Absolute Flash, Vol. 1: Of Two Worlds

Absolute Flash (2025)

by Jeff Lemire, Nick Robles (Artist), A.L. Kaplan (Artist)

In the Absolute Universe, familiar heroes have been reinvented from the ground up with origin stories that completely reshape both their abilities and their circumstances but maintain the core characteristics that fans have known and loved for decades! Wally West’s world has been turned upside down. Now quite literally on the run from the people he once trusted, he must navigate an impossible world full of dangers he never knew existed—and he must do so without the help and guidance of his former mentor. The Flash joins the Absolute Universe in a bold new take on the DC Universe’s Scarlet Speedster, written by award-winning author Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth, JSA) and illustrated by Nick Robles (The Waking Hours). Collects Absolute Flash #1-6.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes, Fiction

144 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 23, 2025

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Jeff Lemire is a New York Times bestselling and award winning author, and creator of the acclaimed graphic novels Sweet Tooth, Essex County, The Underwater Welder, Trillium, Plutona, Black Hammer, Descender, Royal City, and Gideon Falls. His upcoming projects include a host of series and original graphic novels, including the fantasy series Ascender with Dustin Nguyen.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit wobbly on takeoff, but hits its stride by the end.



This one started off (for me) as one of the weakest Absolute offerings, but I stuck with it and ended up quite a bit more invested in the storyline by the end of issue #6. I've already reviewed each issue individually, so I left the links for those below if any of you are reading them that way.



The skinny gist of this one is that something happened to the teenage Wally while he was with Barry Allen in his lab.
What lab, you ask?
The government's off-the-book-project-lab that Wally's dad works for, as well.
Now Barry is dead, Wally is on the run with out-of-control speedster powers, and Elenore Thawne (the project's commander) has sent a group of Rogues after him.
One of the project's test subjects, a telepathic monkey called Grodd, defects and takes off with Wally after the first encounter.
We eventually meet the Absolute versions of Ralph Dibney and Linda Park at a homeless shelter for teens, as well.



As always, the Rogues are one of the most interesting things about Flash, and the last issue gives us a better look at this universe's version of them. I'm looking forward to learning more.

Recommended for Flash Fans.

issue #1 3 stars
issue #2 2 stars
issue #3 4 stars
issue #4 4 stars
issue #5 4 stars
issue #6 4 stars

[Oscar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't know too much about Flash, but good start to this series. The DC absolute series overall is really good!

[nico · Rating 5 out of 5]

ABSOLUTE PEAK

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.1 stars

[Khurram · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is literally all over the place. New origin for both the Flash and his Rouges. The book just left me with more questions than answers. I know the Flash is the fastest man alive does that mean they rush the book as well. It is six issues but it is an extremely quick read.

Army brat Wally West goes wherever his father is posted. The only person who understood him was his mother. Since her death his relationship with his father has become even more strained. However could he have found a friend and mentor in the mysterious Dr Barry Allen? Just when things are looking up everything goes wrong. Not just with Wally but with the book as well for me.

I really hope there are answers in the next volume. I actually found the Rouges story more interesting and engaging than Wally. There is also the question of whether he will be the hero or the villain? The book finishes with a variant cover gallery and character concept art.

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm glad I didn't read this one (or Green Lantern) first.

It was entertaining enough, and I really enjoyed some of the artwork (in the first few issues), but, overall, there was too much going on and not enough clarity by the end of the collected volume (or through the first six issues) to maintain my curiosity about what might come next.

Of the new (buzzy) Absolutes series, I'm really glad I tried Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter;... and, other than those two, I thought Batman was quite good, and Superman was interesting enough, but....

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

[Frédéric · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

An introduction to the characters and the situation that takes its time but remains interesting enough to capture the reader's attention, with a particularly striking tragic twist at the outset.

