The Flash #29 (legacy #829)

Impulse Control – Part IV

Written by Mark Waid & Christopher Cantwell

Art by Vasco Georgiev

Colors by Matt Herms

Letters by Buddy Beaudoin

Cover by Dan Mora

Variant covers by Miguel Mercado; Saowee

Editor Chris Rosa

Group editor Paul Kaminski

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Year in Review: 2025

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

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

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

Best Story: The Flash #26

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

Best Writer: Mark Waid

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

Best Artist: Dan Mora

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

Best Supporting Character: Wally West

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

Best Villain: Darkseid

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

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

The Flash #28

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

Mark Waid & Christopher Cantwell Writers

Vasco Georgiev Art

Matt Herms Colors

Buddy Beaudoin Letters

Dan Mora Main Cover

Chris Rosa Editor

Paul Kaminski Group Editor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Flash #27 (legacy #827)

Impulse Control – Part II

Written by Mark Waid & Christopher Cantwell

Art by Vasco Georgiev

Colors by Matt Herms

Letters by Buddy Deaudoin

Cover by Dan Mora

Editor Chris Rosa

Group editor Paul Kaminski

Superboy created by Jerry Siegel

By Special Arrangement with the Jerry Siegel Family

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To be continued...

The Flash #26 (legacy #826)

Impulse Control – Part 1

Written by Mark Waid & Christopher Cantwell

Art by Vasco Georgiev

Colors by Matt Herms

Letters by Buddy Beaudoin

Cover by Dan Mora

Editor Chris Rosa

Group editor Paul Kaminski

Superman created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster

Supergirl based on characters created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

By Special Arrangement with the Jerry Siegel Family

Our cover shows an angry Flash unable to prevent Impulse from racing to the front and center of this story. Step aside, ridiculously overpowered Wally and his equally overpowered children! It's Bart's time to shine! And it's all thanks to Mark Waid. But also the DC KO event, which is why we glimpses of the Doomsday Time Trapper accompanied by the cosmic World Forger in the bottom of the lightning bolt, while the top features a Darkseid-corrupted Legion of Super-Heroes. Sadly, Bart is not part of the main DC KO event, but at least he gets to (mostly) take over the Flash tie-in specials. And, as usual, none of the variant covers feature Impulse, but this Dan Mora work is more than enough for me.

Our story begins with Flash defeating the Alchemist in Arizona before being whisked away to the Justice League Watchtower satellite, where Time Trapper warns all the heroes that Darkseid is re-forming all of existence into his image. Meanwhile, Bart has decided to take Irey on a ride aboard one of the Watchtower's star-jets. Apparently Wally has kept Irey aboard the satellite ever since his war with Eclipso and Bart felt she deserved a bit of fun (even though he doesn't know how to pilot the jet, much less drive a car). I don't know why Bart happened to be on the Watchtower at this time, as well, but nobody's bothered to explain where Bart even lives for years, so I guess we'll just have to go with it.

Anyway, Superman puts an end to their joyride before it can even begin, giving us a class Impulse thought bubble of a rain cloud pouring on his head. Bart's escorted back on the Watchtower, where Max Mercury points out that Bart could have been halfway to Andromeda before he even considered whether that joyride was a good idea. Bart defensively points out that both he and Irey need to stretch their legs. Max answers with a zen-like quote, saying that the fastest he will ever run is when he's completely still. Bart can't tell if Max was being wise or just clever.

Max tries to lecture Bart further, but Impulse becomes distracted by the sight of Time Trapper, whom he recognizes as Doomsday. Bart prepares to rush off to fight the villain, but Flash quickly stops him, saying they are discussing the potential end of all existence. So Bart settles down and actually listens to the Time Trapper, who explains that Darkseid has placed the Heart of Apokolips at the center of Earth eons ago. This living essence thrives on omega energy and answers only to the one who most commands that dark power, aka the "King Omega." And apparently the only way to prevent Darkseid from completely rewriting the past, present, and future, is to hold a massive tournament to crown a King Omega who can claim the Heart of Apokolips before Darkseid.

