Young Justice #13

Warlords Part 1

Brian Michael Bendis and David Walker Writers

Michael Avon Oeming (p. 1-3, 8, 15, 17-18), Mike Grell (p. 4-7, 16), John Timms (p. 9-14, 19-22) Art

Gabe Eltaeb Colors

Wes Abbott Letters

Timms and Eltaeb Cover

Grell and Lovern Kindzierski Variant Cover

Brittany Holzherr Editor

Jamie S. Rich Group Editor

Superboy created by Jerry Siegel.

By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Our main cover shows and angry/evil Superboy decked out in full Warlord gear with blood dripping from his sword and hoards of monsters looming behind him. Nothing remotely close to this happens in the book. Apparently this cover is inspired by someone named Frazzetta (it's tough to read). Maybe it's supposed to be Frank Frazetta? But I don't really care. This cover does not fit the tone or content of this issue.

Our variant cover (which I nabbed from dc.fandom.com) is a rather unappealing '70s style pinup of Warlord and Young Justice. It's drawn by Mike Grell, who began drawing Warlord back in the 1970s. And I'm sure that style worked great for that time. But today? I feel like there's a reason nobody draws like that anymore.

Half this issue deals with Superboy and Warlord in Skartaris. Superboy spends most of the time crying because he can't catch a break and just go back home. Warlord provides his backstory, which only serves as an excuse for Grell to draw all his old favorite characters again. But we don't care about any of that. We're only here for Impulse, who is currently ... sitting around doing nothing.

Our heroes are still in Port Oswego, Oregon, standing around talking and checking their phones, despite last issue's triumphant charge to rescue Superboy. It's very strange. In between issues, they all decided to suddenly stop and talk some more. In fact, they've been sitting around talking so much, that Miguel's Spider-Man knock-off powers have worn out. Bart is understandably frustrated, telling Tim to stop worrying about the details.

Fortunately, the plot intervenes as several devices and items simultaneously begin glowing and emitting pink lightning. The Wonder Twins use a device they took from the Hall of Justice to trace the source of this energy surge to New Mexico. Bart makes the connection that Conner said the secret S.T.A.R. Labs base that sent him to Gemworld was in New Mexico. So Cassie announces that they're going to Nevada (huh?!). Tim tells Bart they need backup, so Impulse takes off, asking Drake to text him where he's going. (And I'm left wondering where Bart keeps his phone in his suit. Or is his phone built into his goggles somehow?)

Anyway, on the last page of the comic, we see the reinforcements Bart found: Spoiler, the new Aqualad (based off the version from the Young Justice animated series), Arrowette and Sideways. Aqualad proclaims them to be the "real" Young Justice and Arrowette says she's been waiting a long time for this.

I suspect this issue (and series) went through a lot of last-minute rewrites. First of all, last issue was incorrectly labeled the finale of a storyline, when it should have been the beginning of this new storyline. But when they bumped that "official" beginning back, this issue had to basically repeat all the setup from last issue. And I'm not sure what David Walker's role was here, but it can't be a good sign to randomly bring in a co-writer for no reason.

This issue was a complete mess. The three different artists had styles that were about as jarring as possible. Story-wise, Bendis is relying way to heavily on the factor of nostalgia to make up for a lack of plot. And he's even messing up the nostalgia factor! Old fans of Young Justice like me can't even get excited about Arrowette because we had to wade through so much of Mike Grell's soft porn Warlord nonsense! Warlord was way before my time, and I'd imagine before the time of the target audience of this book. If you were like me and picked up this series because you wanted to see Impulse, Superboy and Robin back in action, the last thing you wanted was a massive homage to a comic you've probably never heard of from 1978.

After a solid year on this series, I still have a hundred questions about my favorite character. And sadly, I've resigned myself to the reality that I'll never get satisfactory answers. In the meantime, let's check out the new house ads:

A lost kingdom. A dark secret. A brave princess. Amethyst. (Is it too much to ask for an Impulse miniseries?)

Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey.

A DC Nation interview with Tom Taylor, writer of DCeased: Unkillables.

Next time, we'll take a quick look at Superman: Heroes #1.

Actually, I lied. Since Impulse only appears on the cover, I'll just show it here.

Next time (for real) will be Action Comics #1020.

Justice League #39

Justice/Doom War Finale

Scott Snyder Writer

Jorge Jimenez (pages 1-11), Daniel Sampere & Juan Albarran (pages 12-21) Art

Alejandro Sanchez (pages 1-11) & Hi-Fi (pages 12-21) Colors

Tom Napolitano Letters

Tyler Kirkham & Arif Prianto Cover

Kenneth Rocafort Variant Cover

Ben Meares Associate Editor

Jamie S. Rich Editor

Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Our cover shows the Hall of Justice floating in space with the Justice all falling/floating/dying/who knows? It's vague and strange, which is perfectly fitting for this story. And it gives a sense of defeat, which is also perfectly fitting.

This is the end of a long, confusing story involving the Multiverse and an all-powerful deity called Perpetua. It'd be impossible and pointless for me to try to recap this sprawling tale. So instead, I'll merely say that Perpetua succeeds in destroying the Justice League, but instead of our heroes dying, they are saved by the Quintessence — basically an organization of some of the most powerful beings in the universe: Highfather, the Phantom Stranger, Hera, the wizard Shazam, Ganthet and the Spectre. The Quintessence saved the Justice League from dying and explained to them that forces of evil have divided the universe, but they have also saved a door that connects everything. So our heroes valiantly run through that door to see a world where all stories matter.

I could be wrong, but it seems like Scott Snyder is implying that Young Justice and Naomi existed outside of regular DC continuity. But Brian Michael Bendis clearly showed that this was not the case, as they repeatedly crossed over into his Superman stories and were referenced in his Legion stories. The past few years of continuity confusion at DC really makes me yearn for the pre-New 52 days. It seems like ever since Flashpoint happened, no one at DC has been able to definitively say what "counts" and what doesn't. And these sprawling stories that allege that "everything matters" only serve to create more confusion.