Overall, Lemire skilfully uses his bag of tricks to drive the story forward with a host of intriguing questions and characters who are still developing but who hold their own.
Very good, as long as it doesn't take three volumes to answer them, at the risk of losing the audience. Well, myself at least.

Two different artists on the artwork. On the one hand, Nick Robles, who does a great job, particularly with the poses and effects of speed, and on the other, A.L. Kaplan, who is dramatically weak.

[Siona Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my most favorite of the Absolute books, but not bad my any means. I love the reinterpretation of Grodd and the Rogues, and the art is really cool. I don’t think the story is as tight in this series as other Absolute books have been, but I am intrigued enough to keep following at least until the next volume.

[Kadi P · Rating 3 out of 5]

*More like 3.5 stars than 3.*

I can see why this story is the perfect fit for Lemire, given that the protagonist is sans mother. There also wasn’t much plot here. Wally spends the majority of the volume having a panic attack and that’s pretty much it. Admittedly, there is some fun in seeing the way they put a spin on the regular characters and there was some backstory towards the end of the volume. But then it ended on a classic cliffhanger ending just when the story started to warm up.

The main issue with this is that they were too vague in exploring Wally’s powers. Technically he has only just gotten them and he’s traumatised, so it’s somewhat understandable, but the few scenes where we see him use his powers they seem different to the usual canon. This is really the comic’s only selling point—seeing how this Absolute take on the well-known Flash character and world is different from the regular canon. And yet, not enough time was devoted to exploring this in this first volume as it should have been.

There’s certainly potential here, but beyond the gorgeous art and delightful colours, this was stunted by one too many heartfelt monologues which started to sound insincere. But I’d still give this the benefit of the doubt that it could be going somewhere good, but, ironically, it’s creeping rather than sprinting towards that if it is really its goal after all.

[Randy Lander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeff Lemire is the right guy to turn the Flash into a sci-fi/body horror/extradimensional weirdness/paramilitary adventure/estranged father and son story. It’s not always easy to follow, it jumps around in time, but it’s got great energy, big ideas, a really fresh take on the Rogues and Grodd, and spectacular art from Nick Robles and A.L. Kaplan.

[Bill Wallace · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cartoon art with dodgy perspective and proportions. Inane dialogue. Absurdly expanded but minimal story. Absolutes are two up (Manhunter and Supes) and two down (this one and Green Lantern) for me.

[Lashaan Balasingam · Rating 3 out of 5]

It started off promising only to devolve and never quite stick the landing. The artwork also seemed rushed and unintentional further down the line. It doesn't help that Jeff Lemire tends to let the artwork do a lot of the talking... Maybe next volume will change things up.

[Nunya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really don't know much about The Flash, besides clips from the CW show I watched a while back, but I think (Like everything in the Absolute Universe) this is a great new take on his lore. I'm especially intrigued by what exactly the Speed Force is going to be here, alongside the deeper mystery of what work Garrick and Thawne were doing to originally summon it.
I also really adore friendly Grodd and hope he doesn't turn bad, I really like how they've depicted all of Flash's rogues here as sympathetic people who should be saved rather than beaten.

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of the Absolute volume ones, this is definitely my favourite. As a late 80’s early 90’s tweenager, it was The Flash and Elseworlds that dominated my active imagination, so this reinvention of the Wally West Flash hits a sweet spot for me. The artwork and colouring is popping; the twisting and reshaping of characters is intriguing. Can’t wait to see where they take this.

4/5

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wally and Grodd forever!

So next up on the Absolute line, I chose to read the Flash book. Jeff Lemire is definitely an interesting pick to write it, as I remember he did the Teen Titans Earth One book which I had mixed opinions on. And is this a radical reivention of the Flash? In some ways ya. It feels like what an Ultimate (as in Marvel) Flash book would be like. I have never read much Flash aside from some key stories like Flashpoint and most of my experience with the character was actually watching the CW series and Justice League Unlimited as a kid.

