Absolute Flash from DC Comics has been piling on big reveal after big reveal, remixing the Flash mythology in surprising ways. But one dangling question has hung over the series, which has thus far introduced Wally West and Barry Allen: where’s Jay Garrick, aka the original Flash? Well, thanks to Absolute Flash #8, now we know… Sort of.
Here’s what we know from this week’s issue, and then I’m going to get into a fair amount of speculation because this mystery is just getting started. Spoilers past this point. In the issue, we flash (no pun intended) back in time to see not just more of Barry Allen, who seemingly died during an explosion in Absolute Flash #1, but also Eobard Thawne, Elenore Thawne’s grandfather. Turns out Eobard started “Blue Trinity,” investigations into another dimension of “living energy.”
Here’s where our boy Jay Garrick comes in, during a scene that expands on one we saw back in Absolute Flash #6. Thawne took a device to open a portal to this dimension of red crackling energy in the desert, with military man Jay Garrick pulling up in his jeep to stop him. The energy starts saying Eobard’s name — something that Barry Allen has happen later in the issue — and when Jay tries to shut the machine down, Eobard pushes him into the energy, seemingly disintegrating Jay. We’re also told that Eobard was never seen again after that night.
Later in the issue, we see Barry sending explores in the “Flash” suit to investigate the “Still Point,” aka the home of what they are now calling “Red Matter.” And there, the three explorers discover something that looks very much like the Legion of Doom’s headquarters. Elenore assumes it is alien technology and specimens… But it’s also possible this might be the actual Legion of Doom HQ from the main DC Universe. Either way, it’s how they developed the Rogues’ technology, as well as this universe’s weird, open-brained Grodd.
And the kicker is that Barry starts hearing his name from the Red Matter, with a figure, dressed in the Flash suit, telling him, “Help me. Help. Stop you–you must stop! Wally… It must be Wally West!”
Whew, this is a lot! So let’s get into some speculation.
Who Is The Man In The Flash Suit At The End Of Absolute Flash #8?
So, it’s not entirely clear who that man is at the end, or whether what he seems to be telling Barry is what he’s saying; and given we’re dealing with time dilation, there’s probably a bit of “out of order” speech going on here. But there are four likely suspects for that man at the end: Jay Garrick, Eobard Thawne, Barry Allen, and Wally West.
Wally is the least likely because unless this is an older version of himself, the person is too grown up. This could be a Wally from the future, but we’ve already seen him in two possible futures and in neither does he look like this.
Barry Allen is probably the best possibility, and who we’re supposed to think this is, given we’ve seen Barry in The Flash suit, and this is an almost one to one with the classic “turning into dust” warning scene from Crisis on Infinite Earths that famously featured Barry. Which also makes him the least likely suspect, since the book seems to tipping its hand so hard by having Barry talk to Barry and set him on his path, as a time loop.
Thawne (Eobard version) is a strong possibility, particularly since we haven’t seen what happened to him. But chances are there’s some other fate in store for the man usually known as Reverse Flash.
Look, I’m gonna shoot my shot here: I think that’s Jay Garrick at the end. How he got in the Flash suit is TBD, though we do see other people go in and out of the other dimension in suits, so he has plenty of options to pick one up. But having Jay be a part of this, that got everything started — just like he did in the main universe — makes a lot of sense to me. It also sure sounds like he’s trying to say “help me stop Wally West,” not what Barry thinks he’s saying. And we know Wally has a strong possibility of turning evil. So could this be Jay, who has been sent to the version of the Absolute Universe where Wally has been turned to the Darkseid?
We’ll have to wait to find out.
Comic Book Club Live Info:
Discover more from Comic Book Club
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.