JSA #36

Stealing Thunder Part 4 of 5: Time-Bound

David Goyer & Geoff Johns Writers
Leonard Kirk Penciller
Keith Champagne Inker
John Kalisz Colorist
Heroic Age Separations
Ken Lopez Letterer
Stephen Wacker Associate Editor
Peter Tomasi Editor

The cover by Rags Morales shows Doctor Fate holding Hakwgirl's mask. With a little bit of blood on it. It is rather odd, but no odder than the cover boasting of being Wizard Magazine's best comic of 2001.

We resume our story in the alternate timeline created by the Ultra-Humanite, who has possessed Johnny Thunder's body and used the Thunderbolt genie to conquer Earth. Our ragtag team of heroes have fried the mind-control devices placed on most of Earth's most powerful heroes and villains, but said frying has momentarily knocked them unconscious. So now our little team is left to fight the Ultra-Humanite and his army of white gorillas on their own.

Meanwhile, Doctor Fate and Wildcat must defeat Hawkman and Hawkgirl (hence the cover) to rescue  Sentinel, who was being used to power the Ultra-Humanite's palace. Once freed, Alan Scott unleashes a powerful attack against the Ultra-Humanite and his gorillas. The rest of the heroes then begin to wake up and join the fight. Impulse, Jesse Quick, Jay Garrick and the Flash run together to form a whirlwind that pulls Ultra-Humanite off balance and leaves him open for attacks from some heavy-hitters, such as Black Adam, Superman, Power Girl and Steel.

Ultimately, it is Captain Marvel who delivers the final blow, stabbing Ultra-Humanite in the chest with a lightning rod to ground the Thunderbolt. There's a big explosion, and when the smoke clears, we see the frail body of Johnny Thunder at the bottom of a huge crater.


I don't have much to say about this issue. Just a big, straightforward fight with tons and tons of characters. As we saw in the fights against Bedlam, one way to win was to essentially find a loophole in the supreme power's scheme. This story went the other way, choosing to simply overwhelm the supreme power with every hero imaginable. And that works, too. Impulse was only a tiny blob in this issue, but at least he got to participate.

Next time, we'll see how Bart handles having so much power himself in Impulse #86.

Young Justice #45

World Without Young Justice Part 5: Bang Bang Bedlam's Purple Hammer

Peter David – Writer
Todd Nauck – Penciller
Lary Stucker – Inker
Ken Lopez – Letterer
Jason Wright – Colorist
Digital Chameleon – Separations
Tom Palmer, Jr. – Assistant Editor
Eddie Berganza – Editor

This month's cover is by the incomparable Humberto Ramos with Wayne Faucher and Ian Hannin colors. Well, I'd normally call Ramos incomparable, but these covers have not done the job for me. Great ideas. Poor execution. This cover parallels part one of this crossover, once again showing Bedlam playing the puppet master from the shadows, but this time we get the alternate versions of our heroes. Stephanie Brown instead of Tim Drake, a darker Empress, Doomsboy instead of Superboy, Billy as the Secret, a Wonder Girl powered by Dionysus instead of Zeus, and Bart dressed as Kid Flash instead of Impulse. Technically, he's unchanged by Bedlam's scheming — he's just wearing a different costume. The one hero missing from Young Justice #44 is Slobo, and there's a conspicuous empty space where he was. Perhaps original plans for this story included an altered Slobo, which could have been interesting. In hindsight, that spot on both these covers should have been given to Arrowette.

Our story picks up with Arrowette, Wonder Girl, Anita and Billy eating the Chinese food they agreed to at the end of Part 1. But Wonder Girl ruins the meal by suddenly tipping over the table and shouting, "IMPULSE!!!" Billy thinks she's just making a stupid joke, but Cissie and Anita both find the name Impulse very familiar. Cassie realizes that the "weird little guy" they saw a few hours ago is Impulse and they should help him. So Wonder Girl promptly marches out the restaurant without paying the bill, followed closely by Arrowette and Empress. Billy, however, thinks the whole thing is idiotic and goes his own way.

We then cut back to Bedlam's castle, where Matthew Stuart has finally noticed that Impulse has escaped his prison cube. The scout left in there does his best to convince Matt that he's the real Impulse, but Matt tests this by pounding the scout with his magic hammer, which fails to produce another scout. After grumbling for a bit (mostly recapping everything for readers that might have missed a few things), Matt decides to check in on his greatest enemies. Tim, "Conal" and Bart have just begun sneaking through Bedlam's castle, and Matt decides to wait for the girls to show up before he makes his move. In the meantime, he heads out to recruit some help.

Matt finds Billy brooding on a rooftop, and he tells Billy his friends are going to try to take his life away from him. Matt shoves his fingers into Billy's head and shows him the way the world was before he began changing everything — where Cassie, Cissie and Anita were much more heroic and Greta was Secret ... and Billy was Harm. Billy is horrified by the image of his alternate, evil self, crying out that he knew he was on that path, but he managed to turn away from it. Matt explains that if Billy's friends aren't stopped, reality will shift back to the world where Billy is a villain, and the heroes are still heroes, just slightly different. He offers Billy the chance to help him preserve this reality, and after thinking for a moment, Billy agrees.

Meanwhile, Cassie, Cissie and Anita have returned to the spot they saw Impulse's scout, the burning remains of Jason Todd's circus. Realizing they don't have a plan beyond this, the girls begin arguing among themselves. A new Impulse scout casually asks them how long they'll be arguing, and playfully asks Anita if she lost her clothes somewhere. Now that he has the girls' attention, the scout explains that the first scout they saw was sent just a second after Bart escaped from Bedlam, which was why it was so panicked and confused. This explanation only further confuses the girls, but Cissie does remember that Impulse's real name is Bart. The scout tells her that in the real world, her name is still Cissie and she's retired from being Arrowette — news she isn't too pleased to hear. The scout then tells the girls they need to hurry, and he leads the way to Bedlam's castle, with Cassie flying behind him, carrying Empress and Arrowette. Anita wishes they had a flying motorcycle or something to take them there.

Matt shows Billy his monitors displaying all his reality-altering tactics, including causing the Boston Red Sox to lose the World Series in 1986. Matt then grins in delight as his second recruit arrives. At the same time, Impulse's scout leads his additional helpers to meet the real Bart, Tim and Conal, who all shout out, "YOU!!!!" Cassie vaguely recognizes them as Kon and Robin. Tim insists on calling himself Tim, but he also vaguely recognizes Cassie. Conal, however, immediately starts flirting with Anita, who wishes she had a loa doll to torture him with.