The speedsters aboard the Watchtower — Wally, Max, Bart, Irey, and Jay Garrick — hold a quick huddle to discuss this news. Wally says this whole tournament idea sounds insane and desperate. But Jay surprises him by saying this plan could actually work. But Wally abhors the idea of having to fight their friends in order to find a champion. Max suggests time travel, pointing out that Time Trapper and World Forger have already begun to slow down time to give the heroes a chance. But Wally hates this idea, too, saying he recently caught a glimpse of the time stream and saw it is literally on fire, due to the actions of Darkseid.

Irey and Bart, however, like the idea of fighting a slowed down Darkseid. Bart even brags that he overrode the difficulty settings on every combat simulation in the 31st-century virtual reality program he was raised in. And for the first time in decades, we are treated to an artist's re-imagining of young Bart's VR hookup. Putting him in just his underwear with a massive helmet shoved over his entire head paints an even more horrifying picture than before. Seeing this stark image gives Iris even more motivation to rescue her grandson.

Irey concurs with Bart, saying battling Darkseid in these conditions would be a cakewalk. Wally says that only one person gets a cake in cakewalk, but Max believes that everybody actually gets a cake in that children's game. Wally argues that his point is this crisis isn't a game.

Suddenly, before any of the other speedsters can react, Bart takes off. He runs fast enough to vibrate through the Watchtower's walls and out into open space, managing to enter the time stream before he froze to death. Wally tried to take after Bart, but he hesitated for just a moment, which caused him to bounce off the satellite's wall. Max and Irey rush to check on Wally, who angrily says he needs to catch Bart before he does something stupider. To Wally's surprise, neither Max nor Irey know who Bart is. Realizing that this means Bart has already disrupted the time stream, he takes off once more, this time making sure to vibrate cleanly through the wall.

Wally is momentarily lost in the time stream, caught watching his whole life pass before his eyes, until Bart pulls him out, asking what took him so long. Wally and Bart come face to face with Darkseid, practically frozen in time, just as Time Trapper promised. Bart points out that in this environment, microseconds will take more than an hour to pass for them. They are moving faster than the speed of light and no one can even see them. He argues that this is their best shot to take down Darkseid, save everyone, and leave before anyone even knows they were there. Before Wally agrees, Bart rushes in to attack ... only to be surprised by Darkseid's counterattack.

Darkseid has apparently grown so powerful already, that he knew Wally and Bart would attack them. And he was just waiting for them to make the first move. Even worse, Darkseid is already faster than the two speedsters. Before they know it, Bart finds himself in a strangle hold in Darkseid's hand, while Wally is pinned to the ground with Darkseid's axe-hand at his throat. Darkseid then announces he's going to show the speedsters what he is by reaching into their past and future.

Bart suddenly finds himself back in his virtual reality system in the 31st century. And Wally is suddenly a second-grader again, getting beat up by a schoolyard bully. While Wally sees Darkseid in his bully and cowers in fear, Bart finds himself battling the Dominators — the evil alien race that initially captured him and experimented on him. Bart notes that he doesn't remember his VR combat simulations hurting so much, then he remember who he's actually fighting, getting another classic thought bubble of Darkseid punching his face.

While Darkseid gloats about being able to destroy his enemies when and where he pleases, Bart decides to risk using the VR's shutdown code, even though it could kill him. He shouts out Iris-9294, which is a nice reference to his grandmother who saved him and his first full appearance in the comics (Flash #92 from 1994). This does the trick, causing Bart to regain his senses long enough to escape Darkseid's grasp and push Wally into the time stream with himself. Bart can feel the Speed Force is in pain (yet again) but he feels there must be another chance to stop Darkseid further back in the past.

Bart eventually comes crashing out of the time stream into Russia in 1908, causing a massive explosion in a forest with his arrival. Wally is nowhere to be found, but Max Mercury surprisingly is. Of course, this Max doesn't recognize Bart and races right past him, babbling about an omega blast, pure speed, and his desire to pledge his total allegiance in pursuit of truth. Bart follows Max, wondering why he's acting so rashly. Max soon reaches three members of the Legion of Darkseid, to whom he kneels down and hails. The evil Legionnaires do actually recognize Impulse, telling him their master was dismayed by Bart's sudden retreat, but now they are thrilled to have him right before them, "ripe for the kill."