Next time, we'll get back to a story where Impulse actually gets to do something — Young Justice #13.

Dial H for Hero #11

Dear Dad

Writer – Sam Humphries

Artist – Joe Quinones

Colorist – Jordan Gibson

Letterer – Dave Sharpe

Cover – Joe Quinones

Editor – Brittany Holzherr

Group Editor – Jamie S. Rich

Superman created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster.

By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Our cover shows the hero of this book, Miguel, split into four alterations of the Reign of the Supermen characters: Steel, Superboy, Cyborg Superman and the Eradicator. It's a pretty cool concept that is expertly executed by Joe Quinones, who has emerged as one of my favorite artists. Throughout this series, Quinones demonstrated an ability to perfectly mimic every different style imaginable — from Golden Age comics to Japanese magna. Every issue is such a treat.

As fun as this series is, this is an Impulse blog, and he only makes a quick cameo in this issue. So I'm not going to break down everything that happens in this issue. Suffice it to say, the H-dial is a device that can transform people into random superheroes. But there are actually four dials, and Miguel is manipulated by a man named Mister Thunderbolt to give him all four dials, which he uses to tap into the Multiverse itself. This action sends a burst of energy throughout different aspects of reality, and is noticed by a handful of characters, including the Monitor, Darkseid and our lovable Impulse. Bart can feel something is wrong with the Speed Force, saying it feels like crazy people who build trebuchets ripped right through it.

Sadly, that's the full extent of Bart's involvement in this series. He experiences a momentary "blip" in the Speed Force, but that's it. I highly recommend this series, though. It's an imaginative story with gorgeous, diverse art on each page. Let's close with the new house ads:

Hell Arisen. Lobo "The Main Man" vs. Kara "Supergirl" Zor-El.

Wonder Woman: Warbringer. The action-packed thrill ride that inspired the graphic novel!

A DC Nation interview with Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti on Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey.

Next time: One more quick cameo in Justice League #39.

Flash Forward #5

Chapter Five: Reunion

Scott Lobdell – Script

Brett Booth – Pencils

Norm Rapmund – Inks

Luis Guerrero – Colors

ALW's Troy Peteri – Letters

Doc Shaner – Cover

Inhyuk Lee – Variant Cover

Ben Meares – Associate Editor

Paul Kaminski – Editor

Ben Abernathy – Group Editor

Our cover shows Wally West sitting in the all-powerful Mobius Chair with his ... mind exploding ... in a rainbow of multiverse knowledge? I don't know. The whole concept of this just angers me. Supposedly, the purpose of this mini series was to redeem Wally after years of being neglected and abused by DC. But to try to redeem him with Lobdell and Booth? Yuck. And the Mobius Chair? Why? This is making things way more complicated than they need to be.

Luckily for me, this is a Bart Allen blog — not a Wally West blog. So I don't have to really talk about this series. True, I am a bit offended that Bart had no role in this series, but it does seem like I've dodged a bullet here. So anyway, why are we here? Well, Impulse did make one tiny cameo in a rather glorious two-page spread that recaps Wally's entire career.

At the center of this is our old friend from the Dark Multiverse stories, Tempus Fuginaut, because ... Multiverse! I guess. I don't really care. I still don't like Booth's artwork, but this is a very nice spread. Mostly it's the nostalgia factor that makes this enjoyable, but hey, sometimes nostalgia is all we've got.

Well, before I'm tempted to begin to recap this mess of a story, let's head straight to the ads:

DC heroes get a classic fairy-tale twist! Batman Tales: Once Upon a Crime.

Once an assassin. Now a hero. Shadow of the Batgirl.

DC Nation Spotlight on Wonder Woman #750. DC Rebirth reestablished the legacy numbering for Action Comics and Detective Comics, but nothing else. I'm glad they finally started doing the same with some other titles, including The Flash.

Next time, another quick cameo in Dial H for Hero #11.

Young Justice #12

Lost in the Multiverse Finale

Brian Michael Bendis Script

John Timms Art

Gabe Eltaeb Colors

Wes Abbott Letters

Timms and Eltaeb Cover

Nick Bradshaw and Alex Sinclair Variant Cover

Brittany Holzherr Associate Editor

Mike Cotton Editor

Brian Cunningham Group Editor

Superboy created by Jerry Siegel.

By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Our cover shows Young Justice involved in an actual fight scene — one that has even damaged our heroes to the point of having a few small scrapes in their costumes (which is by far the most damage they've sustained in the past year). Joining our heroes are Naomi and the Wonder Twins, who do show up in this issue, but Miguel from Dial H for Heroes, who also shows up, is absent from the cover. Superboy also is prominently featured in the foreground, but he spends this whole issue trapped on Skartaris with Warlord. The text on the cover also says our heroes are assaulting S.T.A.R. Labs, which also does not happen in this issue. So, all in all, I'm a bit disappointed by this cover.

Our variant, sadly isn't much better. Everybody is awkwardly laying on top of each other. And by everybody, I mean 10 beautiful teenagers wearing skin-tight clothing. And was Naomi always barefoot?! Apparently so, but I never noticed. So yeah, this cover just feels weird.

Our story begins with Wonder Girl and Teen Lantern visiting the home of the Justice League, the Hall of Justice. (Tim thought it would be a good idea to send them there after Superboy took off.) Unfortunately, Keli's hacked piece of alien technology sets off the security alarm, and the two girls are trapped in an energy bubble. In another bit of unfortunate news, the Justice League is away, leaving only the Wonder Twins to deal with our heroes. The Wonder Twins have never heard of Young Justice, so they're treated to the usual recap page, this time with art lazily lifted from the cover of Young Justice #10.

