Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #2

Part Two: Commencement

Judd Winick Writer
Alé Garza Penciller
Lary Stucker Inker
Jeromy Cox Colorist
Comicraft Letters
Associate Editor Lysa Hawkins
Editor Eddie Berganza

Our cover shows a fairly shocking image: Superman, looking quite angry and evil, beating up Nightwing, Troia, Robin and Superboy. Don't look too closely at the proportions or the anatomy — you will start to lose your mind. Well, let's try to find out what's going on here.

Our story picks up after the disastrous fight with the blue and pink robot girl against the Titans and Young Justice. Nightwing has decided to bring all the injured heroes to San Francisco General Hospital, yet he is adamant that everybody keep their masks on ... unless it's medical. Cyborg proves problematic, as the hospital is not at all equipped to help him. And Impulse does not like being restrained by Tempest.

Eventually, Dr. Sarah Charles of S.T.A.R. Labs shows up, and one hour and 26 minutes later, she has everybody "out of the woods." And she is preparing to transfer the wounded to S.T.A.R. Labs Facility SJ-1, 63 miles away. But before that can happen, our favorite blue robot teleports into said facility. She fights through a bunch of guards, smashes her way to a big vault, but by the time she gets it open, she's running at only 1.78 percent power and collapses. Superman steps out of the vault, picks up the robot, and flies away with her.

Back at the hospital, Robin is complaining to Superboy about how dumb the fight with the robot was. He blames Impulse and Empress for charging in, causing half the Titans to get injured while looking out for Young Justice. Robin is embarrassed to have made such a showing in front of the team that inspired them. Superboy says he's sure the Titans were a lot like them when they started, but Robin darkly says he doesn't think so.

Troia and Nightwing are watching this conversation from a distance, and Troia points out how similar Robin is to Nightwing. She asks him to tell Robin that he's wrong, reminding Nightwing of all their failures when they were younger. But Nightwing refuses, saying Young Justice needs a leader more than a kind word. Troia suggests Nightwing could lead them, but he darkly says he can barely lead the Titans. He then abruptly changes the conversation by asking Troia if she's consulted Wonder Woman about her nightmares. She hasn't, which angers Nightwing, so Troia calls him on his hypocrisy for refusing to talk to Robin or Batman.

They find Wonder Girl sulking in a closet, so Nightwing leaves Troia to try to comfort her. Wonder Girl admits that she's considering leading a normal life as a high school girl, getting involved with sports and the yearbook staff and such. Troia asks if that's what she really wants, and Wonder Girl realizes such a boring life would drive her crazy. Troia tells her they didn't choose this life, but it is their destiny and they have to rise to the challenges. After a moment of silence, Wonder Girl says she's scared most of the time. Troia says she'd be stupid not to be.

Cyborg is awake now, and he tells Arsenal that he learned a bit about the blue robot when it connected to him. She's from more than 2000 years in the future and was damaged in a previous battle. Cyborg says the robot was simply looking for similar life forms, but she inadvertently fell into defense mode, which is why she attacked them.

One of the S.T.A.R. Labs people gets everybody's attention and turns on the news, showing reports of explosions at computer gaming store called Contesto. Impulse asks why they should care about a toy company, and Dr. Charles explains that was just a front for a S.T.A.R. Labs facility. The newscast reports that Superman is on the scene, prompting local responders to keep their distance. The cameras allegedly also show the blue robot (although we don't see it in the comic) because Impulse comments on how weird it is to see Superman working on "the bad girl that laid us all up." Nightwing asks Dr. Charles how soon she can get them there, and she says her hover craft will make the trip in eight minutes. So Nightwing rounds up everyone who's healthy enough to fight — Robin, Impulse, Superboy, Wonder Girl, Arsenal, Troia and Omen.

Our heroes arrive at the facility and find Superman repairing the robot's circuits with his heat vision. But they instantly realize something is wrong, as Superman refuses to acknowledge their presence. Impulse thinks he's "off his nut" to be playing doctor on "C3PO," while the whole place looks like Godzilla whacked Tokyo. Robin says they can't try to make Superman do anything he doesn't want to do. Tempest agrees with Robin, but also acknowledges Impulse has a good point. Omen tries to read Superman's mind, but is unable. Believing he's in a trance, she tries to touch him to restore his senses. Nightwing, ever the worrywart, warns her not to, but Omen proceeds with her plan.

Superman suddenly turns, grabs Omen's neck and crushes it, killing her instantly. Impulse was the only one who could have tried to save her, but he hesitated out of shock. And the narrator tells us that Impulse wouldn't have made a difference even if he didn't hesitate. The narrator also explains to us that this is a Superman robot that was built to resemble the original's powers as much as possible, but was deemed unreliable, deactivated and put in storage. Until today.



This was another lackluster effort in this miniseries. Even Lary Stucker's inks couldn't fix Alé Garza's problems with proportions, anatomy, heads and faces. And the story is just so ... melodramatic. We spent most of the time sitting around in the hospital with everybody acting like they've never lost a fight or been injured before. Look, that little stint with the blue robot girl was not a big deal. At all. It was a quick fight, a couple of people got electrocuted ... so what? Stuff like that happens all the time for these people, right? And why are they all treating that fight like it was the biggest mistake they've ever seen? That robot was killing Cyborg, despite her intentions. Somebody needed to do something.

This issue spent so much time on the hospital sob fest and the robot girl hopping around, that we weren't left with any time for the promised fight against this Superman robot. I also think it was incredibly lame for a narrator's box to tell us this was a Superman robot. A significant detail like that should organically come from the story. And as for Omen's death? Sure, I guess you could call it shocking. But I don't know anything about her, nor do I care about her.

Next time, we're going to take a very quick look at JLA: Welcome to the Working Week.

The Flash #198

Blitz Part 2: Rush

Geoff Johns – Writer
Scott Kolins – Penciller
Doug Hazlewood – Inker
Ken Lopez – Letterer
James Sinclair – Colorist & Separator
Joey Cavalieri – Editor

Our cover shows Wally holding a bleeding Linda while being pummeled by his newest enemy, Zoom (not to be confused with Professor Zoom, aka the Reverse-Flash, aka Eobard Thawne). It's kind of hard for me to focus on this image because of the giant yellow and red arms on either side that connect to the other covers of this Blitz storyline. But overlooking that, this cover does show us that we're in for a pretty intense story inside.

Our story begins with Wally and Jay investigating the site of the Flash Museum explosion. Apparently Hunter Zolomon's little stunt on the Cosmic Treadmill took out the whole building, as well. Jay tells Wally that Joan's cancer is in remission, so they've moved back to Keystone City, bringing Bart along with them. Wally asks Jay if Joan could visit Hunter to try to cheer him up after the accident. He was taken to Central City General and was practically in a frozen state when Wally saw him earlier this morning. Wally doesn't know who caused the explosion, and he's tired of his friends being hurt by his enemies. He asks Jay the age old question: Are superheroes here because of evil, or is evil here because of the heroes?

We then cut to Linda and Iris setting up a dinner party on the patio of what I assume is Wally's apartment. Linda says that she's quit being a reporter and is now in medical school. Being around a celebrity like Wally for so long has altered the way she sees the world. Linda asks Iris how she managed to be a journalist after Barry's identity was made public, but Iris says she was gone when that happened. When she came back, Wally was the Flash, and the media left her alone for the most part. Iris knows that Barry has not been forgotten, and it's merely Wally's time now. And in time, Wally will pass the mantle down. Joan and Bart then show up with a pie and cookies.