Bart gets everyone's attention and tells them that even though his scouts are getting weaker, he managed to make one more and send it off to find Red Tornado so they'll be close to full strength. Nobody else remembers Red Tornado, so Bart moves on, providing a brief history of Bedlam and his current role in this crisis. Matt suddenly shows up and sends in Doomsboy to attack. Arrowette fires three sleeping gas arrows into his mouth, but Conal warns that Doomsboy won't be stopped for more than a few seconds by the gas. So everybody runs away, quickly meeting Secret in the next hallway. Billy apologetically attacks his friends, but Bart manages to find a nearby empty room he says they can hide out in until Red Tornado arrives.

When our heroes enter the room, however, they find Matt, Doomsboy and Billy waiting for them. Matt reminds them that this is his castle and he does have magical powers. He then works himself up into a rage, yelling about how awful it was to be trapped in a coma and how he'll never be helpless again. Matt grows into a giant and nearly smashes Conal, but Anita teleports him away in time. Tim boldly says they'll find a way to turn Matt's scheme against him. Cassie picks up on this, saying Impulse could send a scout back to prevent Bedlam's energy from returning to Matt so he stays in that coma and none of this happens. Matt initially says that plan wouldn't work, but then struggles to explain why. He turns to Billy and Doomsboy for support, but neither of them can find a flaw in this plan.

At Tim's prompting, Bart creates a scout, but Matt quickly ensnares it in purple bands. So Bart starts making tons of scouts, but Matt is able to catch all of them, while everybody else starts fighting Billy and Doomsboy. A scout then merges with Bart, who gleefully announces he's found the Red Tornado and she'll be here any second. Right on cue, the Red Tornado crashes through the ceiling — but it's not the android we all know and love. Instead, we're treated to the original Red Tornado from the Golden Age of comics — Ma Hunkel, a chubby, middle-aged woman, dressed in a cheap, home-made costume, topped off with a pot on her head. But as silly as Ma is, she gets the job done. She lands on Matt's shoulder and begins pulling his hair.

The arrival of Red Tornado provides Bart the distraction he needs, but as Tim notices, Bart isn't feeling too good right now. But Bart sends out another scout, thinking to himself that he might be a goner, much like the other Flashes in events like this. Matt slaps Red Tornado off him half a second too late, and the scout manages to begin its journey back in time to undo the damage Bedlam caused.

We suddenly cut to the Young Justice headquarters at the Catskills resort, where Secret is enjoying a late game of tennis with new member Ray. Secret is overjoyed to see Robin has appeared on the tennis court, accompanied by Superboy, Wonder Girl, Empress and Cissie, all restored to their happy, normal versions of themselves. As they slowly realize they're not in Bedlam's castle anymore, Ray asks if they always talk like they're in the middle of something that needs a ton of footnotes. Secret asks who Bedlam is and where Impulse is.

Impulse then arrives, gladly telling everyone that his scout managed to stop Bedlam's energy. Matt's still in his coma, which Bart says is sad, but it's better than the alternative. Bart's also pleased to report that he didn't die from making too many scouts. Robin tentatively asks Bart if his scout actually intercepted Bedlam's energy and then merged back with him. Bart confirms this, not quite realizing that he is glowing purple and also a giant. As Superboy says, "We've got a probbbblem ... "


And thus concludes the one and only crossover between Young Justice, Robin, Superboy and Impulse. And it actually was pretty fun. I love alternate realities and I especially love stories centered around Impulse. It was Bedlam's (understandable) hatred of Impulse that launched this whole thing, and it was the exploitation of Impulse's new power that made it possible. It was neat to see the destructive potential of Bart's scouts, as well as explore the limitations of this power. However, I feel Todd Nauck could have played up Bart's physical exhaustion a bit more in this issue.

My biggest complaint with this story was simply that I wanted more. I'm not saying we necessarily needed more issues, but we probably could have used the given pages a bit more economically. There was a bit of repetition in the Impulse issue, and the Robin issue devoted half its pages to a completely separate story. And I'm not saying we needed much more information, just a few more specifics would have been nice. Instead of merely saying that Young Justice changed, give us a quick panel of an Impulse scout taking a specific item that triggered the change.

Humberto Ramos' covers were a bit of a disappointment. And the Robin issue was the weakest both in terms of story and art. But Todd Nauck and Carlo Barberi both excelled on the artwork in their issues. And I was surprised by how much I liked Bart in a Kid Flash uniform.

Ultimately, though, this story did well for a five-part crossover with four different creative teams. I enjoyed the repetition of the issues ending with somebody shouting, "YOU?!" It was fun to see Jason Todd and the original Red Tornado. And it was truly fitting that the threat that created Young Justice was what brought them back together years later.

Brian Yardley, of Murray, Utah (my home state!), thanks DC for finding a home for the Ray, who had essentially been in limbo after his solo title was canceled in 1996. Brian also asks for Robin and Impulse to return to Young Justice, but if they can't, he suggests Damage, Bubble Boy, Razorsharp, Jamm or Chimera. Eddie Berganza admits the main reason Ray joined YJ was because Nauck wanted to draw him.

Tim Lapetino is also very excited to have the Ray back and he wonders how he'll interact with Robin, should he return to Young Justice.

Joe Kucharski III, of Collingswood, N.J., admits he wasn't interested in Young Justice until Our Worlds at War (see, event comics can bring in new readers!). Joe praises Peter David's humor and Nauck's art, and also thanks them for putting Ray on the team.

Brent Caley, of Irmo, S.C., says Ray is his favorite character, and he hopes he stays on the team even after Robin and Impulse return. Brent also asks for the Star-Spangled Kid to join Young Justice, saying she's too young for the JSA. Now for the new ads:

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Next time, before we witness Bart with the power of Bedlam, we'll take a very quick look at our other alternate reality created by another genie with nearly limitless power in JSA #36.

Superboy #99

World Without Young Justice Part 4: Doomsboy

Jimmy Palmiotti & Dan DiDio Writers
Anthony Williams Pencils
Walden Wong Inks
Jason Wright Colors
Digital Chameleon Separations
Comicraft Letters
Mike McAvennie Editor

Our cover by Humberto Ramos and Wayne Faucher shares all the strengths and weaknesses of the previous covers in this crossover. Doomsboy's reflection is Superboy, surrounded by wreckage and carnage, which is a pretty cool effect. Although, I'm not exactly sure what it is Doomsboy is crushing. A plane? A helicopter? A boat? Well, I guess it doesn't matter that much.

