Hourman #22

The Chrono-Bums

Tom Peyer Writer
Tony Harris Artist
John Kalisz Colorist
Heroic Age Separations
Kurt Hathaway Letterer
Tony Bedard Editor

Cover by Tony Harris, color by Richard & Tanya Horie. And this cover ... uh ... shows ... Hourman and ... playing cards? Seriously, I have no idea what's going on here. And, I guess, that is a good indication of how this story will go. Just a whole lot of confusion for me here. One thing I do know is that this Hourman is from the DC One Million event. He's an android with time manipulation abilities, and for some reason he decided to stay in the 20th century after that wild event with Vandal Savage and everybody.

Our story begins with Young Justice — Robin, Superboy, Impulse, Wonder Girl, Secret and Red Tornado — randomly deciding to visit Hourman. The narrator, Snapper Carr, says Young Justice has had nothing to do with Hourman, and are starting to feel weird about it. So they go to a seedy-looking coffeehouse called the Mad Yak, which Hourman apparently frequents. Robin hesitates before opening the door, noting that the patrons of this establishment might not be too big on authority, so they shouldn't just barge in like it's a bust. But Impulse wasn't paying attention, and he just runs right in. So everybody reluctantly follows, and are greeted with an awkward silence.

Robin introduces themselves to the owner, who doesn't seem too friendly. Superboy says they're just looking for Hourman, and Impulse very quickly says that Red Tornado is also an android and they thought the two androids would like to meet. The owner says he'll tell Hourman that the teens stopped by ... for $20. So Young Justice storms away, with Robin calling the place rude, unfriendly and uncool, and Superboy saying he'll never go back there, even if Superman starts eating there. And Red Tornado was oddly silent throughout the whole ordeal.

Hourman arrives just seconds after Young Justice leaves, and he says he's glad he missed them since he has too much going on right now to get involved with "super-hero energy." He then spends the rest of the issue gathering up all his friends to take them on a time-traveling adventure. And that's it.




I usually like it when Young Justice randomly shows up in other books, but I prefer organic chance meetings. Like when Superman or Supergirl happen to fly by them up in the sky. Or when there's a really big disaster and Young Justice arrives just a bit too late to help. But this issue ... it was just weird. Why did Young Justice go looking for Hourman? Technically, they did meet Hourman in Sins of Youth — Red Tornado even swapped arms with him when they were little kid androids. So I can't really see any reason for Young Justice to want to reach out to Hourman. If he were a teenager, like the Star-Spangled Kid, then I'd understand the interest here. But as it stands, this unexplained and unnecessary appearance, combined with rather lackluster art, make this an undesirable and forgettable issue for this little Impulse blog.

Update: I asked Tom Peyer on Twitter about this issue and he said: "YJ & Hourman had friends in common (the JLA) & YJ wanted Red Tornado to have an android friend. Made sense to me!" So this does help a little by reinforcing the random goofiness of Young Justice. Mostly though, I'm grateful that Peyer took the time to respond to my random question about a 17-year-old comic book.

None of the letters in Hourmail mention Impulse or Young Justice, so let's check out the new ads:

The only thing worse than the weight of the world on your shoulders is the weight of the moon. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask on Nintendo 64.

Extra sugar free gum Polar Ice flavor. It shows the ice is so cold, if you chew it you grow white fur like a polar bear.

Mess with the best, go down like the rest. Hercules for Nintendo 64.

Freaky what you can get out of a bottle of Sprite these days.

Enter the Namco Champion Within sweepstakes! Grand Prize: Tekken Tag Tournament arcade unit.

Vapor Transmission. The new Orgy album featuring "Fiction (Dreams in Digital)."

What are you going to wear tonight? Cigarettes? No thanks.

Look out. The rainbow's in a sour mood. Sour Skittles.

Deliver at all costs. Smuggler's Run for PlayStation 2.

Next time, we'll get a lot more of Impulse and his friends ... out in space! In Young Justice #27.