 26, a victim of the lab explosion that gives Wally superspeed. It’s a bold split from expectations and establishes the stakes of the series early on: don’t get comfortable, and don’t think you know what’s next.
The issue ends with a tag featuring Mirror Master, another of the Flash’s most well-known archenemies, infiltrating the wreckage of Fort Fox. Accessing encrypted footage of the incident, Mirror Master mutters a vague threat of impending doom – a thread to be pulled on in the next issue.
Absolute Flash #1 combines the talents of artist Jeff Lemire (best known for Sweet Tooth and All-New Hawkeye) and Nick Robles (The Dreaming: Waking Hours). The challenge in reviewing the writing in issue #1 is the inherent acknowledgment of the series’ value as an episodic medium; patience is a virtue, and the raindrop pace of the first entry implies a purpose to any still-opaque plot details. Thankfully, the talents of Nick Robles ply us with plenty of engaging panels to whet our appetite. Particularly exciting is Robles’ redesign of the Rogues. Notice The Trickster’s orb headpiece or Captain Boomerang’s war paint. And of course, you can’t miss Captain Cold’s Omni-Man mustache.
Often overlooked by reviewers, the coloring and lettering work in this issue must be commended. The overlapping thought bubbles evoke the lightspeed anxiety of an overwhelmed teenager, and the canary-yellow backdrop reminds us, despite the overhaul, that this is still the same Flash we know and love.
Absolute Flash #1 is a promising, if vague, glimpse into the future of the Scarlet Speedster. Any further commentary should be held until issue #2 lands on shelves on April 16. Until then, stay up to date with The Comic Book Spot!
