Impulse #69

Todd Dezago • Writer
Eric Battle • Penciller
Buzz • Inker
Janice Chiang • Letterer
Tom McCraw • Colorist
Jamison • Separator
Joey Cavalieri • Editor
Impulse created by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo

This issue's cover was again the product of the steady hand of Ethan Van Sciver and the ink-stained fingers of Wayne Faucher. This is the conclusion of the Circle of Fire Epilogue, and, like last issue, it features Impulse with a guest star, Green Lantern this time, and half of a power battery. I guess you could place this next to Impulse #68 to see the full power battery, but it doesn't really form a cohesive, single image. One thing I like about this cover is how Impulse is mimicking Green Lantern's pose, showing off his sparkling costume ring instead of a power ring.

Our story picks right up where last issue left off, with Green Lantern and Adam Strange arriving on the planet Rann moments after Impulse inadvertently released the giant monster, Amphibitus. It isn't too hard for the heroes to follow the monster's trail of destruction. Green Lantern tries to trap it with his power ring, but Adam Strange warns him that Amphibitus grows stronger when power is exerted against it, which is why he had to place the creature in an artificial hibernation the last time he fought it. Impulse suddenly arrives on the scene, wrapping Amphibitus in special dampening bonds developed by Adam's scientist father-in-law, Sardath.

Everybody meets up in Sardath's lab, realizing that those bonds won't last forever. Adam's wife, Alanna, fills him in on what happened, and, to her credit, she takes the time to point out that everything Impulse did came from the best of intentions and he's been doing everything he can since then to fix the disaster. Kyle and Adam, however, need some convincing, so Bart profusely apologizes, saying he's trying really hard to focus and be a better hero. As he explains his side of the story, an alarm goes off, and poor Bart instinctively feels he's going to be blamed for that, as well.

Sardath explains that the alarm came from the Ranagarian nuclear reactor. Apparently, when Bart diverted the lava to the sea, it not only freed the Amphibitus, but also evaporated all the necessary water to keep the power plant cool. Now, without that water, it faces an imminent nuclear meltdown. (You can't blame Impulse for this one — this is just poor city planning! How has this place not already been destroyed three times over?) Anyway, Adam Strange quickly puts together a plan. Sardath will recreate his serum to place Amphibitus back into artificial hibernation, while Green Lantern figures out how to cool down the power plant and Adam keeps the monster distracted once it breaks free of its dampening bands. Impulse asks what he can do, so Adam sends him with Kyle.

Kyle isn't too thrilled about having to take Bart around with him, so he places the teen in a big green bubble to keep him out of trouble. Bart begs and begs to be released, finally collapsing in a heap of sadness, saying that Green Lantern doesn't know what it's like to be constantly trying to live up to everyone's expectations all the time. Kyle realizes he does know exactly how this feels, and his feelings soften toward Bart. Meanwhile, Amphibitus breaks free, and Adam Strange has to scramble to protect his family from the beast's rampage. Adam attempts to slow down the monster by placing a grav-box on its back to increase its gravity. Unfortunately, Adam has to sacrifice this plan to save a bystander.

We cut back to Kyle and Bart, who have arrived at the now dried-up sea bed that is full of stranded and suffocating aquatic creatures. As soon as Green Lantern releases Impulse from the bubble, the speedster begins rescuing the sea creatures, carrying them off to the ocean one at a time. Kyle says this is a waste of time, but Bart insists he has to save them all. He tells Kyle to go off on his own and find some water that nothing's living in and he vows to stay behind, save the fish and stay out of trouble. Bart's words actually give Kyle an idea, and he takes off for the polar ice cap.

Adam Strange continues to fight valiantly in his efforts to distract Amphibitus, but unfortunately the sirens at the nuclear reactor have attracted the beast. Green Lantern returns with a gigantic piece of ice in tow. Impulse, having finished saving all the marine life, gets back to the battle field just in time, rescuing Adam Strange from a fatal blow from Amphibitus. As Bart and Adam watch the progress of Kyle, his ice and Amphibitus all heading toward the power plant, Bart comments that it's too bad G.L. couldn't just drop the glacier on the monster. They then both realize that there's no reason Green Lantern shouldn't do just that, so Adam Strange flies up to Kyle to deliver the message, while Impulse pulls all the soldiers out of the way.

