THE STORY BEHIND ABSOLUTE FLASH

It all started with a text from Scott Snyder back in the July of 2023…

And thus began my adventures in what would become the Absolute DC Universe. Scott and I go way back. We both started at Vertigo around the same time with Sweet Tooth and American Vampire and we were drafted over to DC Comics proper at the same time too. in 2010, Scott took over Detective Comics and I launched Superboy. Over the years our careers have taken us both in all kinds of directions, but we’ve stayed in touch. So, when he reached out about this “crazy superhero opportunity” I was intrigued.

At the time I was coming off shooting the Essex County TV show and I was totally exhausted. A lot of my creator-owned work was winding up, and the thought of going back to DC to do some superhero comics agin felt very comforting. Scott and I discussed what he had in mind for this new take on the DCU, and we weighed a few potential characters for me, but I pretty quickly landed on The Flash as the ideal fit.

And now, almost two years later, ABSOLUTE FLASH #1 is out in the world. The response to the book has been unbelievable, the pre-orders were close to 180 000 copies! That is by far, the highest selling single issue of any comic I’ve written, and from what I’ve been told, the highest selling Flash comic since Flash #1 in 1987! You never know how anything is going to be received by fans and retailers. All I can ever do is the best work I can on any given project, and what happens to it after it goes out into the world is beyond my control. So, that’s what I did with Absolute Flash. I decided if I was going to write the book I needed to make something I loved and something I would be excited to write every month. But more than that, I needed to find a way of making the character of Wally West as personal and important to me as I could.

At the time that Scott approached me, and I started working on the book, I was going through the worse and most extended period of anxiety and depression since I was in my early 20’s. There were a lot of personal factors that were feeding this, none of which I feel comfortable sharing here, but what I will share is that I used Wally West as my way of processing all this and as a way of helping to find my way out of it. I took all the anxiety I was feeling and put it into Wally. I made the terrifying manifestation of his powers a reflection of the chaos I was feeling. And, most importantly, I wrote a story about finding your way out of that anxiety…a superhero comic about finding some light, even in the most chaotic and terrifying times, and running towards it.

Luckily, I wasn’t running alone. Nick Robles proved to be the perfect creative partner. He brought so much to the book and the storytelling and elevated it to something more than I could have on my own. And Adriano Lucas and Tom Napolitano are a huge part of the team as well. Adriano’s colors are stunning and Tom’s lettering has become integral to the visual language and storytelling.

Luckily I am now feeling much better than I was when I started the Absolute Flash journey. I’m feeling more like myself then I have in a couple years, just in time to enjoy the launch of the book. I’m very excited about what’s coming next in Absolute Flash. Issue 1 is just the tip of a wild ice burg. We have a tonne of unexpected turns and a multi-layered mystery still to come.

Hope you come along for the ride. And a special thanks to all the retailers and readers who made the launch such a success.

From CANADA with love,

Jeff