I also got the Ewing Hulk vibes but the art didn’t connect for me. I will continue to read as I trust Al Ewing, but I didn’t find this to be that interesting. Compared to the other Absolute titles this felt less original. Also Hal Jordan has been bad before. This doesn’t feel like a fresh take

out of all the Absolute universe series, which one is your favorite, and what is the best in your opinion?

so the comic book roundup should censor who does reviews... odd idea there. But no mention that all the critic reviews are from reviewers who have averaged between an 8.3 to a 9.4/10 after hundreds or even thousands of reviews - most people have bailed on this site because it's shills handing out perfect scores for just about everything. Go back 10 years and you wouldn't even notice Gabe's scores because the critics were actually a tiny bit critical.

Also, anyone who wants to see how much of a troll you are just needs to check out your profile where you've reviewed six issues and given four 1/10s - but you're mad at Gabe for low scores🤡 also it's hilarious that you copy and pasted this hate message on other books because you're lazy as well as being a hypocritical POS

Isn't this the guy who had a mental breakdown on Twitter over Captain America killing Nazis?

I trust gabe more than any person here as a reviewer. The rest give 10’s to everything as long as they keep getting their review copies. You may not agree with him. Maybe you think he’s sus. But at least he’s honest.

@braveandthebold and? Plenty of people, including past creators, have gone on record saying Cap regrets taking any life no matter how vile they are! In canon, Cap has said he regretted letting his anger take him over when he punched H*tler! And spoiler - not liking an issue because you think the character is written poorly isn't having mental breakdown! You don't deserve to have that Grant Morrison pic!

Also it's pretty obvious you are just an opticrage burner account

Ah yes, everyone who disagrees with you must be a burner account. The paranoia is setting in hard, huh? Can't take any criticism about poor reading comprehension, so everyone must be an enemy.

Going 3 years between reviews pretty much says yeah. You’re sus.

And Jimbo here hasn't used his account since 2023.

Yea- I have over 3000 critic reviews that are carried on this site from the website and podcast I have run for over ten years, but yes, keep reaching! And the funny thing is you are talking about reading comprehension when I never said anything about liking or disliking the issue, or even if I read it or not! Not hiding who I am "brave and the bold grant Morrison" https://comicbookroundup.com/comic-books/reviewer/jim-werner

Paranoia about what? I think you might be self projecting here! I said that an Aggregate review site shouldn't censor whose reviews are included and you came in with the nonsense.

You're a riot. I made fun of Gabe's poor reading comprehension, and you throw a hissy fit. Not really beating the allegations here, Jimbo. Especially not with those hilarious reviews. Thanks for that, I had a good laugh.

Brave and the Bald isn't anyone's alt. Seems Gabe's paranoia is rubbing off on James.

Thanks psychomoron! The best thing about all this is this site is pretty much dead because of the shill critics reviews and the idiotic user reviews anyway - nobody cares about anything anyone says here except you losers who can't stop thinking about Gabe 24/7. Plus I'm saying all 3 of you are 100% the same person.

... I think you've interacted with 2/3 of us over on my discord server at the same time. So there's that. I promise I don't give Gabe much thought, though I am sorry your friend is an out of touch moron.

the only name I remember is yours, but it just amazes me the amount of toxic hate that this site's "user review" section becomes when someone writes a review that the usual suspects don't like - Don't get your panties up in a bunch over the aggregate score of a book, nobody cares about the site anymore! The site drives zero traffic, so the theory that Gabe writes reviews for that is ridiculous! There's hardly any sites left that even bother to review stuff

Gabe's reviews are not quality criticism. So much of it is focused on what Gabe would rather see than what is presented to him. That's not criticizing a comic on its own merits, it's akin to the lowest level of social media comics discourse. I think Gabe's biggest issue is he's not good at what he does, and it's wild to have you have you act as though he's a consummate professional lol.

At the end of the day the only difference between the reviews on your site and the ones in the user section here is a no doubt begrudged insistence on word count.

Psaycmorean is right, Gabe is kind of incompetent, and a bit of a baby when it comes down to it. And "Jim" - if he's not a burner account - just sounds like an angry troll.

i share those sentiments. Gabe can give a 2 to Uncanny X-Force for all I care, it's just that his reviews are shallow. I think that if incorporate more antithesis into his writing it would end up stronger. Like here he says that the comics is different for the sake of being different, without providing any good reasons, when so many reviewers actually found meaning behind the choices made here. For me that's why it comes out as just hating, because he does not acknowledge that others are feeling

if he actually did it and still defended his opinions, I think that his reviews would be way more respectable. Also every time i read a review of his, it seems that it comes with a preconceived notion of what the comics should and it's a really rigid one, and i mean, if you are with a mindset like this, ofc you would hate most of the things that you read and ofc that it would seem like straight up hate. At this point, personally, I don't get much of his review.