Bart gives his grandma a hug and tells her that he's sick of moving around and changing schools. But he does enjoy living with Jay and Joan, except when he has to rake the leaves. Bart then tries to set the table, but does it too quickly and makes a mess. Joan scolds him about using his super speed while not in his Impulse costume. Bart corrects her, calling it a uniform, but he still apologizes anyway. Linda says it's all right, and she cheers him up with some lemonade. Joan tells Linda that she's good with kids — a compliment that Linda appreciates.

Jay and Wally arrive, and Wally immediately gives Linda a kiss. Bart sticks his tongue out and calls this gross. Iris says she can tells Wally and Linda have some news, and she demands to hear it now. They were going to wait for Jesse, but decide to spill the beans anyway and tell everybody that Linda is pregnant with twins. Everybody congratulates the happy couple, except Bart who says, "Poor kids."

Jesse then calls Wally, saying she's far too busy with her communications company, QuickStart, to come visit. She even had to quit the Titans to focus on her work. (This story apparently occurs after Graduation Day.) Wally is annoyed by this call, pointing out that Jesse could have run over to his house faster than it would have taken the phones to connect. Jesse hangs up in a huff, and Wally and Linda share another kiss. Unseen by any of them is the Spectre, who says, "Love. Remember it."

Suddenly, a sonic boom erupts in the sky. Linda asks what it was, and Bart starts to obnoxiously explain what a sonic boom is. But Linda clarifies that she was asking what caused this sonic boom, since there aren't any jets in the sky and all the known speedsters are here at the party. An even larger boom follows the first one, causing a lot of the apartment's windows to shatter. On the third sonic boom, we see they're being caused by a yellow gloved-hand snapping its fingers at super speed.

Wally tells Bart to take everyone inside to his apartment, while he heads out with Jay. Bart starts to protest, but Wally coldly tells him to do something useful. As Jay and Wally take off, Jay tells him to not be so short with Bart. Wally says he didn't mean to be, and he thinks Bart is fine. However, we see that Wally's comment stung Bart. As the two Flashes race through the city, looking for the source of the sonic booms, Jay tries to tell Wally how much Bart has grown, but Wally insists on postponing that conversation.

They see the most damage is centered around an under-construction skyscraper, so they quickly get all the civilians away from the falling debris. Jay is suddenly attacked by something moving too fast for him or Wally to see. Right as Wally comes to check on him, Jay is hit again and goes flying through the window of a gym. Wally manages to catch Jay and minimize his injuries. Standing above them is a man wearing the Reverse-Flash's yellow uniform. Wally asks who he is, and he answers, "Zoom." Wally charges at him, misses, and says Zoom is dead. Zoom says, "Notanymore" and causes all the gym's treadmills to explode.

Linda, Iris and Joan are back in Wally's apartment, inspecting the damage caused by the sonic booms. They realize Bart isn't with them, and Joan offers to back to the roof to find him. But Linda insists on going. However, she finds Zoom waiting for her, preparing to snap his fingers again.



Jay has Rival. Barry has the Reverse-Flash. Bart has Inertia. And now Wally has Zoom. It's fitting for him to have an arch-enemy speedster. I just wish his was more distinct. His costume is almost exactly the same as Eobard Thawne's. And to make matters more confusing, Eobard also went by the name Professor Zoom. So I'm a little mad that Geoff Johns couldn't come up with a different name for this new, evil speedster. However, I really do like how Zoom made his debut here. The mysterious, yet dangerous sonic booms caused by the simple act of him snapping his fingers. That is pretty cool.

I do not like how Bart was portrayed (or treated) in this issue. First, let's look at how Jay and Wally treated him. Joan's cancer is finally in remission, so there's no need for the Garricks and Bart to stay in Denver. But instead of returning to Manchester, Alabama, to allow Bart to live near Helen and Carol and all his friends again, the Garricks decide to drag this poor boy to Keystone City. I'm assuming he's now enrolled in his third school (in three different states) in one year. That's a really insensitive thing to do to a kid. And Wally ... well, I guess he never has learned how to talk to Bart, regardless of the heart-to-heart they had back when Max Mercury disappeared.

I'm not the biggest fan of how Scott Kolins drew Bart. (But then again, I'm not the biggest fan of his style in general.) Maybe it's mostly the baggy clothes that's throwing me off. Although I will admit that was the fashion at the time. And Bart wearing a Keystone Combines hockey jersey is fitting. But what really annoys me in this issue is how Geoff Johns wrote Bart. Why did he act like it was gross when Linda and Wally kissed? It wasn't too long ago that Bart was kissing his own girlfriend! And later, I feel like Johns jumped the gun on a personality change he'll be giving Bart in Teen Titans, by having him provide the encyclopedic definition for a sonic boom. Come on, Geoff! He's not Kid Flash yet!

Next time, we'll watch Bart take one more step toward becoming Kid Flash with Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #2.

Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #1

Part One: Invocation

Judd Winick Writer
Alé Garza Penciller
Trevor Scott Inker
Jeromy Cox Colorist
Comicraft Letters
Associate Editor Lysa Hawkins
Editor Eddie Berganza

Our cover shows three members of Young Justice — Impulse, Robin and Wonder Girl — running against a blank background with their shadows in the shape of their Titans counterparts — Jesse Quick, Nightwing and Troia. It's a fairly interesting concept, but I'm not sure about the execution. It just feels rather bland. And I'm not a fan of Garza's style — his heads and faces often look squished.

Our story begins with Troia savagely battling a bunch of monsters in the rain, while wearing little more than her underwear and wielding an extremely small sword. Donna then wakes up from her nightmare ... one month ago for some reason. This is a recurring dream for her that is becoming more real each night. And she fears it less, and welcomes it more every night.

Last night, in Austin, Texas, at 3:28 a.m. to be specific, a blue robot girl with pink hair falls out of a purple portal and lands in an alley. The robot is operating at 47.3 percent operating capacity, so it enters maintenance mode and begins scanning for cybernetic organisms.

Twenty-one hours later, in San Francisco, at 11:06 p.m., Jean Walters, chief executive officer of Optitron is holding a board meeting with the Titans — Jesse Quick, Arsenal, Troia, Nightwing, Argent, Cyborg, Tempest and Omen. Optitron wants to fund the Titans — provide them with a new headquarters, state of the art technology and all the money they need to focus on saving the world. Nightwing is skeptical, so asks Omen, a psychic, what the company's true motives are. She says they want the biggest tax write-off in American history, but they also genuinely want to help make the world a better place.

But this isn't good enough for Nightwing, and he tells the team they're leaving. Cyborg points out they could use a new jet, but Arsenal is the most vocal objector, telling Nightwing to consider what they could accomplish with this financial backing. Nightwing worries that this agreement would only start with the funding and end with the Titans being sent on special-interest missions for Optitron. Arsenal dismisses that concern, and says that this kind of money could put the Titans on the same standing as the JSA and JLA. As they leave the office, Nightwing sees something that makes him distrust Optitron even more — Young Justice sitting in the waiting room.

Nightwing groans that Optitron is making the same offer to Young Justice, calling it the fast food chain equivalent of super teams. Arsenal doesn't see the harm in that. Cyborg asks Robin if they were also flown out on a jet, and Robin says their plane had to make an emergency landing in Dallas because Impulse wrecked the bathroom and the cabin depressurized. Impulse says he just wanted to know where the water went.

We then cut to the Franklin Military Installation in Tucson, Arizona, where three of the Metal Men are working. The blue robot girl suddenly teleports inside the facility and immediately paralyzes the Metal Men with a blast of pink lightning. The blue robot then tries to connect with Platinum, but finds her technology incompatible and unable to repair herself. So she begins scanning again for more cybernetic organisms.

