The Flash #13

Issue Thirteen: "And Everything After"

Written by Simon Spurrier

Art by Ramón Pérez

Colors by Matt Herms and Pete Pantazis

Lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

Cover by Ramón Pérez

Variant covers by Mike Deodato Jr. & Jão Canola, and Özgür Yildirim

Artist Spotlight variant cover by Nicola Scott & Annette Kwok

Editor Chris Rosa

Group Editor Paul Kaminski

Our cover is a haunting, yet completely misleading image of an electric speedster standing in the ruins of a destroyed Flash statue. Nothing remotely like this happens in this issue. I kind of wish it did, because that idea of a "broken legacy" seems a lot more interesting than the story Spurrier did give us. Anyway, Bart didn't show up in any of the variant covers, so let's do a quick review of Spurrier's grand conclusion.

So ... here is what I think happened. Barry and Wally raced through the Source Wall to stop the Arc Angles' poison from infecting it. Barry pulls out the poison, but Wally can tell that the Source is still in pain and has been in pain since before this whole thing began. Somehow, Wally just knows that he can heal it by ... wading out into a white pool of nothingness. Inspector Pilgrim randomly and miraculously opens up a portal inside the Source to pull Barry out, leaving Wally to do his thing. But the Arc Angles are there, too, and to stop Wally, they summon his family and begin to torture them. Wally slices up all the Arc Angels with his magical dagger that he got from ... somewhere.

So now the entire West family is deep inside the Source, and everybody begins demonstrating an insane amount of knowledge. Wally's own kids bizarrely know more about everything than he does. Jai somehow has the power to "reshape" the Arc Angles into forms that resemble the Stillness entities that kind of kicked this whole thing off, only to later be destroyed by the Arc Angles. And these new Arc Angles have conveniently lost their memories, so Jai and Wally order them to explore the universe and never forget that "it's better to feel anything than nothing."

The Arc Angles take off with their newfound purpose in life, I guess, and Linda realizes that the Source is about to give birth. So the West family ... shares their love? ... with the Source, enabling it to "give birth" and send them all back to where they belong, just as it was. Except the West family now has a dog named Foxy and everybody seems to remember the dog as having always been there. 

The Flash family slowly comes to the realization that they just saved all creation, and Bart rushes off to procure more donuts, since that's all he's good for anymore.

But there's no time for celebrating. Everybody quickly receives word that Amanda Waller is up to no good, so they all rush off to join the Absolute Power event. Wally lingers behind just long enough to cryptically tell Linda that he saw a vision of two Wallys trying to work together, but not trusting each other. Then he races off into the sunset, almost as fast I raced away from this book.

I really was hopeful when Simon Spurrier took over from Jeremy Adams. Spurrier promised to take the Flash in a new direction. One filled with horror and mystery. We got a little bit of that ... but mostly an incomprehensible story filled with concepts even too abstract for Grant Morrison. And I think the biggest problem came down to how ridiculously overpowered he made everybody. For decades in the comics, entering the Speed Force was an enormously difficult accomplishment — something that Max Mercury spent a lifetime trying to accomplish. But now he can casually lead a group of speedsters deep into the highest level of the Speed Force without expending any effort. And penetrating the Source Wall used to be a near-impossible, colossal event that had ramifications for the entire DC Universe. But now? Anybody and everybody can just pop in and out willy-nilly. 

And why, exactly? What were our heroes fighting? Nearly all-powerful beings that sought to destroy time? That concept doesn't mean anything. So it's no surprise that the resolution of such a plot would be unsatisfactory. The West family saved the day through the power of love! Pretty much the lamest copout one could hope for. And along the way, we learned that the Wests are so absurdly powerful and intelligent, that it seems impossible for anything to challenge them in the future. 

What's that? Amanda Waller is up to no good? Don't worry, Jai and Irey will just reshape reality to open a sideways conduit into the ethereal nature of Waller's psyche and pluck out all the negative emotions from her subconsciousness. Seriously, what's stopping them from doing something that utterly bizarre and unfulfilling? Spurrier has opened the door for this kind of nonsense to permeate all future Flash stories.

And I am compelled to end by complaining about his treatment of Bart Allen. Adams didn't have much use for Max and Bart, so he decided to give them a beautiful farewell race into the beyond to help trim the fat of this bloated Flash family. Spurrier shockingly robbed Max and Bart of this sweet moment, only to do ... absolutely nothing with them. We had that tense moment where it looked like they were going to die in Ickto, but beyond that, they mostly stood around in the background. And in Bart's case, obsessively eating donuts. I say if you're going to do something as dramatic as pull the rug out from the under of the perfect finale, then you'd better have a good reason for it. Spurrier didn't. And I actually would have preferred that he just left them alone and focused on all the other members of the Flash family instead.

Next time? I'm not sure. It might just be time for another Year in Review. It doesn't appear that Spurrier has any plans for Bart in his next story arc, and nobody else is using him. I'll keep an eye out, but I find it highly unlikely Impulse will make another appearance in 2024.

