History Lies!
Chris Claremont Writer
Derec Aucoin & Roger Robinson Pencillers
Dexter Vines, Jason Baumgartner & Gary Martin Inkers
Noelle Giddings Colorist
Digital Chameleon Separations
Comicraft Lettering
Eddie Berganza Assoc. Editor
Kevin Dooley Editor
Soverign Seven created by Claremont & Turner
Our cover shows Saturn Girl apparently using an evil Emerald Eye to turn most of the members of the Sovereign Seven evil. That's an interesting concept, unfortunately, nothing like that really happens in this issue. Even the title is misleading. It really should be Sovereign Seven Plus Saturn Girl, because she's the only Legionnaire who shows up.
So I guess the Legion's trip to the Flash Museum had more significance than a wacky time-travel adventure. Saturn Girl became inspired to learn a bit more about Impulse, so she begins researching the archives of the Flash Museum Impulse Wing. It's there that she comes across Impulse's "dramatic adventure" with Reflex.
I find it highly unlikely that Impulse's brief encounter with Reflex in Sovereign Seven #10 would merit any kind of a mention in the Flash Museum. However, it is possible that the entry Saturn Girl read referred to Impulse's second encounter with Reflex that we haven't got to yet. Anyway, the important thing here is that seeing Reflex's name prompted Saturn Girl to look up the Sovereign Seven, which brought up Network's name. In the 30th century, Network has a reputation of being a formidable terrorist. This bothers Saturn Girl so much that she decides to go against protocol, sneak away from the Legion by herself, and put an end to Network before her reign of terror can become the stuff of legends a thousand years later.
And that's the extent of Impulse's involvement in this issue. The rest of the story involves Saturn Girl tracking down Network, then somehow having a psychic meltdown. Saturn Girl inadvertently pulls several members of the Sovereign Seven into her subconscious and creates illusions of various Legionnaires for them to fight. In the end, Network, who is also a telepath, helps Saturn Girl regain control, and the two become the best of friends like only teenage girls can be. They even take a picture together where their faces are smushed together as hard as they can be. And ultimately, Saturn Girl comes to the conclusion that her historical records must be wrong about Network.
I didn't like this issue at all. And that's not just because there was no Impulse here. A lot of my problems with this issue comes from Chris Claremont. I know he's the legendary X-Men writer, but I can't stand his wordy, overly expositional dialogue. And whenever he introduces a character, he has them saying something while simultaneously thinking something melodramatic. I laughed at this technique in JLX #1, which I'm sure was intentionally having fun with that style. But here, Claremont is earnestly, intentionally trying to give these characters emotional depth. But he's doing it in a really cheap, shallow way.
I was also really confused while reading this story because of production errors. The art was not great, and most of the characters looked exactly the same. The only way I could tell them apart was by their hair color, but sometimes that would change from page to page. And then the speech bubbles didn't always point to the right person. All that plus the fact that the Legion of Super-Heroes really doesn't appear here, and you've got one frustrating and disappointing comic book. Impulse has now appeared in three of these "Plus" crossover issues, and the previous two were far superior. On the bright side, two out of three isn't too bad.
There aren't any letters to the editor, naturally, but there are a few new ads:
Tastebud Warning: New Starburst Fruit Twists.
NBA Hang Time for PlayStation and Nintendo 64. The ad lists several NBA players' vertical leap from the comical 10 inches for the chubby Terry Mills to the questionable 49 inches for Shawn Kemp. It is conceivable for Kemp, one of the best dunkers of all time, to have such an amazing vertical, but it's hard to find accurate information on this. Most sources I found listed Kemp at a much more realistic 40 inches, although some claim he could hit 50.
Scud: The Disposable Assassin for SegaSoft.
Meet your new comic source. UCI — The largest club in the world for serious collectors.
Make haste. Or make waste. A two-page ad for Sonic 3D Blast and VectorMan 2 for Sega Genesis.
Watch This Space talks mostly about what music various creators like to listen to.
This is the big one! Batman & Captain America. By John Byrne.
Gotham nights have never been hotter! Catwoman Vampirella: The Furies. Chuck Dixon, Jim Balent, Ray McCarthy.
If you lose, they die! Robotron X.
Every gift ... only Gap.
Next time, we'll get a lot more of Impulse (and some of Jesse Quick) with Impulse #22.
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