The Flash #29 (legacy #829)

Impulse Control – Part IV

Written by Mark Waid & Christopher Cantwell

Art by Vasco Georgiev

Colors by Matt Herms

Letters by Buddy Beaudoin

Cover by Dan Mora

Variant covers by Miguel Mercado; Saowee

Editor Chris Rosa

Group editor Paul Kaminski

Our main cover by Dan Mora is a rather frustrating one for me. Yes, it is well drawn and quite dynamic. But the storytelling is all wrong. Wally and Bart look like they're frantically racing to save Barry Allen from being struck by lightning, but that's exactly what they want to happen. This lightning bolt is what turned Barry into the Flash and set up a dynasty of speedsters that includes Wally and Bart. Also, why is Cosmic Boy looming so large and menacingly over everything? He doesn't have a particularly significant role in this story, apart from being one of three Darkseid Legionnaires orchestrating everything.

I am happy to see that one of our variant cover artists realized that this story is all about Impulse. I snagged this textless version from dc.fandom.com. Unfortunately, I find Saowee's art rather amateurish. It's not entirely off-putting, just not as refined as I'd like.

Our story picks up in Central City on April 23 at 6:09 p.m. "some years ago." Wally is racing off to save Barry from Darkseid's Legion, still confused about why he hasn't lost his connection to the Speed Force as Bart has. Bart, meanwhile, has been moved to Iris' bed. He has woken up just enough to start weakly speaking about the Speed Force being sick, but he now has a fever, which is quickly growing worse.

Wally reaches Barry first, but he doesn't get a chance to explain this bewildering situation before Dream Girl arrives. To Wally's surprise (and suspicion) she claims that she is rebelling against Darkseid because she has seen the future and knows he's going to lose. She shows Barry images of his future as the Flash, telling him the fate of all existence rests on his shoulders. Naturally, this only confuses Barry even more.

The door suddenly bursts open, revealing Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Whip Whirlwind and XS. Whip immediately knocks down Wally and Barry, while Dream Girl reveals that she is merely a projection, as her real body is a thousand lightyears away. Lightning Lad is able to intercept the lightning bolt that was fated for Barry, and he redirects with the intention of killing Barry. Wally manages to step in front of Barry at the last second, and is shielded by the Speed Force. But he and XS can both feel the Speed Force dying and leaving. (It is especially strange that XS would celebrate this, as it likely would mean that she wouldn't exist without Barry gaining super speed, traveling to the future, and fathering Jenni's mother. But I guess it just goes to show how warped her mind has become by Darkseid.)

Back at Iris' house, Bart begins shouting, "SOMETHING'S WRONG! SOMETHING HAPPENED!" Iris tries to calm the strange teenage boy in her bed, saying she was just about to call the hospital, but Bart brushes her off, saying that if the Speed Force dies, then he'll die, too. Iris naturally assumed he is babbling gibberish caused by his fever, but Bart stumbles out of his grandma's bed and down the hall, trying to explain that if he doesn't save Barry and Wally, then Darkseid will conquer the universe.

Barefoot and woozy, Bart makes it out of Iris' house and into her car. Naturally she objects to this, but she does pause a bit when Bart asks her to think about how he knows her name. So she offers to drive Bart over to Barry's lab, but Bart insists that it's too dangerous. He also falsely claims that he's "really good" at driving to assuage Iris' concerns. He then promptly floors the gas pedal, runs over a mailbox and perhaps a few other things before crashing right through the wall of Barry's lab (thankfully it's on the ground floor).

Bart's crash knocked out XS, and Dream Girl takes advantage of the confusion to show the Legionnaires images of their true, heroic selves. While they reject these visions as lies, Whip Whirlwind is touched by the sight of him becoming Max Mercury and having a loving relationship with Wally and Bart. So Whip turns on the Legion and knocks out Saturn Girl. 

However, Bart was ejected from Iris' car and he is bad shape. Wally and Barry attend to him, and Barry is unable to find a pulse. Wally begins weeping, blaming himself for not protecting him. Bart suddenly finds himself in his Impulse outfit, standing in a dark void next to Jay Garrick. Jay suggests that the two of them are dead, or something close to it, as the last thing he remembers was being "killed" by Guy Gardner. But during that fight, he was able to become one with the Speed Force, which enabled him to feel Wally's distress in the past and Bart's unique connection to the Speed Force. Jay explains that the Speed Force didn't choose Bart like it chose him, Barry, and Wally. The Speed Force is Bart.