Let's cut ahead to Impulse's return to the team. He apparently went on a doughnut run ... which took several hours. Tim seems doubtful that it would take Bart this long, but he claims there was a line at the shop. Tim tells Bart that Conner is missing, so he sent Cassie and Keli to the Hall of Justice because he thought Bart had gone back to Central City. Bart says he thought the mission was over, but when Tim insists he go check on the girls, Bart immediately heads out with a serious look on his face, abandoning his half-eaten doughnut.

Bart zooms into the Hall of Justice, shouting that everything the girls have said is true. Jayna is shocked to see a "tinier Flash," and Bart immediately frees Teen Lantern and Wonder Girl by telling the supercomputer "Hall of Justice I.D. Code FlashCode-87Fish-56ThrottleSpeed." The computer welcomes Bart as Barry Allen, but oddly brings us a picture of Bart. Cassie gives Bart a hug and Keli asks about the "Barry," but Bart just says, "Sshh! It worked, didn't it?"

Dr. Glory of S.T.A.R. Labs then calls, ranting and raving (and lying) about Naomi. Mostly, she's mad she can't complain to the Justice League directly. After she hangs up, the Wonder Twins reaffirm to our heroes that the Justice League really is away on an important mission. Bart asks if this includes Justice League Dark — a question that is ignored. However, the Wonder Twins do want to activate something Superman promised they could use only for emergencies. When the supercomputer denies them access, Bart overrides it with his same code. He then heroically tells the Wonder Twins, "Welcome to Young Justice."

Before too long, our heroes come flying back to Port Oswego, Oregon, to regroup with the team. And they are literally flying — in Wonder Woman's famed invisible jet (which is really that invisible, due to all the dust in the air). Tim blames himself for this extravagant entrance, knowing it was a mistake to send Impulse alone. Bart introduces everybody to the Wonder Twins, when suddenly Miguel and Summer from Dial H for Hero appear out of nowhere.

Miguel recognizes some of the members of Young Justice, and Tim recognizes the H-Dial, saying he's even spun it himself before (???). Summer says the H-Dial suddenly overcharged and brought them here, and the Wonder Twins' technology from the Hall of Justice shows that someone has overcharged the dimensional rift that brought Young Justice home. Bart suggests that the only possible suspect (Dr. Glory of S.T.A.R. Labs) is behind this. He also says he "follows" the Dial H for Heroes (???). Anyway, everybody instantly decides that they need to take down Dr. Glory at once (and possibly rescue Superboy). Miguel spins the H-Dial and turns into a rip-off of Spider-Man (because Bendis wrote Spider-Man for a long time).

The Wonder Comics line got off to a strong start. Dial H for Hero was charming and fantastically illustrated. Wonder Twins was deep and insightful, yet entertaining. I haven't read Naomi yet, but I've heard good things. And Young Justice, of course, was fun and amazing, but really started to wear on my nerves by this point. All these books came courtesy of Brian Michael Bendis (although he didn't write them all, thankfully). I still don't understand the need for a separate "Wonder Comics" brand, but I am glad we got this comics. But I'm not glad that Bendis shoe-horned everyone into Young Justice for a mega crossover. 

Young Justice's biggest weakness was having too many characters. Adding more characters to the mix only exacerbates the problem and delays the long-waited answers to all our pressing questions. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to try to enjoy what I can. In the meantime, here are the house ads:

This 13-year-old just inherited his grandmother's Green Lantern ring. No pressure. Green Lantern: Legacy.

A lost kingdom. A dark secret. A brave princess. Amethyst. Followed by a six-page preview of its first issue. (If she can get her own series, why can't Impulse?)

A DC Nation interview with Shannon and Dean Hale, writers of Diana: Princess of the Amazons.

Next time, we'll take a quick look at Flash Forward #5.

Year in Review: 2019

I know I said 2018 was the biggest year yet for superheroes. But 2019 surpassed that in every way. Avengers: Endgame became the highest-grossing film of all time at more than $2.7 billion. And there were three other superhero movies that passed the billion-dollar mark — Spider-Man: Far From Home, Captain Marvel and Joker. DC's r-rated, non-DCEU Joker was the big surprise, not only in the box office, but at the Academy Awards, coming away with two Oscars — Best Original Score and Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix. 

There were two other superhero movies in 2019 that didn't quite live up to the incredible standard set by these others. DC's other film, Shazam!, was a delightful romp that I quite enjoyed, but it didn't really find an audience. And for Marvel, Dark Phoenix was meant to be the swan song for Fox's X-Men franchise, but it felt like everyone gave up halfway through, as the Disney-Fox deal was finalized. Speaking of Disney, their box office domination was almost absolute in 2019. In addition to their Marvel blockbusters, Disney had five other sequels or remakes earn at least a billion dollars — The Lion King, Frozen II, The Rise of Skywalker, Toy Story 4 and Aladdin. Hopefully that gave them enough money before the pandemic of 2020 hit.

Let's see ... what else happened in 2019? Oh, nothing much. Just the biggest year for Bart Allen in almost 20 years! He returned to the world of animation as Kid Flash on Young Justice: Outsiders, via the DC Universe app. And, much more significantly, he became a founding member of the rebooted Young Justice series in the comics — not as Kid Flash, but as the original Impulse once again! It was quite exciting.

Best Story: Young Justice #1

After appearing on a glorious splash page in Flash #50 in July 2018, we didn't get a single glimpse of Bart until January 2019. There was a tease in Action Comics #1006 on the 2nd, then the Young Justice: Outsiders premiere on the 4th, which unfortunately made clear that Bart would not be a big part of this season. But then, finally, Young Justice #1 dropped on January 9, and boy was it something. It was loud, it was bright, it was colorful. It screamed from the mountaintops that Young Justice is back and Impulse is at the center of it. That issue was a loooong time coming, and it appropriately matched the level of excitement it needed. And, frankly, there wasn't any other issue or episode that came close. Bart had a ton of appearances in 2019, but nothing as big as this. His cameos in The Flash were forgettable, and his role on Outsiders was inconsequential. And, sadly, none of the subsequent issues of Young Justice were as good as the debut.

