Mike Cotton Editor
Alex R. Carr Group Editor
Ben Meares & Marquis Draper Assistant Editors
This celebration issue is split into six stories and six pinups that could have been (maybe should have been?) variant covers. A few big names came back for this issue, including Geoff Johns, Marv Wolfman and my favorite Flash creators — Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato. Sadly, Impulse does not appear in their story. In fact, he doesn't really appear in any of the stories of this issue. He just makes a bunch of cameos in the pinups and those "inspirational" splash pages that close out a story with a glimpse of every speedster imaginable. You know? The kind of splash pages we've been getting for years now, promising to eventually reunite the entire Flash family. Unfortunately, we'll have to keep waiting for Bart to truly reintegrate himself with his family. In the meantime, let's try to enjoy some of these pictures.
Our first glimpse of Impulse is this glorious pinup by Porter. This is happy, joyous, colorful and the perfect embodiment of this entire issue — a celebration of all things Flash. (Plus, Impulse looks great, too!) This should have been the cover instead of that stupid fight that never happened.
Our next Bart Allen image is straight from his first stint as Kid Flash, drawn by Mike McKone and Mike Atiyeh. McKone never knew what Bart was supposed to look like, so he always just drew a young Wally West instead. And that still holds true all these years later. This particular image is rather freaky-looking and plasticky. Underneath Bart's unusually bright blue eyes (they were supposed to yellow!) is a rather unnerving smile. Almost like a murderer trying too hard to conceal his true intentions.
You have to look real close for the Impulse on this one, but you can actually see him on the cover of Flash #0 floating to the right of the little boy's head. This is a cute, simple image by Mitch Gerads. And if I'm not mistaken, that is actually Gerads' own son he drew in there.
"At the Starting Line ..."
Joshua Williamson Writer
David Marquez Artist
Alejandro Sanchez Colors
Steve Wands Letters
This is a very simple, straightforward story of Jay Garrick battling the Thinker. The most interesting part was when what appears to be the Reverse-Flash snuck up behind Jay and whispered in his ear, "They'll forget you, Jay Garrick. I've seen your future ..." Jay never sees the mysterious whisperer, but he does manage to compose himself and save the day by delivering one of those classic sappy Williamson sermons on hope. And then, for no reason at all, we get a splash page of just about everybody.
Flash Forward Epilogue
Scott Lobdell – Script
Brett Booth – Pencils
Norm Rapmund – Inks
Luis Guerrero – Colors
ALW's Troy Petri – Letters
Wally West now sits on the Mobius Chair, essentially possessing the power of a god. He claims to know everything, but in fact, he doesn't. He reviews many different images and realities and moments in time, but he has no idea what's happening. Wally is utterly unable to explain or comprehend or act on anything that is shown in this completely worthless story.
And that's that. It's a shame it had to end on a such a weak note from two of my least favorite creators. But overall, this was a delightful, celebratory comic book. It's a shame they couldn't find anything for Impulse to do on at least one of these pages, but the defeatist in me is used to this. Enjoy the splash pages you get, then hope and pray for something substantial at a later day.
Here are the house ads:
Celebrate 80 years of Robin history, from Dick Grayson to Damian Wayne! Robin 80th Anniversary.
The reviews are out of this world! Far Sector.
Next time, we'll actually get to see Impulse in action in Young Justice #14.
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