Jay tells Bart that the Speed Force is still alive, but barely. And Bart has the ability to reignite it purely from within himself. He urges Bart to bring back the Speed Force and himself by choosing his "true form." Suddenly, Bart begins glowing and flies up into the air before vanishing in a burst of light. In his wake, he left little shards showing Wally every possible destiny of his life, which all led up to the same conclusion: him becoming Kid Flash and then the Flash. The shards of light then form a glowing Impulse, who speaks to Wally.

Bart says he's speaking for the Speed Force when he tells Wally that he was always destined to become the Flash, regardless of Barry's involvement. I guess this explains why Wally didn't lose his powers when Bart did, but Bart/Speed Force immediately follows up that line by saying that Barry was also always destined to connect with the Speed Force. Bart then summons a second lightning bolt, which hits Barry just as it was always meant to.

The glowing Bart comes back down to the ground and rematerializes in his normal Impulse outfit. Wally wraps him up in a huge hug, saying he thought he had lost him. Bart suggests that he may now be eternal or "eternal-adjacent," but Wally cuts him off, pointing out that they still need to take care of Darkseid's Legion. Wally knocks out Cosmic Boy and Bart overwhelms Lightning Lad with some lightning of his own. Wally turns toward Saturn Girl (Whip apparently hadn't hit her hard enough) and he tells Bart to make it a hat trick. Bart doesn't get the reference and says he doesn't have a hat, to which Wally just orders him to keep zapping. Whip, meanwhile, has defeated XS, calling her Omega Speed a cheap imitation.

Wally then checks on the unconscious Barry, praying that he will have forgotten most of this when he wakes up. Dream Girl then departs, promising to meet Wally again at "the end." Saturn Girl, however, proved she's strong enough to withstand two big hits from both Whip and Wally, and she enters Bart's mind. She manipulatively praises Bart for being strong enough to save his grandfather, but then claims it was all for naught, as Barry was only meant to become the Flash so he can die.

Bart begins freaking out and Wally tries to calm him down and praise him for his hard work, which gives the Legionnaires enough time to slip away in their time bubble, leaving Whip behind. Wally is unable to help Bart relax, who quickly re-enters the time stream himself, saying he's going to the future to save Barry (again). Wally sadly admits to Whip that Barry actually is fated to die during the Crisis on Infinite Worlds. And if Bart messes that up, then everything is over.

This was another intriguing chapter of the Impulsepoint story. I will quibble with the Wally stuff, though. It felt quite superfluous to have to remind Wally for the umpteenth time that he's not just a carbon copy of Barry. That might have been a compelling character trait back in the '80s, but seeing Wally obsess over that today just makes me want to yell "Get over it, already!" And maybe I'm mostly upset because this issue felt a bit rushed and we didn't get to give Wally the time he deserved. The bit with the shards showing all his destinies was a classic Show vs. Tell fail. The dialogue told us what the shards contained, but the artwork did not show that to us.

As for Bart being the living embodiment of the Speed Force? I'm not sure yet. Something similar happened back when he was aged up to an adult and took up the mantle of the Flash. That story didn't ever go anywhere interesting. So for now, I'm withholding judgment until I see what DC decides to do with this. We can't count on Mark Waid to handle everything by himself — there needs to be a company-wide buy-in.

Next time, it seems like we'll conclude Impulsepoint. I doubt Bart will make any other appearances before then. And I'm kind of worried that there won't be any Impulse appearances after this story. Waid may be setting things up to finally send Bart away for good. Who knows?

Year in Review: 2025

This past year was a crazy one for me, personally, as I decided to return to school and acquire a master's degree in the hopes of changing my career. My schoolwork kept me too busy to blog, which wasn't really a problem until Mark Waid decided to start writing some new Impulse stories! But now I'm all caught up and ready to review the year, beginning with the obligatory box office scroll. 

I think we may be entering a new era of film, as China's Ne Zha 2 dominated the box office with over $2 billion. The second-highest film was an American animated sequel, Zootopia 2. Just sneaking into the top 10 was DC's lone entry of the year, Superman. It was a nice reboot for the character and the studio as a whole, which has finally shed the bleak Zack Snyder vision for the colorful James Gunn world. Marvel put out three movies — Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, and Fantastic Four: First Steps — but none of them were able to crack the top 10. Fantastic Four was my personal favorite of the year (I even saw it twice in the theaters!) and I thought Thunderbolts* was really underrated. The new Captain America film was not very good, though. Of course, I still haven't seen it all the way through. When I went to see it in the theaters, I was very sick, but determined to make it through. After all, my wife and I rarely get to go out and we already had the babysitter lined up and everything. But halfway through the movie, I had to run into the bathroom and throw up. I'm so glad my local Cinemark had exceptionally clean bathrooms that day! I ended up having to vomit twice during the movie, but still managed to come back to see the Red Hulk at the end.

