Young Justice #15

Warlords Finale

Brian Michael Bendis and David Walker Writers

John Timms (p. 1-15), and Scott Godlewski (p. 16-22) Art

Gabe Eltaeb Colors

Wes Abbott Letters

Timms and Eltaeb Cover

Ben Caldwell Variant Cover

Bixie Mathieu Assistant Editor

Brittany Holzherr Editor

Jamie S. Rich Group Editor

Superboy created by Jerry Siegel.

By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Our main cover is a simple, candid shot of Superboy. And it looks pretty nice. It causes me to reflect on the cyclical nature of fashion. When Superboy was introduced in the '90s, he was designed to be the epitome of cool teen style. But after a few years, that look became decidedly uncool, and he even had to devote an entire issue to changing his wardrobe. Twenty years later, though, and that old look suddenly works again.

As usual, I snagged this variant cover from dc.fandom.com. It's a bleak, depressing and even distressing vision of Young Justice. I don't care for it one bit. I'm actually glad Impulse is so small here — I couldn't have bared to see a closeup of an angry, almost evil Bart. But variant covers are the place to experiment. Sometimes they turn out great, other times ... not so much.

Our story begins with Superboy finally confronting the villain who has turned his life upside down — Dr. Glory of S.T.A.R. Labs. Conner starts shouting at her, then suddenly realizes that he is just one of 16 teenaged heroes staring down this scientist. Teen Lantern proudly proclaims them as Young Justice, and Impulse is a little sad that she stole his line. Conner is overjoyed to see his friends came to rescue him, and he shares a heartfelt hug with Tim. Everyone else, meanwhile, debates which authorities they should call in to properly arrest Dr. Glory. The Justice League is still away and busy, but some of our heroes like the idea of contacting the FBI and Lois Lane.

Dr. Glory tries to take advantage of this interruption to escape, but Impulse promptly tackles her. Dr. Glory calls him the "most annoying of all," then is suddenly hit by a taser arrow from Arrowette, who unfortunately shot it before she saw Impulse move. With the scientist unconscious, Conner worries about not receiving the answers he was promised. Fortunately, Bart discovered a few things during his reconnaissance last issue.

Bart explains that he had already been investigating the mystery of their missing memories before they even met up in Young Justice #1, and now he has what he calls the "final pieces." Bart's initially hesitant to reveal all he knows in front of the whole group, but everybody is eager for some answers. So Bart begins by saying when he first felt his memories becoming "mushy," he started talking to the other Flashes about it and they thought the Speed Force might help him fill in some gaps. (This is either a massive continuity mistake or a complete lie, since we still have not seen Bart interact with any of the Flashes since Wally broke the Force Barrier way back in Flash #50.)

Conner asks if Bart went time-traveling, but he says he didn't. Tim asks if he "broke" the multiverse. Bart also denies this, but ominously says he think something else did. In front of a vague two-page spread that seems to suggest Bart's traveling to parallel worlds, Bart talks about the nature of reality-altering crises that superheroes often prevent. But from what Bart has seen, it's apparent that some crises were not prevented, causing time shifts, reality bends and even reboots. 

At this point, Bart asks if there are any questions, but he only gets blank stares. So he continues: "Once upon a time, there was the Earth and on it was Young Justice." One day, Superboy stumbled upon S.T.A.R. Labs' illegal dimensional experiments in the middle of the desert. So Dr. Glory retaliated by sending Conner to Gemworld, which was dealing with its own reality-bending issues at the time. While Superboy was on Gemworld, Impulse believes Earth experienced at least one world-changing crisis, which resulted in the erasure of Superboy's existence from Earth.

This doesn't really explain why some people remember Conner and others don't, but Tim does tell the others about his experience with Zatanna that helped him remember the whole team. As Conner begins to process the idea that he's not even from this reality, Dr. Glory starts to wake up. Superboy shouts at her for a bit, and even makes it look like he might kill her, but in the end, he says his friends' willingness to rescue him shows him that he's OK.