Best Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

This was another no-brainer award. I don't know if Joshua Williamson was not allowed or was simply unwilling to use Impulse, but he really didn't. So the vast majority of Bart's appearances this year fell under the massive Bendis umbrella. DC gave him a large corner of their universe to work with, and he made sure to frequently have his revamped Young Justice make cameos in his other titles — even if that didn't fit in his established continuity. Regardless, Bendis did do a very good job with Impulse this year. Although he never explained anything, he nailed Bart's personality and power set. And even though I started to sour on Young Justice around issue #10, the series was a lot of fun.

Best Artist: Patrick Gleason

Sadly, Gleason quickly bolted for Marvel after only a handful of Young Justice issues. But the work he did  was fantastic. In interviews, he spoke of how he saw Impulse as the heart of the team, and it showed every time he drew him. Gleason also was innovative in choosing to rarely — if ever — drawing Bart in a traditional running pose, opting instead for chaotic and random jumping, ducking and basically dancing. And that choice perfectly fits Bart's personality. He doesn't just run fast, he moves fast. Also, Gleason became the first artist since Humberto Ramos to redesign Impulse's look. He has a new costume, buck teeth (meh), new hair, new eyes (I miss the yellow), new everything. But, there is no mistaking that this is Impulse. And more important than how he looks, is how he feels ... if that makes any sense. Anyway, no other artist came close this year to matching Gleason's accomplishments.

Best Supporting Character: Eduardo Dorado Jr.

Poor Superboy is once again the runner-up in this category — a position he's in almost every year. Yes, Bart's reunion with Kon was by far the most emotional of this year. But Bendis oddly interrupted that glorious hug with a whole separate issue that neither of them appeared in. And after that hug, what have Bart and Kon actually done? Those 11 issues went by way too fast for any normal conservation or introspection. So that brings up Kid Flash's newest best friend, Eduardo. There is a very strong implication that the two of them are boyfriends — which would be a very interesting direction to explore — but there was no confirmation. (It's a little strange, considering how the third season of Young Justice didn't shy away from LGBTQ characters, but oh well.) At the very least, Bart and Eduardo are great friends who care a lot about each other. They were constantly at each others' side and deeply worried about each others' safety during battle. And that's more than I can say about Bart and Kon.

Best Villain: Granny Goodness

This was a tough one. Technically, the Dark Lord Opal was the main villain for the start of the Young Justice comic, but he never really felt like much of a threat, and was quickly, unceremoniously defeated. After that, Young Justice bounced around the multiverse for a little bit, before finally getting into a fight with their Earth-3 counterparts. But once again, they hardly provided a challenge and were easily beaten. So that leaves us with the main villain of Young Justice: Outsiders. And that was Granny Goodness. Bart didn't get to help defeat her at the end, but she did cause him and his teammates the most pain and torture they felt all year, so that gives ol' Granny the win.

Before I can move on to 2020, there is one final Impulse appearance I must record: the cover of Flash Forward #4.

The wonderful Doc Shaner snuck in a Bart and Wally straight from Mike Wieringo's Flash #97. But Bart didn't appear in the issue, which is fine with me, because that miniseries has two of my least favorite creators on it — Scott Lobdell and Brett Booth. Ugh! Unfortunately, I will have to take a quick look at Flash Forward #5.

But first, we'll start 2020 with Young Justice #12.

Superman #18

Truth

Brian Michael Bendis Writer

Ivan Reis Pencils

Joe Prado Inks

Alex Sinclair Colors

Dave Sharpe Letters

Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Alex Sinclair Cover

Bryan Hitch and Alex Sinclair Variant Cover

Jessica Chen Associate Editor

Mike Cotton Editor

Brian Cunningham Group Editor

Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Supergirl based on the characters created by Jerry Siegel.

By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Our cover is simple, direct and effective. Superman is revealing his secret identity. It's a pretty momentous event, and the plain, white background was the right choice for it. Plus, it's done by one of my favorite artists, Ivan Reis (I really wish he was on Action Comics, instead, since that's where Young Justice has more appearances). All in all, this is a great cover.

The story is exactly what the cover states. Superman holds a massive news conference to tell the entire world that he is Clark Kent. He did tell a couple of people close to him beforehand, such as Perry White and Jimmy Olsen, prompting emotional and funny reactions. But for the most part, this issue is Superman giving a lengthy speech, while heroes and villains around the world watch. And from the heroes, there seems to be an overwhelmingly positive reaction — especially from the Flash and Impulse.

And that's basically it. The issue ends with a thrilling shot of Lex Luthor silently absorbing this information. And, of course, only time will tell if this moment leads to any lasting change. As for Young Justice ... well, this is yet another example of Bendis ignoring his own continuity. Young Justice just barely came back home, only to have Superboy promptly be sent away to another planet. So they really didn't have any time to sit around and watch this press conference on Tim's phone. Anyway ... this was certainly an ... interesting issue. I don't know. This isn't a Superman blog. So let's call things here and check out the new ads:

There is no justice without truth. Superman: Year One.

The Batman Who Laughs vs. "Apex" Lex. Hell Arisen.

And the DC Nation page is a spotlight on the aforementioned Hell Arisen comic.

Well, that's it for 2019. Next time will be the Year in Review, before we come hauntingly close to catching up to real time.

Young Justice #11

Lost in the Multiverse Part 5

Brian Michael Bendis Script

John Timms Art

Gabe Eltaeb Colors

Wes Abbott Letters

Timms and Eltaeb Cover

Nick Bradshaw and Alex Sinclair Variant Cover

Brittany Holzherr Associate Editor

Mike Cotton Editor

Brian Cunningham Group Editor

Superboy created by Jerry Siegel.

By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Our main cover prominently features Naomi once again, visually making her Wonder Girl's equal, although the text creates intrigue with Superboy. It's a fine cover, but Impulse feels like an afterthought. And it would be nice to move away from these generic poses and actually show what the story inside is like. But then again, we would need an actual story inside to promote.