As for Impulse, 2025 was a year of few, but significant appearances. In March, Mark Waid featured him in Justice League Unlimited #5. It was a thrilling, but frustrating addition to the Impulse canon, as poor Bart wasn't really allowed to do anything of any significance. After being largely neglected for the next nine months, Waid suddenly thrust Impulse back into the limelight with Impulsepoint, which will carry over into 2026. This has been the most interesting thing anyone has done with Bart in years, so it should be no surprise that it heavily influenced the awards for this year.

Best Story: The Flash #26

This issue was the brilliant kickoff to Impulsepoint — Bart's decision to insert himself into the heart of the company-wide DC KO event, but on his own terms. I love how Bart actually came up with a good plan — go back in time to defeat a frozen Darkseid — but he just didn't think it through all the way. I also loved being able to return to his origin a bit, and actually got a new take on his life in the virtual reality world. And then there's the sheer fun of visiting an alternate timeline, which is always irresistible for me. It has been a long, long time since I've had an Impulse story this fun and exciting.

Best Writer: Mark Waid

For the sixth time, the creator of Impulse claims this award. He really left me frustrated after that Justice League Unlimited story — almost like he was teasing me with Impulse, but denying Bart the ability to make an impact — but Waid more than redeemed himself with the launch of Impulsepoint. And I do have to apologize to Christopher Cantwell, who is Waid's co-writer on these Flash issues, but I'm not able to discern exactly how much he's contributing to the story. The whole thing feels like a classic Waid tale and Bart's personality is handled just the way Waid would do it if he were writing alone. So he gets the award alone. This year, anyway. Last year's winner, Simon Spurrier, was never in contention. He only begrudgingly threw Bart into the background of a few scenes of his sprawling, incomprehensible mess of a Flash run.

Best Artist: Dan Mora

Mora has quickly become one of my favorite comic book artists of all time, and I am absolutely thrilled to be able to include him on this list. He drew a beautiful Bart in Justice League Unlimited, and has provided some stellar covers to Impulsepoint. Vasco Georgiev did not make much of an impression on me during Spurrier's run, but once he started drawing for Waid and Cantwell, his art began to soar. It's amazing what can happen when someone is given a coherent script! But as impressed as I was with Georgiev's work, Mora still beats him in my book.

Best Supporting Character: Wally West

This is the third time Wally has earned this title, and there really wasn't any competition. Bart's interactions with Max were too few and brief to be considered. But Wally not only had a Justice League Unlimited adventure with Bart, but now he has followed him into this Impulsepoint story. And even though he and Bart keep butting heads, Wally has shown he truly cares about Bart. It's a really fun dynamic, that has unfortunately been shoved aside by too many writers in favor of Wally and his own children. Luckily for me, I have Mark Waid to revive that glorious '90s nostalgia.

Best Villain: Darkseid

Being a fringe character, Bart seldom gets to directly battle the main villain of a major event. But Waid didn't pull any punches and threw Bart right into Darkseid's face — or rather, Darkseid's fist into Bart's face! I was truly stunned to see Bart confront the biggest villain in all of DC. And to my delight, Bart actually managed to keep his composure and find a way to not only escape, but to rescue Wally, as well. Darkseid was the main instigator behind the massive DC KO event, and he is responsible for Impulsepoint, which makes him the obvious choice for this award. There were no other contenders.

So, what's next? Well, I have no doubt Waid and Cantwell will give us a thrilling conclusion to Impulsepoint. I just hope that beyond that, Bart won't be forgotten. I know it's too much to ask for his solo series to be revived, but maybe somebody could bring back Young Justice? In either case, I promise to still be here, reviewing every appearance of Bart Allen.

The Flash #28

All Fight Month – Round Six: The Flash vs. Green Lantern

Mark Waid & Christopher Cantwell Writers

Vasco Georgiev Art

Matt Herms Colors

Buddy Beaudoin Letters

Dan Mora Main Cover

Chris Rosa Editor

Paul Kaminski Group Editor

As our cover indicates, DC declared the month of December 2025 as All Fight Month, with nearly every title pausing their stories to feature a battle in the DC KO event. Luckily, Waid and Cantwell were still able to sneak in a little bit about Bart and Wally, while devoting the bulk of the issue to Jay Garrick's fight against Guy Gardner. And speaking of whom, they both look great on Dan Mora's cover. However, I do have to roll my eyes at Jay's lightning sword, as it reminds me too much of some of the worst bits of the CW Flash show.