Just like the Robin issue, this story begins with Superboy in the real world. Luckily for us, though, that part of the story only lasts three pages before reality suddenly shifts on Superboy right as he walks through the door of his apartment. Kon is now Conal, a skinny teen with glasses, and his apartment now belongs to his "big brother," Doomsboy, an articulate teenage version of Doomsday, who acts like a hero, but is really more of a mafia boss.

Conal tells Doomsboy (again) that he shouldn't be forcing people to pay him to act like a hero, but Doomsboy justifies his actions, reminding his brother how he destroyed the corrupt Cadmus and became a champion to the people by keeping the streets safe. And now he believes the money he receives is the least people can do to show their gratitude. But Conal tells Doomsboy he's leaving some important details out of his story, so he tells him (and us) what really happened.

After Superman was killed by Doomsday, Paul Westfield tried to have Cadmus create a clone of Superman, but was having difficulty cracking the Kryptonian's DNA. Suddenly, an Impulse scout zipped by him, immediately followed by a phone call from one of his scientists, announcing they have found a way to clone Doomsday. Westfield has Cadmus abandon the Superman clone project and put all resources into the Doomsday clone. Soon, Doomsboy was "born," and the scrapped Superman project ended up being Conal, a skinny teenager without any powers.

As Conal recounts Doomsboy's history of playing the hero and eliminating all villains in his path, Conal surreptitiously slides a special glove on his hand. Conal says that heroes shouldn't kill, and that he's tired of waiting for Doomsboy to change his ways. He fires a laser blast from the glove, but Doomsboy manages to dodge in time. Conal says that was just a wake-up call, and Doomsboy doesn't seem too mad about it. But he does become very angry when Conal says he needs to preserve the legacy of the greatest hero of them all — Superman.

Doomsboy does not like hearing that name, and he grabs Conal by the throat, throws him across the room and probably would have killed his brother if an Impulse scout hadn't suddenly crashed through the window. This scout is weak and dying, and manages to weakly say, "Kon ... help me ... Bedlam ..." Conal asks the scout how he knows his name, but Doomsboy decides to "help" the scout by killing it.

We then cut to Bedlam's base at Funland amusement park, where Tim Drake is trying to come to terms with the fact that he used to be Robin until a teenage genie altered reality. Bart suddenly doubles over in pain, feeling his scout be killed by Doomsboy. He tells Tim to wait here, while he heads off to see what happened to his scout.

Conal yells at Doomsboy for killing the scout, and says he's left with no choice now. Conal pulls out a device and pushes a button, which quickly summons an Apache helicopter, filled with soldiers announcing Doomsboy's arrest by order of the President of the United States. Doomsboy leaps out the window and easily destroys the helicopter, before facing the tanks waiting for him on the ground. As Conal watches with horror the destruction below, Matthew Stuart appears behind him, mocking him for being responsible for so much bedlam. Conal tries to question Matt, but he disappears as quickly as he appeared.

Bart arrived just as Bedlam faded away, and he tells Conal not to worry, since he knows exactly where Bedlam went. Conal says he thought Bart had died, but Bart explains that was just one of his scouts. He also takes this time to tease Superboy about losing some weight. Doomsboy, done with the tanks, heard his brother be called Superboy, and thinks that's pretty funny. He knocks Bart down, then picks up Conal, vowing to kill him this time.

Bart concentrates and manages to summon a bunch of his scouts to him and orders them to attack Doomsboy. The scouts race around Doomsboy, distracting him and causing the floor to collapse underneath him. As Doomsboy falls to levels below, Bart tells Conal they need to make their escape. Conal's worried about Bart's weak and dying scouts, and Bart explains that he's made too many of them, and the only way to prevent their deaths is to take them back into him. But Bart doesn't know what will happen if he absorbs a dying scout.

At Conal's encouragement, Bart decides to absorb the nearby dying scouts. It doesn't kill Bart, but it doesn't feel too good, either. Conal throws on a clean shirt, and Bart drags him off to Bedlam's castle to reunite him with Tim, who shouts, "YOU?!" Bart's thrilled to have the three of them finally together again, but Conal insists he's never seen either of them before today. Bart and Tim quickly explain that the kid Conal saw in the apartment is Bedlam, who has nearly unlimited power and has changed their lives. Eager to atone for his brother's sins, Conal agrees to help them try to stop Bedlam. As they continue their journey through the castle, Conal turns a corner and shouts out, "YOU?!"


I liked this issue a lot more than the Robin one. Not only did we spend more time in the altered reality, but we actually saw the world was a much worse place without Superboy. With Robin, things still seemed fine. Batman was still going strong, and Stephanie Brown seemed to be a competent sidekick to him. But here, not only is Superman dead, but he's been replaced by a clone of Doomsday, who is only slightly less violent than the original. This is definitely a world that needs to be fixed.

I also loved the increased presence of Impulse in this issue. We found out that there is a toll for creating so many scouts — both on the scouts and Bart himself. Not only is he still dealing with the psychological trauma of creating scouts, but now he's facing a physical burden, as well. Bart is completely justified to be hesitant to do anything with his scouts now, and it is pretty inspiring to watch him fight through this.

Next time, we'll conclude our five-part crossover with Young Justice #45.

Robin #101

World Without Young Justice Part 3: Redone by the Vandal(s) of Time

A Lewis/R. Woods/Schubert/Giddings/DigiCham/Wright/Idelson Production
With special thanks to Esther Newlin

Our cover by Humberto Ramos and Wayne Faucher shows this reality's version of Robin, Stephanie Brown, with her reflection showing the Robin we all know and love, Tim Drake. Like all these World Without covers, I love the concept ... just not the execution. All the characters on these covers are too blocky and angular for my liking. Oh well.

Our story is essentially split in two parts, with the first half taking place in the normal world and (I assume) wrapping up some loose ends from Robin #100. But we're only interested in the second half, which abruptly changes to the new reality Bedlam created.

Tim Drake is a normal, skinny teenager, who has been kidnapped by a brainwashed cult called Priestoids. As they lead Tim into a large, diabolical machine, he wishes he had studied judo or something to be able to fight his way out. Luckily, he is rescued by Batman and a female Robin. And even though Tim can't fight, he reveals he is still smart by telling Robin how to destroy the machine, which releases all the Priestoids from the mind control.

