The Flash Secret Files and Origins #1

A Run of Luck

Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn, Story
Kenny Martinez and Anibal Rodriguez, Art
Gaspar, Lettering
Tom McCraw, Coloring
Digital Chameleon, Separations
Paul Kupperberg, Consulting Editor
Frank Berrios, Assistant Editor
KC Carlson, Editor

Our cover by Steve Lightle and Patrick Martin is rather classic, yet a little dull. I guess they had to keep it simple to fit in all those words. This is, after all, a special 64-page issue with four separate stories, a two-page timeline, a family tree, and 15 profile pages. There's a lot going on here, but not a whole lot of Impulse. So let's take a look at where he does pop up, beginning with the main story.

The main Secret Origin story begins with an unknown narrator recounting the origin of the original Flash, Jay Garrick. He was a lousy football and an overworked scientist, who fell asleep one night while experimenting with hard water. The strange mixture of fumes gave him super speed, which he used to win one football game, but later decided to use his new powers for good, becoming the superhero known as the Flash.

The Flash became so prolific, he later earned his own comic book series, which was a favorite of Barry Allen's. He was another scientist, who was struck by lightning and bathed in a strange mixture of electrified chemicals. Following Jay's example, Barry also took up the mantel of the Flash and became an enormously popular superhero as well.

Barry's biggest fan was his fiancee's nephew, Wally West. His aunt Iris left Wally in Barry's care one day, and he decided to arrange a meeting with the Flash for the lad. While telling Wally his origin story, the same accident fatefully occurred, this time bathing Wally in the chemicals, giving him super speed as well.

For several years, Wally worked with Barry as his sidekick, Kid Flash. But after Barry sacrificed his life to save billions during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, the now grown Wally decided to wear Barry's uniform and carry on the legacy of the Flash. Our mysterious editor then briefly explains how Bart Allen, grandson of Barry, was brought from the 30th century to the 20th.

And ... wait. Did Bart just kiss that guy? I know he's impulsive, but to kiss a guy who's shooting at him? That's a bit too random for Bart's standards. Anyway, the narrator briefly mentions the fact that many other heroes throughout the future kept the legacy of the Flash alive. We then see our mysterious narrator was Bart's other grandpa, the evil President Thawne, whom Bart encountered during his adventure to the 30th century with his mom.

Thawne visits the Flash Museum and rejoices in the recent deaths of the Tornado Twins — Don and Dawn Allen (Bart's dad and aunt). Thawne visits the Cobalt Blue statue and obtains a mysterious gem, which he then presents to a cult-like group of followers. As Thawne announces his victory over the Allens, Wally West secretly spies on him from the shadows.

The ending there is leading into Mark Waid's next big Flash story, Chain Lightning. But he won't get to that until after his year-long hiatus. In the meantime, Grant Morrison and Mark Millar will take over the Flash. And we'll get to their first two issues, which debuted during Flash Month. But first, let's see what else this Secret Files issue had.

Immediately after the main story, we're treated to a handful of profile pages, starting with Wally West (Flash III), Barry Allen (Flash II), Jay Garrick (Flash I) and Impulse.

This page was written by Mark Waid, with pencils by Craig Rousseau and inks by Barbara Kaalberg. I particularly like the image of the rabbit outracing the turtle, especially since Humberto Ramos intentionally strove to make Impulse look like a rabbit. Since my picture of this page can be tough to read, I'll type up everything here:

Quicker Than Thought: Impulse. Impulse can vibrate through solid object without harm. He would gladly trade this ability for the power to fly. Bart Allen has inherited his grandfather's special ring, inside which he stores his Impulse costume.

Real Name: Bartholomew (Barry) Allen II (I think Waid made a mistake here. Bart has never been called "Barry.")

Occupation: Student

Place of Birth: 30th century Central Cityplex

Base of Operations: Manchester, Alabama

Marital Status: Single

Height: 5'1"

Weight: 105 lbs. (115 with shoes)

Eyes: Yellow

Hair: Brown

First Appearance: Flash #91 (June, 1994)

Bart Allen, 30th century grandson of Barry Allen, inherited the powers of his bloodline but no control over his speed. Hyper metabolized, Bart aged fourteen years in the space of his first two and would soon have died of old age had his grandmother not brought him to the 20th century, where Wally West found a way to temper Bart's accelerated system. Since Bart grew up in a VR environment set to match his speed, he still thinks the world around him has a big "reset" button and doesn't really understand the concept of danger. Poster child for the judgmentally impaired, Bart — a.k.a. Impulse, the most fitting super-hero name in history — moves straight from idea to deed without ever pausing along the way for the stage others call "thinking." He is kept alive solely through the grudging effort of his mentor, Max Mercury. Posing as Max's nephew, Bart lives in a small, slow Southern town. He believes this is punishment. He is correct.

