Absolute Flash #6

Absolute Flash has been a fairly enjoyable ride so far. However, it has faced some very stiff competition within the Absolute Universe, putting it in an underdog position that I was hoping the heroics of the last issue would allow the series to succeed in. Unfortunately, Absolute Flash #6 is an untimely slam on the brakes, bringing the series to a bizarre halt when it was just starting to pick up some real steam.

Today, I’m talking all things Absolute Flash #6, and spoilers lie ahead! Consider yourself warned! Without further ado, let’s get into the review!

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Absolute Flash #6 Review

Image by DC Comics

Absolute Flash #6 is a step-away from the adventures of Wally and Grodd, choosing to focus instead on the group of rogues that have been employed to track down and capture Wally that we’ve seen in previous issues. A self-proclaimed interlude, Absolute Flash #6 feels like a step-away from all of the hard work that had been done to build up the series thus far, even though I’m sure that this interlude was seen as an opportunity for world-building by Jeff Lemire.

This whole interlude issue is an extremely risky move. Not only is an interlude issue a difficult pill to swallow for any avid comic-book fan, awaiting the next release date to see the story advance, but an interlude this early into the story feels like a particularly disastrous idea. Absolute Flash is a very new series, with only six issues to its name as opposed to the more substantial Absolute Batman or Absolute Wonder Woman series. Is an interlude focused on side-characters justified when we’ve barely gotten to know the main characters that well yet?

On the bright side, Absolute Flash #6 does give us an interesting look into the work of Barry Allen, who isn’t actually meant to take the spotlight here, but manages to anyway. With that being said, I’m not sure I like his plans all that much. For me personally, I think I’m happy for humanity to remain tethered to reality – a world full of superheroes feels like a recipe for disaster, and actually paints Allen as a little more blindly optimistic than I had previously interpreted him as. It’s a nice new side to his character though, especially considering we didn’t get to spend much time with him in the earlier issues.

Image by DC Comics

Unfortunately, the rest of this character-oriented interlude, which is meant to be all about ‘the rogues’, falls pretty flat. These characters themselves are just not interesting in the slightest. The banter we get between them is fairly mediocre, and leaves the entire group feeling like henchmen that we’ve gotten to know too well, as opposed to them feeling like their own, developed characters. The Rogues ultimately conclude their time in the spotlight feeling just as one-dimensional as before, which is not necessarily the fault of Absolute Flash #6, but rather, its tight constraints when it comes to issue length. There’s just too much to do for one issue to make this band of rogues likeable in their own right, in one singular issue – this is not me asking for a second go-around of this though. Please.

In fact, Absolute Flash #6 actually finds more interesting footing in its exploration of Barry Allen’s scientific developments than the characters themselves. It’s nice to see how each of these rogues got their hands on such advanced technology in their pursuit of Wally, but I wish we would have been able to get Allen’s tech on some more well-rounded characters. Maybe they’ll grow on me down the line, but if their own dedicated interlude can’t get me on their side, what can?

We do get an intriguing cliffhanger ending though, one that seeks to redefine our understanding of not only Wally’s father, but of the intentions behind Wally’s pursuers. What are this team of scientists really up to? I’m more interesting in the new dimensions being added to Wally’s dad, even if they do feel a little sudden. It’s a nice redirect, considering I had just assumed his father to be a bad man up until now. Let’s see if the next issue can build on this new man that Wally’s dad has become.

Image by DC Comics

In all honesty, I think the issue with this interlude is the timing. It’s simply too early for an interlude like this to take place, especially when inserted directly into the growing momentum of Wally’s story. In fact, my review of the previous issue of Absolute Flash was largely positive about how we finally got to see Wally step into his hero boots. Now, that atmosphere has been squandered a little bit, in exchange for a fairly mundane issue focused on largely uninteresting characters.

So, unfortunately, while Absolute Flash #6 may mean well for its characters, it ultimately slams far too hard on the brakes in a series just finding its footing, at a time where what it truly needs is to, no pun intended, dash ahead.. I am looking forward to seeing Wally return to the series in the next issue, but what do you think of Absolute Flash #6? Be sure to let us know in the comments, and thanks for reading!

See also: Absolute Flash #5 Review

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