We later learn that Tim is happily living with both his parents, and he has correctly deduced that Batman is Bruce Wayne and Robin is Stephanie Brown. He finds himself wondering if he could be a Robin like her, figuring he could pick up the physical aspect through some training, but doubting he'd have the necessary motivation, as he hasn't experienced any major trauma in his life.

While eating out with his parents, he spots an Impulse scout zipping by. This is the sixth one Tim's seen today, and it takes him a minute to remember what he's called — Impact? Pulsar? Impulse. When he gets home that night, he sees another scout put something in a tree in his front yard, so Tim decides to go check it out. He finds one of the spherical cameras that Bedlam is using to monitor his progress of altering reality, and Tim actually briefly sees Matthew Stuart in the lens of the camera. Tim decides to examine the camera closer in the garage, but as he walks toward it, he notices the resolution on the lens gets worse. When he turns around and walks in the opposite direction, the image becomes crisper. So Tim throws his common sense out the window and keeps walking in that direction to try to figure out what it is he's seeing.

The further Tim walks, the more reality warps around him until he's essentially walking in a living cartoon world. He also sees a few more Impulse scouts zoom by, and he realizes that none of them are the genuine Impulse. Tim then comes across a few Impulse scouts that look old and withered. Suddenly, Bart calls out "—YOU?" Tim looks up and expresses relief at seeing Kid Flash. Bart says, "No. Tim, it's me — Impulse!" Tim asks Impulse how he knows him, and Bart says, "C'mon, Boy Wonder, I don't feel like kiddin' around."

Bart tells Tim about Bedlam and how he's using his scouts to alter reality. Tim is vaguely familiar with the name Bedlam, and he asks Impulse if he can control his scouts. Bart says he can't, although he probably could reabsorb them, but he's hesitant to do so. Tim feels like he's living in a dream, where everything is nonsensical, yet still sort of makes sense in its own way. So he decides to play the part of Robin and asks Impulse to lead him back the way he came to meet Bedlam. Tim begins sneaking around Bedlam's base, turns a corner, and shouts out, "—YOU?!"


This issue wasn't too bad. I just wish we had more time in the alternate reality. For one thing, it was difficult to determine what Tim knew from the altered world and what he was remembering from the real world. Like when he addressed Bart as Kid Flash. The most interesting part to me, though was what immediately followed — Bart calling Tim by his real name. "Officially" none of the members of Young Justice know who Robin is. But Bart get to know Tim right before he met Robin on their ski trip way back when. Maybe Bart has always secretly known Robin's identity, but just decided play along with everyone else out of respect for Robin. Or maybe the writer just made a mistake.

Next time, we'll hit World Without Young Justice Part 4 in Superboy #99.

Impulse #85

World Without Young Justice Part 2: Glimpses of You

Todd Dezago Writer
Carlo Barberi Penciller
Walden Wong Inker
Janice Chiang Letterer
Tom McCraw Colorist
Digital Chameleon Separator
Joey Cavalieri Editor
Impulse created by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo

This issue's cover: A reflection of things past, in more ways than one, thanks to Humberto Ramos and Wayne Faucher! It's also a reflection of things to come, as Bart Allen will officially become Kid Flash before too long. This is a good cover, but not particularly great. Bart looks fine enough, but the image doesn't really jump out at me. Maybe the biggest problem is the computer-generated water, which becomes more distracting the more I look at it.

Our story begins at the abandoned Funland amusement park, where we hear a big "WHAM!" followed by the appearance of several of Impulse's scouts, racing off in all directions. We see that the real Impulse is being held in a purple box that is repeatedly whacked with a giant hammer. Each time the hammer hits, a scout pops out of Impulse. Bart is very discombobulated, and it takes him a moment to full take in his surroundings — a vast purple expanse filled with toys, video games and junk food. Bart is unable to vibrate through the purple box, nor can he prevent more scouts from being produced. As he looks around, he finally spots the culprit behind this: Bedlam.

Matthew Stuart is pleased that Impulse finally remembers him, as he believes he was completely forgotten for the past two years he spent in a coma. (Even though it has been two years since their first fight, Impulse, Robin and Superboy haven't aged a day since.) Matthew explains to Bart that he now possesses all the power of Bedlam, free of the genie's influence. And this time, he's prepared a better plan to destroy Young Justice. When he learned about Impulse's new power, he decided to exploit it to change history and create a new reality without Young Justice. Matthew's already created a thousand Impulse scouts, and has placed them all under his control.

Bart tries to point out that Young Justice didn't forget about Matthew — they just left him in the care of the D.E.O., who assured them Matthew would be OK. But Matthew has turned his attention away from Impulse and toward his TVs to monitor the progress of the scouts, which are retrieving seemingly insignificant items from the past to reshape reality. Matthew is also happy to watch the other members of Young Justice change — Secret becoming Billy, Wonder Girl becoming a glutton, and Empress and Arrowette giving in to their dark tendencies. Matthew doesn't seem to understand exactly how these changes occurred, but he's happy with them all the same. He does admit, however, that getting rid of his arch enemies — Impulse, Robin and Superboy — has been a little trickier.

We then see that Matthew doesn't quite have complete control over Impulse's scouts. One of them was sent back to steal Impulse's first costume, but he was worried about altering his own history and instead retrieved a Kid Flash costume from Wally West. Matthew chews out the scout for being stupid, gives him a blast of power to make him more obedient, then tosses the Kid Flash outfit onto a big pile of junk.

Meanwhile, an increasingly frustrated Bart laments the fact that he's not smart like Robin, Wonder Girl or even Superboy. As the hammer continues to pound more scouts out of him, Bart begins ramming the side of the cube in desperation. Eventually, he manages to knock the cube over and take it away from the giant hammer. Now free to think clearly, Bart can only come up with one option — to create a scout on his own. But he hasn't done that (willingly) since he was on Apokolips. But Bart manages to fight through his fear and create a scout outside his prison cube. He tells the scout to find out how Bedlam got these powers and everything that he's doing with them. The scout obeys and disappears with a "zwiiipop."

Impulse's scout returns less than two seconds later and slides through the cube to merge with Bart, showing him what he learned. Bart is treated to a brief history of Bedlam, starting with when he first corrupted Matthew Stuart and Impulse defeated him by constantly saying "reset." The genie then burrowed into Red Tornado before lashing out in Young Justice 80-Page Giant #1. That adventure ended with Red Tornado convincing Bedlam to turn himself into a human infant. But what nobody realized was that the power of Bedlam found its way back to its last vessel — the comatose Matthew Stuart. Matt eventually woke up, once again possessing near-infinite power, but this time without the genie controlling him.

