Justice League Unlimited #5

Mark Waid – Writer

Dan Mora – Artist

Tamra Bonvillain – Colors

Dave Sharpe – Letters

Cover by Dan Mora

Marquis Draper – Associate Editor

Paul Kaminski – Editor

Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Supergirl based on the characters created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Our cover is a beautiful, updated look at the old, classic Legion of Doom. And I do mean old. This lineup was basically what was used in the Super Friends cartoons from the 1970s. Dan Mora has quickly become one of my favorite artists of all time, and I think he's rendered everyone exceptionally well. This issue also had a lot of variant covers, but since Impulse isn't on any of them, I won't worry about them.

So ... it's been a while! Let's see if I still remember how to do this! While I was taking a break from blogging to obtain my master's degree, Mark Waid launched a fun new series at DC. Justice League Unlimited borrows the same concept from the cartoon show of the same name from 20 years ago. Basically every hero on Earth is now a member of the Justice League, coordinated by Mr. Terrific from the Watchtower satellite. And as we saw on the cover, many of Earth's villains have also united. Unfortunately, Waid will treat this like a big reveal on the last page of this issue ... oops!

Anyway, our story begins in Sydney, Australia, where Impulse has surprisingly been chosen for the security team at the G20 Summit — a gathering of 20 of the world's most powerful leaders. Joining Impulse is the Flash, Supergirl, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Star Sapphire, and Thunderlord. Wally explains to Bart that the Justice League is currently battling a mysterious group of superterrorists known as Inferno. Since Inferno has been so unpredictable so far, the League decided to balance the security at this event with strength and super-speed for quick reactions.

Bart's mostly bored by all this and devours all the available snacks, while speculating whether they'll get to deal with a meteor storm, time-traveling assassins, or a poison plague. He's never met Thunderlord before, who explains that he has a supersonic scream. Bart suggests he can use that power to yell for more help, to which Wally kicks Bart's ankle and apologizes for him having the "decorum of a leaf blower."

Suddenly, the 20 world leaders and six superheroes are transported to a different dimension inhabited by gruesome monsters. Simultaneously, Inferno has used an army of robots to attack a nuclear reactor in Japan and destroy China's Three Gorges Dam. These disasters tie up all available Justice League members, while Mr. Terrific tries and fails to find any connection between Inferno and the Legion of Doom. Meanwhile, Batman and Martian Manhunter are working with the Atom to try to locate J'onn's missing telepathic powers.

Back in the other dimension, our heroes are having a hard time protecting the world leaders, as they are not used to taking orders and want to go their own way. Impulse suggests having Wonder Woman use her diplomatic skills to talk some sense into the leaders, but she's too busy fighting the monsters. Impulse, unfortunately, has a hard time making himself useful and ends up basically being run over by both the Flash and Wonder Woman. Wally chews out Bart for being in the way and reveals that he warned Superman against including him on this mission.

Bart sadly slinks to the side, feeling like a wet blanket (as shown to us in a classic Impulse thought bubble). But then Bart notices one world leader standing off by himself and actually smiling. Naturally, this is a huge red flag for Bart, who decides to investigate.

Impulse picks up the delegate (who's surprisingly heavier than he looks), and he directly accuses the old man of working with Inferno. The world leader initially feigns ignorance, but when Impulse refuses to yield, he calls him a clever boy and reveals his true self. Before Bart can react, the villain places him in a trance and wipes his memory of this interaction.

Meanwhile, the Atom discovers that J'onn's telepathic powers were in an African jungle before disappearing at the same time as the G20 leaders and our heroes. Batman correctly surmises that one of the delegates has Martian Manhunter's powers and is behind the kidnapping.

The heroes (minus the dazed Impulse) finally manage to get all the leaders gathered in one spot and Star Sapphire puts them in a protective bubble. Flash figures out how open a portal out of the dimension by vibrating, but he accidentally takes them all to the Phantom Zone. Luckily Supergirl knows how to get them all back to the Watchtower from there. Wally orders Bart to take Green Lantern to the medbay, while Atom, Batman, and Martian Manhunter confront the disguised world leader. The villain reveals himself as Gorilla Grodd, who then is promptly escorted off the satellite via his sleeper agent, Air Wave. And the last page reveals what the cover already showed us — Inferno is actually the Legion of Doom.

I have really mixed feelings about this comic. On one hand, I am always thrilled to see Mark Waid return to his creation, Impulse. And I'm even more thrilled to see Impulse drawn so gorgeously by someone as talented as Dan Mora. But on the other hand, I feel like Waid really did Bart a disservice here. He didn't actually accomplish anything. He acted bored and rude at the summit, then just got in everybody's way in the weird dimension. He was clever enough to discover Grodd in disguise, but that achievement was instantly undone by Grodd's mind wipe and Batman's investigation. So, in the end, Impulse didn't even need to be there. I guess Waid just wanted to throw him in there for fun without altering his long-term plan, but I feel like he could have still accomplished this without making Impulse look completely worthless.