Just then, the FBI bursts through the door and arrests Dr. Glory. Our heroes go back outside and help round up all the remaining monsters. Tim gets to finally kiss Stephanie. Bart gives Jinny Hex the number of Doctor Fate, telling her to call him yesterday. He also gives Naomi all the information S.T.A.R. Labs had about her and her homeworld. He explains that he also shared that information with the Hall of Justice and FBI, feeling it's too dangerous for them to keep that knowledge to themselves. Naomi says she doesn't know what to do with this information, to which Bart says she will know when the time comes. Naomi asks if he really knows that or if he's just being a cutie. Bart replies: "Well, I am always being a cutie."

Tim gathers all 16 of our heroes together and says they should make Young Justice a real thing — not with an official clubhouse or anything, but a group that stays in touch and call for help. "Or just for a hug," Bart adds. The Wonder Twins promise to do what they can to make Young Justice a sanctioned organization of the Justice League, to which Tim proudly proclaims Young Justice League.

Cissie hugs Bart, and others show off their gadgets and exchange phone numbers. Bart plays with the Wonder Twins' pet monkey, Gleek. As everybody starts to head off one by one, Conner asks the Twins if they can arrange a meeting with him and Superman. They tell him to stop by tomorrow morning, and Conner asks if anyone else wants to join him. Everybody who we saw in Action Comics #1020 says they'll be there. And with that, everybody takes off ... except for Impulse.

After hesitating for just a bit, Bart starts to run, but suddenly stops and begins to cry. Superboy had been waiting for him, saying he noticed a few holes in Bart's story. He asks what happened to Bart, where he has been and what he has seen.

I've recently been rewatching Lost with my wife (her first time). As fun as it is, I constantly have that reminder that more than half of their big mysteries will never be solved. And some of the questions that took five or six seasons to answer turned out to be rather disappointing. Brian Michael Bendis approached this series with the same philosophy as the creators of Lost. He bragged about issue #1 containing more than 40 unanswered questions. But each issue that passed by without addressing some of the biggest questions became more and more frustrating. And when we finally do get to an issue like this that promises "Superboy's truth revealed!", all I can say is, "That's it?"

Seriously. Strip down Bart's explanation. All you end up with is there may have been a crisis or crises that erased Superboy from reality. Was it Convergence? Rebirth? Who knows! Why do some of our heroes remember Superboy and others don't? Who cares! Except for the fact that Bendis kept hammering us with that question, until he decided to completely drop it at the end. I mean, I liked Robin going to Zatanna to restore his memories, but nobody else did that. Oh well. It's time to move on to that tantalizing tease of Impulse's story — something we've literally been waiting years for!

And speaking of Impulse (this is a blog about him, after all), I do have to say I was pleasantly surprised to see that he was the one providing all the answers for a change. This plays into my favorite quality that Bendis gave him — a secret level of maturity. It seems like he's constantly playing the part of the goofy, lovable sidekick, but when no one's looking, he's the one investigating the mysteries, finding clues and responsibly putting Jinny in contact with Doctor Fate. We still don't have a confirmation if Bart remembers everything — his time as Impulse, Kid Flash, Flash and Kid Flash again — but it really feels like he does. Bart always was kind of a toddler in a teen's body, but now he might be an adult in a teen's body.

Finally, I have to mention the art. I'm sad Timms wasn't able to finish the whole issue himself, but Godlewski does draw a good Impulse. The goggle are a bit bug-eyed, but everything else is good — especially that emotional breakdown of Bart at the end. Once he saw Superboy come back for him, he couldn't hold back the tears anymore. Really nice stuff. And now we wrap up with the new house ads:

Celebrate 80 years of brightest days and blackest nights! Green Lantern 80th Anniversary 100-page Super Spectacular.

DC Nation spotlight on The Joker War.

Next: The emancipation of Bartholomew Allen!