Matt turns his attention from his monitors to mock Impulse and yell at him some more. He works himself up into a little rage, reliving his last defeat, and he reaches through the cube prison to punch Bart in the face. Bart doesn't understand how Matt could do that, and he impatiently explains that he designed the magical prison to only keep Impulse in. He places the cube back under the giant hammer, then returns to his monitors to admire the reality-altering efforts of Impulse's scouts.

As Bart tries to think of an escape plan, his thoughts turn to Wally, and his eye catches the old Kid Flash costume. Acting on a theory, Bart creates another scout and has him him fetch the costume. Conveniently, Wally's old uniform fits Bart like a glove. Next, Bart asks the scout to come into the cube to serve as the "Impulse" being held captive. To Bart's delight, he finds that he's able to leave the cube since he's now "Kid Flash." He tells the scout to stay in the cube for a while, as he heads off to get the rest of Young Justice. Praising himself for coming up with such a genius plan, Bart races off into the night. As he begins to wonder how he'll be able to recognize his altered teammates, he apparently recognizes someone who causes him to stop and shout out, "... YOU?!?"


I enjoyed this issue. It's great to have Bedlam back, and it's even better to have Impulse at the center of a big crossover. I was always wary of Bart's ability to create time-traveling scouts, and it makes perfect sense that one of his greatest villains would exploit this ability. It was also fun to watch Bart work out an escape, and I like to think that Bart's subconscious sparked the escape by guiding the scout to take a Kid Flash uniform instead of an Impulse uniform.

I do wonder why Matt showed up in his hospital gown last issue but was wearing his Bedlam outfit in this issue. I also wish that we could have seen some of the specific changes that Bedlam caused with Impulse's scouts. Maybe it was a specific artifact that they took that changed Wonder Girl's powers. Maybe show how the absence of Superboy led to Arrowette giving in to her dark side. And I think there was room to briefly show these things in this issue. There seemed to be quite a bit of repetition that could have been trimmed down.

And although I do enjoy the abrupt nature of this storyline, I think the last issue of Impulse could have helped set this up a little bit. After Max disappeared, the logical thing for Bart to do would have been to create a scout to go back to the time of Max's disappearance to try to see what happened. Naturally, Bart would have been hesitant to create his first scout since Apokolips, and it would have been nice if we had a quick conversation about this. I also don't think it would have been too much to throw in one of Bart's scouts running by in the background toward the end of the issue.

Impulsive Reactions begins with Retri asking when Impulse is going to get a serious villain to fight.

Havk provides a quick rundown of Impulse's "Rogues Gallery." White Lightning hasn't provided much of a threat, as Bart is always able to snap out of her trances. Havk suggests putting her on a team of villains. Evil Eye is no longer a villain. Glory Shredder can be easily defeated if Bart just takes away all his guns. Green Cigarette might die in a week due to lung cancer, according to Havk. Morlo is no longer a villain. Keller only has robots and isn't much of a threat. "The fog guy" was easily defeated by Inertia. So, Havk, concludes, the only serious foe Bart has is Inertia, who outsmarted Impulse in the long run and very easily could have defeated Bart and Max, but stopped himself. Havk also sees a bright side in Max's disappearance — maybe now Bart won't have to deal with his "hand-me-down" villains.

Morgan the Raider points out that the Impulse solicitations in Previews have indicated that Max is "hitting the road." Morgan is fine with Jay Garrick becoming Bart's new guardian, but only for the short term, saying Max should never leave this book.

Corndog7 mentions a message board where Todd Dezago apparently revealed that DC had given him permission to kill Max Mercury, but he chose not to ... yet. Corndog7 naturally became very worried by the word "yet" and has good reason to believe Max has been killed off for good now.

Rupert Giles believes Max is fine, citing issues of The Flash that mentioned Max being alive in the future.

Imp also brings up the time the Legionnaires visited Impulse, and they talked about having met Max in the future, as well.

Andy Oliver, of Upminster, England, liked Impulse #80 for getting back to single-issue stories after months of crossovers. He says Impulse works best on a more human level, which issue #80 demonstrated. Andy was surprised when Carol was sent away, but he liked the character development it granted Bart. He says White Lightning should become very old very fast, but for some reason, he enjoys her. Andy asks for more recurring villains, suggesting some forgotten Flash rogues, such as Colonel Computron or the Turtle. Now for the new ads:

There's a name for heroes who don't complete their mission ... lunch. Dinotopia: The Timestone Pirates for Game Boy Advance.

Now appearing in Lucky Charms, star-in-moon marshmallows.

United in the name of justice ... driven to protect mankind. Justice League Adventures.

 Make your own fun. Lunchables Pizza.

Next time, we head to Robin #101 for Part 3 of World Without Young Justice.

Young Justice #44

World Without Young Justice Part 1: The World What Once We Knew

P. David Writer
T. Nauck Penciller
L. Stucker Inker
K. Lopez Letterer
J. Wright Colorist
D. Chameleon Separations
T. Palmer, Jr. Assistant Editor
E. Berganza Editor

This issue's part of the World Without Young Justice event cover is by Humberto Ramos, Wayne Faucher and colorist Ian Hannin. Ramos was one of the artists on World Without Grown-Ups, so it makes sense to bring him back to do the covers of the third and final act of the story against Bedlam. Unfortunately, Ramos went very loose with his style here, to the point of looking sloppy. I liked what he did on the early issues of Impulse. I like what he's currently doing on Marvel's Champions. But I do not like this cover. I will admit it's a cool concept, though, with Bedlam pulling the puppet strings of Young Justice. I just don't like the execution. It's also worth noting that Slobo/Lobo is not involved in this story at all, which is a shame.

Our story begins with 18-year-old Jason Todd nervously following a newspaper ad to the Young Justice headquarters in a run-down apartment building. Upon entering, he is immediately given a donut by an obese, wine-guzzling Wonder Girl; a dark, cleavage-showing Arrowette; and a male Secret (Billy instead of his sister Greta). Jason tells Young Justice he thinks he's supposed to be dead. He explains that his parents run the Big Ring Circus, and he's caught them working with Killer Croc. When his parents found out Jason knows their secret, his trapeze mysteriously broke. Luckily, he landed on the fat lady, then ran away, fearing for his life.