So that pretty much sums up all you'd need to know about Impulse, written in an appropriately humorous manner. Next up in this issue is profile pages for Jesse Quick, Max Mercury, and a two-page interview with Max, in which he basically avoids every question and says as little about his past as possible.

After that is a profile page for John Fox, the future Flash, followed by a quick four-page comic by Brian Augustyn and Craig Rousseau, featuring a 1940s adventure with Jay Garrick and Max Mercury. We then get more profile pages for Linda Park, the Pied Piper, the Trickster, Professor Zoom, the Rogues Gallery and Gorilla Grodd.

Up next is a guided tour of the Flash Museum, written by Scott Beatty, pencilled by Todd Nauck and inked by Lary Stucker. Curator Dexter Miles briefly describes each of the major exhibits in the museum, but unfortunately he has nothing to say about Impulse, since that display is under construction. Although we are able to see a photo of Impulse, which he has autographed "To all my fans."

I could be mistaken, but I do believe this is the first time Todd Nauck drew Impulse, which is significant since he will soon be doing so on a regular basis in the Young Justice series. I absolutely love his style and can't wait till I get there. Nauck also drew a small Impulse toy, which was being used by a photographer to catch the attention of a little kid. One of the features of the museum allows families to get their pictures taken in Flash costumes. So we see the dad dressed as Grodd, the mom as the Flash, the kid as Captain Cold, and the photographer as the Blue Beetle.

We then get profile pages for Kadabra and Savitar, followed by a two-page timeline, which includes cutouts of Impulse and XS from the cover of Impulse #9, drawn by Humberto Ramos. The timeline tells us that Impulse appeared in the 20th century one year ago. Flash #91 established that date as May 12, 1994, but since comic books move much more slowly than real life, I guess we now have to say Bart arrived in 1996. The future dates are also changed from Flash #91, which had Iris making her great escape with Bart on June 12, 2995. But now, according to the timeline, Bart was born in 2980 and traveled back in time in 2982. Of course, it's entirely possible to explain these inconsistencies with several major continuity-altering events that happened after Flash #91, such as Zero Hour and even Genesis.

The last page of this issue shows a small fragment of the Allen Family Tree discovered by the Flash Museum in the 30th century. This document (written by Mark Waid) shows that Barry Allen is the son of Henry and Nora Allen. Barry married Iris West, and they had Don and Dawn. Dawn married Jeven Ognats, and they had Jenni, aka XS. Don married Meloni Thawne, and they had Bart. The fragmented paper shows that Meloni remarried and that Bart had a child, but both those lines are cut off. We also see that Iris' nephew, Wally, was married to an unknown person and had at least two kids. The only one we see is Iris West II, aka Flash IV.

So that's some pretty exciting stuff from a simple family tree. Many of these things will come to pass in upcoming years, although I don't think we ever learn about Bart having any children. All in all, this was an awesome issue, even with it's disjointed style. Sometimes I get frustrated with these secret origin comics, but when the subject material is good, I love it. The history of the Flash family is fascinating, and this comic clearly and cleanly presents it all in a way that can educate new readers and still entertain comic veterans.

There aren't any new ads, nor are there any letters to the editor, so I'll see you next time with a very quick look at Speed Force #1.

Sovereign Seven #28

So Whatever Happened to Power Girl?

By Chris Claremont & Ron Lim
Chris Ivy Inker
Richard Starkings and Comicraft/EM Letters
Prismacolor Colors & Separations
Dana Kurtin Associate Editor
Kevin Dooley Editor
Claremont & Turner Creators

Our cover by Lim, Ivy and Angus McKie shows Impulse and Reflex battling for the affections of Power Girl, who is now a part of Sovereign Seven. It is a pretty funny image — Reflex's massive size contrasts nicely with Impulse's smallness — but both these heroes are acting a bit out of character. And nothing remotely like this happens in the issue. But it's still pretty fun.

