Impulse Control – Part 1
Written by Mark Waid & Christopher Cantwell
Art by Vasco Georgiev
Colors by Matt Herms
Letters by Buddy Beaudoin
Cover by Dan Mora
Editor Chris Rosa
Group editor Paul Kaminski
Superman created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster
Supergirl based on characters created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
By Special Arrangement with the Jerry Siegel Family
Our cover shows an angry Flash unable to prevent Impulse from racing to the front and center of this story. Step aside, ridiculously overpowered Wally and his equally overpowered children! It's Bart's time to shine! And it's all thanks to Mark Waid. But also the DC KO event, which is why we glimpses of the Doomsday Time Trapper accompanied by the cosmic World Forger in the bottom of the lightning bolt, while the top features a Darkseid-corrupted Legion of Super-Heroes. Sadly, Bart is not part of the main DC KO event, but at least he gets to (mostly) take over the Flash tie-in specials. And, as usual, none of the variant covers feature Impulse, but this Dan Mora work is more than enough for me.
Our story begins with Flash defeating the Alchemist in Arizona before being whisked away to the Justice League Watchtower satellite, where Time Trapper warns all the heroes that Darkseid is re-forming all of existence into his image. Meanwhile, Bart has decided to take Irey on a ride aboard one of the Watchtower's star-jets. Apparently Wally has kept Irey aboard the satellite ever since his war with Eclipso and Bart felt she deserved a bit of fun (even though he doesn't know how to pilot the jet, much less drive a car). I don't know why Bart happened to be on the Watchtower at this time, as well, but nobody's bothered to explain where Bart even lives for years, so I guess we'll just have to go with it.
Anyway, Superman puts an end to their joyride before it can even begin, giving us a class Impulse thought bubble of a rain cloud pouring on his head. Bart's escorted back on the Watchtower, where Max Mercury points out that Bart could have been halfway to Andromeda before he even considered whether that joyride was a good idea. Bart defensively points out that both he and Irey need to stretch their legs. Max answers with a zen-like quote, saying that the fastest he will ever run is when he's completely still. Bart can't tell if Max was being wise or just clever.
Max tries to lecture Bart further, but Impulse becomes distracted by the sight of Time Trapper, whom he recognizes as Doomsday. Bart prepares to rush off to fight the villain, but Flash quickly stops him, saying they are discussing the potential end of all existence. So Bart settles down and actually listens to the Time Trapper, who explains that Darkseid has placed the Heart of Apokolips at the center of Earth eons ago. This living essence thrives on omega energy and answers only to the one who most commands that dark power, aka the "King Omega." And apparently the only way to prevent Darkseid from completely rewriting the past, present, and future, is to hold a massive tournament to crown a King Omega who can claim the Heart of Apokolips before Darkseid.
The speedsters aboard the Watchtower — Wally, Max, Bart, Irey, and Jay Garrick — hold a quick huddle to discuss this news. Wally says this whole tournament idea sounds insane and desperate. But Jay surprises him by saying this plan could actually work. But Wally abhors the idea of having to fight their friends in order to find a champion. Max suggests time travel, pointing out that Time Trapper and World Forger have already begun to slow down time to give the heroes a chance. But Wally hates this idea, too, saying he recently caught a glimpse of the time stream and saw it is literally on fire, due to the actions of Darkseid.
Irey and Bart, however, like the idea of fighting a slowed down Darkseid. Bart even brags that he overrode the difficulty settings on every combat simulation in the 31st-century virtual reality program he was raised in. And for the first time in decades, we are treated to an artist's re-imagining of young Bart's VR hookup. Putting him in just his underwear with a massive helmet shoved over his entire head paints an even more horrifying picture than before. Seeing this stark image gives Iris even more motivation to rescue her grandson.
Irey concurs with Bart, saying battling Darkseid in these conditions would be a cakewalk. Wally says that only one person gets a cake in cakewalk, but Max believes that everybody actually gets a cake in that children's game. Wally argues that his point is this crisis isn't a game.