Wonder Girl is offended by this crack at the fat lady, and she's even more offended by Jason's refusal to drink her wine, calling it an insult to her god, Dionysus. Secret tries to calm Cassie down, but he's distracted by the sudden appearance of a 13-year-old boy in a hospital gown (we recognize him as Matthew Stuart, the vessel of Bedlam during World Without Grown-Ups). Billy is the only one who can see Matt, but Cissie decides to fire an arrow at the invisible intruder, anyway. The arrow flies right through Matt's chest to no effect. He gives our "heroes" an evil grin and disappears. Jason slipped out during the confusion, and Billy is the only one willing to go after him.

We then cut to the aforementioned circus, where Jason Todd's parents are arguing over his fate. Jason's dad wants to be lenient, but his stepmom insists on killing him. She visits the car of the Voodoo Princess, where Anita lies, wearing only a live boa constructor. Anita had been dating Jason, but she's more than willing to kill him to protect the circus and the crimes it conceals.

Meanwhile, Secret has caught up to Jason. The frightened gymnast tries to ward Secret away with a crucifix around his neck, but Billy explains that doesn't work on him. He explains to Jason that the police won't believe his story about his parents working with Killer Croc, and he urges the young man to cut Wonder Girl some slack. Suddenly, Jason doubles over in pain, as Anita begins a voodoo ritual with a doll wearing Jason's matching crucifix necklace. Anita stabs the doll with a dagger, causing Jason to scream out. Billy enters Jason's body and almost saves him from Anita's spell. But the Voodoo Princess was able to sense this and decided to hasten the process by simply burning the doll.

Jason becomes engulfed in blue flames that force Billy out of him. Billy tries once again to save Jason, but his corpse is quickly burned to a crisp. Matthew has appeared before Billy again, and when asked what he wants, he simply replies, "It's just ... an impulse thing." The boy laughs and disappears again, so Billy decides to return to Young Justice headquarters. Cissie and Cassie are currently playing video games (and Cissie mentions her mother's suicide). Billy tells them how their client was killed, and he believes it was the work of a magic user at Big Ring Circus. So his teammates agree to follow him to the circus to mete out some justice.

In the dead of night, Arrowette opens fire on the circus with a large, machine-gun-like device that fires flaming arrows. As the circus people tend to the spreading fire, Wonder Girl releases all the elephants and lions, which begin rampaging in the chaos. But one person who's not bothered by this is Anita, who is now wearing a skimpy bikini outfit and asking Cassie for some of her wine. Billy instantly recognizes Anita as Jason's killer, but Cassie has bonded with Anita over her wine, so she tells Billy not to kill her. She also points out that the stampeding elephants did kill Jason's parents, which she feels is enough justice for one night.

Suddenly, one of Impulse's golden energy scouts shows up and delivers a dire message: "This isn't right! It has to be stopped! It's my fault! All my fault! He made me do it! I thought I could outsmart him! You're not Young Justice ... find them! I have to find them! Help me! Help me solve this ... this crisis ... before it's too late! Hellllp meeeeeeeee ..." As the Impulse scout talked, he grew fainter, then a sickly black before suddenly disappearing with a "pap" sound. Our "heroes," however, were completely unmoved by this and decide to all go out for Chinese food.


And thus begins our first (and only) proper crossover between Young Justice, Robin, Superboy and Impulse. Sins of Youth came close, but only the Superboy title had a proper tie-in issue. I'm a little surprised that it took 44 issues for this to happen, but part of the blame may be on Robin's longtime writer Chuck Dixon, who left the book after issue #100, one month before this crossover began. Perhaps Dixon was opposed to crossovers beyond the Batman titles and DC was just waiting for him to leave to do this. I'm just speculating here, but it makes a lot of sense from a financial and a story-telling perspective to do the occasional crossover between all the solo titles of the company's most popular sidekicks and their shared group title.

Anyway, I like the abrupt nature of this story. We're immediately thrown into the middle of it, left to slowly pick up clues along the way. And the setting for this mystery is a rare treat — an in-continuity Elseworlds tale. We get to see what Secret would be like if Billy had died instead of Greta, what Wonder Girl would be like if she had the power of a god other than Zeus, and what Arrowette would be like had she given in to her darker side (remember how she was worried she'd have to become a villain dressed in black and showing off her cleavage?). And the best part of all this is that Impulse is at the center of all these changes. It actually reminds me a lot of a much larger event in 2011 called Flashpoint.

I also found the emphasis on Jason Todd to be quite interesting. Jason was the second Robin, replacing Dick Grayson after he became Nightwing. In 1988, readers voted for Jason to die, and he stayed dead until 2005. But as we see here, DC began tossing around the idea of bringing Jason back to life a couple of years before that. The high-profile Hush storyline — that brought up the serious possibility of Jason being alive — came out a year after this issue.

Our letters to the editor begin with Brian Seidman, of Oxford, Ohio, asking if Santa Claus really was killed in Young Justice #40. He liked how the cover showed the new team and the story featured the "classic" team. Brian asks for the cover to be made into a poster and for the original members of Young Justice to return for the 50th issue.

Matt is not happy with the additions of the Ray and Snapper Carr, asking instead for Impulse and Robin to return. He says he loves the work of Peter David and Todd Nauck, but without two of his favorite characters, the stories just aren't as interesting.

AmethystSerenity also asks for Robin and Impulse to return, saying they were the reason she picked up Young Justice in the first place, and that Superboy is too annoying when he tries to act like the leader. Now for the new ads:

Eat so your feet can hit the street. Tony's frozen pizzas.

Give that punching bag thingy in the back of your throat a serious beating. Tang Fruit Frenzy.

Get a clue ... for like, less! Clueless, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Grease, Top Gun, Save the Last Dance and Tommy Boy at Best Buy.

The game where you and three buddies all get to be heroes. Only thing is, one of you has to be the chick. Gauntlet Dark Legacy for PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube.

The king has just begun to fight. The Scorpion King: Sword of Osiris for Game Boy Advance.

It's a lot easier to take on an army when you are one. Dungeon Siege for Microsoft.

Freedom Force. A heroic role playing game for your PC!

The Dark Knight swings into action on three new DVDs. Batman: The Animated Series — The Legend Begins, Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero, and The Batman Superman Movie.

Sometimes the job is too big for just one hero! Justice League premiere movie on video and DVD.

Pac-Man's back, and everybody's feeling it. Pac-Man World 2 for GameCube and PlayStation 2.

Westfield Comics. Over 21 years of unwavering dedication.

Crash is going small in a huge way. Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure for Game Boy Advance.

Next time, find out how Bart is behind all the changes in Impulse #85.