Our story opens with Wally reluctantly racing through the time stream once again. Since Bart has lost his connection to the Speed Force, this trip is taking a lot out of him — even with Wally carrying Bart in his arms and extending his protective aura around him. Wally arrives at Central City on April 23 (year unknown) at 5:59 p.m. — precisely 15 minutes before that fateful lightning bolt would hit Barry Allen. Wally lays Bart down on a park bench and tries to revive him, but is unable.

Meanwhile, Jay Garrick, who agreed to participate in the Heart of Apokalips' tournament, finds himself in a three-round battle against Guy Gardner. Each round is technically a fight to the death, but the heroes are promptly revived after each round and even are allowed to change their form between rounds. Guy goes from Green Lantern to Red Lantern to the Warrior version that dominated his run in the '90s. Anyway, Guy wins the first and third rounds, with Jay bravely telling Guy to "beat the tar out of Darkseid" before he accepts his defeat.

Back in Central City, at 6:04 p.m., Wally shows up at his Aunt Iris' apartment. He apparently spent the past five minutes finding some civilian clothes for himself and Bart, although he didn't bother getter any socks or shoes for Bart. Iris naturally doesn't recognize the adult version of her nephew or the unconscious teenage boy in his arms.

Wally tried to stammer out a half-hearted cover story before giving up and simply barging through the door and plopping Bart down on Iris' couch. He asks Iris to watch over him, let him rest, and maybe give him some food when he wakes up. Wally shrugs off all of Iris' objections and questions, promising he'll be back soon and that Barry Allen is in grave danger.

I am sad that Impulsepoint got derailed after just two issues, but I get it. The main DC KO even takes precedence. And it was nice to see Jay Garrick get the spotlight, even if he disappointingly lost his match. And while the interaction between Wally, Iris, and the unconscious Bart was brief, it was still pretty funny.

So that's it for Bart Allen comics and stories from the year 2025. Next time, I'll do my Year in Review and hand out some awards!

The Flash #27 (legacy #827)

Impulse Control – Part II

Written by Mark Waid & Christopher Cantwell

Art by Vasco Georgiev

Colors by Matt Herms

Letters by Buddy Deaudoin

Cover by Dan Mora

Editor Chris Rosa

Group editor Paul Kaminski

Superboy created by Jerry Siegel

By Special Arrangement with the Jerry Siegel Family

We're once again treated to a stellar, dynamic cover by Dan Mora. The energy is fantastic and I really appreciate the little detail of the lightning bolt on the bottom of Bart's shoes. I do have my nitpicks, though. Cosmic Boy's head got cut off by the Flash logo, which had to be pushed down to accommodate the DC KO Tie-In banner. An even bigger problem (pun intended) is the presence of Colossus Boy. He does not appear in this issue. It would have been neat, but he didn't, making this cover yet another example of false advertising. Sadly, Impulse didn't make it on any of the variant covers, even though he is the main character of this story.

We pick up in Tunguska, Russia, in 1908, where Bart is stunned by Max Mercury's insane diatribe about trying to appease his "dark god" (Darkseid) in order to gain Omega Speed and kill the Speed Force. To help put things in perspective for himself (and mostly the reader), Bart quickly recaps his history and that of the Legion of Super-Heroes. This is presented in cute little cartoon (or chibi) versions of these characters.

As adorable as it is to see baby Bart with his parents, this isn't what happened (at least originally). Don Allen was killed before Bart was born. And Meloni was separated from her infant the moment he displayed super-speed powers. Of course, continuity has changed quite a few times since Bart was introduced to the world back in 1994, so I guess any writer could come along and tell a different story. But until then, this is what we've got.

Anyway, Bart realizes that Darkseid has somehow changed history to cause the Legion of Super-Heroes to be inspired by him instead of Superman. And since the Legion of Darkseid has access to time travel, they were able to anticipate Bart's attack against their master. The evil Saturn Girl addresses Max as Whip Whirlwind and commands him to kill Impulse.