Wonder Woman #13

"Reunion"

Tom King Writer

Tony S. Daniel Artist

Leonardo Paciarotti Colorist

Clayton Cowles Letterer

Tony S. Daniel & Maiolo Cover Artists

Stanley "Artgerm" Lou, Phil Jimenez & Romulo Fajardo Jr., Gleb Melnikov Variant Cover Artists

Nicola Scott & Annette Kwok Artist Spotlight Variant Cover Artists

Chris Rosa Associate Editor

Brittany Holzherr Senior Editor

Paul Kaminski Group Editor

Wonder Woman created by William Moulton Marston

Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Superboy created by Jerry Siegel. By Special Arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Our cover shows Wonder Woman breaking out all the prisoners captured by Amanda Waller during the Absolute Power event. Impulse, Kid Flash and Superboy all make the cover, and they look great. It's really hard to find any fault in Tony Daniel's art. And I really do feel spoiled having Impulse appear on two consecutive covers for this blog. Of course, he didn't make it on any of the variant covers for this issue, and he barely makes an impression inside this book, but he does have one line and I have made a solemn vow to review every comic where he speaks at least once.

Absolute Power was DC's big crossover event of the year, headed up by Impulse creator (and my favorite writer) Mark Waid. Unfortunately, Impulse only appears briefly in the background of a few of those issues and doesn't speak. So I won't be covering that event properly. This is all we get. So I hope it suffices for me to simply say that Amanda Waller has taken away all the heroes' powers and has imprisoned a whole bunch of them. This issue details how Wonder Woman, Steve Trevor and Damian Wayne rescue all those heroes.

Cassie Sandsmark makes a cameo, but Tom King is unfortunately uninterested in presenting a Young Justice reunion with Wonder Girl, Superboy and Impulse. Jay Garrick is also here, but the only other speedsters we see are Bart and Ace. They're both complaining about how everything is so slow — Bart even swears! — but they're both talking really fast, suggesting that they may not have been completely stripped of all their speed.

All in all, it's a quick, straightforward prison escape story. None of the heroes really seem to be impeded by their lack of powers — just a few grumblings, is all. The only problem I had with this issue was that Wonder Woman wouldn't stop kissing Steve Trevor the whole time. Damian felt the same way, which was nice to see my feelings being acknowledged. But at the end of the day, I would have liked to see more action and interactions involving this massive cast of characters.

"The Secret Origin of Trinity, Daughter of Wonder Woman!"

Tom King Writer

Khary Randolph Artist

Alex Guimarães Colorist

Clayton Cowles Letterer

Chris Rosa Associate Editor

Brittany Holzherr Senior Editor

Paul Kaminski Group Editor

Superman created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster. By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

This is a quick backup of an adult Damian giving a very colorful retelling of the main story to Trinity. It's really cute and funny to see Damian's revisionist history. I don't have anything else to say about this, other than it contains one of my favorite Impulse drawings in years.

If we ever get a Young Justice revival, I would love to see Khary Randolph handle the art.

Next time, we'll finally conclude Simon Spurrier's story in The Flash #13. It technically happened before this issue, but this came out a week before. Plus, I was happy to interrupt that mess of a story.

The Flash #12

Issue Twelve: "Until Time Stands Still"

Written by Simon Spurrier

Art by Ramón Pérez & Vasco Georgiev

Colors by Matt Herms

Lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

Cover by Ramón Pérez

Variant covers by Rafael Grassetti and Matt Taylor

DC Super Powers variant cover by Jason Geyer & Alex Saviuk

DC Swimsuit variant cover by Mirka Andolfo

Editor Chris Rosa

Group Editor Paul Kaminski

Our cover is an appallingly bad representation of the Flash family. This was supposed to be a triumphant celebration, the penultimate chapter in Spurrier's yearlong opening Flash run. But instead, we get a lazy, hodgepodge grouping of the speedsters, where everyone is off model and kind of freaky looking. This artwork is far below Pérez's normal standard — much worse than his work on the interior pages of this issue. I highly suspect (and really hope) that this cover was a last-minute rush job because DC rejected the original design, because this is just awful. Anyway, none of the variants feature Impulse, so let's jump right into the story.

We pick up with all our favorite speedsters debating the complicated situation they've found themselves in. As soon as the adults realize all the kids have gone missing, they come zooming back in. But instead of telling anyone that they discovered all the various villains involved in this plot have been incapacitated, Wally's children report they can feel their father's presence in the Speed Force. Specifically at the point where "the highest vibration elides with infinity." Everyone agrees they need to try to rescue Wally immediately, but Bart, still snacking on donuts, asks if anyone knows how to transcend that high. Everybody looks at Max, and he simply tells them to embrace the barrier instead of breaking it. And so all the speedsters just ... disappear in a flash of light.

Jai reaches his dad first, but he can't break through this odd bubble he's in. But a spectral version of Linda shows up right behind him, explaining that Abra Kadabra had somehow stripped her of her curiosity, pride and love. But all those parts remained floating around through the various areas of the Speed Force and are now able to connect with Wally and break him out of the bubble.

Meanwhile, all the other speedsters are battling the Arc Angles. Irey somehow had previously obtained some concentrated "Speed Force juice," which she randomly decided to give to Gorilla Grodd, the Folded Man, Abra Kadabra and Mirror Master, temporarily granting them super speed. The villains do serve to distract the Arc Angles long enough for the speedsters to help provide Wally a boost to try to catch "the weapon" from destroying all time. Bart, Avery and Ace are the first to boost Wally, with Bart oddly calling him "Mr. West."

The three teen speedsters quickly disappear from the Speed Force after giving Wally their energy. Up next is Jesse Quick, Circuit Breaker and Inspector Pilgrim, followed by Jay and Max. The Arc Angles finally manage to defeat the four villains, sending three of them back to the real world without any memory of this event. The Mirror Master isn't quite so lucky, as he was randomly erased from all time and history. Evan McCulloch now has never existed.

