The Flash #18: Not Just a Dog

The Flash #18 picks up with The Flash learning the true plans of Eclipso as his son starts painting the full picture of the events himself while trapped on the moon with his dog. While this arc has definitely been more light hearted and family focused than the first, The Flash #18 picks up that intense, high concept science fiction that Si Spurrier is known for, adding to the mythos of the DC All In initiative in an interesting way. While much of the story features exposition from Eclipso, Vasco Georgiev does a great job of showcasing the events that have transpired in the past, recreating some of the scenes from the DC All In #1 One-Shot from the perspective of the villain.

In an unprecedented move, many of DC’s comics coming out on February 26th, 2025 start heavily tying these series back to the core DC All In concept. In The Flash’s case, this is directly tied to the inclusion of Eclipso, who was killed by Darkseid who was searching for The Spectre. In a fun recreation of those events from Eclipso’s perspective, it is revealed that he returned with a new lease on life, which is what is causing all of the random anger spikes throughout the world. While most of this is entertaining, the bit about how Eclipso returned is kind of waved away as a “well comic book characters always come back to life” moment. So, it is nice that the series is connecting so tightly to DC All In, but unfortunately some of it is left unexplained for the sheer whim of it.

When it comes to the core narrative and how this story is told, anyone familiar with Spurrier’s work will feel right at home. The aforementioned dog companion of Wally’s son is actually the child of the Speed Force, manifested into some kind of guide. The Flash #18 gives the dog a bit of thought-based dialogue that showcases this cosmic knowledge while also keeping the voice centered around dog things. If this is not the breakout character of 2025, then DC needs to rethink their entire business plan. While Krypto is being featured in the new Superman film later this year, DC comics is playing with a dog that has nigh impossible abilities.