Our story begins with some light-hearted sparring being interrupted with the news that someone is using Power Girl's civilian name Karen Starr, and has set up a computer software company called Starrware, conveniently located in Manchester, Alabama. So Power Girl and the Sovereign Seven decide to take a field trip to check it out.

Speaking of field trips, Bart Allen happens to be on one with the eighth grade class, visiting, you guessed it, Starrware. Bart lags behind as his bus unloads, and he happens to spot Power Girl and her friends quietly flying down into a back alley. So Bart runs over there to check it out, and is pleasantly surprised to run into Reflex again. Bart's teacher, Mr. Wade, lectures him for wandering off, and the Sovereign Seven just kind of include themselves in the tour group with Bart's class.

Bart's very excited to be touring the company that created The Conqueror's Throne and other amazing video games. Then for some reason, Bart looks at Reflex like a strict, Canadian mountie, and even though Power Girl's too old for him, he entertains the thought of hitting on her just to drive Reflex crazy. (I have no idea what's going on.) Anyway, Bart learns that Power Girl and friends arrived at Starrware without any kind of plan, so he teaches them a lesson from the book of Max: First, define your goals, then devise a plan to achieve them. Our heroes are so wrapped up in their planning that they don't notice they've become separated from the group and have fallen right into a trap.

Game Level 1

Impulse and Reflex suddenly wake up in their uniforms and surrounded by an army of demons. Impulse recognizes the Castle of Doom up ahead from The Conqueror's Throne video game he was talking about. Impulse and Reflex try to fight the demon horde, but then Impulse remembers the only way to hurt the demons is to use their own weapons against them. So Impulse grabs a big blaster rifle and begins mowing down the demons. Reflex asks where they go next, and Impulse explains they'll automatically get bumped to the next level once they cross the scoring threshold, which is exactly what happens.

Game Level 2

Impulse and Reflex suddenly find themselves on very tall, narrow pillars rising above a pool of molten lava. Impulse jumps on Reflex's back, and he deftly hops from pillar to pillar until they reach what they assume is the exit — a small window hovering high in the air.

Game Level 3

Our heroes leap through the window and into a seemingly innocuous castle room. But they soon find the floor is made of quicksand. Reflex begins rapidly sinking, so Impulse takes charge this time, having Reflex hold on to him as he runs in place, churning the liquid-like quicksand until it becomes solid. Soon, they're free and out the opposite window.

Game Level 4

This one is a giant pinball machine, knocking Impulse and Reflex around until suddenly ... nothing.

Bart realizes he's nowhere, floating in midair. After running through a wide gamut of emotions, Bart imagines the disappointed reactions of Max, Carol and his mom if he were to die. He imagines the Impulse wing of the Flash Museum being closed and forgotten, and, for some reason, Reflex gloating over a defeated Impulse. Reflex snaps Impulse out of this by throwing his massive shoe at him. Reflex is amazed at how Impulse went through all the physical and psychological responses to sensory deprivation in less than a minute. Impulse doesn't care about that, and throws the shoe back at Reflex. But Reflex tosses it right back, pointing out that he's slowly pushing Impulse toward the exit by chucking his shoe at him. So they toss the enormous boot back and forth until Impulse finally is forced out the window.

Game Level 5

Impulse sees Power Girl chained up and surrounded by beautiful, but evil women who want to attack the intruder. But first, Impulse has to save Reflex. So he takes off his costume, stripping down to his whitey-tighties, but keeps his mask on. He puts Reflex's shoe in his uniform and spins it around, using his uniform's stretchiness to reach Reflex and pull him in.

Impulse begins fighting the evil women, but then he takes a moment to think. He realizes that the game is interactive and keeps finding out new ways to counteract their powers. And he wonders where the other Sovereign Seven members are. Reflex tells him to save Power Girl then think later, but Impulse theorizes that would only worsen their situation. Since they're clearly heroes, that makes them predictable for the game. So Impulse and Reflex agree to act unheroic and allow Power Girl to die.

Bart, Reflex and the others suddenly wake up in virtual reality beds. A group of reporters quickly approaches them, eager to interview the beta-testers of the new virtual reality game. Bart plays along, saying they loved the game and are eager to meet the designer. Carol then finds Bart and drags him away — probably out of the Sovereign Seven's social circle forever.