JSA #35

Stealing Thunder Part 3 of 5: Lightning Storm

David Goyer & Geoff Johns Writers
Leonard Kirk Penciller
Keith Champagne Inker
John Kalisz Colors
Heroic Age Separations
Ken Lopez Letterer
Morgan Dontanville Assistant Ed.
Peter Tomasi Editor

Our cover by Rags Morales shows three of the strongest heroes in the DCU — Superman, Wonder Woman and Firestorm — under the control of the Thunderbolt genie, which is subsequently under the control of the Ultra-Humanite. It's a pretty haunting image, although it does make me wonder where Batman is in this story. But on the other hand, it is kind of refreshing to read a story like this that involves virtually every imaginable DC character except for Batman. He already has enough on his plate.

Our story begins with a handy recap page for novices like me. Apparently Johnny Thunder, one of the original members of the Justice Society of America, had grown old and developed Alzheimer's. He placed his magic genie in a pen, then gave it to Jay Garrick. Not realizing the power of this pen, Jay gave it to young Jakeem Williams, who later learned the pen's secret and became the hero Jakeem Thunder. But six months ago, the Ultra-Humanite took over Johnny Thunder's body and tricked Jakeem into giving him control of the genie.

So now we're in the world where Ultra-Humanite reigns supreme and has most of Earth's superheroes and villains under his control thanks to a device planted on the back of their necks. Jakeem is one of the few free heroes who have finally figured out how to destroy those mind control devices, and are leading an attack to rescue their friends.

We pick up where last issue left off, with a very large assembly of mind-controlled metahumans racing toward our heroes — Jakeem, Sand, Icicle, Captain Marvel, Powergirl, the Crimson Avenger and Hourman. Naturally, the speedsters of the group — Flash, Jesse Quick, Jay Garrick and Impulse — are the first to reach the heroes. But Icicle was prepared for them and managed to put up a perfect, bubble-free wall of ice that was virtually invisible. The speedsters crashed into the ice headfirst and were all knocked out.

And they stay knocked out for the rest of the issue, which mostly involves this small band of heroes fighting a whole bunch of other heroes and villains. Luckily, the mind-controlled ones are essentially puppets, and therefore much weaker than they'd normally be. So it's actually not much of a challenge for these JSA guys to defeat the other heroes and free them from Ultra-Humanite's control. The issue ends with the Ultra-Humanite himself appearing with a large gorilla army for some reason.


Once again, I don't have too much to say about this issue. The neat thing about it is how it includes so many different characters. The challenge, though, is making sure all of those characters have something to do. While the fighting went on page after page, I couldn't help but think that those four speedsters should have revived by now. In any case, it was nice to have all of them together again, even if it was only for two panels.

Next time, we'll start another five-part story about another all-powerful genie creating another alternate reality (I'm sure it was a complete coincidence) with World Without Young Justice.

Impulse #84

In the Line of Fire

Todd Dezago Writer
Carlo Barberi Penciller
Juan Vlasco Inker
Janice Chiang Letterer
Tom McCraw Colorist
Digital Chameleon Separator
Joey Cavalieri Editor
Impulse created by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo

This issue's cover: Carlo Barberi and Wayne Faucher and the Flash! This is an homage to Jay Garrick's first appearance in 1940's Flash Comics #1. And although it is well drawn, I'm not sure why Jay is so young here. Since the message is that Bart's new mentor is going to be Jay, I think Barberi should have drawn Jay the way he looks now — old. Also, if you look closely, you'll notice the woman's shadow is on a brick wall that does not match the computer-generated brick wall around here. But most important is Bart's face. He doesn't look too happy about this. And he shouldn't be. In fact, I'm not happy about this, either. But I'll try to save my thoughts till the end.

Our story begins one week after Max Mercury was mysteriously pulled into the Speed Force against his will. And at the moment, Bart is angrily running away from Wally West.

We then head back seven minutes ago, to see what has angered Bart. It all started at an impromptu family meeting at the home of Jay and Joan Garrick in Keystone City. Wally is there with his wife, Linda, and so is Bart's grandma, Iris, who is now apparently taking care of the Weather Wizard's infant son (don't ask). Bart and Helen are also there, but they've been asked to wait in the other room because the Garricks didn't want to add to their stress. The Garricks tell the others that Joan has been diagnosed with a rare case of acute leukemia. And apparently there's only one doctor in the world, Dr. Lateris at the Cantele Institute in Denver, that can provide Joan the treatments she needs. So the Garricks have decided to move to Colorado, hoping Joan will be better in a few months.

Wally regretfully says he was hoping that Jay and Joan could become Bart's new guardians, since they have yet to find a trace of Max and Bart still needs an experienced speedster to watch over him. Jay kindly turns Wally down, saying he and Joan will be too busy with the move and her treatments. But Joan refuses to use that as an excuse. She sees that Bart needs help, and she insists on helping him.

So Wally calls in Helen and Bart. Predictably, Bart is not happy with the news. He says he loves Jay and Joan, but he is not going to leave Helen or his home in Manchester. Bart insists that Max will come back soon and until then, he'll be fine living with Helen. Wally tries to tell Bart that he needs super-speed supervision, but Bart deeply resents that Wally made this decision without letting him have any input. Iris tries to calm Bart down, but he won't hear it and runs away. Jay offers to go after Bart, but Wally says it's his responsibility.

That brings us back to the opening scene, and now Wally has caught up with Bart. Running alongside him, Wally criticizes the teen for immaturely running away from a conversation. Bart says that wasn't a conversation, but an order. Wally says maybe they could have a conversation if Bart was less impulsive. Bart says he's already heard that lecture from Max, telling Wally, "For someone who's s'posed to be so fast, you're not very good at keeping up, are you?" He yells at Wally for never trying to talk with him, but always talking at him.

Their argument is put on hold, though, as the two speedsters come across the scene of an accident. A truck has crashed into a tree, and on the other side of the road, a car with a family inside has gone off into a lake. The driver of the truck is alright and is trying to help the sinking family. Bart and Wally quickly form a plan and work quite well together, with Wally diving down and bringing up the family members one a time and Bart taking them to shore, where the truck driver starts giving them CPR.

In no time at all, the family is saved and an ambulance and police car have shown up. Bart praises the truck driver for saving the family's young boy by giving him mouth-to-mouth, but Wally smells alcohol on the man's breath. He quickly checks the truck and finds two empty bottles of whiskey. The man admits he had been drinking and caused the accident. The police take him away, which Bart thinks isn't fair, since he saved the the kid's life. Wally says he was a nice guy who tried to do the right thing after the fact, and he can only hope the court takes that into account.