As instructed, Green Lantern drops the ice on Amphibitus, knocking it out, then picks up the pieces of ice to place in the nuclear reactor and cool it down. Amphibitus is quick to recover, but not quicker than Impulse, who retrieves the serum from Sardath and puts the monster to sleep. Four helicopters fly Amphibitus out to the ocean, and Adam Strange finally has a good word to say about Impulse. He praises the teen for not giving up and always trying to do the right thing, which is what makes him a hero. Everybody gathers together to celebrate their victory, but the Zeta-Beam suddenly returns, sending Adam, Kyle and Bart back to Earth. Just before he's teleported away, Bart manages to apologize one last time to the people of Rann.


This was an ... OK issue. Impulse proved himself to a couple of more heroes who were quick to judge him. And the poor kid shouldered more than his fair share of blame for a set of circumstances that probably would have happened even if he wasn't there. I mean, who's to say that those lava pigs wouldn't have caused that volcano to erupt without Impulse's involvement? Anyway, I still don't see why Impulse had to be the setting for Green Lantern to make up with Adam Strange and the people of Rann. Shouldn't the Circle of Fire epilogue have taken place in Green Lantern's own title?  I'm also a bit down on this issue because of Eric Battle's messy, unappealing art. I'm just tired of it. And I'm equally tired of having Impulse out in space. Between his own title and Young Justice, I'm really craving some back-to-basics, down-to-Earth adventures.

Impulsive Reactions begins with Joey Cavalieri reporting on his recent trip to the Small Press Expo convention, but he really didn't have anything interesting to say about it.

Michael Bregman said the conclusion to Mercury Falling in Impulse #66 was exciting, unpredictable and moving. He loved the action, suspense, mystery and, most of all, the emotion. Michael liked how the storyline fleshed out Thad, showing he's not your typical villain. He was really moved when Inertia realized no one ever loved him, and he hopes we see him again, as there's so much more to explore with this character. Michael also suggests collecting Mercury Falling as a trade paperback, along with issues #52 and #53 to help set up Inertia. Cavalieri says he'll talk with Dale Crain, the guy in charge of this sort of thing. Eventually, Mercury Falling was collected as a trade, but as I said before, I wasn't too happy with how DC handled it.

Andy Barclay is happy that Max is back to his old self, but he's left wondering what happened to Inertia and why Wally didn't answer Morlo's call to help. Andy praised Todd Dezago for his great work and says he's sad to see Ethan Van Sciver leave. Cavalieri says he won't say anything about Inertia to avoid spoiling a potential return. He also announces Van Sciver's new project with Geoff Johns, a Prestige book called The Flash: Iron Heights.

Starmansgal's favorite part was when Impulse asked Inertia if anyone has loved him, and Inertia can only say, "No ..." She also thanks the creative team for a fantastic issue.

Rex_Tick_Tock_Tyler asks for an Impulse/Hourman crossover.

Jaikbluze also supports an Hourman crossover, noting speedsters' time-travel abilities. It's kind of sad to see readers suggest good ideas and have the editor admit these are good ideas, but realize that these ideas never came to fruition. Now for the new ads:

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Next time, we'll have a New Titans reunion in The Titans #25.

Impulse #68

I Rann and I Rann and I Rann ...

Todd Dezago • Writer
Eric Battle • Penciller
Buzz • Inker
Janice Chiang • Letterer
Tom McCraw • Colorist
Jamison • Separators
Joey Cavalieri • Editor
Impulse created by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo

This issue's cover is by Ethan Van Sciver and Wayne Faucher. It is nice to still have Van Sciver provide some Impulse art, although I do think it's kind of misleading to have him continue to draw the covers when he's technically off the book. I'm torn. Anyway, this issue is a Green Lantern: Circle of Fire epilogue, which is why we have a giant Green Lantern power battery in the background. This issue's guest star is Adam Strange, who has never really had any interaction with Impulse before this. I welcome the opportunity for Impulse to meet more people throughout the DC Universe.

Our story begins with a high-speed police chase of a couple of rednecks in a rickety, old truck. Impulse runs up alongside the truck and very smoothly pulls the criminals out and places them in the back of a following police car.

