Fictional Obituary: Grodd’s Father / Papa (Absolute Flash comic spoilers through #17)

Fictional Obituary: Grodd’s Father / Papa (Absolute Flash comic spoilers through #17) The father of Grodd, known to his son as Papa, has died after being shot by Trickster. His son was present. A survivor of Project Olympus’s experiments, he carried a profound distrust of the humans responsible for his suffering. His psychic abilities gave him the means to force that anger upon others. He took control of a community and threatened people who had played no part in his captivity, leaving fear and injury alongside his own history of abuse. His relationship with his son remained central to his life. He wanted Grodd beside him and struggled to accept the younger ape’s friendship with Wally West. At the end, he listened when his son asked him to stop fighting Wally. He had lowered his aggression when he was killed. He leaves Grodd, who had only recently regained the father he wanted to know. For his son, the loss carries the memory of that final appeal and the brief moment in which his father answered it. His death leaves a painful family history: suffering inflicted upon him, suffering he inflicted upon others, and a son whose love reached him before his life ended.