We return to the Titans leaving the Optitron headquarters, and Tempest has joined the side of Arsenal and Cyborg, saying they should at least hear out the company. Cyborg suggests they could draw up a contract to ensure they don't make any claims on their activities. But Nightwing worries about what would happen if they happen to stumble across an area where Optitron is getting its hands dirty. Troia suggests Nightwing has a chip on his shoulder against rich corporations. Cyborg pleads with his teammates to take half an hour to talk about this offer before they leave.

The blue robot girl suddenly teleports into the Optitron foyer and attaches herself to Cyborg, who starts screaming at her to get off him. Argent and Jesse Quick try to pull her off, but they're both blasted aside by her pink lightning. Nightwing orders the Titans to focus on protecting the civilians in the building. Impulse and Empress come out of nowhere and offer to take out the robot. Empress grabs Cyborg, while Impulse vibrates inside the robot to try to shake her loose. Nightwing warns them that this robot is too unpredictable. Superboy suggests they all attack, but Robin sides with Nightwing.

Impulse's plan seems to be working, until the robot activates its defense mode at "factor 10," which creates a large pink explosion. Cyborg is finally freed from the robot, but his legs have been incinerated. Superboy puts the robot in a headlock, but she throws him off. Troia and Tempest get in a couple of good hits, though, and Arsenal manages to shoot off one of the robot's arms. The robot finally teleports away, leaving most of the heroes rather beat up. Cyborg weakly tells Nightwing that the robot didn't mean to hurt anyone. Nightwing looks at all the injuries around him and says, "You could have fooled me ..."



This comic was underwhelming. The art ranged from mediocre to distasteful, and the story just left me wanting. So much of it was spent on a rather tired argument about a superhero team being sponsored by someone else yet still wanting independence. We basically just went through this with Young Justice and their short-lived reality TV show. And, going back almost a decade, we had the exact same scenario when Arsenal led the New Titans. Maybe, just maybe, this argument could have been interesting had we been able to see what Young Justice thought about it, taking into account their experience with "Super Vision." But instead, the Titans dominated the conversation, which was comprised entirely by Nightwing being unyielding and rather unreasonable. All Young Justice got to do in this issue was make a couple of jokes and act like idiots.

This was the first of a three-part story that's supposed to take us from the Titans and Young Justice to the Outsiders and Teen Titans. At least that's what it was advertised as. But DC chose the writer to be Judd Winick, who will write the new Outsiders series. So it's not too surprising that this miniseries feels exclusively like a set up for the Outsiders, with everybody else playing a guest role. It would have been nice if the writer of the new Teen Titans series, Geoff Johns, was involved. Or better yet, why not give Tom Peyer (Titans) and Peter David (Young Justice) a chance to write a swan song for their books?

Next time, we'll jump into the Blitz storyline in The Flash #198.

Young Justice #55

I've Got a Secret

Peter David – Writer
Todd Nauck – Penciller
Lary Stucker – Inker
Ken Lopez – Letters
Tom McCraw – Colors
Digital Chameleon – Separations
Tom Palmer, Jr. – Associate Editor
Eddie Berganza – Editor

This month's cover by ... Todd Nauck & Lary Stucker, colored by the Hories. This is the final issue of Young Justice, and there's nothing fun about that. So we get a sad, farewell image of the founding members, Superboy, Robin and Impulse, looking down on a perplexing image of human Greta carrying ghost Secret. I appreciate the sentiments of this cover, but not quite the execution. I think the  darker inks of the shadows kind of messed things up. I'm not sure if the "Big Three" in the sky are supposed to look sad or angry. They kind of come of as disgusted. Of course, I might be a bit harsh since I'm rather upset that this amazing series has to come to an end.

Our story begins with Anita taking her infant parents out to the park. But the babies won't stop crying. Anita even tries using her powers to command them to stop crying, but their minds aren't developed enough for that to work. Anita cries out in exasperation how unfair it is that she, a 15-year-old, has to take care of two babies. Slo-Bo joins her on the park bench and tells the babies to go to sleep, which they immediately do. Anita starts to thank Slo-Bo, but then sees that his eyes have gone completely black. Slo-Bo confirms he is 100% blind now, but refuses any pity.

Slo-Bo tells Anita that she shouldn't feel it's unfair that she has to care for her parents now. He points out several families in the park of adult children caring for their elderly parents, saying that's all part of the natural cycle. Slo-Bo acknowledges Anita's unique situation, but he says she actually has the best deal. Instead of caring for her parents until they die, Anita's parents have a whole lifetime to look forward to. Anita begins to cry at these words, telling Slo-Bo he's right. She also tells him she's sorry he got kicked off Young Justice because of the situation with Secret. Slo-Bo says he actually came back because of Secret. He can sense something big is about to happen and he's going to be there whether the team wants him or not. He's also brought over the Super-Cycle to give Anita a ride to the headquarters. Anita says she'll drop off her parents with Ishido then head out with Slo-Bo.

When Anita arrives home, she finds Cissie and Bonnie waiting for her. The house is a wreck, and a message in red in scrawled over all the walls: "Sorry I missed you." Bonnie says Ishido managed to call her right before Secret took him away. And luckily, the message on the wall isn't written in blood, but ketchup, in what Bonnie calls a frightening combination of deadly and whimsical. Anita decides that since Secret already came by here, this place should be safer than anywhere else, so she asks Bonnie and Cissie to watch over the babies, while she flies to the headquarters with Slo-Bo.

At the Catskills resort, Robin is stationed on the roof when a lightning strike narrowly misses him. Wonder Girl flies up to check on him, and he says the lightning was a warning shot from Secret. Cassie says she still has a hard time believing this is happening, and Robin says that one way or another, this ends tonight. Impulse is with Ray down on the grounds, and Bart asks him if he ever gets scared. Ray says he gets scared all the time, but Bart says he never gets scared for himself — only for his friends and people he loves. Bart says he thinks he doesn't care whether he lives or dies, which really scares him. Ray points out the contradiction of being scared of never being scared, to which Bart says, "I'm a mystery."

Slo-Bo then arrives with Empress, and Ray immediately tells Slo-Bo to leave. Empress defends him, and Bart asks what's wrong with his eyes. Slo-Bo refuses to answer Bart and asks Cassie if he can stay, claiming it doesn't matter to him. Cassie tells Slo-Bo to not lie, and he admits that it would mean the world to him to stay. So Cassie overrules Ray's objections and orders Slo-Bo and Empress to man the west gate. Snapper Carr and Red Tornado are watching everything from the monitor room, and Red Tornado wonders why the Spectre hasn't shown up to help. Snapper admits that he refused Spectre's help, believing this to be a matter the teenagers need to solve on their own. Red Tornado angrily says he's going to throw Snapper into Secret's oblivion himself.

Wonder Girl has stationed herself next to Superboy, who takes the moment to tell Cassie that he loves her. She initially thinks this is a joke, but he holds her shoulders and tries, but struggles to find the right words to express his feelings. Cassie saves Kon the trouble by telling him to shut up and then kissing him. This romantic moment is interrupted, though, by the arrival of Secret. Greta has made herself rather fierce-looking with spiky armor and flaming eyes. She mocks Kon and Cassie's kiss, saying she wishes her father could be here to see it. But her dad apparently threw himself into a firepit on Apokolips one day and Secret never knew why. Cassie calls the others, and Secret delivers the first blow, knocking Wonder Girl and Superboy back with a big punch.