Here we have Wally West as our main Flash, though we do still see Barry Allen as he plays an important part of the story. Wally's mom has recently passed away which is something I can relate too, and he keeps moving with his military dad, until he gets his powers. We get to see some fun iterations of the Rogues and even Grodd who is very different to the main universe version. The unlikely friendship that forms between Grodd and Wally was probably my favorite part, which is why its the tagline for this review.

The art is pretty good and fits the Flash well. I also really do like Wally's Flash costume. The story was okay as we see Barry running from the goverment and his dad trying to get him back. The final issue which tells the back story for the Rogues was probably the most interesting for me since it reframes many of the characters in different lights, so there not all one dimensional good guys and bad guys. Interested in reading the next volume.

[Rory Wilding · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I have exposed myself to plenty of media featuring the Scarlet Speedster, many Flash comics are a blind spot for me. When it comes to a favourite Flash, Wally West was always my guy, since he was the Flash in the Justice League cartoon from the 2000s. In recent years, Wally has been put through the ringer as seen in Heroes in Crisis and the most recent Flash run written by Simon Spurrier has leant towards surreal sci-fi horror, and whilst both titles have been divisive to say the least, that is not going to stop DC putting Wally through the darkness.

If you have been reading the numerous titles from DC’s Absolute Universe, you will know they present that a darker side of the hero whilst stripping away some of the core essentials of said hero. In the case of Absolute Flash, we are introduced to Wally as a fifteen-year-old who has a strained relationship with his father Rudy, who is a high-ranking officer stationed at Fort Fox. Through his friendship with Dr Barry Allen, who has been headlining Project Olympus, Wally gets consumed by one of Barry’s experiments and develops superhuman speed.

By stripping away the Speed Force or the Flash family, writer Jeff Lemire leans into a teenage perspective and how superpowers are an extension of the emotions that a teenager goes through. While you can see similarities with what Wally has been going through in the main DC continuity, as well as some of the ideas that Lemire has explored like psychologically torturing his young protagonists, Absolute Flash is not without its dark moments, but not afraid to show some light, which brings out some of the best aspects of this book.

As always, the fun aspect of the Absolute Universe as a whole is seeing the deviations towards lore and characters, and with Absolute Flash, you have Wally learning to use dangerous powers without a mentor, as Barry has been killed in the same experiment that affected Wally... or is he? You also have the Rogues reinterpreted as a special ops team with experimental equipment, and they have such a fun dynamic that there is a whole issue devoted to them. Without getting into spoilers, but Grodd is very different and yet becomes a touching turning point in Wally’s current traumatic situation.

While we don’t get much super heroics as Wally rarely wears his cool new costume, that won’t prevent artist Nick Robles from making this a vibrant read. You still have the yellow lighting that you associate with the Flash’s powers, but along with colourist Adriano Lucas, the visuals pop out with a strong emphasis on red rectangles that stretch, which is a refreshing way of visualising Wally’s speed. As A.L. Kaplan steps in as a guest artist for two issues, their art is looser compared to Robles’ cleaner illustrations, but there are still plenty of striking panels that gets how crazy the Flash’s powers can be and what happens when they clash with other metahumans’ abilities.

Considering the darkness from those initial issues, the series takes a lighter tone when Wally learns to handle his powers with the friends and possibly family he makes along the way. As this first volume ends on a cliffhanger, Lemire is playing the long game with the number of characters he is juggling and whilst I’m excited to see where he takes Wally’s story, and I’m also interested how he is expanding the Absolute Universe in his own way.

[André Habet · Rating 3 out of 5]

A beautifully illustrated comic. Ironically, a slow burn so far. A lot of mystery about the fate of some classic Flash characters, but I dug it nonetheless.

[Roman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Наступною Абсолютною серією від DC яку я вирішив прочитати став Флеш від сценариста Джефа Леміра.