Jai and Irey give Wally his final boost before he's joined by Barry. Together, Wally and Barry destroy the "weapon" — a nonsensical "crown of Thawnes" representation. Or something like that. I don't really care at this point.

This is so incredibly, unbearably dumb. Every single aspect of it. No, Bart would never, EVER call Wally "Mr. West." Even to make a dumb rhyme. Everything with Linda was phenomenally stupid. And what did poor Mirror Master do to Simon Spurrier to warrant being completely erased from existence?

But from a narrative standpoint, my biggest complaint is how easy everything was for everybody. After spending all last issue worrying about Wally and wondering where he is, they suddenly knew exactly where he was and were able to instantly teleport right to his side without any effort whatsoever. And Irey was able to track down those four villains by herself and bring them all to the Speed Force's upper limits OFF PANEL. The story feels incredibly rushed, even though so little is actually happening. And I think that's because Spurrier is too busy describing his abstract concepts in the loftiest, most poetic way possible to bother himself with actually telling a story. This has been such a frustrating experience.

Next time, before concluding this awful story, I'll take a quick peek at Wonder Woman #13.

The Flash #11

Issue Eleven: "Cutting the Pie"

Written by Simon Spurrier

Art by Ramón Pérez

Colors by Matt Herms

Lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

Cover by Mike Deodato Jr. & Jão Canola

Variant covers by Javier Rodríguez and Matt Taylor

Editor Chris Rosa

Group Editor Paul Kaminski

Our cover is a beautiful image of Wally racing forward, with his wife, Linda, and their youngest son, Wade, in the background. It really makes me miss Deodato on the interior art. Pérez isn't bad, by any means, but he's not on the same innovative level as Deodato. Plus, he has this annoying habit of drawing Bart like a 10-year-old. And speaking of Bart, he's not on any of the variant covers (as usual), but he does play a small role in this story.

Now that all the speedsters have been freed, they all meet in the Flash Museum to try to figure out what, exactly, is going on. And perhaps the most pressing matter is trying to figure out where Wally is. Barry leads the meeting, and starts listing the things they do know (which isn't much). He says the Speed Force is "in spasm" and Bart derisively asks when it's not.

They all put together their notes of what they've recently learned about the Speed Force (and all the other forces) and with adult Wade's help, they make the connection that all those forces are simply made of time. Max shares his vision of the injured buffalo, saying he believes this means that the Speed Force is not only alive, but it's scared and in pain — although he doesn't know what's hurting it. 

Barry and Jay then launch into a tangent about the variable nature of time and likening it to the different parts of an apple pie. If that discussion bores you, don't worry, you're not alone. Avery, Ace, Irey and Bart quietly decide to go investigate the minor villains who have been involved in this plot, leaving the adults to debate their high-minded principles of abstract metaphysics. Bart finds the Mirror Master in a state of stupor, all tangled up in cables. (I actually originally thought he was dead, until I read the next issue.) The Folded Man is apparently living on the street, obsessively creating origami paper cranes. And Gorilla Grodd and Abra Kadabra are seemingly unconscious.

Meanwhile, Wally has been captured by the Arc Angles, who have manipulated Wally into essentially becoming a weapon to destroy time itself. And he races ahead toward that goal, as everybody else stands around stupidly.

It's official: I don't like this story. I kept giving it the benefit of a doubt. Kept hoping it would turn a corner and lead to something big and interesting. But it hasn't. This story is so grand, so abstract, so incomprehensible, that it is rendered completely and utterly inconsequential. The Flash is going to destroy time. What does that even mean? Nothing. He's being manipulated by beings of such a higher plane of existence that they can't even be described or represented in a logical way. So how are we supposed to wrap our heads around what is going on? All the comic shows us is Wally running against a blank background of pure light. How can that be exciting or engaging?

And further complicating matters is the bloated Flash family. Max, Jay and Barry are overkill, since they all serve exactly the same purpose. Same with Avery, Ace and Bart. They're the kids who occasionally crack jokes in the background, while the elder statesmen debate metaphors to describe pointless aspects of reality. Spurrier clearly is enamored with the West family — which is perfectly fine — but giving Jai and Irey all the most consequential lines comes at the expense of the rest of this massive supporting cast. Seriously, why are those two so cursedly smart?

The only consolation I can take is that this story is almost over.

To be continued ...

The Flash #10

Issue Ten: "Run Red"

Written by Simon Spurrier

Art by Ramón Pérez & Vasco Georgiev

Colors by Matt Herms

Lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

Cover by Ramón Pérez

Variant Covers by Matt Taylor and Otto Schmidt

DC Pride Variant Cover by Nick Robles

Editor Chris Rosa

Group Editor Paul Kaminski

Our cover shows Barry Allen facing off against the memorable Batman armor that I last saw during the New 52's Batman #35. It's not a particularly dynamic cover, and it doesn't seem to serve Spurrier's story that much. I suppose this is mainly for the Absolute Power event, which really feels like a minor annoyance invading this lofty, high-minded story that's been playing out over the past 10 issues.

Anyway, all good fans of the New 52 will remember that Superman destroyed this armor in Batman #36. So what we're really looking at is a replica reverse-engineered by Amanda Waller and the billions of dollars she seemingly has at her disposal. And naturally, that's not the real Batman under the armor, but Green Arrow. And the reasons why don't really matter for this story. 

Suffice it say, Green Arrow was tasked with bringing in the Flash because Waller also believes that speedsters are destroying reality. Oliver Queen is worried about how effective this tech will work against Barry, since he (somehow) fully knows that it previously was only able to momentarily derail a highly compromised Flash infected with Joker toxin. However, Oliver surprisingly puts up a strong fight against Barry, probably because he boldly chose to turn off Waller's very expensive, yet unreliable AI.