Impulse then tries to stop the runaway truck with a small whirlwind, but the truck takes a bad bounce and careens toward a store full of people. So Impulse has to run to the front of the store and make an even bigger whirlwind to stop the truck and all the pieces falling off it. He's successful this time, and the police congratulates the young hero, although they do point out that Impulse was cutting it a little close there. Impulse sadly apologizes and immediately takes off.

Bart is mostly recovered from the events of Mercury Falling, but as we saw in Young Justice, he is determined to focus more than ever so he can prove to Max that he can be just as good an Impulse as Inertia was. So Bart goes on a patrol around the world and spots a man about to be struck by lightning in Rio de Janeiro. So Impulse shoves the man out of the way and is hit by the beam of light, that isn't lightning at all. It's actually a zeta beam that transports people to the planet Rann. And that man was actually Adam Strange, who was hoping to use that zeta beam to return to his wife and daughter.

Impulse, of course, learns all this the hard way. He's teleported to the alien planet, and just like Dorothy Gale, he astutely notes that he's not in Alabama anymore. He quickly spots a woman and a young girl zooming by in a flying car, being chased by enormous rhino/warthog-like creatures. So Impulse decides to step in and save the day by knocking the "space rhinos" back with a giant whirlwind. The creatures appear unfazed by this attack, but they do break off their pursuit of the woman and decide to burrow down into the ground.

Impulse then greets the woman he believes he's rescued by flashing the Vulcan sign to live long and prosper. However, the woman tells Impulse that he's doomed the entire city of Ranagar. She explains that she was leading the lava pigs away from the city so they wouldn't burrow nearby and flood the city with lava. Impulse meekly apologizes, and the woman realizes that he must have accidentally been struck by the zeta beam instead of her husband. Alanna explains that her father, Sardath, created the zeta beam to scan outer space, but the beam inadvertently transported Adam Strange to Rann, where he became a great hero, fell in love with Alanna, and together had a daughter, Aleea. But Adam is constantly torn between Earth and Rann, as the effects of the zeta beam aren't permanent, and he's often transported back to Earth against his will. So he makes it his life's mission to find the next zeta beam and return to his family.

Alanna sees that Impulse has super speed, so she tells him he can still help them. She takes him to Sardath to try to come up with a new plan to stop the lava pigs. Sardath calculates that they only have 17 minutes before the pigs' burrowing destroys the city, and the only thing he can think of is to create a giant trough to redirect the lava flow to the Zardonian Sea. Impulse hears this plan, and immediately heads out there with a shovel, not staying long enough to hear Sardath warn him of waking a large monster in the sea.

By the time Sardath and Alanna catch up to Bart, he's already finished digging the trough, and to his delight, it does successfully redirect the flow of lava away from Ranagar. But as the lava hits the water, Sardath delivers the bad news to Bart. He doesn't blame the boy for his ignorance, but explains that years ago, Adam Strange battled a giant monster and was only able to defeat it by placing it in artificial hibernation at the bottom of the sea. But now the lava has turned much of the water to steam, and right on cue, the enormous Amphibitus is awakened, as poor Impulse can only meekly say that he was trying to do the right thing.

Meanwhile, Adam Strange's desperation to get back to Rann has led him to Green Lantern, even though he's still mad at Kyle for attacking the planet during Circle of Fire. Adam tells Kyle they need to get back to Rann to save Impulse, but Green Lantern says they instead need to save Rann from Impulse. So they blast off into space, just manage to catch the last bit of the zeta beam up by Neptune, and are teleported to Rann.


I feel so bad for Bart in this issue. He's trying so hard, but nothing seems to turn out right. I hope he's able to catch a break next issue. All in all, I found this to be a rather rough issue to read. I've already made it known that I am not a fan of Eric Battle's art, and this issue did nothing to improve my opinion. This also didn't feel much like an issue of Impulse. This easily could have been a completely separate series that just happened to have Impulse as a guest star. If I didn't know better, I'd almost say Todd Dezago didn't write this story. Everything about this just felt off. Like I said before, I'm more than happy to have Impulse meet other heroes, but I just don't understand why the Impulse series devoted two of its issues to a Circle of Fire epilogue when Impulse had nothing to do with that story.

Impulsive Reactions begins with Joey Cavalieri urging readers to check out the new Superman and Batman: World's Funnest. He correctly states that most readers of Impulse would enjoy the humor of that special.