On paper, I should have loved this issue. We get a lot of Impulse, see him in his natural video game environment, and contrast him nicely with the massive Reflex. But Chris Claremont just didn't get Impulse. And it seemed he didn't get the story he was trying to tell. He had Impulse say and think things that were completely out of place, both for this issue and the established character of Impulse. Fortunately, Ron Lim's art was good enough to prevent this issue from becoming a complete disaster.

None of the letters in Royal Mail mention Impulse, so let's head straight into the ads:

The Real Hercules, the Only Xena, starring in their first full-length animated feature. Hercules & Xena: The Animated Movie — The Battle for Mount Olympus. Starring the voices of Kevin Sorbo and Lucy Lawless (who would later voice Wonder Woman in Justice League: The New Frontier).

Mello Yello. Let it out.

Prepare for the arrival. The Visitor on Fox.

The ultimate party is in your house. Ultimate Hip Hop Party 1998. Features 16 of today's hottest, head noddin' hip hop hits.

Always dunk one down! Always Coca-Cola.

Gap Kids. Pro fleece sweatshirt $38. Easy fit jeans $24.

Next time, we'll dive right into DC's Flash Month! I'm not sure if this was to celebrate any kind of anniversary, or if a lot of projects just happened to fall into place. Regardless, the result was pretty amazing. DC churned out two Flash issues, two Impulse issues, a Secret Files and Origins issue, a special Speed Force issue, an original Flash hardcover graphic novel and a T-shirt designed by Mike Wieringo. We'll kick it off with The Flash Secret Files and Origins #1.

Adventures in the DC Universe Annual #1

Something Wicked: Event One!

Hilary J. Bader Writer
Andy Suriano Penciller
Rob Leigh Inker
John Costanza Letterer
Rick Taylor Colorist
Frank Berrios Assit. Editor
Mike Carlin Editor

This whole issue is called Something Wicked This Way Comes, and it features separate stories with Impulse, Mr. Miracle, Rose & Thorn and Superboy, all loosely connected by a prologue and epilogue with Dr. Fate. And I think the cover by John Delaney and Terry Austin illustrates this rather well. This series, Adventures in the DC Universe, was a loose comic-book adaptation of the DC Animated Universe, which at this point only consisted of Batman and Superman. Justice League was still four years away at this point, so in 1997, this was the best way to imagine what many DC characters could look like if they were animated. Around 2000, Impulse was considered as a main character for Justice League, but he was soon replaced by the Flash.

Anyway, Impulse only appears in his individual story (again, no interactions with Superboy!), so I'll only talk about Impulse's bit, especially since the overarching Dr. Fate stuff is a very loose connection at best.

Our story begins with Bart bored and home alone. We do hear Helen's voice as the outgoing message on the answering machine, which is a nice touch. It was rather easy for writers to forget that she existed. Anyway, Max, in location unknown, calls Bart to warn him not to use his super speed for anything since he feels a disturbance in the Speed Force. But Bart doesn't pay attention to the message and assumes Max was simply lecturing him to do his chores. So he quickly does the dishes, makes his bed and takes out the trash, leaving only the task of returning his library books — to Lima, Peru. I have no idea why Bart wanted to check out books from Peru. I guess he only did it because he could.

Anyway, Bart throws on his Impulse uniform and heads down to South America. He has a very strange trip, finally realizing that Max was trying to tell him about this very scenario. Suddenly, Bart is jolted by a burst of energy and collapses in the middle of a remote jungle. Bart says he's never been knocked out of the Speed Force before, which I'm pretty sure is not how it works. At least how Mark Waid has presented the Speed Force so far. It's rather difficult just to get into the Speed Force, and even more difficult to leave it. But whatever.

Bart is soon surrounded by a native tribe, but he tries to leave them so he can avoid his 20 bolivars fine. But after running a few yards, Bart again collapses in pain. He wonders if it was something he ate, but decides his usual diet of hot dogs, devil dogs and ice cream shouldn't be responsible for this phenomenon. He starts testing his limits, finding that short speed bursts are OK, as is vibrating, but once he tries to actually go somewhere, he crashes.

The leader of the tribe, who wields a staff with a Flash-like lightning bolt on it, finally manages to communicate with Impulse by grabbing his shoulders and vibrating him. Bart asks how he's suddenly able to understand the native's language, and the shaman simply says he understands the forces of existence. He further explains that things are amiss in the speed god's realm, and he advises Impulse to stay with him until it's safe. Bart thinks Max would get a kick out of the concept of a speed god, and he goes with the shaman to his hidden city in the trees.