We then check in on Bonnie and Cissie, who are caring for Anita's parents and beginning to clean up her house. Bonnie tells Cissie that she dressed as Arrowette, joined the attack on Zandia, and killed Agua Sin Gaaz. She says Robin saw through her disguise, but she managed to fool the others. And now she feels like a monster since she has no remorse for killing the Baron. Cissie says that Cassie also saw through Bonnie's disguise because her smoking habit has left her with yellow teeth. Cissie also spoke with Anita, who said Bonnie saved her life. Bonnie begs Cissie to not become Arrowette ever again to avoid the risk of having to kill, even in self-defense. She doesn't want her daughter to be like her. Cissie says watching her mom be vulnerable, honest and caring makes her want to be like her mom for the first time in her life. She then asks Bonnie to consider giving up smoking, but Bonnie tells her not to push it.

Back at the headquarters, everyone has begun battling Secret, who has grown to the size of a giant. Ray is blasting her with light, Impulse is trying to contain her on the ground while Red Tornado does the same in the air, and Superboy and Wonder Girl are hitting Secret with large logs and rocks. Slo-Bo flies the Super-Cycle up alongside Secret to give Empress a chance to use her powers to order her to stop. But Secret says those powers only work on the living, and she knocks the cycle out of the sky. Secret tells Anita that her powers derive from a small piece of the anti-life equation that's inside her, but Darkseid wants it all, which is why she plans to pull the entirety of humanity into her. Slo-Bo and Cassie yell at Secret to stop this, but she says she's only doing what they expected her to do. Secret says she saw how all her teammates were afraid of the darkness and despair within her. She blames them for making her this way and demands to know why they did that.

Secret is answered by Tim Drake, who has taken off his Robin outfit and is approaching this monstrous ghost as an ordinary teenager. Tim admits that they screwed up with Secret, saying it was tough for them to handle being with someone who was death personified. Secret angrily refers to Robin as "Tim, or whatever name you're giving us this week" and asks him if he even knows who he is. Tim says he doesn't completely know who he is, which is an advantage of being "Young" Justice. He tells Secret he visited her mom, but decided against bringing her to the fight because she's not well. But Tim was able to tell that she misses her little girl, Greta. Secret accuses him of lying, and Superboy wants to resume the attack, but Wonder Girl tells him and the others to hold back.

Tim tells Secret that he made a mistake when he left the team. He asks Greta to look past the costumes at him and the rest of the team. They're all just a bunch of scared guys trying to leave the world in a better place than they found it. Tim says he formed Young Justice because they were all so glad they found each other and can hold on to each other as they make their way through life. They're all human — young, scared humans. Tim asks Greta to accept them for that and let them love her as best they can, or to destroy them and prove she's less than any of them. At these words, Secret lets out a loud scream and collapses on the ground.

Ishido Maad suddenly appears in Anita's house, and Secret has returned to her normal form, curled up in a fetal position and weeping. Darkseid appears and explains that Secret has expunged all the people she absorbed, leaving them with no memory of their ordeal. He is disgusted that Secret has failed him so completely, all because of a few pretty words from a mere human. Slo-Bo charges at Darkseid once again, but this time the god of Apokolips doesn't hesitate. He blasts Slo-Bo with his Omega Beams, completely vaporizing him. He then turns to punish Secret, saying her penalty will be prolonged and agonizing. As Secret is hit with the Omega Beams, her entire life flashes before her eyes. The first time she met Darkseid; Lobo becoming a teenager; being killed in the bathtub by her brother; fighting parademons on Apokolips; meeting the Spectre; becoming an adult; meeting Old Justice, meeting Impulse, Robin and Superboy for the first time; playing baseball on Myrg; eating ice cream; and playing with dolls as a little girl.

But Secret doesn't disappear. She is left on the ground, and now is a normal human. Darkseid says his Omega Effect can be manipulated in many ways, and he used it to turn Secret mortal. He believes there is no greater punishment than being forced to live a long, mundane life without any powers. As Darkseid takes off in a boom tube, everyone happily gathers around Greta, who rejoices over being able to breathe again. Kon jokingly tells her to stay out of Gotham if she wants to keep breathing good air, and Tim playfully takes offense to that. But Greta quickly becomes worried about Slo-Bo, so Cassie tells her that Slo-Bo was dying anyway and he went out the way he wanted to. She also offers some hope, speculating that maybe Darkseid's Omega Effect didn't kill Slo-Bo, but sent him to a better place.

And on the final page of Young Justice, we see that Cassie was pretty much right. In the 853rd century, Young Justice Legion T — Superboy, Robin and Impulse — discover a new Slo-Bo statue in their headquarters on Pluto. But Robin the Toy Wonder says they don't have time to investigate the statue, since the Millennium Chicken is attacking the Omega Cluster. As the three heroes race off to save the day, the Slo-Bo statue thinks, "Aw frag ..."

Filling this base are statues of the original Young Justice — Superboy, Robin, Impulse, Secret, Wonder Girl (in her old outfit), Arrowette, Empress, Li'l Lobo and the Ray — and their mentors, Red Tornado and Snapper Carr. Also included are many of the team's friends and allies: Batgirl, Changeling, Kid Devil, the Wonder Twins, Lagoon Boy, the Star-Spangled Kid, Damage and CM3. There are also four busts of Peter David, Todd Nauck, Lary Stucker and Eddie Berganza (all of whom stayed on the book since issue #1). Underneath Nauck's bust is a brief message: "To YJ — Thanks for all the fun! I'll miss you guys. Much love, Todd."



It's over. Impulse may be my favorite character, but Young Justice is my favorite series. This series consistently churned out solid issues that balanced humor, drama and action, and featured amazing artwork. And it's such a rarity to see a writer and artist stay together on the same book for so long — especially these days. To me, Young Justice represents everything that a comic book should be. And while I'm sad that the series was canceled prematurely, I am glad that DC didn't fire David and Nauck and try to continue Young Justice without them. It wouldn't have been the same. Those guys truly had something special going on.

This final issue was very good, as far as final issues go. David wrapped up a lot of loose ends. Superboy and Wonder Girl finally kissed. Bonnie confessed to Cissie. Slo-Bo essentially died (although I like to pretend that Young Justice One Million figured out how to cure him). And, of course, Secret experienced a type of death herself, basically being resurrected as plain, old Greta. It was a beautifully fitting conclusion to her story arc. All she wanted to be was normal. And it makes perfect sense that Darkseid, who values power above all else, would see this as the ultimate punishment.

My only complaint is that we skipped over a very important scene in this story. Secret's evil brother, Harm, had possessed her dad, which prompted her to break her dad out of jail and follow Darkseid to Apokolips. And apparently while on Apokolips, Secret's dad threw himself into a firepit. We can assume that Burt Hayes figured out he was being possessed by Harm and decided that suicide was the only way to truly get rid of that evil spirit. But dang, we really needed to see that scene! I know it's tough to cram everything in when your series is prematurely canceled, but still!

David said he hated that Young Justice got canceled, in part because he was excited to tell stories about Superboy and Impulse, who both had their series canceled before this. I really would have liked to see what he had in mind for them. This last issue featured an unusually mature and serious conversation from Bart. It didn't feel out of place, but I do wonder how much of that had to do with the approaching battle against Secret and how much had to do with DC's plans to age up Bart and turn him into Kid Flash. And maybe the two go hand in hand. But I'd like to think that if Young Justice was going to continue past this issue then David would have kept the goofy, lovable Impulse alive and well, constantly having fun with Superboy and Ray. Oh well. I guess we'll now have to look for fun moments of Kid Flash with the Teen Titans.

DC in Demand says the spirit of Young Justice will live on in the new Teen Titans series, which will be set up by Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day. It also references the new storyline beginning in The Flash #201. Now for the new ads:

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A device that gives you extraordinary powers ... is it a dream come true or your worst nightmare? HERO.

Well, that's it for comics Impulse appeared in with a publication date of May 2003. Sadly, Bart didn't make it in any of the June 2003 comics, so we'll head straight to July with Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #1.