Meanwhile, Inspector Pilgrim has sought an outside perspective from Harley Rathaway and Jai West. By this point, it has been revealed that Pilgrim is actually Wade West, Jai's baby brother. So it's kind of fun when Wade's older brother is the one who comes up with the solution, even though he's only 12 (approximately). Remembering his dad's advice to change the way you look at things, Jai realizes that the data provided by the Arc Angles is correct, but only because reality is wrong. He explains it like "folding a page of math so the wrong number solves the equation."

All this means that the Speed Force is under attack and someone is trying to frame Wally. And somehow, someway, all the minor villains tangentially related to this plot — the Folded Man, Mirror Master, Gorilla Grodd and Abracadabra — all realize simultaneously that Jai has learned the truth. Or at least enough of it for Wade to agree to finally free all the speedsters he had captured. The Flash family immediately races to Barry's side and Impulse destroys the "Justice Buster" with ... bombs? ... I guess?

Barry chooses to let Oliver escape even though he never figured out who it was under the mask, he could tell he was a friend. Waller isn't too upset at the lost multi-billion dollar project, as this confirms she no longer has to waste time with Batman's defunct technology and can proceed with her plans in Absolute Power. Oh, and Wally has lost all his memories and been abducted by the Arc Angles.

It really feels like editorial forced the whole bit with Amanda Waller and Green Arrow on Spurrier. It really had no bearing on the story and robbed us of precious space to explore the Flash family's reactions to this crazy scenario. Freeing all the speedsters was a big deal. But it happened entirely off-page. We never found out what Max and Bart think about all this. We didn't even get to see Gold Beetle — not that I needed to, but issue #7 made such a big deal of her, I thought there'd be some sort of payoff. Oh well. I also need to quickly complain about Pérez's style of drawing Bart. He looks younger than Jai. And that is so not right.

To be continued ...

The Flash #7

Well, it's been a while, but I'm finally back to my reviewing ways. This is where I'd normally list the creator's credits, but this issue unfortunately forgot to list any inside. Thankfully, we do have three names on the cover: writer Simon Spurrier, artist Ramón Pérez and colorist Sofie Dodgson. Pérez is also responsible for our cover, which shows Wally bleeding out(?) in a place that has been dubbed the Gallery of Monuments. This is a separate plane of existence where all the people Wally cares about are represented as statues depicting whatever they're doing at that moment. But the longer Wally stays in this place, the more he forgets who he is.

But we're not too concerned with Wally right now. Our story begins with Bart Allen finally being reunited with Max Mercury! Unfortunately, Bart found Max in that hellish landscape that Wally was barely able to escape from. This place is called Ickto, meaning the space halfway between a tick and a tock. A place where speedsters are drained of all their energy and are consumed by large, spiky snake-like creatures.

Max urges Bart to stay close to him, to not look back and keep running. But Bart is so exhausted he can barely move. Max helps Bart limp into a cave, optimistically telling him that if they stay true to their compassion and curiosity then the universe will provide the rest. Bart admits that he's new to this "whole holistic wisdom shtick," but he doesn't think the universe is listening right now.

Bart tells Max to leave him, saying it's his own fault that he got trapped here. Bart was trying to get to Timepoint, but he believes he got distracted and lost like always. But Max points out that Bart's main goal was to find him, which means that the universe did indeed provide. Unfortunately, Max and Bart are quickly discovered by the creatures and both are too worn out to attempt any kind of an escape. Max finally admits that this place has been abandoned by hope. He pulls Bart close to him, saying, "Don't look, my boy. All will be well. Every end is a new beginning. I'm so very proud of you."

Suddenly, several portals open up, revealing soldiers in white armor and odd, oblong helmets. The self-proclaimed Linear Men open fire on the creatures, but are shocked to see their weapons are unable to kill them. They are, however, able to keep the creatures at bay just long enough to place special discs on Bart and Max. As they start to teleport away, Bart repeatedly tells Max not to say it, but he does anyway. "The universe provides."

Our heroes are taken to a sort of space station, which is described as a "pocket reality formed of looped temporal waves." They are served coffee by a masked man who calls himself Inspector Pilgrim of the Linear Bureau Investigation Division. Max asks what that means, and Pilgrim says he could use a cosmic spider to pump 3,000 hours of paradoxical math into their heads to help them understand (Bart thinks that's an awesome plan) or they could just consider the bureau to be "timecops."

Bart interrupts this exposition to begin gorging on donuts and Max starts to apologize for him, but Pilgrim calls Bart brilliant and admits he's a fan of both of them, which makes all this a bit weird for himself. Pilgrim explains that he's a speedster in the fourth dimension, able to slide up and down the timeline of his own life. He says he used to be able to visit anywhere he liked up to 200 years from now — his peaceful death holding his lover's hand — but now his travel is limited to just a few months, thanks to all the timequakes, dimensional breakages and reality tears. In short, Pilgrim says that something has murdered the future.

But Bart instantly decries that as stupid, classically bad sci-fi logic. He explains that if something changes the timeline, it doesn't suddenly happen with photos fading out, etc., since there's no second layer of time to decide when the change comes into effect. Bart argues that the timeline would instead just always have been changed. Pilgrim quietly admits that Bart is a smart lad.