The shaman then tells Impulse that he believes he was sent by the speed god to protect the city. He shows him a couple of explorers searching for the lost city. Impulse soon learns the men are only motivated by greed and are prepared to kill any natives they come across. So Impulse steals their map as they go to sleep, then presents a plan to the natives. He asks for a bunch of old and broken items, which he disguises as artifacts and lays out in a path to lure the looters away.

Bart's plan works perfectly, and once the looters are free of the city, he boxes them in by the river with a bunch of logs. For added measure, Impulse surreptitiously plants the "artifacts" on one of the guys, causing the other to accuse him of hoarding it all to himself. The two men get into a fight and fall into the river, which carries them over a waterfall.

The shaman thanks Impulse for his help and tells him the disturbance in the realm of the speed god has quieted. He then sends Impulse away by basically telling him never to come back. So Bart zips home and just manages to sneak inside as Max is opening the front door. Bart flips the TV on to a remarkably quick and oddly specific news report of the rescue and arrest of two men in Santo Lodoca, South America. Max tells Bart he's free to speed now if he so desires, but Bart says he just wants to veg out in front of the TV for a while.


Well, that wasn't awful. The art was awful, yes, but the story was OK. I guess we're supposed to assume that whatever Dr. Fate was dealing with in the prologue was somehow related to the disturbance in the Speed Force, but I wish that would have been laid out more clearly. And I also wish Impulse could have been doing something more interesting than protecting a hidden tribe from two idiots. But what really kills this story is the art. I understand the desire to emulate the simplistic Bruce Timm style from the DCAU, but that doesn't excuse the sloppy, almost unbearable artwork in this issue. Alright, let's just move on to the ads now.

Protecting the earth from the scum of the universe. Men in Black: The Series. I do remember this show quite well. It was OK, not great. Certainly not as great as that first movie was, but probably better than that awful second movie.

Take a break with a Kit Kat bar. You could fold this chaotic family barbecue scene together to end up with just one kid peacefully relaxing in a hammock.

Tangent Comics. The only thing you know is the names! Secret Six #1, Doom Patrol #1 and Sea Devils #1.

Built anything cool lately? Get a model kit for a penny! Revell Monogram.

Return to the excitement! Return to the adventure! Return to the Amalgam Age: The DC Comics Collection trade paperback.

Watch This Space talks a lot about the latest San Diego Comic Con, but nothing really applies to Impulse.

See Nick in 3D! Hey Arnold!, The Secret World of Alex Mack, The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo, Rugrats and KABLAM! I watched and loved three of those shows (Alex Mack and Shelby Woo were for girls).

This last ad is one of my all-time favorites. It's set up like a comic for Superman: The Animated Series, and starts with Jimmy Olsen telling Perry White that Superman has just been spotted at Burger King. Superman, who's flying by the Daily Planet, turns his head and asks aloud, "I was?" Perry takes a look at Jimmy's photo and points out that his young photographer took a picture of some toys. To which Jimmy quizzically ponders over the word "toys" as if he's never heard of toys before. The comic then shows all five Superman toys that are offered with each Kids Club meal, and I actually had one of them. It was the "flying" Superman that balanced on his chin atop the Daily Planet. It bugged me because the Daily Planet had this spike that wasn't supposed to be there, and Superman's arms were ridiculously out of proportion to balance him.

Next time, Impulse will make another guest appearance in Sovereign Seven #28.

Superboy and the Ravers #14

Genesis Suicide Squad

Steve McMattsson & Karl McKesel – Writers
Paul McPelletier – Penciller
Dan McDavis – Inker
Stu McChaifetz – Computer Colorist
Kevin McCunningham – Letterer
Maureen McTigue – Asst. Editor
Mike McAvennie – Editor

Our cover by Pelletier and Davis shows the Ravers being defeated by the forces of Darkseid, and this image is only a slight exaggeration of what happens. It is nice to have a tie-in issue so directly represent the events of the main event series — even if said event is pretty crappy. Unfortunately, this issue contains a surprisingly small amount of Genesis content, as the bulk of the story is taken up by a series of flashbacks showing what each Raver was up to before Genesis began.

Our story picks up shortly after the group of 16 heroes is expelled from the Source. Superboy and the Ravers join with everybody in the big fight against all of Darkseid's minions. Superman quickly becomes impatient, saying they all need to go after Darkseid himself. So Kindred Marx basically volunteers his Ravers and teleports all the other heroes directly into Darkseid's stronghold.

