Impulse #81

Don Coyote: The Man of La Jolla

Todd Dezago • Writer
Carlo Barberi • Penciller
Juan Vlasco • Inker
Janice Chiang • Letterer
Tom McCraw • Colorist
Digital Chameleon • Separations
Joey Cavalieri • Tilting at Windmills
Impulse created by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo

This issue's cover: Signs point to Carlo Barberi and Wayne Faucher as the names behind this one! To be honest, I don't get this cover. Why doesn't this guy know how to spell Impulse? I do know this cover is based off The Flash #181, which came out this same month and sadly, once again, did not include Impulse. But really, I just don't think this cover is funny or engaging.

Our story begins with another fun recap page, showing how Bart is finally out of his funk, is back being Impulse again, and is loving it. He considers himself the latest and greatest in a long line of speedsters (with Wally West actually being the most primitive one).

Bart is in rare form, fully utilizing his powers and training to minimize the effects of his running on the environment. He is literally running on air, neutralizing the sonic boom when he passes the sound barrier and is eliminating his backdraft when he stops to catch some french fries and a soda that was dropped by a waitress before it hit the customer in the face in Chicago. Bart's path takes him to Southern California, where a movie set designer named Dan Coyote has failed to properly secure three large fake aliens he's built. The aliens just happen to fall on Dan right as Impulse passes by, so Bart decides to make sure the man is all right.

To Bart's astonishment, Dan proclaims himself to be a superhero named Captain Saturn. He quickly throws on a costume with a flowing yellow cape and shoves a golden helmet on Bart's head, calling him Snacky, the Boy Comet. Seeing Bart's obvious confusion to all this, Dan assumes that some insidious villain has scrambled his sidekick's brains. He then immediately begins running off nowhere in particular to find adventure. Bart decides to humor Dan for a bit, asking him how he gained his superpowers. Dan explains that he was abducted by aliens, who gave him his superpowers, turning him into Captain Saturn (although the aliens didn't come from Saturn).

Bart is now thoroughly convinced that Dan is not actually a superhero, so he starts to suggest they head to a hospital to have the bump on his head examined. But before Bart can stop him, Dan leaps off the edge of a cliff, believing he can fly. Bart quickly runs under Dan, creating a mini vortex below him to safely suspend him in midair and carry him across six lanes of traffic. Bart sets Dan down at a gas station, where an overwhelmed mother is trying pump gas and corral her three young boys. Dan sees the woman as a damsel in distress, with the boys as dwarves and the gas pump hoses as monstrous serpents.

Dan "rescues" the family by tying the gas hoses up in a knot, while all Impulse can do is embarrassedly tell everybody he doesn't know that man. Dan once again insists that "Snacky" put on his helmet, which Bart does for about a second, grumbling that it looks more like a cockroach than a comet. He then pulls Dan aside and asks if he can explain how he became Snacky. So Dan tells Bart that several years ago, a group of ninjas sabotaged some trapeze artists' ropes, causing the performers to fall on Bart's parents, who were sitting in the crowd. The impact killed Bart's parents, making him an orphan. Captain Saturn then took the young boy in, calling him Snacky since that was apparently his mother's name. He then gave his ward a blood transfusion to give him powers and make him his sidekick.

The owner of the gas station comes out to yell at them for messing up his pumps, and the three rowdy boys convince their mom to take them to the mini golf course next door. Bart tries once again to take Dan to the hospital, but he has spotted his next challenge — the mini golf windmill, which he believes to be a dragon. Dan grabs a pole and charges at the windmill. Impulse quickly pulls the family out of the way, as Dan smashes the "dragon" into oblivion. In his exuberance, Dan accidentally bumps a large replica of Paul Bunyan, which begins to fall on the family. Bart, however, noticed that the gas station owner was just about to drop his cigar on a large puddle of gasoline.

Impulse catches the cigar, preventing what surely would have been a massive explosion. This left Paul Bunyan to "Captain Saturn," who stunned everyone by catching the large prop. But then Bart realized Dan's pole actually stopped the statue from completely tipping over. Just then, Dan is approached by two men he recognizes, Geoff and Tom. They thank Impulse for watching over their friend, explaining that he occasionally acts eccentric like this, but is otherwise harmless. Dan takes off with his friends, telling "Snacky" that he's going to be part of a big crossover team-up, leaving Impulse (and most of the readers) completely confused at what just happened.


It took me a while to figure this out, but Dan Coyote sounds an awful lot like Don Quixote. Knowing that, though, I still have to say I didn't like this issue very much. I did think the origin of Snacky was pretty funny, but the rest of the issue was just a bit too weird and random for my tastes. But mostly, I'm upset that Dezago and Barberi interrupted their narrative for what felt like a fill-in issue. In the previous issues of Impulse, we saw Bart's friends start to figure out he's Impulse, Max Mercury investigate a new threat through the Speed Force, and Helen move closer toward marriage. Why did we put all those storylines on hold for a retelling of Don Quixote? It just felt like a complete waste of Barberi's art.

Impulsive Reactions begins with Andy Oliver, of Upminster, England, saying Impulse #77 boasted another inventive cover. He admits to feeling a little drained by Our Worlds at War, as he grew tired of multipart crossovers years ago. Andy also says Bart's new power is imaginative, although he worried it would grow old quick. But he was pleasantly surprised with what happened involving Bart's power in issue #77. Andy even praises the creators for taking advantage of the big crossover to shake up the status quo of Impulse. Joey Cavalieri hints at Bart's new power being used to set off another big storyline.

Andrew James Shaw, of Torrance, Calif., believes Bart's new power will prove to be too powerful in the long run. But he does admit the new power isn't as lame as he thought it'd be. Andrew also praises Barberi's skill with drawing hair, and he asks for White Lightning to gain super speed.

Next time, we'll return to our Dark Horse crossover with SpyBoy/Young Justice #2.