Dude gave Hawkgirl a 9 and galaxy a 10 and wants to talk incompetent. Ok.

@orbisstelassis burner account or angry troll? you can look ne up - i have thousands of critic reviews here, have DC/Marvel podcasts with over 500 episodes each (dc comics pod has been rated #1 DC Comics podcast for 6 straight years by feedspot) Just type "weird science dc comics" and you can find me (and I'm sure you haters will make fun of all that - you're all pretty much just hypocritical toxic fans who think you're "positive" for defending books but do it in the worst possible way!)

@criminology the reviews are just his opinion; not based on other reviewers. His reviews (marvel especially) are written before the book is released and there is no way to know others' thoughts on it, but still, other reviewers explain themselves in their reviews. I own the DC & Marvel sites Gabe reviews on and rarely agree with him - but it's his opinion and this thread started with the call for Gabe to be censored which is BS IMO! Like anything of the sort, you don't like his reviews (1/2)

just ignore them! There are plenty of sites and reviewers that never go below an 8 (which has more to do with keeping review copies than being honest), so go and read those. I gave up doing written reviews because of stuff like this - i prefer reviewing comics on podcasts with multiple people to get more of a varied discussion (kind of like what you said earlier). BTW, I do find positive reviews are rarely called out for lack of substance just because they are positive. (2/2)

I'm new here and have no problem with a neg review as long as it's explained. The same should be true in reverse. I see a lot of 10 reviews without a single word to explain why. I'm not going to but I really would want to blindly rate 1's just to counter them.

The guy is a ball of negative energy.

Pretty spot on with your review, I'll be reading this on my podcast LunchBreak Reviews

I dig your positivity here. I hope I end up where you're at with it.

@motorik I enjoyed it. It seems to be “not different enough” for some. I was drawn in by the classic feel.

Read waid and johns runs You will like

The Absolute line is above average, but it’s not that great. I don’t get all the inflated reviews.

Thank you Superman Fan. Geoff John's and Mark Waid are two of my favourite writers. I will check these out. Which one do you recommend starting with?

Mego-joe - "it’s hard to find a reason for the existence of any of these Absolute characters out side of being different just for the sake of being different" I see this kind of commentary a lot. It's utterly arbitrary. Why should anything exist? It's obviously so they can tell fresh stories without adhering to the main continuity.

If that’s all you’ve got there’s got to be something within the story itself. That’s just not enough of a compelling reason. It didn’t work in the New 52. Why will it work now.

You see that comment a lot because it’s valid.

Start with waid Flash 74 - 79 will make you love wally more

I'm sorry, I completely disagree with you and we aren't going to see eye to eye. I'll have fun reading the comics and you can ponder whether they should exist or not. 7 is a high score for something that you think should not exist.

A single issue can be done well even if it isn’t compelling enough to bring you back. Differing opinions are fine. I want to understand what others like in what they like. The why’s of it. I just don’t see why a new version of the character is necessary. Do you like the character or idea of the character? What’s the reason to like it besides that it’s a new continuity? Why go back with a character instead of forward?

Because the main lines aren't selling. That's the real reason. So they switch up the talent and put a spin on things. There is an in universe reason as to why we have these and I honestly think that is compelling enough as it is. In a world without hope, one created by Darkseid that still fields the same heroes, what about them would change? It's a fomula that has worked for years. What If?, Elseworlds. This is THE Elseworld.

Then add on top of that strong writers and burgeoning artists and you have the EXACT reason this should exist. People aren't reading The Flash, or Batman, or Superman. Not in the numbers that they are the Absolute line. You might not like it but that just means you are not a part of the majority. Which is fine but to dismiss it because you aren't a part of the percentage that is reading these over mainline is just unnecessary.

People have many reasons to switch up. Most of the time I see people jumping off runs because of writers they don't like and coming back because of one they do. The Flash is a pretty good example actually. The same can be said for artists though they are less consistent in long runs than they used to be. A single writer can have many different artists during a run so that's just not as much of a thing anymore. Tonal shift, status quo. There are so many reasons to leave and come back a character.

Also, like Superman Fan said. Waid's run is amazing. Probably the single greatest run on the Flash ever. It's what got me into the Flash and being a die hard Wally fan. He established the Speed Force, the Flash Family. Everything that has been transformed over the years that a lot of people clamor for it's full return. And while we get pieces of it back it has never been the same. But start on 62, not 75. 62 is the start of Waid's run and redoes his origin. Easy jumping on point.