The Ravers continue to fight, and Superboy takes on Kalibak one-on-one, just as is shown on the cover. Unfortunately, this is a bit of an inconsistency, as Genesis #4 showed Superboy being teleported to Darkseid's citadel and coming face-to-face with the god of Apokolips himself. Anyway, Kalibak gains the upper hand, and is about to dispose of Superboy, when suddenly the Source Wall reappears and Darkseid's massive ship disappears. (I guess we're completely skipping over the part where all the living creatures in the universe were united telepathically.)

But I do like this part. Superboy asks Metron how this is possible, and he literally says, "Deus ex machina! 'God out of the machine.' " That truly is the best way to describe the ending of Genesis. And yeah, Kindred Marx's hand-stamp tattoos vanished after the Source was restored, so he was unable to teleport all the heroes home and/or exert whatever control he could have over the heroes. But as we saw in Genesis #4, getting everybody back home was a nonissue.




There! We're finally done with this accursed event! I am surprised at how poorly this book matched the main series, especially since it was the only tie-in to be referenced in an editor's note. And I'm also sad that Impulse did not interact with Superboy in any way. But this whole, massive story has exhausted me past the point of caring. So now I'm just going to move forward and never think about this again.

Next time, we'll do something fun. We'll get to see what Impulse could have looked like in the DC Animated Universe with Adventures in the DC Universe Annual #1.

Genesis #4

Last God Standing

Ron Wagner Penciller
Joe Rubinstein Inker
John Byrne Writer
Clem Robins Letters
Noelle Giddings Colors
Jason Hernandez-Rosenblatt Assistant Editor
Paul Kupperberg Editor

Our cover by Alan Davis and Mark Farmer is your standard, heroic pose of all the major players. It's not too bad, but it doesn't feel particularly special. I am glad we can see Impulse rather well, however,  hanging out down by the barcode in the left corner.

Our story begins with showing us what happened on Earth after the Source Wall shattered. We're treated to some rather disturbing images of people hanging from trees, crosses burning, children lying dead in the streets, men raping a woman, and mushroom clouds popping up along the horizon. We then cut back to "beyond time, beyond space, to a place without measure, a dimension without name or number," where all our heroes are standing on Darkseid's enormous ship, gazing in horror at the destruction of the Source Wall. They're hit by a big shockwave, and everybody has a hard time not flying off the ship. Luckily, the old god Arzaz saves Impulse (and Max Mercury is able to hang on to him as well).

This calamity was apparently so great, it caused Bart's hair to momentarily turn black. But don't worry, it was back to its usual brown by the next page. Anyway, everybody freaks out when they see a weakened Spectre expelled from the Source, but Arzaz manages to calm everyone down. Steel decides to tell everybody what happened when 16 of them entered the Source. They quickly encountered a foreign energy preventing them from going deeper inside. They saw the form of a man in the midst of this energy, which Flash assumed belonged to Darkseid. The 16 heroes did their best to fight forward through the Godwave, but suddenly everything went black. And page 11 of this comic is hauntingly, completely black.

Anyway, Steel finishes his story by saying the next thing they all remember is being thrown out of the Source. Everyone's worried about what Darkseid could be doing inside the heart of the Source, but Arzaz soon discovers that Darkseid is still on his ship, talking to Arzaz's dark, nameless double. Darkseid is furious that someone has snatched away his victory, but he and the Nameless One begin plotting their next move.

The heroes then begin to prepare to take down Darkseid, and Metron suddenly arrives to explain that he has learned who really is at the heart of the Source — Ares, the god of war. Darkseid learns this truth around the same time and he declares Ares will be vulnerable for a moment before he completely harnesses the power of the Godwave. Arzaz begins psychically communicating with his opposite, and they come up with a plan. Superman then asks Kindred Marx to teleport the group of heroes into Darkseid's citadel, which he does, but leaves behind the rest of the Ravers for some reason. An editor's note tells us to check out Superboy and the Ravers #14, which we will do after we finish this issue.

So all the heroes appear before Darkseid and begin yelling at him, and just when we thought things were strange enough, it gets even stranger. Ares decides to take the offensive for some reason, and makes himself large enough to crush Darkseid's enormous ship in his hand. But once he does so, Darkseid activates some type of energy field that freezes Ares in place. Darkseid explains that he is now working with the heroes to stop Ares, and Arzaz and his opposite are leading the charge. But Ares has already grown too powerful, so those two old gods need the mental fortitude provided by every living creature in the universe.