Mark Waid really frustrated me with his Impulse appearance in Justice League Unlimited. Bart wasn't allowed to do anything heroic or of any consequence for that matter. But here, Waid has made up for that and then some, putting Bart firmly in the driver's seat, for better and worse, in his own "Impulsepoint" adventure. And I am here for it!

It's been such a long time since any decided to show some hidden talents and depths to Bart's character. It's been an even longer time since someone showed Bart getting the snot beat out of him! I didn't realize how much I've been missing a good, old-fashioned fight like this. And Vasco Georgiev's frenetic art perfectly fits the story. I was unimpressed with his work during the war with Eclipso, but it turns out that a more straightforward plot fits his talents much better than anything Simon Spurrier was writing. My only nitpick is that Bart's eyes are brown instead of yellow. Oh well! That fact has been long forgotten by everyone working at DC.

To be continued...

New History of the DC Universe #4

Mark Waid Writer

Howard Porter & Hayden Sherman Artists

Hi-Fi & Tríona Farrell Colorists

Todd Klein Letterer

Chris Samnee & Giovanna Niro Cover Artists

Megen Bellersen, Louis Prandi & Curtis King Jr. Publication Design

Marquis Draper Associate Editor

Brittany Holzherr & Andrew Marino Editors

Superman created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster.

Superboy created by Jerry Siegel.

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

By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel Family.

Unsurprisingly, Impulse was not included on this issue's cover or any of the variant covers, either. Regardless, we're still treated to another beautiful work from Chris Samnee — except for poor Damien Wayne. His head got sqooshed for some reason.

Anyway, Bart was not included in the coverage of Blackest Night or Flashpoint, but we did get a tiny glimpse of our old New 52 friend, Bar Torr. The most interesting thing for me was seeing that Dr. Manhattan was the one who put together the New 52 universe — not Pandora, as was originally intended.

We don't actually get to see the real Bart Allen until the formation of the new Young Justice (unfortunately drawn in a style I don't care for by Hayden Sherman). And that is all the Impulse we get until the timeline at the end.

New History of the DC Universe Timeline Part Four

Written by Dave Wielgosz

Based on research by Mark Waid & Dave Wielgosz

Special thanks to John Wells

Bar Torr is mentioned in the timeline (as Kid Flash III), but we don't see him. We do get to see Impulse with the re-formed Young Justice, which was explained as a result of Bart's return in The Flash #50. And that's all we get until the timeline dips its toes in what it calls "The Many Tomorrows of the DCU..."

We get to see the adult Bart Allen as a member of the Titans of Tomorrow. And Bart's dad, Don Allen, is mentioned as having fathered our lovable speedster in the 30th century. And ... that's it. The timeline concludes at the end of time, where Doomsday has evolved into the Time Trapper, which perfectly sets up the next big event.

I admit I probably should have skipped this issue due to the lack of Impulse in it. But I had to do the last one because he was on three of its covers. And I like how the ending of the timeline leads us right into DC K.O. Naturally, Bart isn't a big player in that main title, but — much to my delight — Mark Waid found something genuinely interesting to do with Impulse in the Flash series.

Next time: The Flash #26

New History of the DC Universe #3

Mark Waid Writer

Dan Jurgens & Doug Mahnke Pencillers

Norm Rapmund & Doug Mahnke Inkers

John Kalisz & David Baron Colorists

Todd Klein Letterer

Chris Samnee & Giovanna Niro Cover Artists

Dan Mora, Ryan Sook, Scott Koblish & Hi-Fi, Frank Quitely, Karl Kerschl Variant Cover Artists

Megen Bellersen, Louis Prandi & Curtis King Jr. Publication Design

Marquis Draper Associate Editor

Brittany Holzherr & Andrew Marino Editors

Superman created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster.