The Flash #196

"Helpless"

Geoff Johns Writer
Phil Winslade Guest Artist
Kurt Hathaway Letterer
James Sinclair Colorist and Separator
Joey Cavalieri Editor

Our cover by Scott Kolins shows the villain of the month, Peek-a-Boo, trying to crush the Flash's throat with roller blades, which doesn't seem very efficient. I have to admit I'm not a very big fan of Kolins' style. His lines are so thin, they require equally light inks and colors, which gives everything a rather muted feel. Kolins also seems a bit inconsistent. Everything on this cover looks pretty good — except for Peek-a-Boo's face. It really feels out of place.

Technically speaking, Bart Allen does not appear in this issue. But we will see a picture of Impulse here, and this issue will help set up the Blitz storyline that Bart will participate in. So with that in mind, I'm not going to spend any time talking about Peek-a-Boo. She can teleport, and her dad is sick, I guess? Don't know. Don't care. Who I do care about is Hunter Zolomon.

Hunter has been one of Wally's friends and allies on the police force since Geoff Johns began his run. A recent battle with Gorilla Grodd left Hunter paralyzed, and now he's asking Wally to use the Cosmic Treadmill to go back in time and prevent the accident. Wally staunchly refuses, saying Barry Allen didn't build the treadmill for the purpose of changing history. He says time travel is complicated and dangerous, and that things that have already happened can't be prevented. Hunter wants Wally to set aside the theories and paradoxes and just help him because he's his friend.

To illustrate his point, Wally brings up the story of Eobard Thawne, an obsessed maniac from the 25th century. Hunter reminds Wally that Barry killed Thawne and was put on trial. Wally originally testified that Barry didn't need to kill him, but he now believes his uncle's actions were justified to protect Iris. But Wally's main point in all this is that Professor Zoom was unleashed because of time travel. Hunter's anger gives way to desperation, as he reveals he doesn't want Wally to take him back to the Grodd fight, but an earlier event that messed up his knee and got him fired from the FBI.

Wally is legitimately remorseful, but he still refuses. Hunter becomes even angrier than before, saying Wally doesn't understand because he's never experienced personal tragedy. Wally tries to say he has had tragedy in his life, but Hunter points out that a bolt of lightning made Wally the fastest man alive and now he has a beautiful wife and is adored by the world as a hero. Wally isn't able to say anything to that, and he eventually leaves Hunter to angrily stare out the window.

Wally then messes around with Peek-a-Boo for a while, and there is a slight scare with the pregnant Linda, but a quick checkup reveals she and the twins are doing just fine. So Linda believes its finally time to tell their friends and family that she's pregnant. But that night, Hunter Zolomon sneaks into the Flash Museum, rolling his wheelchair right past a large photograph of Jesse Quick, Wally and Impulse.

Hunter heads straight for the Cosmic Treadmill, armed with a U.S. government report offering theories on how the treadmill works. He tinkers around with the circuitry of the machine for a bit, hoists his wheelchair up on the track and sets the date for January 20, 1998. But when he tries to start it up, the Cosmic Treadmill explodes in a show of flying gears and lightning.



I'm really glad Winslade drew this issue instead of Kolins. His dark lines were perfect for the emotional weight of this issue. And Hunter's trip through the Flash Museum was downright spooky. And I do credit Johns for creating an intriguing story around Hunter Zolomon. I will question the security of the museum, though. This paralyzed man didn't seem to have any difficulty just rolling right in. And to make matters worse, the Flash Museum has had a long history of displaying the actual weapons and artifacts instead of harmless replicas. I mean, seriously, why have the actual Cosmic Treadmill out in the open like that?

Next time, we'll sadly reach the conclusion of the amazing Young Justice series.

Young Justice #54

Break on Through to the Other Seid

Peter David – Writer
Todd Nauck – Penciller
Lary Stucker – Inker
Ken Lopez – Letters
Tom McCraw – Colors
Digital Chameleon – Separations
Tom Palmer, Jr. – Associate Editor
Eddie Berganza – Editor

This month's cover by ... Todd Nauck & Lary Stucker, colored by Tanya & Richard Horie. This is a pretty simple, but powerful image. Secret with Darkseid, the biggest bad of the DC Universe. There's nothing worse than that, right? Also, take note of Secret's eyes. Maybe she's not necessarily being possessed, but something definitely is not right in her mind.

Our story begins with Robin sitting in a dark room underneath a spotlight. He's talking to an unseen audience, telling them that the fate of the world might hinge on how well he tells this story and what this person does with that information. But before he begins, he gets a call from Wonder Girl, who's reporting on the team's investigation of the A.P.E.S. headquarters inside Mount Rushmore. Impulse briefly interrupts the call, but Wonder Girl is able to shoo him away.

Cassie reports to Robin that she, Impulse, Superboy and Ray have checked every room of the facility and found the whole place to be ominously empty. Robin asks her to keep him posted, then he begins his tale, starting with the arrival of Darkseid in the Young Justice kitchen a few weeks ago. When Darkseid asked Secret to come with him, she requested her father to join her. Darkseid instantly realized that Secret's father was being possessed by Harm, but he didn't tell this and allowed him to come along. Superboy wanted to fight Darkseid, but Wonder Girl wisely held him back. But nobody held back Slo-Bo, who charged at Darkseid, only to grabbed by the throat. Secret begged for "Doug" to let Slo-Bo go, so Darkseid threw him at Superboy, then took Secret and her dad away in a boom tube.

Superboy started fighting with Wonder Girl, blaming her for letting Secret go. Slo-Bo agreed with him, so Wonder Girl turned on Slo-Bo, saying this was all his fault because he helped break Secret's dad out of jail. She asked him if he has any sense of morality, and after thinking for a moment, Slo-Bo said he doesn't. Wonder Girl ordered him to leave, so he took off on the Super-Cycle.

Wonder Girl then began to tear down all the cameras installed for the "Super Vision" reality show. She told Ace Atchinson to leave, and Superboy agreed with her, reminding Ace that they never agreed to a website with a 24/7 live feed. Ace claimed he didn't know about the site, but Cassie insisted that he take away all his equipment in the next 10 minutes. Ray and Impulse then found Snapper Carr repairing Red Tornado, who was able to speak and provide instructions — just not move after Secret's attack. Bart was surprised to Snapper up and about so soon after being hid inside Secret, but he said he snapped out of it, asking why else would he be called "Snapper." Bart suggested that he was bitten by a radioactive lawnmower, to which Ray smacked him in the back of the head.

Robin continues his story, saying the Justice League soon came down to lecture Young Justice. Then the team was investigated by the police, but luckily the live feed on the website proved that only Secret and Slo-Bo were involved in the prison breakout. With things mostly calmed down, Cassie and Cissie visited Anita to help her care for her infant parents and discuss the situation with Secret. Slo-Bo suddenly stopped by, accusing the girls of failing to listen to Secret and support her in her time of need. He also revealed that he is now about 95% blind, relying completely on his other senses. When he was "born" on Apokolips, his vision was already blurry to begin with and has progressively been getting worse since. Slo-Bo said the blindness is just the beginning, as he can feel the rest of his body beginning to break down. He lectured the girls for a bit about their perceptions of morality, but then angrily stormed out after he tripped on the coffee table and Cissie made fun of him. Anita tried to get Slo-Bo to stay, but he flew away once again on the Super-Cycle.

Robin says that the team realized in retrospect that they could have journeyed to Apokolips to try to rescue Secret, but they were all too afraid to take on Darkseid on his home turf. Snapper contacted the Spectre, who simply said, "It will all turn out for the best." So weeks passed by, as normally as possible, but Robin realized that time passes differently on Apokolips, meaning Secret has likely spent quite a bit of time in Darkseid's presence.