Воллі Вест звичайний підліток, який змушений жити у військовій частині через роботу свого батька, з тим же батьком у нього дуже натягнуті стосунки після смерті матері. Єдиний з ким йому вдається хоча б трішки подружитися це місцевий вчений Баррі Аллен. Одного дня Воллі приходить до Аллена під час експерименту, який йде не за планом в результаті якого вчений гине, а хлопчина отримує здібності та стає втікачем за яким відправляють спецпідрозділ, яким в Абсолютному всесвіті є Негідники.

Якщо чесно, то перша арка мене не сильно зачепила, так вона читається досить швидко і легко, і у неї є достатньо цікавих та інтригуючих моментів, як, наприклад що за експерименти проводили на цій базі Тоун, що відбулося в пустелі Могаве у 1944 між Ґаріком та Тоуном, а також, особисто мені здається, що Баррі попри свою смерть стане місцевим аналогом Чорного Флеша. Головним гайлайтом є малюнок Ніка Роблеса, який малює перші три номери та шостий. Говорячи про шостий то от він мені й сподобався найбільше, у ньому нам розповідають про те як батько Воллі рекрутує Негідників і це було досить цікаво читати, навіть батько нашого героя тут розкривається з трохи іншого боку.

Перша арка Абсолютного Флеша вийшла окейною, не скажу, що історія Воллі мене сильно зачепила, але от Роуги зацікавили, сподіваюся у другому сюжеті ситуація покращиться.

[Judini · Rating 3 out of 5]

6.5/10

“I am forward…And I see what’s coming.
I see tomorrow. No…Two tomorrows. Two Worlds.
Am I a hero or am I a monster?”
- Wally West (Absolute)

Okay, so I’m restarting my read of the absolute paperbacks (as of right now I have nearly all of them, including the intros to each Absolute character), and I decided to start with the character I know the least about. Absolute Flash.
I’ve heard mainly negative things, with ‘wasted potential’ or ‘slow burn’ being the listed negatives…and? I agree with the latter.
Wally West in this ‘run’ (aha) birthed his powers, but as he did, he killed Barry Allen, and prevented him from becoming the Flash that came before him. This means Wally has to navigate his harsh powers in a world which is obtuse to people of his capabilities. He has no mentor, no family and no Speed Force.
And it’s accompanied by some of the best modern DC art i’ve ever read, Nick Robles draws Wally’s powers in such a beautiful way, and I love my comics bright and flashy. (Save the dullness for Batman!!)
It’s honestly not as bad of a story as I thought, but you’re telling me that I just read SIX issues?! It felt like 3 with how long the plot takes to get anywhere, and does it even get anywhere? This arc ends on a seemingly boring cliffhanger, with this volume mainly containing the Chase of Wally West…which can be quite fun when we see him battle with his Rogue Gallery. I’m not all that knowledgeable on The Flash, but I don’t think for the ‘Absolute Universe’, where creators have the reigns to go in whatever direction they wish with these iconic characters, that this take on Wally West as a character is at all really that interesting. I adore what they did with Grodd, but let Wally be ALONE. I suppose that’s what I kind of wanted from this, where we see Wally have to cope with the immense power he has suddenly gained at such a young age, alone. I wanted a Life Is Strange 2 take, where he wanders town to town to find his true meaning and responsibilities, but instead we’re getting a classic ‘bad guys chase good guy’ tale.
Disappointing.

Art/Visual Clarity: 1.8/2 (I don’t like the lower eyelid wiggly effect in less serious panels, I just don’t think it looks good😭)
Characterisation: 1.4/2 (I feel Wally’s frustration.)
Pacing/Structure: 0.8/2
Villain/Antagonist: 1.1/2
Set-Up/Conclusion: 1.4/2 (I’m somewhat hyped to read on, i’ll pick up Volume 2…but at a later date.)

