Young Justice #16

 The Emancipation of Bartholomew Allen

Brian Michael Bendis and David Walker Writers

Scott Godlewski Art

Gabe Eltaeb Colors

Wes Abbott Letters

John Timms and Gabe Eltaeb Cover

Darko Lafuente and German Garcia 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.

This is the most Impulses we've had on a cover since Impulse #89! It is a really fun, trippy cover that finally screams "IMPULSE!" for the first time in years. It is very fun and exciting. But I still see room for improvement — mainly in the little images at the top. Reliving the past adventures of this current iteration of Young Justice? Boring! Use that space to show something specific and unique to Bart's (now convoluted) past. What we got isn't bad. But it had the potential to be something utterly amazing.

Our variant cover (courtesy of dc.fandom.com) is a cute, light-hearted pizza break for our young heroes. Everyone is small and adorable and happy and uplifting. It's everything a variant cover should do.

Our story begins with a recap page that uses the same old splash page that closed out issue #12. Here's the text:

"Drake, Superboy, Impulse, Wonder Girl, Jinny Hex, Amethyst, Naomi, and Teen Lantern have come together just in time to confront S.T.A.R. Labs ... the evil science corporation that sent Conner away in the first place.

"Conner and the gang are able to shut down S.T.A.R. Labs once and for all. Meanwhile, there are so many questions as to where the team has been and how they even remember each other."

I find it odd that they would use an image with the Wonder Twins and Dial H for Hero and then not even mention them in the recap. I think it's just lazy editing, which is a shame, since we have three editors on this book. Also, are we to believe that single facility in New Mexico was the entirety of S.T.A.R. Labs? Did Bendis just completely retcon what was once the premier science organization (and mostly a force for good) in the DC Universe? Remember when DC used to care about continuity?

Anyway, our story begins with Impulse actually running away from Superboy. Conner catches up and angrily slams his fist down in the ground, ordering "Bartholomew Allen the Second" to stop running. ("The Second" actually isn't part of Bart's official name, but it sounds funnier that way.) Bart screeches to a halt, saying he almost knocked Conner right off his "cloney tush," then assures his friend that everything is completely and totally fine before taking off again, despite Conner's objections.

Conner catches up again, flying alongside Bart, saying he's just as fast as him. Bart (correctly) says "Nuh-uh," then makes the Roadrunner sound as he keeps running. Conner is able to get in front of Bart again, saying he realizes that Bart is having "some real crazy issues" and he begs Bart to let him help. Bart begins to stutter, saying that Conner's totally misreading this and he just needs to go home. Conner asks if Bart even has a home. Bart ignores this question and resumes his escape, repeatedly telling Conner that he has no idea how glad he is to have him back. Bart promises to call him and meet up with everybody at the Hall of Justice tomorrow, but by this point, he realizes that Conner can't hear him anymore, since he's already in Arizona. Conner is left standing, right in front of S.T.A.R. Labs, meaning Bart intentionally led him around in a big circle.

Superboy gets to fight one "leftover monster" that escaped the FBI before Bart decides to return on his own. Bart concedes that he might be running around so much because whenever he stops, he has to deal with actual stuff. Conner says he's proud of Bart for finding those words, and Bart admits that he used to watch his "Uncle Wally" do the same thing (technically, Wally is Bart's cousin, but why should Bendis, Walker or any of our three editors know that?). Conner admits that he's guilty of the same thing, comparing himself to a shark that has to keep swimming. As Bart agrees with him, he slowly falls to the ground and passes out.

Bart wakes up later that night, resting his head on a blanket next to a campfire. Conner explains that he stole some stuff from S.T.A.R. Labs after he fainted, including a package of Oreo-like cookies called Chocos. Bart apologizes for the "runaround," while he inhales the cookies and admits he's surprised that he actually fainted. Conner accepts Bart's apology, saying they're all dealing with their own stuff, but he does repeat his question: "What happened?" Bart begins his story by cryptically saying he broke the rules.

Going back to the very beginning, Bart says he knows/remembers that he was born in the 31st century to speedsters and sent back to the 21st century to deal with his hypermetabolism. He knows that he looked like this at age two, saying, "I'm not like everyone else. I'm not like anyone else." Between all his time-traveling and dimension-hopping, Bart truthfully has no idea how old he is. He could be 6 years old just as easily as he could be 19. All this is to say that somewhere along the way, Bart lost track of himself.

Our two-page spread shows Bart with his grandma Iris Allen, Superboy-Prime, Cobalt Blue and the Reverse-Flash from the Chain Lightning storyline, the Dominator aliens who sought to experiment on Bart as an infant, Wally, Jay, Max and Jesse after their fight with Kobra, Bart evil grandfather President Thaddeus Thawne, the Teen Titans during Impulse's transition to Kid Flash, and the current group of Young Justice. Oddly, the Barts running in front of this image aren't exactly chronological. It starts with the original Impulse costume, then jumps to the Titans of Tomorrow Bart who came from an alternate future, before showing Bart as Kid Flash and then back in his current Impulse outfit.