A few weeks after Secret's disappearance, she reappeared in the D.E.O. headquarters, seeking revenge on the organization that once held her prisoner. She created a large, swirling whirlwind that sucked up everybody working in the building. Young Justice was able to obtain video of this, instantly recognizing it as the work of Secret and realizing that she is seeking revenge against anyone who has ever wronged her. Robin immediately called Spoiler to warn her, but as they talked, Secret made her attack. Spoiler tried to defend herself with electricity, but Secret explained that electricity never really hurt her before — it just brought back nasty memories. She said that no longer bothers her, and promptly sucked up Spoiler. She then used Spoiler's phone to tell Robin that she plans to continue pulling people into herself, including Young Justice and the rest of the world.

As Robin concludes his story, we see he's been talking to Secret's mother. But Mrs. Hayes, who is in a straitjacket and a padded room, does not appear to be in any condition to help. Her response to Robin's story was to ask if it's time for her medication. Regardless, Robin decides to try once more, repeating his story from the top.



This is a sad issue. It feels like everything is falling apart. Secret has gone evil and is abducting people. Slo-Bo is dying. And the team is completely lost and frightened. Robin's so desperate, he's turned to an insane woman. Young Justice is coming to an end, and we are dealing with the unfortunate, yet natural fallout of that. Similar to the end of the Impulse series, things are feeling a bit truncated here. Ideally, I would have loved to spend more time on the reality TV show, Slo-Bo's condition and the budding relationship between Bart and Ray. Those two were friends in the future in Ray's solo series, and they are becoming a pretty fun pair in the limited time they've had together.

DC in Demand mentions Mark Waid's current project, Empire. But the main feature is Young Justice/Titans: Graduation Day. Here's the text: "The Titans and Young Justice engage in their first — and possibly last — social mixer when a mysterious girl with unspeakable power takes down several members from each team. With even more carnage on the horizon, if the remaining heroes want to get ahead in life, they'll have to do the math and make a life-changing decision. Unfortunately, there's no multiple choice in this ultimate of tests." Now for the new ads:

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The B13 technology changed the Man of Steel's home into the City of the Future. What happens when the tech goes after the people? Superman: Metropolis.

Batman: Child of Dreams.

Strong bones. Weak gravity. Got milk? with Bob Burnquist.

Next time, before we wrap up this amazing series, we're going to take a quick detour to set up the next big storyline in The Flash, which amazingly will include Impulse!

Young Justice #53

Dead Man Sprinting

Peter David Writer
Todd Nauck Pencils
Lary Stucker Inker
Tom McCraw Colors
Digital Chameleon Separations
Ken Lopez Letters
Tom Palmer, Jr. Associate Ed.
Eddie Berganza Editor

This month's cover by ... Todd Nauck & Lary Stucker, colors by Tanya & Richard Horie. This image shows the sad and frightening possibility of Secret turning against her teammates. And when you think about it, Secret really is nearly invincible, especially when she pulls people into the hellish abyss. Luckily, the fight in this issue doesn't quite reach the level depicted on the cover.

Our story picks up where last issue left off, with Robin revealing his new identity to the team — Mister Sarcastic. Wonder Girl excuses herself, shoves Robin into the girls locker room (where no cameras are) and demands to know what he's doing. Tim explains that as Robin, he wants to keep a low profile, something that would have been impossible on the "Super Vision" reality show. But he felt like he needed to maintain some kind of a presence on the team, especially for Secret. Robin tells Cassie how Secret took it personally when he left the team, and he wants to make sure she doesn't do anything foolish.

Meanwhile, Secret is hiding in her dad's prison, watching him be led to his execution. As Burt Hayes strapped into the electric chair, he's told he has been sentenced for the first degree murder of his adopted son, William Hayes. Burt corrects the warden, saying that when he killed his son, he was no longer Billy, but Harm, the super villain. Burt says he believes Harm killed his daughter, made it look like an accident, and would have caused more death and destruction if he'd allowed him to continue.

Slo-Bo casually walks through the door, explaining that he arrived in the prison via Secret's abyss teleportation, but she doesn't want to expose her father to that nightmarish mode of transportation, so it's up to Slo-Bo to bust him out the old-fashioned way. The warden calls for guards, which Slo-Bo views as a challenge and calls out louder for more guards. Soon, Slo-Bo has a full-on brawl on his hands, which he eagerly leaps into with a hook and chain. Secret appears before her dad, who begins to wonder if he's already died. Secret tells him nobody's thrown the switch yet, but as she says that, the warden does start to pull the switch down. Slo-Bo quickly tears the electric cord apart with his teeth, but is electrocuted for his efforts. Secret knocks out the warden, turns the switch off, then asks Slo-Bo why he didn't just knock out the warden or pull the switch from the wall. The fried Slo-Bo meekly realizes that that would have worked, too.

Back at the Catskills resort, Superboy and Impulse are playing their favorite game, Random Trivia. One asks a question from a card, then gives that question a random answer from another card. Kon asks Bart what got bombed on the day Franklin Roosevelt would call "the day that would live in infamy." Bart guesses Mrs. Roosevelt, but Kon's random answer is Ben Affleck. Wonder Girl explains the rules of this game to the confused Ace Atchinson, who then asks how they win it. Mister Sarcastic, who's playing a Freakazoid video game, says they don't win the game, they just kill time with it. Cassie goes to call Empress to she if she wants to hang out with them, but she's interrupted by Snapper Carr saying they have a big problem to deal with.

Anita, meanwhile, is taking care of her infant parents and sadly looking at the phone, believing her friends have forgotten about her. Ishido Maad, who's sharpening his knives, tells her that Young Justice is probably just busy, which makes Anita feel even worse to imagine her friends out saving the world without her. Anita's phone does eventually ring, but it's Cissie on the other end, who just wants to talk — not "go out and beat somebody up" as Anita suggests. Cissie is sitting in front of her computer, visiting www.ToddNauck.com, and she tells Anita how bad she feels for her having to take care of her parents. She calls it unnatural, saying parents are supposed to do everything for their kids. Bonnie is walking by with a basket of laundry when Cissie says this, so she dumps all the clothes on Cissie's head.

We then cut to the big problem Snapper mentioned, a random giant gorilla, which makes for the perfect action scene for "Super Vision." With a camera strapped to Superboy's shoulder, everybody takes a turn hitting the gorilla and getting in as many puns as possible. Impulse's contribution was to tie up the gorillas feet while saying, "This is more fun than a barrel of villains!" Mister Sarcastic delivers the finishing blow by throwing some knockout gas into the beast's mouth. Superboy says next time they fight a big ape, they should use a gigantic bunch of bananas (which they almost did during JLApe).

As Superboy and Wonder Girl take the gorilla to S.T.A.R. Labs, Ray and Impulse race back to the headquarters. They find in the kitchen, Slo-Bo, Secret and her dad (wearing one of Snapper's superhero-themed T-shirts). Secret introduces her dad as a friend who needs to stay with them for a few days. Ray asks if Snapper is OK with that, but Secret says he's not around. Bart offers to go look for him, but Ray, sensing something is wrong with this, advises Bart to stay put. The phone starts to ring, and Ray answers it before Slo-Bo can. Cissie is on the other end, telling Ray that Secret has gone nuts and he needs to get out of there.

Ray pretends like he's talking to a telemarketer, but Burt sees through this. He leans over to Secret and tells her that Ray's going to make trouble. She insists her friends will understand, but Burt says she has no real friends, except for him. As he talks, we see that Harm is actually possessing his adoptive father. Meanwhile, Cissie tells Ray that "Super Vision" isn't just a TV show — it's also a website with a 24/7 live feed. She says that the "friend" with Secret is her dad, whom she and Slo-Bo busted off death row. Cissie says that Snapper refused to let Burt stay there, but before Cissie can tell Ray what happened to Snapper, Burt pulls the phone out of the wall.