Pilgrim tells Bart that the missing ingredient is perspective, but at the quantum level, outcomes are contingent on observation and the story is defined by its audience. From Pilgrim's perspective, he was able to travel backward from the future to observe himself as a baby. But when he tried to slide back the other way, he ran out of time. Luckily, says Pilgrim, the Bureau was able to scoop him up in the femtosecond before he was lost to "an endless void of entropic suck." Once again, Max sees this as evidence of the universe providing.

Pilgrim says that the Bureau is investigating the collapse of the "lower planes" and a plague of cosmic scavengers. Bart suggests they visit Timepoint to enlist the aid of the speedsters there. But Pilgrim explains that Timepoint no longer exists. In its place is Ickto. Pilgrim says the Speed Force is falling apart and destroying reality along with it. The only question, Max asks, is who is doing this.

Pilgrim admits that the Bureau has had to make some difficult decisions while investigating this, and he leads Bart and Max into a room full of motionless speedsters and "chrononauts" floating in midair. Pilgrim points out Gold Beetle, saying she had to be forcibly removed from Timepoint, as she insisted on staying and fighting the scavengers. Bart asks if these people are dead, and Pilgrim assures him they're only in an extratemporal state. He says he's lobbied hard to prevent the Bureau from taking any more terminal actions, and not just because Gold Beetle is kind of his family.

Max asks Pilgrim why he's showing them this and Pilgrim explains that right before the Bureau saved him from an empty future, he received a burst of data from a super-advanced intelligence. Using this newly acquired cosmological abstractions and "hypergeometries" — or Arc Angles, as Pilgrim calls them — the Bureau was able to calculate that reality is crumbling because speedsters keep using their powers. Max calls that ridiculous, saying speedsters are the "breath of the universe." But then he realizes that Pilgrim rescued them to help provide a new perspective on the problem.

Bart, however, is able to see things clearly. He shouts at Max to stop thinking positively. This wasn't a rescue — it was an arrest. More Linear Men suddenly start teleporting into the room and Pilgrim admits that Bart was right. He justifies himself by saying he felt these two deserved an explanation before they become frozen in stasis. Bart and Max try to escape, but they're surrounded by too many soldiers and Pilgrim, who says he's made contact with a "shaper," whatever that means. Bart valiantly swings at Pilgrim, shouting, "Shape THIS, Copper!" But it's to no avail. Bart and Max are knocked down and Pilgrim brings in the "widows" — enormous spiders that begin webbing up our heroes.

Pilgrim points out that he's doing everything he can to fix this problem without causing any deaths, even though that's what the Arc Angles said they should be doing. He doesn't expect Max and Bart to show him any gratitude, but he vows to try to find a way to save reality without murdering every speedster in existence. Bart and Max try to call out to each other, but they're unable to get the words out. They are able to just barely clasp hands as the webs enclose them. Pilgrim walks away, saying they need to have faith that the universe will provide.

There's a bit more stuff with Barry and Mr. Terrific and, of course, Wally in the Gallery. But none of that seems to directly apply to Impulse. Or maybe that's just more of Spurrier being too smart for his own good and confusing my simple mind with abstract concepts and technobabble. But on a whole, I do think I'm still enjoying this series. I think. Focusing on Bart and Max always makes me happy, and watching them huddle together to accept their inevitable death is very emotional. But I wish that moment could have been played a bit bigger. Or maybe I'm just frustrated that their capture at the end overshadowed their near death at the beginning.

On a broader scale, I'm kind of perplexed that Spurrier would yank Impulse and Max away from the heavenly send off Jeremy Adams had granted them only to largely neglect them and ultimately imprison them far away from the rest of the Flash family. They learned some big, interesting things in this issue, but Barry and Wally weren't around to also acquire this information. So the whole thing leaves me a bit frustrated. But I will say that I find Pilgrim a compelling character and I'm enjoying the hints at his true identity.

Next time, Bart will make a very small appearance in The Flash #10.

The Flash #5

"Top Priority"

Writer: Simon Spurrier

Artist: Mike Deodato Jr.

Colorist: Trish Mulvihill

Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

Cover by: Mike Deodato Jr. & Trish Mulvihill

Variant Covers by: Mike Deodato Jr. & Trish Mulvihill, James Stokoe, Werther Dell'Edera and Matt Taylor

Editor: Chris Rosa

Group Editor: Paul Kaminski

Our cover shows Flash wrapped up in mysterious blue tentacles, being dragged down upside down into a void of darkness, while an unraveling hand reaches up toward him. It's moody, dark and confusing — the perfect encapsulation of Spurrier's work. It's a well-done cover, I suppose. I just don't have anything to say about it. Nor will I bring up the variants, which lack Impulse, as always.

It's been quite a while since we've been here. Lots of strange things have been going on with Wally West and his family, and then we had the whole Beast World situation to deal with. Somewhere along the way, everyone seems to have forgotten that Max Mercury is in serious trouble. Well, everyone except Impulse, who has grown tired of waiting on Wally.

Wally explains to Bart that he's tried to travel back to the Dead World, where Max was last seen, but he can't seem to find it. In the meantime, he believes he has a lead through Gorilla Grodd and Mirror Master. But Impulse isn't satisfied with this, and he vows to travel to Timepoint himself. Bart believes if he reaches the speedster's sanctuary, he'll be able to find the time-traveling Gold Beetle, who may be more committed to helping her "comrades." (That was Bart's odd word choice, not mine!)

Wally asserts that finding Max is his top priority and he warns Bart that he can only get to Timepoint by dissolving into the Speed Force. This is a problem since all the latest fluctuations have led Wally to believe that Timepoint may not even exist anymore. But Bart ignores Wally and races off before he can be stopped.

