Impulse #87

Crisis on Impulse's Earth Part Two

Magically brought to you by:
Todd Dezago Writer
Carlo Barberi Penciller
Greg Adams Inker
Janice Chiang Letterer
Tom McCraw Colorist
Digital Chameleon Separations
Joey Cavalieri Editor
Impulse created by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo

Our cover by Carlo Barberi and Wayne Faucher shows Impulse running past ... comic book panels(?) ... showing all the chaos he's caused with Bedlam's powers. It is pretty funny, but I'm incredibly distracted by that random green-and-yellow beachball right in front of Bart. Where did it come from? Why is it there? Is it covering up a mistake Barberi made? Or is it even a beach ball at all? Maybe it's an umbrella that Bart is opening while he stands ... next to the panel showing a hurricane. Either way, it just doesn't work for me.

Our story begins with the Phantom Stranger talking to Max Mercury, using his crystal ball to show Max (and the readers) exactly how Bart got his new powers and what he's done with them. This two-page recap shows some new details, such as Impulse's scout leaping above the comatose Matthew Stuart in his hospital bed to intercept the Bedlam energy, and the super-powered Impulse fighting Captain Cold.

After finishing his story, the Phantom Stranger once again pleads his case to the powers-that-be, the Quintessence — Zeus, Highfather, Shazam and Ganthet. Shazam once again turns him down, saying the Quintessence does its best to not interfere with mankind. Max steps forward, saying that Bart is simply not capable of wielding the most powerful magic in the universe.

We then check in with Bart, who's hanging out with Dox, Carol and Preston at his castle. Preston loves Bart's new costume with the lightning bolt, and Bart says he considered putting a lightning bolt on his forehead. Carol says that would have been copyright infringement, and Preston, calling her Hermione, tells her to shut up. Bart then gets serious, saying he needs to focus on fixing some of the problems he's inadvertently caused, such as the weather calamities, the water wars, the ruined petroleum industry and the dog rebellion.

Carol has been keeping track of everything on a notebook, and regretfully informs Bart of even more problems he's caused. A lot of farmers have been put out of work since Bart banned asparagus. By saving the whales, the food chain has been messed up. By fixing the hole in the ozone layer, a new ice age has been triggered. And before Carol can explain the side effects of a world without mosquitos, Bart angrily interrupts her. With his eyes glowing purple, he menacingly threatens to make Carol and her notebook disappear. Bart quickly calms down, says he was just kidding, and walks away, while Preston and Carol hold each other in fear.

A short while later, Bart is approached by his dad and his Aunt Dawn. They tell Bart they're thrilled to be living with him, but they're worried about the time stream. In their future, they died fighting the Dominators, and now they wonder if their removal from that battle has inadvertently doomed mankind to that hostile alien race. Bart's grandpa, Barry, also has a similar concern. He died in the past, fighting the Anti-Monitor. So he asks Bart if his magic fixed the problems that would have been caused by this change in history, or if they're just waiting for those problems to catch up with them. Bart hasn't considered any of these things, and he quickly becomes emotional. With glowing purple eyes, he shouts at his family to leave him alone. Max and the Phantom Stranger observe that when Bart becomes confused, the Bedlam magic "asserts" itself.

Bart then angrily creates a dozen purple scouts, simply telling them to "fix it all." Barry kindly asks Bart to calm down, saying they just want to help. But Bart's eyes are still glowing, and he insists his scouts are going to fix everything. The scouts then all return at the same time, and Bart sadly falls to his knees, realizing he's created too many problems with too many timelines to follow. As tears roll down his cheeks, Barry puts a hand on Bart's shoulder, suggesting they talk to some of the other magical heroes. Bart does not like the sound of that, though, insinuating that they just want to take his magic away. He puts Barry, Don and Dawn in purple bubbles, then angrily turns on Carol. He shouts at her for ruining everything by thinking about the consequences. But before he does anything to her, the Phantom Stranger and Max show up and teleport Bart away.