Bart immediately starts fleeing from his former guardian and happens to pass by Wally, who just barely popped out of the time stream. Before Bart can explain anything to Wally, Whip Whirlwind tackles the Flash and forces him into a lake. Wally easily breaks free, but is instantly attacked by the Legion of Darkseid and is subdued by a blast of electricity from Lightning Lad. Whip complains that Flash and Impulse are too fast for him and begs for the Omega Speed. But Cosmic Boy calls him a peasant, unready for such a gift. Cosmic Boy explains that they need to capture Impulse, as his Allen bloodline makes him a conduit. Since Bart's too fast for Whip, Cosmic Boy asks Saturn Girl to summon "her."

As Bart keeps running, he feels the Speed Force screaming out in pain. He also regrets having to fight Max, saying, "He's like ... my ... I dunno. But I care about him." Bart passes a train labeled Trans-Siberian, which tells him he's in Russia. Suddenly, he's slammed into by a blast from the past, his long-forgotten cousin, Jenni Ognats, aka XS.

Bart likened this experience to the head-on collisions he learned about in driver's ed. He tries to talk to XS, calling her "Cousin Jenni," but she coldly insists that her only family is the Legion. She proclaims herself the living embodiment of Omega Speed, which Bart thinks sounds pretty dumb. He then catches her monologuing about the frailty of the Speed Force and he escapes by hopping aboard the Trans-Siberian train. XS quickly catches up to him, and offers him a spot on the Legion of Darkseid. Bart's thought bubble creates a cute little equation of Impulse plus Darkseid equalling a big red X.

Wally, meanwhile, quickly recovered from the electrocution and stole Cosmic Boy's flight ring to quickly catch up to Bart. He's frustrated that Bart took this fight to a crowded train, which means they're going to be changing history now. He pops down into the train just in time to hear Jenni call Bart the fastest of the other speedsters. She encourages him to embrace the Omega, repeating the famous phrase, "Darkseid is." Bart, of course, can't help but mock that phrase by asking, "Darkseid is what?"

At this point, Wally intervenes and knocks XS out the window, much to Bart's horror. Wally tries to explain that this Jenni and Max aren't the real versions that they know and love, as they're caught in a new reality corrupted by Darkseid. He then orders Bart to help him evacuate the passengers off this train and blames him for permanently altering history because he decided to leap into the past. Bart argues that as heroes, they should change history and fix every bad thing.

This argument is interrupted by the arrival of the Legion of Darkseid. Wally tries to warn the train passengers to lift up their hands and feet to protect them from Lightning Lad's attack, but none of them understand him. Bart shouts out to them in Russian, and they listen, managing to survive the electrified train. Wally is shocked to learn that Bart speaks Russian, and Bart admits that he was so bored on the Watchtower that he speed-read a bunch of language dictionaries.

Wally and Bart then evacuate all the passengers in two seconds, but they are caught aboard the train as Cosmic Boy raises the entire vehicle 700 feet in the air. He then lets the train fall while the Legion of Darkseid brings Whip Whirlwind into a time bubble to go prevent Barry Allen from being struck by lightning and becoming the Flash. 

After the train crashes, Wally is grateful that his protective aura managed to save both him and Bart. Of course, he's still angry and begins chewing out Bart again for dragging them back in time. He asks why Bart can't see things his way for once, to which Bart angrily shouts, "Because I'm not you!" Bart sadly laments that he's not just another Flash — a feeling that Wally understands all too well. Suddenly, Bart feels something wrong. He's lost his connection to the Speed Force, fearing it's dead. Luckily Wally is still connected, but he can feel the pain the Force is in. Realizing that the Legion has changed Bart's past, Wally says they have to get Barry Allen.

This was another solid entry in this story. The art was once again dynamic and perfectly fitting the frenzied pace of a confused Bart and Wally running around like chickens with their heads cut off. And Bart's personality was perfectly represented by Waid and Cantwell. Unfortunately, I don't know how much Cantwell contributed to this story — I suppose it's likely that Waid merely supplied the main plot and Cantwell handled all the nitty-gritties, but that's just speculation. Either way, the final product is very nice. I am a little sad, however, that this issue ended with Bart losing his powers, at that means he's going to have a significantly reduced role moving forward.

I also have tons of questions that I don't expect anyone to answer. If Bart's enrolled in high school and taking driver's ed classes, then where does he live? Who's his guardian? And when, exactly, did Bart read all those language dictionaries? Has he been living on the Watchtower for an extended period of time? Or was this something he just did a minute before deciding to take Irey out on a joyride? Longtime fans will remember how Geoff Johns gave Bart the ability to remember everything he read — a unique trait among speedsters — but nobody has really nailed down whether that power still applies. Oh well. I'll just try to enjoy what little of Impulse I do get these days.

To be continued...