Just bought Waid's Flash omnibus! Cheers guys.

I don’t find the in story reason compelling. If you do that’s fine. Imagine if they just had good talent on the mainline books….

@Hex hot-take: I personally like Geoff Johns a bit more than Mark WAid. Yes, Mark WAid introduced a lot of Flash co ntent and is the template for Flash runs. But Geoff Johns writing just works for me more, while Mark Waid has short anthology stories. I still enjoy Mark Waid and give it an 8.5 (I finished both Mark Waid's runs). But personally I enjoyed Geoff Johns a bit more on subjective manner

@motorik I would recommend checking out Grant Morrison/Mark Millar's Flash run. It's just 12 issues but that run brought in crazy time dimensional concepts that transformed Flash into an OP character done right.

I’m with Joe on this. Give me lemire on the regular book not spurrier. But I still had fun with this book

@daspidaboy, two of my favourites. I love Millars Jupiter Legacy. Such a shame the tv adaption missed the mark. I will check them out!

You aren’t going to get this talent in the main books because of the lack of creative freedom and the weight of continuity.

@George - exactly mate. You understand it. I understand it. It's not complicated. Can't wait for Absolute Martian Manhuter next week. By the wonderful Deniz Camp no less.

@motorik - manhunter looks crazy cool. If you like Camp and you haven’t read it yet you should check out Assorted Crisis Events.

Sus Gabe they call him lol.

@mego-joe they could have the best talent in the world on the mainline books and it would still be hit or miss. Some writers have easy go of it writing within the constraints of editorial mandates and being pinned down by continuity, some don't. But when you can start something like this and you don't have to hold to any previous stories, the take can be fresh, the writer can take the story and the character wherever they want. It's basically and Image book with DC characters.

P.S. Lemire is the king of hit or miss on mainline books. He doesn't work well with editorial mandates. Just check out his X-Men for a good example of that.

One of my comments was that it works better as a brand new character for this and WW. Current JSA demonstrates Lemire’s struggle inside continuity. I’d say a great comic writer wouldn’t have a problem inside mainline continuity if they understand the character and are writing the character and not the idea of the character.

Any decent writer can come up with something without constraints, it takes a really great writer to do it inside continuity. Venditti’s Hawkman is a great example of this. He did something very creative and interesting not only in continuity but in a complex and often contradictory continuity and made it work.

Despite disagreement I really appreciate the conversation! Thanks all!

@mego-joe When Lemire is on point, he's fantastic. His more recent works have not hit high. Gideon Falls and Ascender/Descender were absolutely amazing. I do agree, his JLA is patchy but I'm enjoying it. We may disagree here but it seems we are all passionate and avid readers. We're keeping it alive.

His New 52 Animal Man was great, I loved his Frankenstein Agent of SHADE and The Terrifics. In enjoyed the first volume of Black Hammer, but that’s almost satire. It’s in a weird space.

Cheers Hex, you're one of the good ones on here!

As are you brother, anytime.

I respect your opinion. But let me ask you a question. Isn't Jay the Flash? The first one who also inspired Barry? Isn't Wally the Flash? The kid who took on the role of his uncle/idol to preserve and carry on his legacy? The Flash is about legacy. Jay, Barry and Wally are the Flash. They inspire each other.

The story is meant to be disjointed as it reflects what is happening to him.

Barry was always kind of a nothing character though. Wally was always the one with the personality. Barry is a loner. His own fiance didn't even like him in the beginning of his own book because he was such a white bread sandwich. And he has only been The Flash longer than Wally for a shockingly little amount of time comparatively. Most things people love about the Flash, came from Wally's runs and they just attribute it to Barry because of the TV show and his resurgence after N52.

Barry was my first Flash. Issue 306 to be exact (great issue). I read Barry backwards from there. Before the death of Iris, Barry met the stereotype of the silver age hero that had no hero’s journey. A hero right out of the box. Wally had a hero’s journey, which is why for me he is the better character. We are late stage in that journey in the main continuity (the whole main dcu feels late stage frankly), so I am looking forward to seeing where this goes.

I respect your opinion, but for me, Wally has always been my Flash (and for a lot of people too). I’ve always found Barry pretty boring (in fact, even in the CW show, they just gave Wally’s personality to Barry Allen). Plus, since this is a reinvention, it makes sense to go with the younger, more reactive Flash who still has to find his way. (I agree with you regarding the back and forward.)