Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Haining
Colorist: Adriano Lucas
Letterer: Tom Napolitano
Cover Artists: Nick Robles; Fabrizio De Tommaso; Scott Hepburn & Ian Herring; Carlo Pagulayan, Jason Paz & Romulo Fajardo Jr
Editors: Ash Padilla, Andrew Marino, Katie Kubert & Chris Conroy
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $4.99/$5.99 Card Stock
Release Date: March 18, 2026
Wally West never had a home. The military transferred his father too frequently for Wally ever to set down roots. And his father was always busy. So, when Wally struggled with anxiety, his mother helped center him. But after she died, Wally and his father grew farther apart.
After an accident at Fort Fox gifted Wally with new abilities, Wally fled his past and Captain Snart's team of enhanced soldiers. Eventually, his father sacrificed himself to save Wally. Even his new friend Grodd, the monkey that Elenore Thawne experimented on, has abandoned him. Can Wally find a place he belongs? And where will Captain Snart and the Rogues go, now that the woman who made them into demigods has disappeared? Let’s put on our protective suits and goggles, leap into Absolute Flash #13, and see!
Story
When Wally was on the run, Ralph Dibny took him in. So, after chaos shook Fort Fox, Wally returns to the Dibny Mission. He’s still traumatized by what he’s been through. Wally doesn’t know who he can trust. The last thing Wally wants to do is endanger anyone else. So, he tries to deal with his loss on his own.
In Absolute Flash #13, Wally realizes that other people want to help him. But how can they? He's unsure what he can do anymore. Before, Wally could connect with Still Point via the red matter. He summoned doorways to this other dimension without thinking about it. Now, Wally seems to have lost that ability. When Wally dreams about his father, he’s unsure what they signify. Forging a way forward means figuring out what he can do, now that Project Olympus has shut down.
When he visited Still Point, Barry Allen told Wally that his abilities made him unique. Yet those abilities link him with an emerging superpowered community. And anything newsworthy travels fast. People want to know what makes Wally tick. Some, like Elenore Thawne, want to control him. After all the time he has spent fleeing his past and grappling with what’s happened to him, Wally gets a chance to deal with what he’s gone through in Absolute Flash #13. He may not have all the answers. Still, every new journey begins with a single step.
Art
Adriano Lucas infuses a dream with arcing red and yellow energy. Wally jerks up in bed so fast his hair emulates the departing red energy bolts. Streetlights and nearby buildings cast white circles in the pink night air glimpsed through the dorm room windows. As Wally sits on the building's roof beneath a starry pink, peach, and yellow sky, yellow highlights enliven his red hair. Robert Dibny is no Barry Allen. Yet as Wally looks at his host and remembers fighting Heatwave amid red and yellow, Robert's expression recalls how Barry befriended him.
In another universe, Central City is a gleaming hub of civilization. But in a world where Lazarus Corp helped Barry Allen and Elenore Thawne explore the Human potential, old stone buildings defy the changing times. Lattice windows in the Dibny Mission dining hall recall Robert’s wish that he could afford air conditioning. Under Haining’s evocative pencils, a junkyard symbolizes a town struggling to resist the encroaching decay.
Tom Napolitano fills white dialogue balloons and narrative boxes with black uppercase letters. The words grow bold for intonation, swell for raised voices, and shrink for lowered volume. Sound rips through the air as Wally discovers what he can still do. Yet in Absolute Flash #13, empty balloons traumatize Wally and steel his resolve to fix a broken situation. Thanks to DC Comics for sharing this story with us.
Final Thoughts
For far too long, Wally West dealt with the world by blocking it out. After his mother's death, he put on his headphones, ignored his father, and zoned out of life. But when he loses his father, Wally stops running and confronts his complicated past in Absolute Flash #13.
Rating: 9.8/10
To look inside see my preview of Absolute Flash #13.
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