Impulse #84

In the Line of Fire

Todd Dezago Writer
Carlo Barberi Penciller
Juan Vlasco Inker
Janice Chiang Letterer
Tom McCraw Colorist
Digital Chameleon Separator
Joey Cavalieri Editor
Impulse created by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo

This issue's cover: Carlo Barberi and Wayne Faucher and the Flash! This is an homage to Jay Garrick's first appearance in 1940's Flash Comics #1. And although it is well drawn, I'm not sure why Jay is so young here. Since the message is that Bart's new mentor is going to be Jay, I think Barberi should have drawn Jay the way he looks now — old. Also, if you look closely, you'll notice the woman's shadow is on a brick wall that does not match the computer-generated brick wall around here. But most important is Bart's face. He doesn't look too happy about this. And he shouldn't be. In fact, I'm not happy about this, either. But I'll try to save my thoughts till the end.

Our story begins one week after Max Mercury was mysteriously pulled into the Speed Force against his will. And at the moment, Bart is angrily running away from Wally West.

We then head back seven minutes ago, to see what has angered Bart. It all started at an impromptu family meeting at the home of Jay and Joan Garrick in Keystone City. Wally is there with his wife, Linda, and so is Bart's grandma, Iris, who is now apparently taking care of the Weather Wizard's infant son (don't ask). Bart and Helen are also there, but they've been asked to wait in the other room because the Garricks didn't want to add to their stress. The Garricks tell the others that Joan has been diagnosed with a rare case of acute leukemia. And apparently there's only one doctor in the world, Dr. Lateris at the Cantele Institute in Denver, that can provide Joan the treatments she needs. So the Garricks have decided to move to Colorado, hoping Joan will be better in a few months.

Wally regretfully says he was hoping that Jay and Joan could become Bart's new guardians, since they have yet to find a trace of Max and Bart still needs an experienced speedster to watch over him. Jay kindly turns Wally down, saying he and Joan will be too busy with the move and her treatments. But Joan refuses to use that as an excuse. She sees that Bart needs help, and she insists on helping him.

So Wally calls in Helen and Bart. Predictably, Bart is not happy with the news. He says he loves Jay and Joan, but he is not going to leave Helen or his home in Manchester. Bart insists that Max will come back soon and until then, he'll be fine living with Helen. Wally tries to tell Bart that he needs super-speed supervision, but Bart deeply resents that Wally made this decision without letting him have any input. Iris tries to calm Bart down, but he won't hear it and runs away. Jay offers to go after Bart, but Wally says it's his responsibility.

That brings us back to the opening scene, and now Wally has caught up with Bart. Running alongside him, Wally criticizes the teen for immaturely running away from a conversation. Bart says that wasn't a conversation, but an order. Wally says maybe they could have a conversation if Bart was less impulsive. Bart says he's already heard that lecture from Max, telling Wally, "For someone who's s'posed to be so fast, you're not very good at keeping up, are you?" He yells at Wally for never trying to talk with him, but always talking at him.

Their argument is put on hold, though, as the two speedsters come across the scene of an accident. A truck has crashed into a tree, and on the other side of the road, a car with a family inside has gone off into a lake. The driver of the truck is alright and is trying to help the sinking family. Bart and Wally quickly form a plan and work quite well together, with Wally diving down and bringing up the family members one a time and Bart taking them to shore, where the truck driver starts giving them CPR.

In no time at all, the family is saved and an ambulance and police car have shown up. Bart praises the truck driver for saving the family's young boy by giving him mouth-to-mouth, but Wally smells alcohol on the man's breath. He quickly checks the truck and finds two empty bottles of whiskey. The man admits he had been drinking and caused the accident. The police take him away, which Bart thinks isn't fair, since he saved the the kid's life. Wally says he was a nice guy who tried to do the right thing after the fact, and he can only hope the court takes that into account.

The speedsters continue their cross-country run, with Wally saying he didn't want to have to decide where Bart lives. Bart tells Wally he's not the boss of him, and when Wally starts to say he knows how Bart feels, Bart asks him if he really knows what it's like to be bossed around. Wally was so wrapped up in the argument that he didn't notice Bart had led him to his childhood home in Blue Valley, Nebraska. Bart tells Wally that he had heard stories from his grandma about how Wally was a lot like Bart as a kid, and how he was constantly bullied by his dad.

This does help Wally remember that feeling of helplessness, and he finally apologizes to Bart for not giving him enough credit and making unfair decisions about him. But he still thinks the best plan is for Bart to live with Jay and Joan. Bart remembers Max suggesting he and Bart move away to give Helen more space to be with her boyfriend, Matt Ringer. (In a bizarre artistic mistake, Bart's memory shows Max talking to his mom, Meloni, instead of himself.) So Bart agrees to move in with Jay and Joan until Max gets back. Wally thanks Bart and says he hopes they can have more healthy conversations in the future. As they run back home, Wally asks Bart where he got the line "For someone who's supposed to be so fast, you're not very good at keeping up, are you?" Bart admits Superboy said it once to him, and he liked being able to use it on Wally.