[Alex Sarll]

Even among those who've most determinedly glugged the Absolute Kool-Aid, Absolute Flash seems to be the 'this also exists' book. Factor in that I've never found corporate superheroes (or even, for the most part, his Black Hammer knock-offs) the best use of Jeff Lemire's time, and I really wasn't expecting much here, especially when it's been running in parallel with Spurrier on the regular Flash which, despite the usual interrupting DC event crap, has been the most I've enjoyed the Scarlet Speedster since Morrison and Millar were still friends. So consider me boggled by how good this was. Yeah, it still gets me down that every new continuity lately has to be 'what if the world were fundamentally broken and everything was rubbish' when I get more than enough of that from the news. But making Wally West an alienated army brat who inadvertently destroys Barry Allen in the same accident that gives him his powers is a great set-up for a story where his body and his mind are both racing out of control, that intense sensitivity to everything and feeling like you're about to explode which is such an overwhelming part of the teenage experience – and of course, after what happened to Barry, Wally has even more reasons than most to tell himself he can't possibly get close to anybody else. All of this depicted with appropriate intensity by Robles and Lucas, in a style that means you can't always tell protagonist from surroundings from page furniture – and isn't that exactly how it felt back then? Granted, I'm not as impressed with the streamlined Rogues (Grodd very much excepted), but overall I think this is the fewest reservations I've had regarding anything Absolute.

[Jeff Wait · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I like about the Absolute Universe is that it gives us fresh takes on our favorite superheroes. Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman -- all got new backstories that made them feel fresh. In this one, Wally West gets a new backstory, but it really isn't that different than the tired "innocent teen mixes with the wrong science and becomes... SUPER." It's the Flash! If he was lonely. Sure? There are some cool changes in Barry's role, Grodd and the Rogues Gallery. The action is muted, and we still don't have much clarification on what his powers are. This is a fine start, just left me less excited than I was after reading the initial three runs. We'll see where it goes from here and if it's worth pursuing. Right now, I find myself rather indifferent, which extra sucks because I've historically enjoyed the Scarlet Speedster.

[Jordan Bradley · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the artistic talent maintains the standard set by the rest of the Absolute volumes, this book falls flat in almost all other departments. From the panel-to-panel storytelling to the design of Wally/the Flash, I couldn’t get on board with this rendition of the character. I liked the spin on Grodd and Barry Allen, but I couldn’t help but feel the story was a slow bore fest. There is hardly any Flash action in the whole 6-issue story, and the story that replaces that action is a bit dull and genuinely confusing (due to visual storytelling, not complexity). Overall, a drop in quality for these books.

[Des Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty mid, easily the worst Absolute book so far. Still pretty okay though. I see the vision. I love the Grodd pairing, the Rogues are cleverly reimagined, the anxiety parallels are great. But as for the rest, there's no hook here for me. Wally is alright, half the art is good. the other half is super mid, and the pacing is just all over the place.

I'll probably keep reading it though. Despite my complaints, the stage is set for something interesting, and sometimes Lemire takes off a little late.

[Gandalf Monkey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I definitely enjoyed it. But unlike the other first volumes of the other Absolute characters, this one didn't feel like it had a resolution. It feels like I watched the first 3 episodes of a season-long story. It was fun, but I wanted to see more.

[eri · Rating 3 out of 5]

didn't hit as much as WW, I know everyone loves Wally's flash but it just doesn't work so much for me when he doesn't start as a sidekick idk, but still pretty good, i like the twist on the rogues and interested to know what's the connection with blue trinity (thank you picking up the pieces)

[Andres Pasten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Flash viviendo el origen de Hulk, con los Rogues como Hulkbusters. A ratos genial, otras no tanto, veremos un volumen más como sigue.

[kaybee · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolute peak i love you wally west iteration of the flash

[Zachary Palmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely hits it stride near the end and excited to see the direction of the next volume!

[SaDarius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly really well done and super interesting remixing of Flash lore. Almost up there with Absolute Wonder Woman and Absolute Batman.

[itzabella · Rating 4 out of 5]

grodd