Bart asks Secret what's going on, and she snaps at him, accusing him and all the others for failing to help her. She admits that Burt is her dad and says she couldn't let him be killed. Ray demands to know where Snapper is, to which Secret darkly says, "You don't want to know! You SO don't want to know!" As she prepares to attack, Red Tornado suddenly enters the room, telling Secret to release Snapper. So Secret angrily agrees, dropping a shaken Snapper out of a hole in her chest. She asks Red Tornado if he's happy, but he immediately creates a whirlwind in the kitchen, saying he needs to restrain Secret for her own good. He starts to give Impulse orders, but Secret enters the android's body and quickly shuts him down.

Superboy, Wonder Girl and Robin finally arrive, and Cassie orders Greta to back off. They all try to talk Secret down, but she lashes out at them for refusing to listen to her when she wanted to help her dad. She says they invaded a whole country for Empress, but they wouldn't break into one lousy jail for her. Secret begins shouting about how she has the power to level the entire place or kill everyone where they stand. She says she's tired of having everyone be afraid of her and leave her. A boom tube suddenly opens up in the kitchen. Darkseid steps out of it, telling Secret that her anger and hurt screamed to him across the void. He says she is now ready to come with him, and he promises that he is not afraid of anything and he will never leave her.



The only thing worse than Secret being manipulated by the ghost of her evil brother and turning against her teammates has to be Darkseid himself appearing in the Young Justice headquarters. It's a pretty shocking (and exciting) development. And yet it doesn't come out of nowhere. Peter David has been slowly building toward this moment for years now, so this feels right in line with Secret's character, even if it is a bit heartbreaking to witness. Sadly, there wasn't much for Impulse to do in this issue. Ideally, we would have had more time to goof off with the reality TV show. I wanted to see our teenage heroes ham it up more for the cameras and manufacture some melodrama for the ratings. But with this series quickly coming to an end, there just isn't time for such diversions.

DC in Demand focuses on Arkham Asylum: Living Hell and a bunch of other projects that we don't really care about. So let's head on to the new ads:

Winter X Games VII in Aspen.

One day you will look back at all the destruction you caused and smile. Ratchet & Clank for PlayStation 2.

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"This sure ain't gonna help my hangover." Black & Bruised for GameCube and PlayStation 2.

Next time, Secret's descent to the dark side continues as she exacts her own form of revenge on all those who have wronged her in the past. Is it too late for the rest of Young Justice to help her? Find out in Young Justice #54.

Young Justice #52

The Unreal World

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

This month's cover by ... Todd Nauck & Lary Stucker with colors by Tanya & Richard Horie. We've got the whole team on TV, and everybody's personality is coming through beautifully. Most are rather indifferent or unsure of the whole thing. Robin seems to be hating the whole experience. And, fittingly, Superboy and Impulse absolutely love it. But while Kon is capable of acting cool, Bart can't restrain his excitement.

Our story begins with a bit of a sales pitch from Superboy and Impulse for a side team called Young Justice Strike Force. Impulse has prepared a drawing of Damage, Supergirl, the Wonder Twins, Lagoon Boy, Wonder Girl, CM3 and the Star-Spangled Kid coming together with their special rings that alert them of emergencies, enable them to fly or teleport to Young Justice headquarters and call in reinforcements from the main YJ team. Kon claims this plan could make them the most organized young hero group in the world, and Bart can't help but brag about his artistic skills (he says he was too modest to put himself or Superboy in the drawing).

Wonder Girl is happy that Superboy is showing some initiative as the team's Deputy Leader, but she can't seem to find the right words to turn down this plan. So Robin steps in, bluntly asking where the money is coming from to finance this project. Cassie picks up on this, pointing out that flying rings and transport devices alone would cost a bundle, not to mention the necessary upgrades their current resort headquarters would need. Bart says not to worry about that, showing off blueprints he's drawn for the Young Justice Strike Force satellite headquarters. Kon excitedly says that's the perfect answer to their problems, before realizing that a satellite headquarters would also cost a lot of money.

So Kon turns to Snapper Carr, who set up the team's current monitor system. But Snapper says he's already called in a bunch of favors he's been stocking up for 10 years just to get the team to where it is now, and he does not have the necessary cash to finance Superboy's proposal. Ray says that the technology does exist, but he estimates the rings alone would cost $2 million. Slo-Bo says Y.J.S.F. is a lousy name, but Superboy says it's better than Impulse's suggestion: Super Heroes in Training.

One of Snapper's alarms goes off, indicating an unauthorized, but unarmed, presence approaching. Wonder Girl orders everyone to the monitor room to see what they're dealing with, but Impulse just zooms out to find their favorite reporter, Ace Atchinson, whom he promptly brings inside. Cassie asks Robin how he resisted the temptation to pound the snot out of Bart, and Robin says Bart's always too fast to hit, so it's kind of a moot point. Still being held in Bart's arms, Ace tells the team he's offering them a chance to participate in a new reality TV series. When he says he's willing to pay them $2 million, Kon knocks Bart down and holds Ace in his arms, prepared to discuss business.

We then cut to the jail cell of Secret's father, Burt Hayes, who has just learned that he is going to be executed in two days for killing his adopted son, Billy, aka Harm. Burt tells his lawyer that Billy was evil and if he let him live, then Billy would have killed hundreds, maybe thousands of people. Burt says he knows Billy was responsible for the death of his daughter, Greta, so he did what he believed he had to do, even knowing he'd face the electric chair. Burt admits that since he's been in prison, some days are a total blank to him, passing by without him remembering what happened. He once dreamed his daughter came to him in a fog, but he wasn't able to make out what she said. Fearing he's losing his mind, Burt hopes that death will bring him some clarity.

Secret was floating outside the window, listening in on this whole conversation. She's distraught that her dad doesn't remember the time she visited him and tried to tell him that she's an evil monster. Secret debates whether she should tell the authorities that her dad was right to kill her brother, who was a crazed killer, but she worries that even if people did believe her, it wouldn't matter since her dad was tried and convicted for murder. Secret acknowledges that if she broke her dad out of jail, then he'd live, but that would make her no better than some criminal. Weighed down with such a choice, Greta longs for the days when her toughest decision was choosing which cereal to have at breakfast.

We then head over to the Fite household, which now consists of teenager Anita and her parents, who have been turned into babies. (I'm not sure if Ishido Maad is helping Anita out or what.) Bonnie and Cissie King-Jones have stopped by, and Anita talks to Cissie about how odd this whole situation is — especially having to change her dad's diaper. But while the girls are upstairs, Bonnie and Ishido have a glass of wine and start making out. Anita and Cissie catch them in the act, and Bonnie pretends that she was asking Ishido to demonstrate resuscitation techniques. But Anita and Cissie aren't fooled by this lame excuse for a second, and they wonder what could be more humiliating than this.

Back at the Catskill resort, pizza has been ordered, and everyone is sitting around the kitchen table, listening to Ace's pitch. The show will be called "Super Vision," featuring cameras all over the headquarters and some on their uniforms for a first-person view. Ace promises to not show any exterior shots of their headquarters and to keep cameras out of the bathroom. Cassie asks why stop there, saying they should put cameras in the girls' showers to really put on a show. Ace considers this, saying they could "fuzz out" the naughty parts. Cassie says she was being sarcastic, and Ace tries to recover quickly, saying he's Mr. Sarcastic.