I also have to complain about the lack of mystery or tension in this issue. Yes, it was a lot of fun, but there was absolutely no suspense. And mostly because of the cover. Before we even open the book, we know the Legion of Doom is the big bad guy. But then we have endure a full page of Mr. Terrific explaining how the Legion of Doom couldn't possibly be behind this. When Impulse confronts Grodd, we don't see the villain's face, which created a mystery that lasted for ... four pages. What was the point of obscuring his identity if you were just going to reveal it a couple of pages later? 

Oh well. I guess it doesn't really matter for this blog, as Waid chose not to include Impulse in the rest of his Justice League stories. But Simon Spurrier did include Impulse in his Flash stories. It's not a big role, but just enough for me to justify reviewing it.

Next time: The Flash #22

An unexpected Easter Egg for Easter

I have decided to focus this blog on only reviewing major, concrete appearances of Bart Allen. My criteria is that he has to at least say something — merely showing up in the background of a big crowd shot isn't enough. But today I will make an exemption to that rule because of a significant and genuinely surprising find I made last month.

For Easter, I bought my two boys I Am Superman and I Am Batman, both by Brad Meltzer and Chris Eliopoulos. These are kind of a spinoff of their popular Ordinary People Change the World series (which has also spun off into the PBS cartoon Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum). The premise is to create biographies that present the subject matter as children, so that the young audience will see themselves in those historical figures — whether that be Abraham Lincoln or, in this case, Superman. 

I Am Superman came out in 2022, but for whatever reason I never bothered to pick it up until now. But I have always enjoyed the Ordinary People series and Xavier Riddle (even though it's still a bit too old for my kids). And, of course, these creators have always been on my radar. Brad Meltzer has popped up on this blog a few times for his work on Identity Crisis and Justice League of America (when Bart was the adult Flash). Chris Eliopoulos was a longtime letterer for DC before becoming an illustrator. Don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure that Eliopoulos lettered every single issue of the Impulse series.

Anyway, this book is absolutely delightful. After telling the story of Superman's origin (pulling heavily from the 1978 film), the book gives us a big two-page spread of 59 characters crammed into the Fortress of Solitude. And most unexpectedly, happily standing in the bottom left corner, is my beloved Impulse.

As far as I know it, this is the first time Eliopoulos has drawn Impulse. And I think that's really neat, seeing as how he spent years working on Impulse's solo title. Mostly, I'm just glad to see any little reminder that poor old Bart hasn't been completely forgotten yet.

And the world of DC comics hasn't completely forgotten Impulse, either. He's just been shoved very far away into a deeply marginalized position. Impulse did make a fleeting cameo in The Flash #19 by Simon Spurrier and Vasco Georgiev. Impulse, Max Mercury, Avery Ho and Wallace West were all called in to help corral an evil/possessed version of Wally. But we only saw a tiny glimpse of Bart's backside before he helped form a speed barrier around the evil Wally — holding him in place long enough to be boom-tubed away. One would think that Bart, Max and the others would have something to say about an evil, rampaging Wally, but Spurrier wasn't concerned with that. And Georgiev only begrudgingly drew them as small and inconsequentially as possible.

But maybe, just maybe, Bart will actually do something of consequence in the pages of The Flash. And when he does, I'll be here to blog about it.

Year in Review: 2024

It's true what they say: The older you get, the faster time flies by. Here I am at yet another Year in Review for a blog that I started more than 10 years ago. I made a solemn vow to review every appearance of Impulse, even if that means going through years like this one, where he doesn't have too much to do. It was also a relatively quiet year for superhero films, as the MCU is going through a bit of a retooling and the DCEU was completely destroyed. From Columbia Pictures, we got three movies that I suppose technically count as Marvel movies — Madame Web, Venom: The Last Dance and Kraven the Hunter. Venom made a little bit of money, but Kraven and Madame Web were disastrous flops. The one bright spot for Marvel wad Deadpool & Wolverine, which finished the year second in the box office, behind only Inside Out 2. The only film from DC was Joker: Folie à Deux, the sequel to 2019's Oscar-winning Joker. I haven't seen it yet, but I do know it wasn't nearly as well-received or profitable as the first one.

As I said, 2024 was a pretty quiet year for Impulse. Simon Spurrier undid Jeremy Adams' beautiful sendoff of the character only to do ... almost nothing with him. There were a few moments that we'll get to, but for the most part, Impulse was reduced to a donut-munching goofball in the background. He didn't really get to participate in the Absolute Power event, and nobody at DC seems to be in any rush to revive Young Justice. In other words, brace yourself for some pretty lackluster awards.