The variant cover is pretty nice, but kind of weird, since none of the characters are the same size. Everything's kind of random and hodgepodge — except for the deliberate choice to make Naomi front and center. Tim is accidentally still in his Robin costume. And poor Bart once again is the smallest afterthought. But for this issue, as we'll soon see, that is quite appropriate.

Our story picks up where we left off, with Young Justice arriving in Naomi's hometown of Port Oswego, Oregon. Everyone is desperately hanging onto Jinny's truck, more or less freaking out. Bart is loudly pleading for this Earth to finally be the right one.

When they finally do land, they're all surrounded by scientists and Naomi. Cassie and Tim try to diplomatically introduce themselves, but Jinny interrupts them by swearing and demanding to know which Earth this is. Naturally, nobody knows how to answer this question, but Naomi reveals she does know who Young Justice is. She calls Bart Kid Flash before correcting herself and saying Impulse. She calls Tim Red Robin, but he obstinately insists she call him Drake. Suddenly, Naomi collapses and passes out, as she has come to the end of a very long day.

Our heroes are also exhausted, and since nobody knew what to do with them, Naomi's parents brought all the teenagers to their house to sleep for the night. All except Impulse, who mysteriously takes off for who knows where. His disappearance isn't acknowledged until the morning, when Superboy announces he's taking off to investigate the S.T.A.R. Lab creeps who sent him to Gemworld in the first place. Unfortunately, they trick him once again, sending Kon to Warworld this time.

And that's it. Bendis was so hellbent on promoting his original character, Naomi, that he insisted on inserting her into this already-bloated cast of characters. Naturally, this forces several characters into the background, and Impulse drew the short straw this issue. Who cares that he's one of the three founding members of Young Justice and we haven't answered any questions about him in 11 issues? We need to promote Naomi! And send Superboy away again ... Well, let's take a break from complaining and look at the new ads:

Diana's oldest enemy returns — and wants to be her closest ally! Wonder Woman: The Just War.

We have an ad for Watchmen ... even though it's like 30 years old at this point ...

A DC Nation interview with Grant Morrison on Green Lantern: Blackstars.

Next time, we'll take a quick look at Superman #18.

Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Blackest Night #1

Tim Seeley Writer

Kyle Hotz Pencils

Dexter Vines, Walden Wong & Danny Miki Inks

David Baron & Allen Passalaqua Colors

Tom Napolitano Letters

Lee Weeks & Brad Anderson Cover

Full disclosure: I was supposed to review this issue before the Infinite Crisis one, but I got them mixed up. I hope you can forgive me. Anyway, our cover shows Sinestro being attacked by the Black Lantern versions of the Justice League. If you look closely, you'll notice that Sinestro is wearing both a white ring and a black ring. It's a fine cover, recapturing the inherent creepiness of Blackest Night.

Much like the Infinite Crisis retelling, this story changes just one aspect of Blackest Night: What if Sinestro didn't share the White Lantern power? Well, the immediate answer is quickly taken care of in just two pages. Nekron wins and turns everybody into a Black Lantern zombie. Sinestro is so distraught by his failure, he commits suicide. The remaining 40 pages of comic deal with the aftermath of this crushing defeat.

We head to San Francisco 19 days later, where Lobo is smashing in the skull of zombie Kid Flash. (And poor Bart's head will permanently be squashed for the rest of this issue.) Lobo has been hired by a mysterious benefactor to capture Dove, whose connection to the Lord of Order makes her immune to the Black Lanterns. And as such, she is the last woman alive on Earth.

As Lobo viciously tears the zombie Titans apart, he's bitten by Starfire, which allows him to demonstrate his immunity to the Black Lanterns — being a Czarnian, he's able to regenerate at a cellular level at will, thus instantly expelling any infection. Anyway, Sinestro soon shows up, revealing that the White Lantern ring wouldn't let him completely kill himself. So he mainly spends his time torturing the Black Lantern zombies by briefly reviving them with his white ring before his black ring kills them again.

Eager to atone for his failure, Sinestro travels with Lobo and Dove into outer space, where we learn the man who hired Lobo is Mister Miracle — the only New God who was able to escape the Black Lanterns. Mister Miracle has a wild plan to harness the energy of the Source to destroy all the Black Lanterns at once. Well, that turns out to be pretty tricky, and in one cool moment, zombie Darkseid kills Lobo, only to witness each drop of Lobo's blood grow into another Lobo (just like we saw way back in Young Justice #36).

Anyway, Dove, the embodiment of peace, was supposed to be the template for the Source energy to create new life from. But Mister Miracle was tricked into killing her, so Lobo killed Miracle in retaliation. In desperation, Sinestro used Lobo as the template, which successfully destroyed all Black Lanterns in the universe ... but unfortunately created billions of violent Lobo-like creatures.

Once again, I was pleasantly surprised by how interesting this story was. If it didn't rely so heavily on over-the-top, grotesque violence, I would have enjoyed it a whole lot more. Altogether, I'd say our two Dark Multiverse issues were a success.

Next time, we begin the final month of 2019 with Young Justice #11.

Action Comics #1017

Metropolis Doom!

Brian Michael Bendis Writer

John Romita Jr. Penciller

Klaus Janson Inker

Brad Anderson Colorist

Dave Sharpe Letterer

Romita Jr., Janson, Anderson Cover

Lucio Parillo Variant Cover

Jessica Chen Associate Editor

Mike Cotton Editor

Brian Cunningham Group Editor

Superman created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster.

By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Batman created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger.

Our cover shows a group of villains marching forward through rubble with the capes and accoutrements of the heroes they supposedly defeated. We have Gorilla Grodd, Cheetah, Brainiac, Sinestro, and, leading the way, is Lex Luthor, apparently. Why does he look like this? Because Year of the Villain. Anyway, I think this might be a fine cover ... if it wasn't drawn by John Romita Jr. I'm sorry, but I cannot stand his work and I will complain every time — especially when he tries to draw gorillas and cheetahs. And why are all the faces so squashed? (Sorry, not sorry.)

