Absolute Flash #2 is written by Jeff Lemire and published by DC. Artwork and main cover (left) are by Nick Robles, colours by Adriano Lucas and letters by Tom Napolitano.
Absolute Flash #2 is available from today, in print and on digital platforms where all good comic books are sold. Grab your digital copy from Amazon Comixology UK right here.
Synopsis
Wally West is on the run from his dad and the rest of Fort Fox, and while his new-found abilities are terrifying him, he needs to find a way to use them to make hisescape. But how will he handle the elite group his father sent to bring him back?
Review
Out of all the Absolute titles that are currently dropping, Absolute Flash is the only one that features a character as young as Wally West. It has been clear that many things are different in this new universe. Batman never lost his mother and didn’t grow up as one of the richest families in Gotham. Wonder Woman was raised by Circe. Superman arrived on Earth at an older age. Green Lantern is still opening up its mysteries to us, and Martian Manhunter is unlike anything we’ve seen before.
Wally West is arguably the best Flash in DC and is a personal fan favourite of mine, but Absolute Flash allows the character to be seen under a new light. He has no mentor; Barry Allen is dead. Wally has no idea how to control his newfound powers, and the Rogues chasing him also don’t have an idea of why he’s moving at an unspeakable speed. Absolute Flash #2 begins to look into the mystery surrounding the lab incident which has caused the Rogues to hunt Wally. While we’re being shown what happened, it still feels like Jeff Lemire is hiding the full truth from us.
Unlike all the other Absolute titles, Absolute Flash hits an emotional core unlike any other, and that’s simply for the fact that Wally West is a kid being thrown into a life he did not ask for. It was normal for comics in the 90s and early 2000s to make the reader connect with the younger characters and the amount of trauma these young characters had to deal with, and for some reason, it has now been normalised in the 2020s, and you don’t really question why a character under the age of 18 is reacting normally to everything going on around them. Jeff Lemire ensures that his readers understand that Wally is just a kid who all of a sudden has to deal with the death of Barry, his new powers, and is still clearly dealing with the death of his own mother and the troubling relationship he has with his father. It’s a lot, and we get to understand all of this through Wally’s visions of the past, present and future(s).
Nick Robles and Adriano Lucas are the best pairing in the comic industry right now, as their depiction of Wally’s newfound powers just feels ethereal in how they showcase it. We’ve all read a Flash comic, and there are many ways to highlight the Speed Force, but Nick Robles does it in a way that makes it feel unique to the Absolute universe and also makes it seem like it’s not of that world of the same time, like it’s of a magical nature. Adriano Lucas’ colours contrast so well with the lighting, the clothes on the characters and the backgrounds; it just all works well together and feels so natural to look at.
Verdict
Jeff Lemire, Nick Robles and Adriano Lucas continue to define Absolute Flash as one of the best titles at DC with this second issue. It’s an entertaining and emotional read as we witness Wally struggle with everything going on around him. The issue ends on a cliffhanger that’s sure to have readers, including myself, turning up for the next issue.
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