Best Story: The Flash #7

I didn't like this issue nearly as much as I should have. Bart defied Wally's orders and somehow managed to find Max Mercury in a hellish plane of existence all by himself. And then the two of them were quickly overwhelmed by the horrific nature of that place and found themselves unable to run or fight. In what should have been one of the most gut-wrenching, tear-jerking moments in Bart and Max's relationship, the two of them embraced and accepted their imminent death. I say "should have" because this issue handled that whole sequence rather clumsily. Bart and Max were rescued via deus ex machina, received a dump truck's worth of exposition, then were summarily shoved into a corner for the rest of the story. Looking back at Spurrier's 13-issue tale, the contributions of Bart and Max were virtually nonexistent. But at the end of the day, I have to give this award to something, and The Flash #7 featured more Impulse than any other issue — by a wide margin.

Best Writer: Simon Spurrier

Make no mistake: I did not like Spurrier's writing at all. I was intrigued at first, and I kept giving him the benefit of a doubt. But the longer the story went, the worse it became. And I might be more willing to forgive an ambitious-yet-flawed story like this had Impulse been handled well. But Spurrier simply didn't know what to do with Bart. Finding Max all by himself was perfectly in character. And his brief discussions with Inspector Pilgrim about the nature of time travel had potential. But it all vanished away as quickly as possible and the only thing Spurrier could think of was a lame running gag of Bart constantly eating donuts. Unfortunately, Spurrier didn't have any competition this year, so he wins this award by default.

Best Artist: Khary Payton

Impulse's erratic appearances in The Flash were handled by several artists, but none of them really drew the character the way I'd expect him to look. They usually made him look way too young. I almost was forced to endure an entire year of mediocre Impulse art, until a small backup story in Wonder Woman saved me. Yeah, I know Khary Payton only drew Impulse in one panel, but that panel knocked my socks off! I had almost forgotten how cool Impulse can look when he's drawn by an artist who shares my sensibilities of this fun (and almost forgotten) character. So yeah, I know this is an unusual award winner, but I am choosing to reward quality over quantity.

Best Supporting Character: Max Mercury

Max wins this award for the fifth time total and the first time since 2002. It was great seeing Bart and Max back together again after spending so many years separated. No, I didn't really appreciate how Spurrier wrote Max — he didn't seem to have a great grasp on Max's voice or powers. And yes, I certainly do wish Spurrier devoted more time to Bart and Max, or at least made their moments more significant to the story. But Bart had his biggest moments of the year with Max, and that's what this award is all about.

Best Villain: The Arc Angles

I hate having to reward this vague concept of an antagonist, but I have no other choice. Yeah, Amanda Waller did capture Bart, but he was rescued almost immediately and didn't seem to suffer any consequences from that. So I'm going with the main driving force behind all the drama of Spurrier's first 13 issues of The Flash. Yeah, their ultimate goal of trying to destroy time was completely nonsensical and barely involved Impulse, but it's the best I've got.

I honestly have no idea when I'll be back. Spurrier is still writing The Flash, but he's focusing primarily on the West family. Perhaps Bart will return for a quick cameo in that series. Maybe I'll be completely shocked by someone abruptly plucking him from this limbo and giving him something interesting to do. If and when that happens, I'll be here to review it.

The Flash #13

Issue Thirteen: "And Everything After"

Written by Simon Spurrier

Art by Ramón Pérez

Colors by Matt Herms and Pete Pantazis

Lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

Cover by Ramón Pérez

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

Artist Spotlight variant cover by Nicola Scott & Annette Kwok

Editor Chris Rosa

Group Editor Paul Kaminski

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wonder Woman #13

"Reunion"

Tom King Writer

Tony S. Daniel Artist

Leonardo Paciarotti Colorist

Clayton Cowles Letterer

Tony S. Daniel & Maiolo Cover Artists

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

Nicola Scott & Annette Kwok Artist Spotlight Variant Cover Artists

Chris Rosa Associate Editor

Brittany Holzherr Senior Editor

Paul Kaminski Group Editor

Wonder Woman created by William Moulton Marston

Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tom King Writer

Khary Randolph Artist

Alex Guimarães Colorist

Clayton Cowles Letterer

Chris Rosa Associate Editor

Brittany Holzherr Senior Editor

Paul Kaminski Group Editor

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

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

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

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

The Flash #12

Issue Twelve: "Until Time Stands Still"

Written by Simon Spurrier

Art by Ramón Pérez & Vasco Georgiev

Colors by Matt Herms

Lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

Cover by Ramón Pérez

Variant covers by Rafael Grassetti and Matt Taylor

DC Super Powers variant cover by Jason Geyer & Alex Saviuk

DC Swimsuit variant cover by Mirka Andolfo

Editor Chris Rosa

Group Editor Paul Kaminski

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Flash #11

Issue Eleven: "Cutting the Pie"

Written by Simon Spurrier

Art by Ramón Pérez

Colors by Matt Herms

Lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

Cover by Mike Deodato Jr. & Jão Canola

Variant covers by Javier Rodríguez and Matt Taylor

Editor Chris Rosa

Group Editor Paul Kaminski

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To be continued ...