Our story basically opens on the scene shown in the cover. Metropolis is in ruins and these villains are standing triumphant. The only heroes left to oppose them are Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. And lying on the ground defeated are the rest of the Justice League, the Teen Titans and our lovable Young Justice.

That Robin in the foreground is most likely supposed to be Damian Wayne, even though he has a beard? Sorry, I'll stop complaining about the art. Anyway, I'm sure you're dying to know how and why Young Justice ended up lying battered and bruised alongside the Justice League and Teen Titans. But we don't find that out in this issue. After this shocking scene, the comic abruptly jumps backward in time and doesn't catch up to the beginning of this fight. I find it a rather annoying storytelling technique. But I do know we have a few more issues of Action Comics coming up ... so hopefully we'll get some answers before too long.

Not much to say this time, but we do have a couple of new ads:

They've been infected by the Batman who Laughs. Now these heroes are our worst nightmare! Year of the Villain: The Infected.

Don't get attached. Suicide Squad.

DC Nation interview with Simon Spurrier and Aaron Campbell on John Constantine: Hellblazer.

Next time: Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Blackest Night #1.

Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Infinite Crisis #1

 

James Tynion IV Writer

Aaron Lopresti Pencils

Matt Ryan Inks

Romulo Fajardo Jr. Colors

Rob Leigh Letters

Lee Weeks & Brad Anderson Cover

This is an interesting series. It's basically DC's version of Marvel's "What If?" line — but in this case, every issue asks "What if the bad guys won?" And in this simple, yet haunting cover, we see that Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern have all fallen in Infinite Crisis at the hands of ... Brother Eye and Blue Beetle?!

The framing device for this issue is a cosmic entity named Tempus Fuginaut, who has the ability to observe and compare events in both the Multiverse and the Dark Multiverse. And with Infinite Crisis, Tempus explains how the entire world was doomed by one simple change — Blue Beetle not being killed by Maxwell Lord.

Just like in the real Multiverse, the Crisis began with Ted Kord discovering that Maxwell Lord was plotting to use Batman's satellite, Brother Eye, and his army of OMACs to take over the world. But instead of refusing Lord's offer to join him, Ted tricked his former friend and killed him with his own gun, rationalizing that he was too dangerous and too far along in his plans to be allowed to live. 

Blue Beetle then teams up with Brother Eye, or Brother One, as he's called here, and together they take over Checkmate and begin tracking down the Secret Society of Super-Villains. But with each victory, Ted grows bolder and more authoritarian, even expanding his influence to outer space, by sending a legion of OMAC drones to prevent the Rann-Thanagar War. Naturally, this draws the attention of Alexander Luthor and Superboy-Prime. Ted winds up convincing Prime to turn on Alexander and join him in taking the next major step in his goal for world peace: eliminating all superheroes.

The plan came from Brother Eye's computer-logic, which Ted couldn't argue against ... but was still hesitant to fully enact. So he came up with a compromise — instead of killing the heroes, he would turn them into mindless OMAC drones. And since Prime wouldn't stop complaining about Superboy, Blue Beetle tasked him with bringing in the Teen Titans. And that's where we finally meet this version of Bart Allen.

Robin, Kid Flash and Wonder Girl picked up a distress call from Superboy, but before they can go to him, Conner is brought to them by Superboy-Prime. Tim desperately tries to revive Conner, and Bart openly worries about their odds against someone who could so easily defeat Superboy. Cassie attempts a heroic "Titans together!" But it's all for naught. Untethered from the "morality" of Alexander Luthor, this Superboy-Prime is intentionally and gleefully murdering every hero he sees. And poor Bart is gruesomely vaporized before he can even consider enlisting the other Flashes' aid.

Blue Beetle is furious with Superboy-Prime for disobeying his orders, so he converts him into a mindless drone, as well. The one hero Ted couldn't bring himself to change was his best friend, Booster Gold. But when Booster tried to kill Blue, Brother Eye's defense mechanisms kick in and murder Booster. Distraught by this loss, Ted has the computer completely fuse with him and eliminate all emotion from his mind. And in time, Blue Beetle/Brother Eye conquers the world, creating a horrifying, but peaceful planet.

I enjoyed this story a lot more than I thought I would. It did occasionally get a bit too violent for my tastes, but the artwork was very solid throughout. And the overall concept was really neat, too. Instead of just showing the bad guys winning, it took an unexpected — and frankly improbable — route. Yeah, it seems impossible for Blue Beetle to defeat Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman so easily. But at the same time, that's kind of the point. None of them ever thought Ted would go to the lengths he went to, including Ted. And that's what makes it such a great story. Once he starts rationalizing things, he can't stop. And although he successfully manipulates a few others, it was always Brother Eye who was manipulating him. Yeah, the story did have to go by a little too quick, but I was pleasantly surprised by this comic.

Next time: Action Comics #1017

Young Justice #10

Lost in the Multiverse Part 4

Brian Michael Bendis Script

John Timms (p. 1, 8-10) & Nick Derington (p. 2-7, 11-12) Art

Gabe Eltaeb & Dave Stewart Colors

Wes Abbott Letters

Timms & Eltaeb Cover

Nick Bradshaw & Alex Sinclair Variant Cover

Brittany Holzherr Associate Editor

Mike Cotton Editor

Brian Cunningham Group Editor

Superboy created by Jerry Siegel.

By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Our cover is a rather joyful image of Bendis' creation, Naomi, triumphantly leading Young Justice. I do like the optimistic vibe of the piece, and Impulse goofily being dragged along by Teen Lantern. This is also our first look at Tim Drake's new costume as ... Drake. It's as bland and boring as his new superhero name. Anyway, there is one massive problem about this cover: Naomi doesn't join Young Justice in this issue. She barely shows up on the last page.