And that's all we get of Impulse this issue. Luckily, I do know that issue #7 will feature a lot more Impulse. So that's where we're headed next! In the meantime, I'm just glad to get any little bit of Bart we can. And I'm especially glad to see him in character — risking everything to save his closest and dearest friend.

Year in Review: 2023

Another year has already come and gone. Superhero fatigue may be setting in, but that didn't stop the film studios. Marvel produced four films: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Marvels and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. All of them were fairly decent, but Spider-Verse was by far the best. DC countered with four films of their own (the most they've ever produced in a single year): Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue Beetle and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. The Shazam sequel and Blue Beetle were nice, little movies, but The Flash was offensively bad. I don't think I've ever been angrier with a superhero film. (I still haven't seen the Aquaman sequel yet, so I'll reserve judgment on that.) As I said earlier, a little bit of superhero fatigue may have set in with general audiences. Only Guardians and Spider-Verse appeared on the top 10 box office list (Barbie was No. 1).

But what about Bart? Well, thanks to Jeremy Adams, we actually got a bit more Bart than I was expecting. Impulse was a part of the One-Minute War, which lasted quite a while. Unfortunately, Bart didn't have too much to do after that. New Flash writer Si Spurrier has used Bart ... a tiny bit. And he's made a couple of quick cameos in the Beast World event, but that's it. Yet another quiet year for our guy, which is a shame since this is the 30th year of Bart Allen stories.

Best Story: The Flash #800

Spurrier's run has just begun, and it's quite intriguing, but Impulse's involvement in it has been quite minimal. Beast World is really fun, but Bart's role in it is even smaller. So that leaves us with Adams' run. One-Minute War started strong and had some memorable moments. But the longer it went, the worse it became, ultimately falling apart for a unsatisfying, inconsequential ending. The brightest spot of the year came with a short story in the anniversary issue. It was a delightful blast from the past, reminding the world of how wonderful Impulse stories can be.

Best Writer: Mark Waid

For the first time since 1997, and the fifth time overall, Impulse's creator is the best writer of the year. And it was all for one small, silly story. But the story had heart and was true to Bart's character — something Spurrier hasn't been able to grasp yet. Adams' story was too clunky and frustrating, but he did have a few gems scattered throughout — especially Bart and Max running off into the sunset. But at the end of the day, you just can't beat the best, and when it comes to Impulse stories, no one is better than Waid.

Best Artist: Todd Nauck

Nauck claims this award for the second year in a row and the sixth time total. And once again, he wins for doing very little work. But what can I say? He's my favorite artist! I always wanted him on a solo Impulse run, and this short story gave me a tiny taste of what that could have looked like. Roger Cruz did some solid work on the One-Minute War, especially when compared to those horrible covers by Taurin Clarke. But nothing could beat Nauck's wonderful trip of nostalgia.

Best Supporting Character: Kid Flash

Bart did some nice moments with Max — both under Adams and Spurrier — but those moments were few and far between. Their beautiful run into the sunset would have been the perfect ending for both of them. But then they were denied that, and Max was promptly trapped in a hellish nightmare realm, while Bart was busy playing with sticks in the park. Seriously. Still, though, those were meaningful moments and I feel a little guilty about passing on Max this year. But that's because Bart's relationship with Wallace West was so unexpectedly entertaining. The two made the perfect pair with Bart getting to act like a big brother for the first time in his life. It was so natural and successful, I'm a little stunned that when Wallace got his own series (Speed Force) he was paired with Avery Ho instead of Bart. Maybe nobody realized Spurrier was bringing Bart back. Oh well. Just one more missed opportunity for my boy!

Best Villain: The Fraction

I feel like I'm cheating a little bit by naming an entire group of villains instead of an individual. But I really didn't have any other options here. Spurrier's story is still going, so I couldn't even tell you exactly who or what is responsible for Max's latest disappearance. So that leaves me with the Fraction. I guess I could single out Miss Murder, who seemed to be the perfect antagonist for Impulse to defeat. But Bart didn't really beat her, and she ultimately didn't do that much, despite hanging around for most of the One-Minute War. The Fraction was a really neat concept — an invading alien force that used their connection to the Speed Force to conquer an entire planet in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately, Adams couldn't come up with any unique members within the Fraction besides Miss Murder (which is why he kept using her throughout the story). Everyone else was bland and completely indistinguishable from the rest, and yes, that does include that one guy who was secretly a speedster. Such a waste of potential. However, the Fraction were quite a formidable force and even an embarrassingly large team of speedsters and time-travelers weren't enough to actually beat them. The best our heroes could manage was to redirect the Fraction to another planet, where their reign of dominance presumably remains unchecked.

So that wraps up 30 years of Impulse stories! Considering all the nonsense poor Bart has been through — aging up, aging down, "dying" and being brought back, and disappearing from all media for months at a time — I'm actually a little surprised that he's still around. Just when I think DC is finally going to say, "No more Bart Allen!" someone brings him back for a cute little supporting role. And as long as that keeps happening, I'll keep this blog going.

Next time, we'll return to Spurrier's mysterious story with The Flash #5.

Titans: Beast World #3

Part 3

Tom Taylor Writer

Lucas Meyer Artist

Romulo Fajardo Jr. - Colorist

Wes Abbott - Letterer

Ivan Reis, Danny Miki & Brad Anderson - Cover

Björn Barends, Mirka Andolfo, Clayton Henry & Marcelo Maiolo Variant Covers

Chris Rosa - Associate Editor

Brittany Holzherr - Editor

Paul Kaminski - Group Editor

Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

By Special Arrangement with the Jerry Siegel Family.