Suddenly, before any of the other speedsters can react, Bart takes off. He runs fast enough to vibrate through the Watchtower's walls and out into open space, managing to enter the time stream before he froze to death. Wally tried to take after Bart, but he hesitated for just a moment, which caused him to bounce off the satellite's wall. Max and Irey rush to check on Wally, who angrily says he needs to catch Bart before he does something stupider. To Wally's surprise, neither Max nor Irey know who Bart is. Realizing that this means Bart has already disrupted the time stream, he takes off once more, this time making sure to vibrate cleanly through the wall.
Wally is momentarily lost in the time stream, caught watching his whole life pass before his eyes, until Bart pulls him out, asking what took him so long. Wally and Bart come face to face with Darkseid, practically frozen in time, just as Time Trapper promised. Bart points out that in this environment, microseconds will take more than an hour to pass for them. They are moving faster than the speed of light and no one can even see them. He argues that this is their best shot to take down Darkseid, save everyone, and leave before anyone even knows they were there. Before Wally agrees, Bart rushes in to attack ... only to be surprised by Darkseid's counterattack.
Darkseid has apparently grown so powerful already, that he knew Wally and Bart would attack them. And he was just waiting for them to make the first move. Even worse, Darkseid is already faster than the two speedsters. Before they know it, Bart finds himself in a strangle hold in Darkseid's hand, while Wally is pinned to the ground with Darkseid's axe-hand at his throat. Darkseid then announces he's going to show the speedsters what he is by reaching into their past and future.
Bart suddenly finds himself back in his virtual reality system in the 31st century. And Wally is suddenly a second-grader again, getting beat up by a schoolyard bully. While Wally sees Darkseid in his bully and cowers in fear, Bart finds himself battling the Dominators — the evil alien race that initially captured him and experimented on him. Bart notes that he doesn't remember his VR combat simulations hurting so much, then he remember who he's actually fighting, getting another classic thought bubble of Darkseid punching his face.
While Darkseid gloats about being able to destroy his enemies when and where he pleases, Bart decides to risk using the VR's shutdown code, even though it could kill him. He shouts out Iris-9294, which is a nice reference to his grandmother who saved him and his first full appearance in the comics (Flash #92 from 1994). This does the trick, causing Bart to regain his senses long enough to escape Darkseid's grasp and push Wally into the time stream with himself. Bart can feel the Speed Force is in pain (yet again) but he feels there must be another chance to stop Darkseid further back in the past.
Bart eventually comes crashing out of the time stream into Russia in 1908, causing a massive explosion in a forest with his arrival. Wally is nowhere to be found, but Max Mercury surprisingly is. Of course, this Max doesn't recognize Bart and races right past him, babbling about an omega blast, pure speed, and his desire to pledge his total allegiance in pursuit of truth. Bart follows Max, wondering why he's acting so rashly. Max soon reaches three members of the Legion of Darkseid, to whom he kneels down and hails. The evil Legionnaires do actually recognize Impulse, telling him their master was dismayed by Bart's sudden retreat, but now they are thrilled to have him right before them, "ripe for the kill."
Mark Waid really frustrated me with his Impulse appearance in Justice League Unlimited. Bart wasn't allowed to do anything heroic or of any consequence for that matter. But here, Waid has made up for that and then some, putting Bart firmly in the driver's seat, for better and worse, in his own "Impulsepoint" adventure. And I am here for it!
It's been such a long time since any decided to show some hidden talents and depths to Bart's character. It's been an even longer time since someone showed Bart getting the snot beat out of him! I didn't realize how much I've been missing a good, old-fashioned fight like this. And Vasco Georgiev's frenetic art perfectly fits the story. I was unimpressed with his work during the war with Eclipso, but it turns out that a more straightforward plot fits his talents much better than anything Simon Spurrier was writing. My only nitpick is that Bart's eyes are brown instead of yellow. Oh well! That fact has been long forgotten by everyone working at DC.
To be continued...