The variant cover (which I snagged from dc.fandom.com, as always) is fantastic. It reminds me a lot of Todd Nauck and the glorious artwork of 20 years ago. For once, Teen Lantern actually looks cool and intimidating. And the subtle gag of Impulse's foot appearing in front of him is pretty neat. Tim's still wearing his Robin costume (for the last time, I guess), and Naomi is also mistakenly included. Clearly this "Lost in the Multiverse" storyline dragged out one issue longer than Bendis originally intended.

As always, we start with a recap page, which doesn't tell us anything new. It does, however, remind me that Young Justice has been away from their Earth for 10 issues now, which is kind of ridiculous. Anyway, a big chunk of this issue is devoted to Jinny Hex's backstory, but I don't really care about that. Let's get back to the action on Earth-3.

Teen Lantern and Jinny Hex are being chased by Amazon Thunder and Luthor-El. The girls understandably feel like they've been abandoned by their teammates, until Superboy suddenly shows up, followed by an army of drones escorting Batwoman, Amethyst, Wonder Girl, Impulse and the newly named Drake. (It is absolutely insane that Tim would take the time to design, create and put on a new costume while his teammates were being attacked by some pretty powerful villains. Maybe Bart helped him. Who knows?)

Impulse gives a lengthy speech about Batwoman lending her military might to their cause, and Amethyst teases Bart for liking words. But most importantly, this distraction gives Jinny enough time to finally open her mysterious trunk that came from her ancestor, the legendary Jonah Hex. As Drake blasts Luthor-El with a bazooka, Jinny activates a device that summons a half-dozen other Jinny Hexes from the multiverse, of all shapes and sizes. 

Impulse promptly plants himself on the shoulder of the giant Jinny, and our heroes make short work of their evil counterparts. Bart ensnares his doppelgänger in a whirlwind, enabling Superboy to knock out Speed Zone. In no time at all, Teen Lantern has all the villains trapped in a green bubble and all the citizens cautiously fill the streets to cheer the victory ... and call for the execution of the bad guys. Our heroes oppose this, but mostly decide it's time for them to go home.

Bart finally tells the others that Batwoman is Stephanie Brown and she's in love with Drake. Stephanie doesn't seem too pleased by this and brusquely leads Young Justice back to her Batcave, which oddly has an Impulse-like costume and a Superman costume on display in glass tubes. Stephanie explains that Ultraman from her Earth was obsessed with their Earth, and conveniently left detailed instructions on how to get there. As they fire up the machine, Bart reports that he quickly wrapped up a bunch of loose ends off-panel — he cleaned up a school and defeated the evil Amethyst, who apparently overslept and missed the big fight.

At long last, our heroes are sent back to their correct home, arriving in Port Oswego, Oregon, where Naomi is waiting for them.

That was ... actually a bit of a letdown. Bendis has so many characters to keep track of and so many backstories to tell, that a lot of things end up being tossed to the side. One of them is the action. Ten issues in, and I'm quite underwhelmed by all the action scenes in this series. And this issue was particularly bad. What's the point of bringing in six more Jinny Hexes if they don't do anything? But somehow Stephanie Brown got an entire splash page to let a single tear trickle down her cheek. Ugh. Bendis totally forgot about Amethyst's evil double (he almost forgot about the real Amethyst). And Tim's decision to not only change his name and costume in the middle of a battle, but to also use his own last name AND the name of his evil doppelgänger, is completely inexcusable. I'm quite annoyed. Here are the ads:

Far Sector. A mind-blowing mystery at the edge of the universe.

Legion of Super-Heroes by Brian Michael Bendis and Ryan Sook.

A DC Nation interview with Geoff Johns and Gary Frank on Doomsday Clock.

Next time? Well ... I'm not quite sure. I'm going to have to take a look at the Tales of the Dark Multiverse issues and decide if they're worth covering.

Action Comics #1016

Coming of Age

Brian Michael Bendis Writer

Szymon Kudranski Artist

Brad Anderson Colorist

Dave Sharpe Letterer

Jamal Campbell Cover

Bryan Hitch & Alex Sinclair Variant Cover

Jessica Chen Associate Editor

Mike Cotton Editor

Brian Cunningham Group Editor

Superman created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster.

By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Batman created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger.

Our cover shows one of Bendis' creations, Naomi, helping Superman fight a villain called the Red Cloud. It's a fairly decent cover, although it doesn't convey the clever framing device of this issue. Almost the entire issue is told through man-on-the-street interviews to a reporter who's trying to piece together the story of the Superman/Naomi/Red Cloud fight. And as a newspaper man myself, I found this rather enjoyable.

But we're not here for Naomi or Superman. The only thing we care about is the home page for the Daily Planet's knock-off Twitter account. And this is another very clever element of this issue, dropping tons of Easter eggs and clues for upcoming storylines.

The link to the Young Justice story is a nice reminder that this team did show up in Metropolis and made quite an impact before suddenly disappearing. The hashtag #LostInTheMultiverse sort of breaks the fourth wall, though, because there's no way that anybody on this Earth would know that Young Justice went bouncing around the multiverse. Unless that's just a normal phrase people say in this wild world of superheroes. Regardless, I did enjoy this page, no matter how small it was, and I'm looking forward to Young Justice actually appearing in Action Comics.

Next time, we'll return to Young Justice #10.

The Flash #81

Death and the Speed Force Conclusion

Joshua Williamson Writer

Scott Kolins Artist

Luis Guerrero Colors

Steve Wands Letters

Rafa Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona & Tomeu Morey Cover

Guillem March Variant Cover

Rob Levin Associate Editor

Paul Kaminski Editor

Jamie S. Rich Group Editor

Our cover shows the newly revamped Rogues raising their fists triumphantly in the air because it's the Year of the Villain. And the Rogues all have new looks and/or new powers because it's apparently the New 52 again. Whatever. I don't really care. It's kind of a boring cover and, ironically, the Rogues really don't have that big a presence in this issue.