For some reason, Superman thinks this is impossible, but Darkseid encourages him to have hope. So the telepaths of the group, namely Martian Manhunter and Saturn Girl, begin reaching out and connecting to other telepaths who connect to others until every living creature in the universe is united in one thought — to save the Source. Metron then uses the combined world of New Genesis and Apokolips as a lens to focus this power, and the two worlds become separated once more and Ares is apparently defeated.

In the epilogue, Metron explains to everyone that Arzaz and the Nameless One sacrificed themselves to buy their victory. But everyone is quite confused as to what actually happened, feeling like the whole experience was just a dream soon to be forgotten. Metron then offers these helpful words: "There has been a genesis. All is changed, yet all remains the same. In the span of an instant, the cosmos has been remade. The plans of gods and mortals have been undone ... yet remain unaltered." Get it? Anyway, we see that the Source Wall is back up, but the thousands of giant golden statues have been replaced with just four — Arzaz, the Nameless One, Ares, and for some reason, Darkseid. Impulse wonders how they're going to get home, and Takion apparently takes everyone back, while Donna Troy wonders why she feels so different. Metron stays behind and wonders how many alterations to reality will manifest themselves.

OK ... So that happened. I guess. Conveniently, no one will remember this event; and even more conveniently, John Byrne created the excuse he needed to further convolute Donna Troy's backstory. This event started with a simple and interesting premise: all the superheroes losing their powers. But that quickly became a nonissue. And the story devolved into a poor attempt to approach the grandiose by making everything unexplainable and unknowable. Byrne's storytelling was also rather sloppy. If I hadn't read Wonder Woman #126, I wouldn't have had any inclination that Ares was even involved in this story. I guess everyone is right to just ignore this event and pretend it never happened.

But we're not done with Genesis just yet. Next time, we'll cover Superboy and the Ravers #14.

Wonder Woman #126

Where Have All the Heroes Gone?

John Byrne Writer-Artist
Tatajana Wood Guest Colorist
Jason Hernandez-Rosenblatt Assistant Editor
Paul Kupperberg Editor
Wonder Woman created by William Moulton Marston
The Demon created by Jack Kirby

The cover, designed and written by John Byrne, is a pretty fun re-creation of the front page of a newspaper. I do find it a bit odd, however, that Byrne chose to go with The Daily Planet, which usually focuses on Metropolis and Superman. I guess Gateway City doesn't have any recognizable papers. Anyway, this story blurb tells us that Wonder Woman has fallen in a recent battle with Neron (hence her absence in this Genesis storyline). Diana is now currently in a hospital, where doctors are baffled by her condition. Her body is completely fine, but her soul is damaged.

And that leads us directly into our story, with Wonder Woman in a hyperbaric chamber, while several of her friends and close acquaintances gather around. This group includes a young teenager with short blond hair, cut-off jeans and a Flash T-shirt. Her name is Cassandra Sandsmark, and she passionately declares that Wonder Woman will, and has to survive. Impulse hasn't met Cassie yet, but he will before too long.

We then cut to Mount Olympus, where Herakles brings a lifeless Zeus to the other gods. He tells them that he and Zeus went to the Source Wall to investigate the disturbance. But Herakles was ambushed by Ares, and when he finally came to, Zeus was in poor condition. Kupps tells us in an editor's note that if we want to find out what happened to Zeus, we need to check out Jack Kirby's Fourth World #8. But Impulse doesn't appear in that issue, so we'll stay blissfully in the dark on this one. Anyway, Herakles decided to leave all the fighting at the Source Wall to bring Zeus back to Mount Olympus to save his life (which did work, apparently).

We then get a bit of Earth's heroes fighting the forces of Darkseid, and take a quick peek into what the small group of heroes did inside the Source before being expelled. The new god Metron explains that the Source will protect itself the same way a body defends itself against diseases. Soon after he says this, Donna Troy and Queen Hippolyta (Wonder Woman's mother) are attacked psychologically. They both receive haunting visions. Hippolyta is tormented by a dying Wonder Woman, who claims she was betrayed by her mother. Donna is confronted by past versions of herself, including the Darkstar version Impulse teamed up with in the New Titans. These illusions are joined by the original Teen Titans (with Wally West as Kid Flash) and they mock Donna for how weak she's become and all the mistakes she's made.