So Bart returns to Manchester, Alabama, to give his farewells to Preston, Mike, Wade and Rolly. They're all devastated to lose another friend so soon after Carol's sudden departure. Bart tries to assure them that he'll be back as soon as his uncle returns, but they don't think that'll happen anytime soon. Rolly presents Bart with a box filled with some comics and other mementos. Evil Eye suddenly shows up on his bike, and Preston tries to send him away before he says anything rude. But Evil Eye says he just wants to say goodbye to Bart, too. He pats Bart on the back while slipping a paper into his box, saying they've gotten to know quite a bit about each other over the years.

Bart then walks home with Preston, who bemoans that the three musketeers — him, Bart and Carol — are now completely broken up. Bart starts to say that he'll be able to come back and see Preston whenever he wants, but then he remembers with his secret identity, he wouldn't be able to quickly travel from Colorado to Alabama whenever he likes. He ponders over Preston's words that as the three musketeers they had no secrets between them, so he starts to tell Preston that he's Impulse. But he can't quite get the words out and just lets his friend walk away.

Later, Helen is tearfully making sure Bart has all his things packed and reminding him that he's responsible for Dox — not Joan and Jay. As she begins to cry, Bart grabs her a box of tissues and promises to occasionally zip back for a hug. They share a tender embrace, with Bart saying he'll come back as soon as Max does. Bart then shows up at the doorstep of the Garricks' new home in Denver, dressed in his best clothes. With a big smile on his face, he says, "Hi, Uncle Jay, Aunt Joan — I'm home!" Joan warmly says, "Yes, Dear ... you certainly are."


Ugh.

I hate this. I absolutely hate this. We've spent so much time building up the supporting cast in Manchester, Alabama. And now we're just throwing it all away for no good reason. And what makes this even worse is how it was handled. Wally was unfathomably rude in this whole thing. After hearing that Joan Garrick had cancer, he should not have even mentioned his original plan of sending Bart to live with the Garricks. He should have immediately begun to look for an alternative. Helen's been doing a great job of raising Bart, and who's to say that she'd want to stop doing that if and when she got married? She could move in with Matt and Mike, and Bart and Mike would essentially become brothers in one big family full of potentially interesting dynamics. And since Bart still could use some guidance from a veteran speedster, then Jay, Wally and Jesse could take turns coming down to give Bart some training on the weekends. It's not like Bart demands constant supervision. Hasn't he proven that he's become a little bit more responsible now? And why didn't Helen or anybody else stand up for Bart here? He's getting a terrible in this, and I think I'm more angry about it than Bart was!

Impulsive Reactions begins with Joey Cavalieri saying he just got off the phone with Todd Dezago after discussing the plot for the upcoming issues of Impulse. I wonder if he knew at this point the series was close to cancellation.

Brentac says that he loved Impulse #81 even though "a whole lot of nothing happened." He welcomed a break from the main plot line and called Captain Saturn awesome, although he admitted he didn't want to see him again.

Speedy Smurph suggests that Inertia could come back holding Carol's hand, either in reality or a nightmare of Bart's. Speedy says Carlo Barberi is the best artist on Impulse and Tom McCraw is the best colorist. He also thought Captain Saturn was funny, but annoying.

Havk thought it was nice to have a one-shot to break up the drama, although he would have preferred to have the story focus on Bart with his friends at school. Havk hearkens back to the Mark Waid days, when Bart was the most popular kid in school.

Richard B. Weston says issue #81 needed a laughter warning. He loved how Captain Saturn was so annoying that he made Impulse look like the grownup by comparison. Richard says Bart should now know how Max feels.

Corndog7 thought it was a very clever and very funny take on the Don Quixote story. Now for the new ads (Bart and his friends were once again dressed in Nautica apparel):

Bubble Tape. How much can you handle?

Ripley's Believe It or Not!

You've never seen a race this twisted before! Shrek Swamp Kart Speedway for Game Boy Advance.

A howling new Scooby-Doo movie! Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf.

Introducing pocket-sized figures of the entire DC Universe! DC Comics Pocket Super Heroes.

An all-new movie is in your future! Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring.

Hey, Kids! Comics! A world without Young Justice!? They first burst onto the scene in an unforgettable tale called JLA: World Without Grown-Ups. This April, the sensational sidekicks star in the crossover called "World Without Young Justice," running through Young Justice #44, Impulse #85, Robin #101, Superboy #99, and wrapping up in May's YJ #45.
Bedlam, the instigator of the team's first adventure, is back ... and this time he's out to prevent Robin, Impulse and Superboy from ever having become a team in the first place! In their place, though, stands ... Young Justice? That's right — but this team is made up of strangely altered versions of Wonder Girl, the Secret and Arrowette! And that's only the beginning ... but you'll have to see for yourself by hitting your local comics shop in April and picking up "World Without Young Justice."

Samurai Jack: The Premiere Movie on videocassette and DVD.

A DC subscription form, only offering Batman: Gotham Adventure, Superboy and Justice League Adventures. Did they know Impulse wouldn't last another year?

Tang Tropical Tremor. Puts hair on your tongue.

Make your own fun. Lunchables Pizza.

Next time, before we begin the big Young Justice crossover, we'll take a look at the evil, mind-controlled Impulse in JSA #35.