The bulk of this issue deals with Hunter Zolomon learning that Eobard Thawne secretly engineered the worst moment of his life, just as he had done with Barry Allen. Hunter then sacrifices himself to fix the Force Barrier. (The rupturing of the Force Barrier was apparently what allowed Bart Allen to return to the real world, although neither The Flash nor Young Justice has thoroughly explored that idea.)

Barry battles the Black Flash and Iris is hanging out at the Flash Museum with a guy named Steadfast, who can tap into the Still Force. He senses something is wrong with not only the Speed Force, but the whole Multiverse. And this is where we see a statue of Impulse in the background, although he still has not interacted with Barry or Wally or Wallace or Avery or anybody else involved in this issue.

It's really frustrating how Williamson was unwilling or unable to do anything with Bart Allen. We keep getting periodic reminders in the background that Bart really is part of the Flash family, but month after month and year after year passes without anything substantial. And, frankly, I'm tired of being teased. I'd almost prefer not to have anything over this torment. Well, let's check out the new ads while we wait for Bart to actually show up in The Flash.

Being a hero isn't all about having superpowers ... it's about having a voice, too. Black Canary Ignite.

Harley Quinn's Villain of the Year, accompanied with an online poll for the top villain (The Batman Who Laughs won).

A DC Nation interview with Joe Hill on Basketful of Heads.

Next time will be yet another brief look at an Impulse cameo in Action Comics #1016.

Justice League #34

Justice/Doom War Part 5

Scott Snyder & James Tynion IV Writers

Bruno Redondo and Howard Porter Art

Hi-Fi Colors

Tom Napolitano Letters

Francis Manapul Cover

Francesco Mattina Variant Cover

Ben Meares Associate Editor

Jamie S. Rich Editor

Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Well, I caved in and bought this comic. I decided that if you like something, then you should support it when you can. And I want DC to keep making comic books, so I'm going to keep giving them money — even if I only care about one page in this issue ...

I'm not going to pretend to know anything about what's going on in the cover or in the Year of the Villain as a whole. Young Justice has not been involved in it at all. But I will say I like the cover — Manapul remains one of my all-time favorites. However, the cover doesn't truly convey what's inside this issue, which is a mashup of dozens and dozens of heroes from alternate timelines and parallel worlds. And that's where we come in, just for this one splash page.

In the bottom left corner is what dc.fandom.com describes as the "Sins of Youth" Flash. And it's hard to argue with that. Chances are, this is an alternate, adult version of Bart Allen. The costume's not quite the same from Sins of Youth, but it's close enough for me to write this brief blog about it. I wish we would have seen this Flash in a few more panels to get confirmation of who he really is, but I guess we'll just have to make do. I actually was more interested in the guy next to him, who is clearly, unquestionably the Flash from DC One Million, John Fox. And next to him is the Flash from Batman Beyond. 

Anyway, it is pretty neat that DC keeps finding ways to validate all these different versions of characters, even if it's just for a random panel here or there. Let's check out the new ads:

Murder is his art. Catching killers is hers. Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity.

The Batman's Grave.

A DC Nation interview with The Last God writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson.

Next time will be another quick post, as we take a peek at The Flash #81.

Young Justice #9

Lost in the Multiverse Part 3

Brian Michael Bendis Script

André Araújo (p. 2-11 and 15-18) John Timms (p. 1, 12-14, and 19-22) Art

Gabe Eltaeb Colors

Wes Abbott Letters

Timms and Eltaeb Cover

Nick Bradshaw and John Rauch Variant Cover

Brittany Holzherr Associate Editor

Mike Cotton Editor

Brian Cunningham Group Editor

Superboy created by Jerry Siegel.

By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Our cover shows Young Justice preparing to face off against their evil counterparts on Earth-3. It's a perfectly serviceable cover — finally putting all these villains together in one image. However, nothing really grabs my attention. It's not off-putting, by any means, but it's just not that captivating. Plus, this showdown doesn't happen in this issue.

I snagged this textless variant from dc.fandom.com. It does exactly what a variant cover should do — experiment. It uses a unique color palate and portrays a ridiculous, yet funny and heart-warming scene. No, I don't think Bart would be THAT freaked out to be flying like this, but it is still a fun expression on his face.

This issue begins with the same introductory page as before, so we'll skip it. This comic also spends the bulk of its time telling the origin story of Teen Lantern, which I found rather boring and unoriginal. So I'm going to only focus on the final two pages, where Impulse is involved.

Batwoman has recovered from her injury sustained by being knocked out from behind by Impulse, and she leads Impulse and Robin to her Batcave to try to find a way to send them back home. Bart immediately rushes throughout the cave until he conveniently finds a thumb drive that he believes to contain the long-fabled Multiverse Map.

They plug the drive in the computer and sure enough, Bart was right. Stephanie explains that Doctor Fate gave her the map before Ultraman fed him to Gorilla Grodd. She says she has no idea how to use the map, but Bart believes he can get them all home. Tim, however, can't stop talking about how messed up this world is, so Bart agrees, decrying its lack of super-rabbits. Stephanie assures Tim that he doesn't need to feel obligated to take care of this Earth, but Tim believes they may have come here for a reason. So he tells Bart that before they go home, they're going to put their evil counterparts out of business.

I don't have much to say on this one. Bendis is once again awkwardly interrupting the action to explain who these new characters are — a side effect of trying to manage such a large team in a narrative with a breakneck pace. I was a little surprised to see the Multiverse Map actually exists and even more surprised to see how easily our heroes obtained it. I guess it's just time for them to go home.

There aren't any new ads, so that's it for today. Next time, I might look at Justice League #34, but I might skip it. We'll see. In any case, the review probably won't come for a couple of months because I'd rather wait for this issue to appear on the DC Universe app instead of buying it.