This week: Absolute Flash #12 is packed full of happenings. Plus, Batman, Poison Ivy, and Batman/Green Arrow/The Question: Arcadia make it a packed week for fans of the Caped Crusader (isn’t it always, though?)!
Absolute Flash #12
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artists: Nick Robles and A.L. Kaplan
Colorist: Adriano Lucas
Letterer: Tom Napolitano
I think now that we are well into this Absolute Universe experiment (and sales remain absolute gangbusters…wait, is there an Absolute Gangbuster?! … there should be), it’s safe to say that tiers have emerged . Those tiers have broken down pretty neatly by the order in which the books were released, with Absolute Batman, Absolute Wonder Woman, and Absolute Superman feeling more exciting and talked about than Absolute Flash and Absolute Green Lantern, with Absolute Martian Manhunter off entirely in its own world, surely ranking as a favorite for big groups of readers.
Anyway, this is all to say that Absolute Flash — while entirely solid throughout its run — just hasn’t grabbed the attention that much of the rest of the line has. And I thought about that a lot in contemplating what I was going to say about this week’s issue, Absolute Flash #12. I’ve liked a lot of what has happened in this title so far, including the characterization of Wally, and the reimagining of the always-excellent Flash foes, from lil Grodd to Strike Force Rogues. The art, especially when Nick Robles draws it, is also fantastic.
But the book has felt at times too decompressed for my tastes, maybe just a bit too patient. As noted in my headline here, Absolute Flash #12 is the most consequential issue of the book yet. It’s labeled as the finale of a two-part storyline titled The War of the Flashes, and I guess technically it is that. But it actually feels more like it’s the finale of the first year of the title, a culmination of everything that’s happened since the book launched, a clear delineation point between what happened before and whatever the book’s next phase will look like.
And what the book has done in that first year is take its time with a slow rolling origin story for the Absolute Universe’s Wally West. Which is fine. Absolute Superman I think did much the same thing, whereas Absolute Batman and Absolute Wonder Woman both through us into early adventures for their heroes, while taking more of a flashback approach to their origins proper.
So, ultimately I think this title has handled its first year well, but handled it in a way that makes me feel relieved its over, like okay great now let’s see what this book wants to really be about.
As for this issue itself, it’s a good read. I absolutely love everything this comic is doing with Grodd (let’s give every hero a tiny monkey pal!), and we get that moved forward a bit. We also get the big family tragedy that drives most recent versions of Flash, and it’s pretty dramatic, even if I felt like it could have been built toward just a bit more. And we continue to get this universe’s version of the Rogues, which all have such great designs and concepts.
Overall, I think the first 12 issues of Absolute Flash were a bit mixed, but the book is in a strong place moving forward. I’m excited to follow it wherever it wants to speed off to next.
The Round-Up
It remains odd to me that there’s a run on Batman right now that is being written by Matt Fraction, and is doing great, episodic superhero adventure storytelling — and it’s flying under the radar. So, I’m going to keep talking about it! This week we get Batman #7, which is drawn by regular series artist Jorge Jimenez, colored by Tomeu Morey, and lettered by Clayton Cowles. It’s a Joker issue, and Fraction and Jimenez have developed maybe the creepiest Joker-in-custody we’ve ever seen, complete with a cool, visually interesting way for how he’s constrained. The back-and-forth between Batman and Joker is also solid, and, as this run has done throughout, it ends with a great cliffhanger. I will perhaps write about this more in depth at some point, but I think part of the Absolute Universe’s success is owed to main universe titles like this one being so strong. Don’t like the new bolder takes on the characters? We’re still doing our normal thing too, and it’s great.
Speaking of great, Poison Ivy remains maybe the most reliable long-running superhero title in all of comics. This week’s Poison Ivy #42 (42!) is from writer G. Willow Wilson, artist Marcio Takara, colorist Arif Prianto, and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, which if you remember was the same team this title had when it launched. Absurd stuff by 2026 superhero comics standards, and while for much of its run Poison Ivy has been off doing its own thing, to great effect, this newest arc sees it increasingly integrated into current Gotham continuity, and I’m really digging it. What I like most about it is it hasn’t cost the book any of its clear identity. And, as with Batman, it ends on a stellar, heartfelt cliffhanger. I am just enjoying this title so much, in part because it feels so improbable, and in part because it’s just a great comic.
Finally, this week brings us the penultimate issue of Batman/Green Arrow/The Question: Arcadia, a Black Label title which throws the titular heroes into a snowy labor dispute, has them beat up a bunch of union busting bad guys, and all while debating their fundamental philosophical differences. If you want to call the first two issues heady — which I for one did — this issue is where it leads into the blockbuster action movie side of it all. I really like this book, and I suspect will like it all the more when I’m able to read it all at once in a collection, as has been the case for almost all of Black Label’s recent output for me. This issue is from writer/artist Gabriel Hardman, colorist Romulo Fajardo, Jr., and letterer Simon Bowland.
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