And I guess that's all that really has to do with Genesis and Impulse, so we'll leave that there. This wasn't a terrible issue, although I had little to no connection with most of the story here. But it was kind of refreshing to read an issue written and drawn by the same person. I always say the fewer people who work on a comic, the better, more consistent it will be. And Byrne definitely feels more at ease here with the gods of Olympus than he does with the mega-large unfathomable threat he's trying to create in Genesis. I do think Byrne drew a rather demented-looking Impulse, though.

Next time, we'll take on the final issue of the main series, Genesis #4.

Genesis #3

Event Horizon

Ron Wagner Penciller
Joe Rubinstein Inker
John Byrne Writer
Patricia Mulvihill Colorist
Clem Robins Letterer
Jason Hernandez-Rosenblatt Assistant Editor
Paul Kupperberg Editor

Our cover by Alan Davis and Mark Farmer shows all the heroes in the DC Universe slipping through Darkseid's fingers. It's a pretty nice representation of how powerful Darkseid can feel, although I have no idea why one of his eyes is flaming. I kind of always assumed he used both eyes for his omega beams — if that's what's supposed to be happening here. Anyway, if you look closely, you can see Impulse at the bottom in the middle, just below Superman.

Our story picks up with the drawing of straws at "a place which is not a place, a moment frozen in the unending flow of time." (Can you see my confusion?) No mention is made of Superman's brief, yet urgent mission to the Source Wall, and the Man of Steel has apparently reversed his decision on the drawing, saying, "Done as fairly as it could be!" Anyway, the whole group heads out to the Source Wall, but not by boom tube. Instead, they teleport, courtesy of Kindred Marx of the Ravers.

Once at the wall, our heroes quickly encounter Darkseid, who is in some sort of ship that apparently is much too large for Ron Wagner to draw. Darkseid comes out to meet the heroes personally, and gives us our third explanation of the Godwave, which created gods in its first pass through the universe, then rebounded on itself and created demigods, or superheroes. Now, according to Darkseid, the Godwave has already passed through the Source Wall and is rapidly approaching the center of the Source. Once it does, it'll release a massive amount of energy to destroy the whole universe and create a new one. And Darkseid, naturally, wants to be there when that happens so he can harness all that power for himself.

So Darkseid retreats to his ship, leaving all his minions to fight all the heroes. As they battle, the new god Takion scoops up all the heroes who drew the short straw to enter the Source. This group includes the Flash, Donna Troy, Saturn Girl, Spark, the old god Arzaz, and a few random others.

We then cut back to Gotham City, where Robin, Huntress, and Catwoman have once again fallen into deep depression and have stopped fighting back the riots, even though they gave each other a beautiful encouragement speech in Genesis #2. But don't worry, they do the exact same thing here once again, resolving to keep fighting.

Back at the Source Wall, Jesse Quick complains about not knowing how to fight Darkseid's parademon troops, and Impulse makes fun of her, saying they fold pretty fast if you fight back. And Superman complains for the 3,000th time about having to adjust to his new powers. Meanwhile, the all-powerful Spectre visits Darkseid and warns him not to go into the Source. But Darkseid brushes him off, so the Spectre enters the Source himself.

And then something goes horribly wrong. Everyone feels incredible dread, and we see chaos breaking loose all across Earth, including the graphic image of a man blowing his own brains out with a shotgun. Darkseid then receives another visitor, one who declares himself as Arzaz's opposite. This nameless villain offers to help Darkseid just so long as he can keep the cosmos intact. Another terrible surge is felt from the Source and we're treated to a very strange page of a bunch of heads reacting.

Everyone starts screaming that the Source is dying, and the group of heroes who entered it are expelled just before the Source Wall collapses.



Ugh. Trying to understand this comic is exhausting. It feels like John Byrne is attempting the grandiose by being as vague and unspecific as possible. But the inability to explain or understand something does not make it more epic — it actually has the opposite effect. I'm also upset with the story's inability to keep things straight. I can forgive the main series for not matching up perfectly with the tie-ins, such as Superman, but why couldn't these creators remember they gave us the exact same scene in Gotham City in back-to-back issues? And when you factor in the lackluster art and shocking suicide scene, this rounds out to be one crappy comic.

There aren't any new ads, so I'll see you next time with another Genesis tie-in, Wonder Woman #126.