Absolute Flash #8 – Jeff Lemire, Writer; Travis Moore, Artist; Adriano Lucas, Colorist
Ray – 10/10
Ray: For the first seven issues of this series, we’ve been following Wally West as he navigates his newfound Flash powers and struggles to maintain his sanity – all without the support of his mentor, Barry Allen, who died in the same explosion. But there was a whole story that played out before this happened, as Barry became part of the project that created the Flash energy – and it’s very different than any we’ve seen before. This Flash’s Speed Force seems to come from a world where the energy is something akin to an eldritch abomination – and it’s driven people mad before. Barry is a struggling professor at a B-list school, having been fired from Princeton years earlier for his unorthodox experiments. He’s approached by Eleanor Thawne to join her government project – to revive the experiments that her grandfather Eobard was involved with decades ago, before it led to the disappearance of both him and Captain Jay Garrick.
As Barry begins working on the long-defunct product, the energy begins talking to him – igniting the same obsession that it did in Thawne. It’s not clear what this energy is, if it’s malicious or simply chaotic, but the one journey we get of people going inside it has a wild reveal of something hiding within it that I did not see coming at all. This is around the same time that Rudy West and his son Wally settle in at the base, and Barry finds the project becoming increasingly militarized – something he’s not comfortable with. One of the things I love about this issue is the way it keeps you guessing all along. We know Thawne can’t be trusted, but we don’t know who can. Was Barry on the verge of madness? Does the energy have nefarious plans for Earth? Those answers might have died with Barry – but that might not be as clear-cut as we thought. It’s a testament to just how good this line is that the flashbacks are so compelling.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes
