We chat with the collaborators about Wally West and stripping the Flash of his legacy.
Welcome to Creator Corner, our recurring interview series in which we chat with the industry's coolest and most thought-provoking creators. In this entry, we're conversing about Absolute Flash with Jeff Lemire and Nick Robles. Listen to the unedited audio HERE.
The reception received by DC's Absolute Universe has been more than incredible. As you heard during our Support Your Local Comic Shop conversation with Erik C. Jones of Four Color Fantasies in Winchester, Virginia, Absolute Batman, Absolute Wonder Woman, and Absolute Superman brought lapsed comic readers and new comic readers back into their shop. And that is not an isolated phenomenon. Most stores we've spoken to over these last few months echo that sentiment.
With such a roaring success comes a lot of pressure on those Absolute titles following in the Trinity's footsteps. Writer Jeff Lemire and artist Nick Robles are more than up for the task regarding their Absolute Flash. They went into the series with a clean game plan and a whole heap of passion for reinvention. Their series frontlines the young Wally West, stripping the franchise of its extensive Speedster legacy and injecting some serious fear into the hero's call to action.
We spoke with the collaborators about redesigning an iconic DC superhero. We discuss their history with the character, why Wally West was the right Flash for this Absolute moment, and when to embrace reality versus suspension of disbelief.
This conversation was edited for length and clarity.
Jeff Lemire, Nick Robles, and Their Absolute Flash History
Brad: Okay, gentlemen, I would love to discuss your relationship with The Flash before this project, not necessarily as a creator but as a reader. When did your Flash experience begin?
Jeff Lemire: I really got into The Flash when I was a kid reading Crisis on Infinite Earths. That was a pretty classic tragic Flash story, and then the birth of the Wally West Flash came out of that. I was also a fan of Wally West and the Teen Titans, as well as the Wolfman-Perez stuff I read as a kid. I love that stuff. I also used to pick up the old Cary Bates/Carmine Infantino run back in the '80s. I loved that stuff. So yeah, Flash was always a big character for me ever since I was a kid.
Nick Robles: And on the entirely other side of the spectrum - I am very, very new to Flash. It was a big pull for the editors and Jeff to have someone so fresh in the character and history that I could bring something original to the Absolute Universe. And it was exciting for me too.
Brad: That's super interesting because so much of this first issue is about removing the legacy of The Flash, so it's good to have Nick there, who has no emotional attachment to that legacy.
Nick Robles: Yeah.
Brad: So Jeff, I mean, let's talk about removing the legacy of The Flash from the Absolute version. Why?
Jeff Lemire: Why? Well, there's a couple of reasons. First of all, if the people who love that whole aspect of The Flash and Wally West, the legacy, the Speed Force, it's not going anywhere. It still exists. This is not rewriting or replacing that.
It really freed me up to do what I wanted to do with this character and try to do something fresh. I really wanted this. I mean, the main appeal of this book was to write a younger character and to experience all the fear and excitement that he experiences when all these things start happening to him. And when he has another Flash that he can go to and ask questions and get answers and have guidance, it takes away a lot of that fear and a lot of the uncertainty and a lot of the mystery.
So for me, that was the real appeal of creating a character that didn't have the baggage of that history and that built-in understanding of the powers. So, these things could be scary again. Because if this stuff happened to you, it would be pretty terrifying.
Jeff Lemire, Nick Robles, Absolute Flash, and Fear
Brad: And we begin this story in a state of fear for Wally.
Jeff Lemire: Yeah, very much. I mean, the whole book, really the whole first twelve issues, especially, you're in Wally's mindset, you're with him, and you're experiencing all these things as he does. You have all the questions he has and all the fears that he has, and then all the excitement and fun that he starts to have at certain points as well. And that was really deliberate. To put you in his mindset and have this universe and this character unfold piece by piece and not really know what was coming next.
Brad: And Nick, what was the experience then of redesigning this Flash universe? I imagine you had to bone up very quickly on all the styles of The Flash?
Nick Robles: I have intentionally tried not to dive too deep into the history. I mean, you have to go to a certain level, and I know a lot. I know something about The Flash from Osmosis, of just being in the industry and reading some comics that run alongside him. I have to stop making running puns.
Jeff Lemire: You also say "absolutely" a few times. I guarantee you.
Nick Robles: No, I'm very aware.
Jeff Lemire: I've noticed that for myself.
Nick Robles: But yeah, it's been fun trying to take the costumes and the look of the characters and bring them somewhere new and somewhere that is in my influence and my style, and that's been really rewarding.
I'm really proud with my designs, especially the suit that got revealed. It's had a good reception. With the rogues - and some more characters are coming very soon that I'm excited for people to meet and see. But it's been really fun just bringing it to a new, original place.
Brad: Can you drill down a little bit on that, the designing aspect? You read the script; you spoke with Jeff. What did you immediately land on, and what did you want to communicate with your design?
Nick Robles: I think my initial thought was - with a speedster, how much disbelief do I want my audience to have? Because a speedster suit, if you think about it, basically you want nothing that causes a drag or what have you. It would be a very simple suit.
I didn't want to do that so much. I wanted the suspension of disbelief to be fun and just have a good silhouette. That's my favorite thing to work with when designing characters. With Wally, I knew I wanted to try and do something different. His silhouette hasn't been seen before. So that's where the jacket aspect has come from.
Yeah, it's just been fun seeing where I can tweak things and still be recognizable with lightning bolts and what have you, but give it a different form.
Jeff Lemire, Nick Robles, Absolute Flash, and Wally West
Brad: I would like to talk about the Wally of it all too. I think I know the answer based on your first answer, Jeff, but can you talk a little bit about making the Absolute Flash, the Wally West Flash?
Jeff Lemire: Well, just to go back a step further from that, right? When I first started talking with Scott Snyder about this universe, it wasn't with The Flash in mind; it was more a general conversation about different things I could possibly do or explore.
Then as those conversations between Jason, Aaron, and Kelly and Alan, Scott and I progressed, and I started to see what those guys had in mind, I felt there was a place or an opening here to do a younger character. That would be a different flavor from what they offered and provide me with something interesting.
I love writing younger characters and Wally is basically the same age as my son now, so there's just a lot of things I could put into that. When you get to a younger Flash, Wally was really the one for me. And it doesn't mean that Barry is not part of this world. It's just not in the way that he is in the other universe. So yeah, I think the appeal of writing a younger character and injecting that energy into the universe was what made it Wally immediately for me.
Brad: Without going into spoilers, I mean, Barry definitely influences this first issue.
Jeff Lemire: He does. And he'll continue to be a presence across the first year of stories at least, but again, in an unconventional way.
Brad: Can you talk briefly about being part of this second wave of the Absolute line? The enthusiasm that Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman were met with was rather incredible. I've been talking to comic book retailers, and these comics are saving shops and their holiday season.
Jeff Lemire: We were already excited about the books and the potential. I started working on these books at the same time as Wave One. But we had the benefit of those books coming out and seeing this incredible reaction, and then it put a new wind in your sails, like, "Okay, this could be even better than we thought." But also, it puts a little more pressure on you too, because the books were so well received that you don't want to be the one that is the first flop. More than anything, it just gets you even more excited for the potential of what we're doing.
Nick Robles: Yeah, just pretty much echoing the same thing. It's been really exciting to see how well they're doing, and it's inspiring. I love the new looks; I love the new books. It just makes me want to step up my game and just match what's going on out there.
It's really exciting to contribute to a new universe, especially a DC one. It's still wild to me sometimes if I sit back and think about it. Even talking about the conceptualizing earlier, I remember just having a moment, just being in disbelief that I got to design a new Justice League character, a legacy character costume. It's mind blowing.
If I sit down and think about it because it's not just a character, it's a world we're building, and that's intimidating and very exciting, and it just pings all those good inspirational artist jolts that you want.
Absolute Flash #1 arrives in local comic shops on March 5th. And don't forget, you can listen to this unedited conversation on the CBCC Patreon.
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