Bart confesses that he's only telling this Conner because he might just be the only person to have a chance of relating to him — and that includes all the other Flashes. Both Impulse and Superboy are the most different members of their respective "families" and both of them were essentially erased from history. With that said, Bart finally gets around to telling Conner what he did.

One day (it might have been years ago or just a few days ago), Impulse was battling the Mirror Master. While joking about how he's the best Flash, Bart was blasted by one of Mirror Master's devices and sent to a horrifying place. He was unable to speak and could feel his body begin to disintegrate. As best as Bart could tell, Mirror Master had sent him to a place in between dimensions. Terrified, Bart ran away from that non-place as fast as he could, relieved to find himself in the physical world. 

Unsure of which dimension or timeline he was in, Bart decided to follow "Bart Allen Rule Number One — Find the Hall of Justice." (I would have suggested find the Flash Museum, but we have already litigated Bendis' lack of DC knowledge.) Anyway, in this new world, Bart was able to find the Hall of Justice, but was shocked to see a massive statue in front of it with Impulse, Wonder Girl, Robin and Arrowette on a platform that reads "Our young heroes fallen. Never forget."

Conner interrupts Bart's story here to basically say that going to the future is no big deal for them. Bart concedes this, but says that at that time, at that place, it was too much for him to handle. He had a panic attack and passed out. He later woke up heavily sedated and strapped to a chair in Arkham Asylum. His attending doctor was an elderly Harley Quinn, who unconvincingly told Bart he has nothing to worry about since he's in the children's wing. She also explains that they sedated Bart because he was talking gibberish too fast for them to hear. Harley was confused by her new patient, who looked and acted just like Bart Allen. But she explained that he couldn't be Bart Allen because he famously disappeared under mysterious circumstances 40 years ago. 

Superboy asks Bart how he escaped, and Bart admits that a part of him still thinks he never actually left Arkham. But does explain that he tapped into his hypermetabolism, burned the drugs out of his system, and escaped the asylum. He ran fast enough to travel back in time, but was shocked to see that everything had shifted. He couldn't find Young Justice anywhere, so he kept running back and forth in time to try to find his friends.

This what Bart meant when he said he broke the rules. He knew this reckless time-traveling and dimension-hopping was dangerous, but he was too angry and distraught to care. He reasoned that the "rules have been broken on us" so he kept running until he came to this world and found everybody. But now Bart admits he doesn't know what to do.

Once he finishes his story, Tim emerges from the shadows, explaining that he went all the way home and took his first shower in a week before he finally realized what Conner instantly knew — there were massive holes in Bart's story. Conner called Tim after Bart passed out, but it's unclear how much of Bart's story Tim heard. Tim does, however, say this campfire reminds him of a dream he had where they were all kids camping in a cave. But Conner remembers that really happened. Bart apologizes for breaking everything, but Tim says they should consult the Justice League and get to the bottom of this mystery before they blame Bart for anything.

Impulse fans have waited almost 10 years for this comic. The last time we had a full-length comic book that was all about Bart Allen was Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost. And no, those Bar Torr stories during New 52 do not count! The real Bart has been either a cameo or a side character for the past decade. So it was incredibly refreshing to finally get a story all about Bart. But was it any good, though? That's what I'm still trying to decide.

Conner and Tim both noted there were holes in Bart's original story. I note there are still a lot of holes in his expanded story. Does Bart remember being an adult and wearing the Flash costume? Does he remember being "resurrected" as Kid Flash? How about sacrificing himself in the Speed Force to help his grandpa Barry undo Flashpoint? And what about Bart's return when Wally broke the Force Barrier? We don't know what Bart does and doesn't know. And, sadly, I think it's because the creators of this comic were too lazy to come up with any concrete answers. These questions were raised back in issue #1. It's issue #16 now. It's time to provide some answers. You can't keep perpetually promising to solve the mystery. At some point, you need to explain everything.

This issue didn't explain anything. All we know is that at some point, Mirror Master sent Bart in-between dimensions. And he then went running and running until he ended up here. We don't know what he saw or experienced during all this running, aside from that episode with Harley Quinn. Bart suspects his actions have altered reality, but we have no way of knowing whether that's true. So, ultimately, after all that touchy, feely, heart-to-heart conversations and frustratingly inconsistent splash pages, we're back to where we started. Nothing was learned. No progress was made. All we were left with was the vague promise that the Justice League might know something, but we already saw how that "meeting" turned out. 

It's really frustrating that Bendis didn't let Joshua Williamson do anything with Impulse all because he wanted to be the one who had Bart say, "I don't know what happened." Well, it's time for me to stop lamenting at the missed opportunity of this comic and wrap things up with the house ads.

The Flash and Plastic Man are used to illustrate this month's reminder to maintain social distance.

The latest chapter in the Dark Knight Universe saga! Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child.

DC Nation interview with Tom Taylor on DCeased: Dead Planet.

Next time, we'll take a quick look at the light-hearted DC Cybernetic Summer#1.