The speedsters continue their cross-country run, with Wally saying he didn't want to have to decide where Bart lives. Bart tells Wally he's not the boss of him, and when Wally starts to say he knows how Bart feels, Bart asks him if he really knows what it's like to be bossed around. Wally was so wrapped up in the argument that he didn't notice Bart had led him to his childhood home in Blue Valley, Nebraska. Bart tells Wally that he had heard stories from his grandma about how Wally was a lot like Bart as a kid, and how he was constantly bullied by his dad.

This does help Wally remember that feeling of helplessness, and he finally apologizes to Bart for not giving him enough credit and making unfair decisions about him. But he still thinks the best plan is for Bart to live with Jay and Joan. Bart remembers Max suggesting he and Bart move away to give Helen more space to be with her boyfriend, Matt Ringer. (In a bizarre artistic mistake, Bart's memory shows Max talking to his mom, Meloni, instead of himself.) So Bart agrees to move in with Jay and Joan until Max gets back. Wally thanks Bart and says he hopes they can have more healthy conversations in the future. As they run back home, Wally asks Bart where he got the line "For someone who's supposed to be so fast, you're not very good at keeping up, are you?" Bart admits Superboy said it once to him, and he liked being able to use it on Wally.

So Bart returns to Manchester, Alabama, to give his farewells to Preston, Mike, Wade and Rolly. They're all devastated to lose another friend so soon after Carol's sudden departure. Bart tries to assure them that he'll be back as soon as his uncle returns, but they don't think that'll happen anytime soon. Rolly presents Bart with a box filled with some comics and other mementos. Evil Eye suddenly shows up on his bike, and Preston tries to send him away before he says anything rude. But Evil Eye says he just wants to say goodbye to Bart, too. He pats Bart on the back while slipping a paper into his box, saying they've gotten to know quite a bit about each other over the years.

Bart then walks home with Preston, who bemoans that the three musketeers — him, Bart and Carol — are now completely broken up. Bart starts to say that he'll be able to come back and see Preston whenever he wants, but then he remembers with his secret identity, he wouldn't be able to quickly travel from Colorado to Alabama whenever he likes. He ponders over Preston's words that as the three musketeers they had no secrets between them, so he starts to tell Preston that he's Impulse. But he can't quite get the words out and just lets his friend walk away.

Later, Helen is tearfully making sure Bart has all his things packed and reminding him that he's responsible for Dox — not Joan and Jay. As she begins to cry, Bart grabs her a box of tissues and promises to occasionally zip back for a hug. They share a tender embrace, with Bart saying he'll come back as soon as Max does. Bart then shows up at the doorstep of the Garricks' new home in Denver, dressed in his best clothes. With a big smile on his face, he says, "Hi, Uncle Jay, Aunt Joan — I'm home!" Joan warmly says, "Yes, Dear ... you certainly are."


Ugh.

I hate this. I absolutely hate this. We've spent so much time building up the supporting cast in Manchester, Alabama. And now we're just throwing it all away for no good reason. And what makes this even worse is how it was handled. Wally was unfathomably rude in this whole thing. After hearing that Joan Garrick had cancer, he should not have even mentioned his original plan of sending Bart to live with the Garricks. He should have immediately begun to look for an alternative. Helen's been doing a great job of raising Bart, and who's to say that she'd want to stop doing that if and when she got married? She could move in with Matt and Mike, and Bart and Mike would essentially become brothers in one big family full of potentially interesting dynamics. And since Bart still could use some guidance from a veteran speedster, then Jay, Wally and Jesse could take turns coming down to give Bart some training on the weekends. It's not like Bart demands constant supervision. Hasn't he proven that he's become a little bit more responsible now? And why didn't Helen or anybody else stand up for Bart here? He's getting a terrible in this, and I think I'm more angry about it than Bart was!

Impulsive Reactions begins with Joey Cavalieri saying he just got off the phone with Todd Dezago after discussing the plot for the upcoming issues of Impulse. I wonder if he knew at this point the series was close to cancellation.

Brentac says that he loved Impulse #81 even though "a whole lot of nothing happened." He welcomed a break from the main plot line and called Captain Saturn awesome, although he admitted he didn't want to see him again.

Speedy Smurph suggests that Inertia could come back holding Carol's hand, either in reality or a nightmare of Bart's. Speedy says Carlo Barberi is the best artist on Impulse and Tom McCraw is the best colorist. He also thought Captain Saturn was funny, but annoying.

Havk thought it was nice to have a one-shot to break up the drama, although he would have preferred to have the story focus on Bart with his friends at school. Havk hearkens back to the Mark Waid days, when Bart was the most popular kid in school.

Richard B. Weston says issue #81 needed a laughter warning. He loved how Captain Saturn was so annoying that he made Impulse look like the grownup by comparison. Richard says Bart should now know how Max feels.

Corndog7 thought it was a very clever and very funny take on the Don Quixote story. Now for the new ads (Bart and his friends were once again dressed in Nautica apparel):

Bubble Tape. How much can you handle?

Ripley's Believe It or Not!

You've never seen a race this twisted before! Shrek Swamp Kart Speedway for Game Boy Advance.

A howling new Scooby-Doo movie! Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf.

Introducing pocket-sized figures of the entire DC Universe! DC Comics Pocket Super Heroes.

An all-new movie is in your future! Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring.

Hey, Kids! Comics! A world without Young Justice!? They first burst onto the scene in an unforgettable tale called JLA: World Without Grown-Ups. This April, the sensational sidekicks star in the crossover called "World Without Young Justice," running through Young Justice #44, Impulse #85, Robin #101, Superboy #99, and wrapping up in May's YJ #45.
Bedlam, the instigator of the team's first adventure, is back ... and this time he's out to prevent Robin, Impulse and Superboy from ever having become a team in the first place! In their place, though, stands ... Young Justice? That's right — but this team is made up of strangely altered versions of Wonder Girl, the Secret and Arrowette! And that's only the beginning ... but you'll have to see for yourself by hitting your local comics shop in April and picking up "World Without Young Justice."

Samurai Jack: The Premiere Movie on videocassette and DVD.

A DC subscription form, only offering Batman: Gotham Adventure, Superboy and Justice League Adventures. Did they know Impulse wouldn't last another year?

Tang Tropical Tremor. Puts hair on your tongue.

Make your own fun. Lunchables Pizza.

Next time, before we begin the big Young Justice crossover, we'll take a look at the evil, mind-controlled Impulse in JSA #35.