Tobias Christopher simply writes that he hates having to wait a whole month for the next issue of Impulse, but it is worth the wait.

Max Mercury II said he wasn't too sure where the story was going after Impulse #64. But when he read Impulse #65, he had to immediately pick it up and read it again just five minutes later. He loved how Inertia accepted Bart's friends, how Carol realized Inertia was impersonating Bart, and how Bart arrived at the end. Max also says he's excited for the new Impulse and Max Mercury toys from DC Direct. (I need to see if I can get my hands on those.)

The Obsolete Man was a bit disappointed with issue #64 mainly because the Previews magazine advertised the story as Bart's oldest friend making the ultimate sacrifice. Naturally, he was assuming this would be Max, but it turned out to be Dox. However, The Obsolete Man did love issue #65, especially the look on Inertia's face when Max called him Bart. He realized that this look meant Inertia would go through with his original plans to kill Max. The Obsolete Man says this is a testament to what Ethan Van Sciver can show in just a few panels.

Kid Bucket says that while he's sad to see Van Sciver go, he is very excited to have Carlo Barberi take over, having loved his previous work during Sins of Youth.

Magikthise points out that Inertia thought in actual words, not pictogram balloons like Bart. Cavalieri admits this was another clue Dezago put in for readers.

Nightwing says he's not familiar with Glory Shredder, but he did love how Inertia dropped his innocent Impulse act to dismantle the villain. He also liked seeing a flashback of the Reverse Flash and Barry Allen. Nightwing picked up on Carol being able to solve the mystery based on how she reacted to the fake Bart. He also suspects that Robin might have known that Inertia was posing as Impulse. But that's really a moot point since this storyline didn't play out in Young Justice (as much as I wanted it to). Now for the new ads:

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Next time, we'll take a quick peek at Superboy #83.

Green Lantern: Circle of Fire #1

Darkness Visible

Written by Brian K. Vaughan
Pencilled by Norm Breyfogle
Inked by John Lowe, Ray Kryssing, Steve Bird, John Nyberg and Keith Aiken
Lettered by Sean Konot
Colored by Glenn Whitmore
Separated by Jamison
Asst Editor Frank Berrios
Editor Matt Idelson

Our cover shows Green Lantern flying in front of the main villain of this event, Oblivion. It's not a particularly striking image. Oblivion is too obscure to appear imposing, and Green Lantern is too wonky to appear heroic. The good news, though, is that the story inside the cover is quite interesting. The bad news is that Impulse has nothing to do with said story.

So anyway, our story begin with the incredibly large, seemingly invincible Oblivion attacking the planet Rann. He tells that planet's hero Adam Strange to warn Earth that he's coming for them next. So the injured Adam Strange contacts the JLA, who go off into space to investigate with Superman, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Plastic Man, Flash and Green Lantern. Kyle Rayner is shocked to see that Oblivion is exactly like a comic book super villain he created when he was 7 years old.

The JLA quickly learn they're no match against Oblivion, so Superman sends Green Lantern back to Earth to gather reinforcements. On the way, Lantern runs into the Spectre, who offers no help, but delivers a cryptic warning of Kyle going to be betrayed by someone close to him. After Kyle leaves, we see that Spectre is actually the deceased Hal Jordan. When Green Lantern arrives at the JLA Watchtower, he asks Oracle to round up the Titans, the JSA and even Young Justice. But Oracle says everyone is busy fighting back a massive crime wave, since word apparently got out that the JLA has left the planet.

And from Oracle's computer screens, we see she is monitoring Impulse, Captain Marvel, the Titans, Beast Boy, Robin and Jay Garrick. Sadly, we don't see exactly who these heroes are fighting. And even sadder still, that is all the Impulse in this issue. Anyway, Oracle does manage to send Power Girl to help Green Lantern, who forms a team with Adam Strange, Firestorm, Atom and a handful of other Green Lanterns from the past, future and alternate worlds, who unexpectedly answered Kyle's plea for help.


Like I said, this is a really interesting story. A ton of characters are in play, involved in a really neat mystery surrounding a huge villain. Ironically, even though Impulse has nothing to do with the main story, the epilogue of Circle of Fire will play out in two issues of Impulse. Go figure.

As to be expected, there aren't any letters to the editor. So let's check out the new ads:

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Next time, we'll return to the Olympics in Young Justice #24.