Our cover shows Amanda Waller preparing to unchain the Wolf Batman. It's well done, and it's an intriguing idea. But that doesn't happen in this issue. There are a couple of nice variant covers, but they don't feature Impulse, so let's skip ahead to the very brief role Bart plays here.

Even though this story takes place before the Central City tie-in, it came out after. So, sometime before Bart was turned into a lizard and then a bee, he was in Kahndaq with Wally, helping to rescue bystanders from the ferocious rampage of the Lion Black Adam battling Starfire and Donna Troy. At one point, Starfire destroys hundreds of the Beast Boy Starro spores, prompting Bart to say, "Hey, it's raining burning horrors." Donna warns the speedsters about the spores, but Wally says they can't catch them. Bart confidently adds, "That's not gonna happen." And then Impulse and Flash race off the pages of this issue.

Wally and Bart are absolutely right. There's no legitimate reason they should ever be infected by the spores. Not only are they too fast for them, but they could easily vibrate through, if needed. As fun as it was to see Bart as a lizard, it didn't make much sense — especially in the context of this issue. Why would Bart randomly leave Wally's side to race back to Central City? This is a really fun event — I just wish there was better coordination between all the titles.

Well, that's it for 2023! Next time, I'll hand out some rewards before seeing what Bart will get up to in 2024.

Titans: Beast World – Tour: Central City #1

Cover by: Mikel Janin

Variant Covers by: Taurin Clarke and Cully Hamner

Editor: Chris Rosa

Group Editor: Paul Kaminski

Man, DC really loves creating the most awkward titles possible. Regardless, Beast World is a very interesting event. It began with Beast Boy transforming into a Starro to defeat a similar creature known as the Necrostar. But before he could back, a villain known as Doctor Hate took control of his mind, causing the Starro-Beast Boy to flood the Earth with spores that turn people into mindless animal/human hybrids. Impulse can be seen in the background of the first issue of this event, but he doesn't say or do anything, so I decided to skip it. He does, however play a slightly larger role in this tie-in issue, so here we are.

Our cover shows Wally, Irey and Irey's friend, Maxine, battling a bunch of animal/humans. Maxine is Animal Man's daughter, so it's only natural that she'd play a big role in a story like this. However, I would prefer to see more members of the Flash family out here. It's a perfectly serviceable cover, but not very exciting. And, as usual, none of the variant covers feature Impulse, so let's dive in.

Written by: Si Spurrier

Art by: Scott Koblish

Colors by: Hi-Fi

Letters by: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

The untitled main story bookends several separate stories by different creative teams. We open with Barry trying to have a romantic evening with Iris, but he's still suffering from the debilitating headaches that have plagued him ever since that strange rainbow phenomenon showed up above his statue. Irey suddenly bursts through the door, telling Barry what's happening in the city. Barry initially refuses to help, until he learns that one of his old foes, Godspeed, has turned into a man-sized hornet with super speed. After a quick pep talk from Iris, Barry dons his costume and races off with Irey to contact the rest of the Flash family. (This begins the side stories, but we only care about one of them.)

Invitation to the Speedster Ball

Starring: Julien "Jules" Jourdain as Circuit Breaker, Hartley Rathaway as Pied Piper & Bart Allen aka Impulse as ... ?

By Al Kaplan

Lettering Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

Edits Andrea Shea & Chris Rosa

Circuit Breaker (a new hero connected to the Still Force) and the Pied Piper have figured out how to combine their powers to pull Beast Boy's spores out of infected people and destroy them. Their efforts are abruptly interrupted by the arrival of Impulse, who has been turned into a very large frilled-neck lizard.

Circuit Breaker creates an "energy lasso" of sorts to wrap around Impulse's neck and ride him like a small horse. The Pied Piper, however, can't use his sound waves to lure the spore out like the others, to which he remarks, "That kid could never hold a steady beat." The Impulse lizard goes wild and tries to buck off Circuit Breaker, but the self-proclaimed "rodeo queen" manages to hang on.

The Pied Piper then receives word that the Flash family is meeting up at Iron Heights, so he suggests they forget about trying to extract the spore from Impulse and focus on "herding" him back to the rest of the speedsters.

We then return to the main story, where Animal Girl decides to experiment on the Lizard Impulse by trying to turn him into an ostrich. The process would have worked — had Impulse been able to stay still long enough. Poor Bart is grotesquely split between the two animals before being reverted back to lizard form.

Jay, Wallace, Avery, Irey and Jai are all present, but Wally has apparently chosen to work with the Titans during this crisis. And Barry is struggling to contain the Hornet Godspeed, who can move fast enough to essentially turn himself into a swarm. For some reason, Irey believes the best way to stop Godspeed would be for Animal Girl to turn them all into wolves with Barry as the alpha to lead the pack. Everyone points out how stupid that idea is, so Jai offers an alternative — bees.

And for reasons I'll never understand, everyone agrees with this plan and willingly ingests Beast Boys spores. Animal Girl turns Barry, Jay, Bart, Wallace, Ace, Hartley and Jules into giant bees, but leaves Jai and Irey as humans just because. The bees quickly close in on Godspeed and vibrate to create heat, which burns away the spore inside him. Animal Girl then gives Iris the powers of a queen bee so she can control all our bee heroes and direct them to rescue the infected civilians and slowly burn out their spores one by one.