Instead of taking Bart back to Limbo, the Phantom Stranger brings him to the Speed Force, explaining that his magicks won't be able to harm anyone or any other reality from here. Bart protests that he wouldn't hurt anyone, but the Phantom Stranger points out that his irresponsible use of his powers has irrevocable consequences. Max tells Bart he knows he's just trying to fix things, but he's really just making things worse. He tells Bart that he shouldn't have these powers, since they're too much for anyone to handle. Bart sadly says that Max doesn't think he's good enough, then, with glowing eyes, he angrily accuses them of trying to steal his powers. He turns and attacks Phantom Stranger and Max with a blast of purple energy. Phantom Stranger is able to counter this attack, and he warns Bart to surrender the powers or have them forcibly taken, which could leave him injured ... or worse.

Max can't counter Bart's spell, but he is able to outrun it, reasoning with Bart all the while. Max warns Bart that if he continues using this magic, he'll become a villain, responsible for wars, disasters and death. Max tells Bart he knows him to be kind, considerate and caring, devoting his life to helping people and doing the right thing. He reminds Bart that he comes from a long line of heroes, and they're all so proud of him. Max tells Bart he's proud of him, too, at which Bart starts to come to his senses. Bart realizes this isn't him, and he begins to ask for help. But the Bedlam magic forms into a vicious version of Impulse, which yells at Bart to obliterate Max and the Phantom Stranger.

The Phantom Stranger pulls out a glass container, similar to the device the Bedlam magic was encased in when Matthew Stuart first acquired it. Phantom Stranger urges Bart to surrender his powers, explaining that if he does, then everything will go back to the way it was before and everyone will forget any of this ever happened. Bart doesn't like the idea of losing Max, Carol, his dad, his aunt and his grandpa again, and this internal struggle causes Bedlam to briefly take control again.

Max and the Phantom Stranger keep encouraging Bart to fight back, and as he does, a wave of purple energy freezes the two of them in time. Bart did this intentionally, saying he needed to do one last thing before giving up these powers forever. He creates a scout, which leaves the Speed Force, quickly returns, places something in the Phantom Stranger's pocket, then merges back with Bart. Bart writes a note on his hand, telling him to look in the Stranger's pocket, then he unfreezes time, surrendering his power to the Phantom Stranger. All the purple Bedlam magic flows into the glass container, and Max begins to fade away.

As the Phantom Stranger closes the talisman, he and Bart appear in an empty field. Bart, now in his regular red Impulse uniform, wonders who the Phantom Stranger is and how they got to this field. The Phantom Stranger declines to tell Bart what happened, but as he puts the talisman away, he discovers a notebook in his cloak. Bart sees the note on his hand and he realizes that the notebook is his, which he takes and quickly runs away with, leaving a confused Phantom Stranger behind.

Bart then flips through the notebook, recognizing Carol's handwriting. He's confused about the notes on talking dogs and flying cars, but then he finds a reference to the future and realizes that this must be where Carol is. Bart creates a scout, has it note the time and place in notebook, then sends it off to find his girlfriend.


I'm happy with the conclusion of this story. In what is sadly Max Mercury's final major interaction with Bart, he literally saved all reality. Hard to top that. I really liked the concept of a well-intentioned, yet misguided ultimate power threatening reality. It would have been fun to spend some more time in Impulse's world, perhaps even as a DC-wide crossover. In any case, it would have been nice to see more of the problems Bart caused, rather than simply be told about them.

I'm not sure whether the Quintessence granted the Phantom Stranger permission to interfere or if he just went off on his own. If the latter is true, then what was the point of including the Quintessence at all? I'm also not sure how the Phantom Stranger conveniently acquired a talisman that could contain the Bedlam magic. But I did like Bart's struggle at the end, and how he was not only able to overpower Bedlam, but also come up with a clever plan to allow himself to find Carol after reality had been reset. This issue also had some really nice art, beside one bizarre flashback page, where colorist Tom McCraw inexplicably failed to recognize Empress and just left her completely white.

Once again, we're missing the Impulsive Reactions. So let's check out the new ads:

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Next time, we begin September 2002, where Impulse will appear on the cover only of Young Justice #47.