Superboy created by Jerry Siegel.

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

By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel Family.

Our cover gloriously puts Impulse front and center among all the icons of the '90s. I'm a little sad that Tim Drake wasn't included, but at least Superboy is proudly standing right by his old pal, Bart. And I also have to laugh at the tiny bit of irony by sticking Impulse right next to Blue Beetle, as the two of them were so close during the Young Justice animated show. But that's a different continuity in a different decade. This issue is all about that glorious 20-year span of high Impulse activity. And I'm beyond thrilled that one of my favorite artists, Chris Samnee, got to illustrate this cover.

For the first time in a long time, Bart was included on a variant cover. So I turned to dc.fandom.com to help me out. Here he is as Kid Flash in Ryan Sook's reinterpretation of Superboy's death in Infinite Crisis. Of course, it didn't happen this way, at all — especially since Bart was in the Speed Force at the time of Kon's death, and by the time Bart had returned, he had already grown up to Flash age. Regardless, this is still a tender tribute to a momentous event in DC history.

Impulse also appears in the lower right corner of Scott Koblish's massive wraparound collage. This is part three of four, spanning the entire DC history, grouping notable characters chronologically. It's a really impressive achievement and I think it would be pretty fun to get all four of them as a massive poster. But mostly, I'm just glad that Impulse was prominently included. Few character exemplify the '90s as much as he does.

There's not really a story for this issue. It's just Barry Allen writing the history of Earth's superheroes. He notes that his grandson, Bart Allen, was sent back in time so Wally West could help him control his super-speed. And Bart quickly gained the code name Impulse, which reflected both his powers and his personality. (I'm glad Waid didn't repeat the error he once made by saying Batman named him Impulse. Bart came up with the name himself after Wally complained he was being impulsive.)

Impulse is later seen with Young Justice, as drawn by Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund.

I'm really sad they couldn't bring in Todd Nauck to draw this issue, but I suppose they wanted Jurgens so he could draw Superman battling Doomsday for the 1,000th time. Anyway, we next see Bart as Kid Flash and a member of the Teen Titans. Sadly, he was not mentioned in the recap of Infinite Crisis. But that's OK. He shows up quite a bit in the backup story.

New History of the DC Universe Timeline Part Three

Written by Dave Wielgosz

Based on research by Mark Waid and Dave Wielgosz

Special thanks to John Wells

This literally is just a timeline with brief lines of text for important events and the occasional photo taken directly from the source material. Impulse's debut is accompanied by a panel from Flash #92 drawn by Impulse co-creator Mike Wieringo.

Mostly, I'm impressed with how detailed this timeline is. We get a reference to Savitar from Impulse #11. We see the origins of Arrowette from Impulse #28 by Tom Peyer and Craig Rousseau. And the formation of Young Justice is explained as the result of the battle with Bedlam in JLA: World Without Grown-Ups. We even get to see Impulse's arch-enemy Inertia!

The teenaged Lobo is shown, but Wielgosz's text incorrectly identifies him as "Slobo, a.k.a. Li'l Lobo, a teenage clone of the Main Man." Li'l Lobo was actually the real Lobo, who was magically transformed into a teenager by Klarion the Witch Boy. Slobo was a smaller, defective version of Lobo that was born from his blood after he died on Apokalips. But I don't fault Wielgosz for missing these details — he had a LOT of ground to cover here.

Anyway, the timeline also shows Bart as Kid Flash with the Teen Titans and mentions how he aged to adulthood to become "Flash IV" in Infinite Crisis. The timeline says that Inertia and the Rogues killed adult Bart, then it ends by showing the revived Kid Flash and Superboy from Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds.

This was a pretty fun comic. I think the art could have been stronger, but I'm just happy that DC has finally decided to officially lay out what "counts" and what doesn't in its sprawling continuity. And for most purposes, this history and timeline will be more than enough for everybody. For those nerds like me, I recommend dc.fandom to get the fuller, and more accurate, history.

Next time, we'll conclude this Mark Waid project.