This may be a fun event, but this tie-in issue didn't quite do it for me. Mainly because the ending was so forced and unnecessary. Turning everybody into bees accomplishes nothing! These heroes are much stronger in their normal human form! If they were already infected, and there was no possible way to remove the spores, then that'd justify this silly ending. But, no — they all had to willingly infect themselves. Well, all except for Impulse, that is. Don't ask me how he became infected — I had assumed that speedsters would have been too fast and/or able to vibrate through the spores. Bart just gets to be special, I guess.

His design as a frilled-neck lizard was pretty neat, I'll admit. I just wish they did something more with him. I also was a bit confused by his size. Bart must have been over 10 feet long in that lizard body. I'd say that's an inconsistency with this event, but this issue in particular didn't have much consistency. Some of the animal hybrids still had more or less human bodies with the heads and arms/legs of animals. Others, like Captain Cold's polar bear, completely changed into an exact copy of an animal. Some of the infected people got smaller. Some got bigger. Nobody really seemed to iron out exactly how these Beast Boy/Starro spores affect people.

The inconsistencies didn't stop there. In one story in this issue, Jai looked about four or five years older than he did elsewhere in this issue, and his muscles didn't inflate when he used his powers, like they did just a few pages later, when a different artist was drawing him. Look, I get not wanting to be the "bad guy" and tell the artist to redraw a couple of pages, but in cases like this, I think any good editor would have to make that call.

Next time, we'll continue this event with Titans: Beast World #3, which technically takes place before this Central City tie-in, but wasn't published until after it came out (speaking of editorial annoyances).

The Flash #3 (legacy #803)

"Angles"

Writer: Si Spurrier

Artist: Mike Deodato Jr.

Colorist: Trish Mulvihill

Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhrou

Cover by: Mike Deodato Jr. & Trish Mulvihill

Variant Covers by: Mike Deodato Jr. & Trish Mulvihill, Ramón Pérez, Christian Ward, Matt Taylor

Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Editor: Chris Rosa

Group Editor: Paul Kaminski

Our cover shows the Flash being unraveled by a nearly-forgotten villain — the Folded Man. It's creepy and mystical, which is a perfect representation of Spurrier's story. Of course, the real question is just how much the Folded Man is involved in all this, or is he merely a red herring? Anyway, as usual, none of the variant covers feature Impulse, so let's get to the story.

We open with the Flash and Mr. Terrific examining an odd rainbow light that appeared over a statue of Barry Allen. They're completely stumped, so Wally calls in Max Mercury, revealing that he's been occasionally becoming "unstuck" from reality. Max matches the resonance of Wally's aura and becomes "unstuck" with him, theorizing that they haven't entered an alternate reality, but are merely viewing their universe from a different angle. Suddenly, a violent explosion begins heading right toward them. Wally guesses (correctly) that this is someone running. Max helps Wally relax and take them back to normal reality, where they find the runner was our lovable Impulse, announcing world-shattering news: pumpkin spice pickles.

From Bart's point of view, Wally and Max suddenly appeared out of nowhere. But he's immediately distracted by the rainbow light and vows to poke it with a stick — despite Max's objections. Wally and Max discuss how much damage Bart caused to the other plane, merely by running up to them, which causes Max to worry about the consequences of using their powers. Wally says he recently met a group of god-like aliens that mentioned The Stillness, which Max has never heard of before. Max also tells Wally about his vision of a wounded bison, which he interpreted as the Speed Force being in distress.

Bart interrupts his stick-hunting to explain his real reason  for coming here. While visiting Grandma Iris for her brownies, Iris told him that Barry has fallen into a deep depression and won't even leave his bed. Bart tried to talk to him, but Barry just yelled through the door that Max and Wally were at the statue. Max suggests they become "unstuck" from reality again, ordering Bart to stand watch and not poke anything.

This time, Max and Wally go to a different place, apparently inhabited by dead creatures. They're abducted by the Folded Man, who takes them to a place where several other speedsters seem to be trapped. They warn Wally and Max to leave before their vibrations are frozen, and the whole group is spooked by the arrival of three red, spiky aliens called the Uncoiled. Max and Wally try to run, but they can feel their connection to the Speed Force fading. So Max transfers all his energy to Wally, telling him to send help and let Bart know he's proud of him.

Max's boost sends Wally to a blank, white world with just the Folded Man to talk to. He tells Wally there's nowhere left for him to go, but to his amazement, Wally simply walks away to a new plane of existence. This one is a beautiful garden full of statues of Wally's friends and family. Wally is so overwhelmed by the tranquility of the place that he doesn't notice the statues are moving. In fact, he actually begins to lose his memories. As he sits down to enjoy the peace, the Impulse statue picks up a stick.

A real stick pokes Wally's cheek, catapulting him back into the real world. Bart hastily apologizes for poking the rainbow light, even claiming it was an accident. He then realizes Max is missing. Wally can't bring himself to say anything. Bart puts his face in his hands, while Mr. Terrific consoles him.

Poor Bart just can't catch a break. He was denied his peaceful run into the sunset. And now he has been separated from Max once again. It's just not fair!

It's also not entirely fair with how Bart's been portrayed in this series. He's acting too young and idiotic. It would have been nice had he intentionally put his stick in the rainbow because he could feel something was wrong. It also would have been great to have seen his interaction with Barry. Oh well. I guess there's still time for Bart to do something interesting. The art and story are still engaging and unique. I just hope this mystery actually goes somewhere and doesn't peter off.

Next time, we'll begin the Beast World crossover.