Needless to say, Cassie finds the whole idea rather intrusive. Slo-Bo says they have nothing to hide. Kon points out that it wasn't too long ago that people wanted to get rid of teen superheroes for good, and this show could be a positive way to show kids hanging out, having fun and saving the world. Ace agrees that this is the main objective of the show, adding that the network will happily donate $2 million to a charity of the team's choice. Superboy, however, makes it clear to Ace that they want the money to spend themselves.

Robin insists on never appearing on camera — not even if they fuzz out his face. Slo-Bo's confident Robin can find a way around that. On the whole, he's supportive of the idea, saying it'll liven things up for them, not to mention provide them with a big pile of cash. Cassie asks for the final "security" cut of the program, which Snapper explains as making sure no secret identities are compromised, visitors' faces are blurred, civilian names are bleeped out, etc. Ace says that shouldn't be a problem, then asks the final question: "Have we got a deal?" Cassie considers this a moment longer, then begrudgingly agrees, hoping she won't regret this. Bart calls this outstanding and wonders who's going to play him. Everybody looks at Bart, and he wonders what he's said this time.

With everything wrapped up, Robin boards the Super-Cycle to head home for the night. Secret catches him before he takes off, telling him about a boy she knows who's really sad because his mom was convicted of murder and is set to be executed. She asks Robin if it'd be right to break the mom out of jail, but Robin says even though he feels bad for her "friend," they need to respect the rule of the law as much as they can. He explains that this is a different situation from when A.P.E.S. took her prisoner. This person committed a crime, was tried and convicted. And that's pretty much that.

So Secret asks everybody else individually. Cassie, taking a swim, says it's out of the question. Ray, playing pool, "Definitely not." Snapper, working on a car, "It'd be wrong." Bart, playing with a paddle ball, says "We put guys in jail, not break 'em out." Superboy, watching TV, says it doesn't feel right. But Slo-Bo, lifting weights, says "Abso-fraggin'-lutely. Let's do it." Slo-Bo has seen right through Secret's story, knowing the "boy" is Secret and the "mother" is her dad. He confirms that the person her dad killed deserved to die, then agrees that he should be awarded for that action instead of being punished. Slo-Bo says he wants to remind his teammates that he's not really a good person, and he believes that those with power to break the law should use that power sometimes — a belief that Secret agrees with.

To avoid the awkward situation in the house, Bonnie and Ishido have gone out for a cup of coffee. Unfortunately, Ishido makes things more awkward by revealing he used his detective skills to learn Bonnie killed Agua Sin Gaaz. He asks if she's told her daughter yet, and Bonnie says Cissie doesn't even know she took her place as Arrowette. Ishido says he won't tell Cissie, but he suggests Bonnie does, otherwise it'll eat at her. He says he doesn't judge her for killing Sin Gaaz, since he would have done it himself had he been able to. But, Ishido points out, it is his job to kill people — not Bonnie's. Bonnie coldly says it's just apparently her hobby, then excuses herself.

We then jump ahead to the first day of shooting "Super Vision." Ace starts off the show, telling viewers how he named a scrappy group of teen do-gooders "Young Justice" what feels like a lifetime ago. And now, he's pleased to show the world what these heroes go through every single day for the next month. He turns the camera to Ray, Superboy, Empress, Impulse and Wonder Girl (who's now wearing her old goggles again, but not her old wig). But before they start their introductions, Impulse runs off to see if he can move fast enough to see his own image on the TV in the monitor room. Even though the show is live, one would think there'd be enough of a delay that Bart could pull this off. But he can't, despite attempting the trick multiple times. (Perhaps he was just trying to make Snapper Carr laugh.) But the big surprise of the first episode was the introduction of a new hero, Mr. Sarcastic — who is Robin in a disguise with a shaved head, goatee, green glasses, tattoos and a cape with fur on the top and flames on the bottom.



This feels like getting back to good ol' classic Young Justice, especially the bits of Impulse goofing off with Superboy. It just feels ... right. These two had such ambitious, yet well-meaning plans for satellites and secret rings, and it just was not at all practical (which itself is a pretty good joke, coming in a world of impracticality). To everyone's credit, nobody was too harsh in putting down these plans. But what else would come to Superboy's rescue than the fad of reality TV? I guess reality shows are still going on now, but 15 years ago, they were VERY big. So it makes a lot of sense for Young Justice to be caught up in one themselves, offering plenty of opportunities for more wacky hijinks with these wonderful characters. Sadly, it wasn't meant to last.

DC in Demand confirms the rumors that Young Justice and the Titans will both soon be cancelled, and those teams would have their stories wrapped up in a crossover called "Graduation Day." This crossover will lead to the creation of two new series, the Outsiders and a new Teen Titans (not to be confused with the New Titans, which Impulse was briefly a member of). Here's the exact wording of the solicitation for the series that's going to replace Young Justice:

"Like fireworks? Geoff Johns and Mike McKone light the fuse on pyrotechnic superhero action this July with a new Teen Titans! In this ongoing series, old-school members Cyborg, Raven, Starfire, and Beast Boy mix it up with newbies Superboy, Robin, and ... Kid Flash?!!"

I knew DC had planned for a while to turn Bart Allen into Kid Flash, but I didn't realize they were this open about it this early in the game. I wish they were still printing letters at this point, because I would have loved to see what readers thought of all these changes. I'm not happy about it, and I'm writing about this 15 years in the future! But seriously! Canceling Superboy, Impulse and now Young Justice?! And now Impulse is going to be Kid Flash?! Well, there's no point complaining about it now. Let's check out the new ads:

World Wrestling Entertainment Magazine and ShopZone. This is a very annoying small, fold-out card stock ad that starts at page 8 and reappears at page 17. It's one of those ads that I really want to tear out of the comic book, but I'm too scared to hurt the binding.

Joe Kubert's World of Cartooning Correspondence Courses for Comic Books.

Seven Sonic the Hedgehog games in one bundle for GameCube. I had forgotten it's been so long since Sega surrendered Sonic to Nintendo.

Wild Arms 3 for PlayStation 2.

More than 180 games. What a rush. Nintendo GameCube.

Marijuana. Harmless? Facts. The Anti-Drug.

The ultimate run and gun shooter returns. Contra: Shattered Soldier for GameBoy Advance and PlayStation 2.

Save our species. Exterminate theirs. Defender: Saving the Human Race for PlayStation 2, GameBoy Advance, Xbox and GameCube.

Bring the party home, baby! Austin Powers in Goldmember on VHS and DVD.

Play it again, man. And again. And again. Super Bubble Pop for PlayStation, Xbox and GameCube.

Earth is the battlefield. The Original Transformers Season 2 Part 1 on DVD.

Time Splitters 2 for Xbox, GameCube and PlayStation 2.

Next time, Secret becomes unhappy with her teammates! And things go real bad from there in Young Justice #53.

JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice

Writers: David S. Goyer • Geoff Johns
Penciller: Carlos Pacheco
Inker: Jesús Meriño
Letterer: Ken Lopez
Colorist: Guy Major

Cover Penciller: Carlos Pacheco
Cover Inker: Jesús Meriño
Cover Colorist: Guy Major

Frankly, I find this cover a bit boring. The top part shows some of the top members of the JLA — Wonder Woman, Atom, Superman, Green Lantern, Batman and Flash. The bottom has some JSA members — Captain Marvel, Doctor Fate, Mr. Terrific, Sentinel and the first Flash, Jay Garrick. Keep in mind that this represents only a portion of both of these teams, as they had fairly massive rosters at this time. (At least I consider those rosters massive compared to what I'm used to from the New 52 and beyond.) Anyway, my main complaint with this cover is that is implies a battle between the Justice League of America versus the Justice Society of America. And that is not at all what this book is about.

Virtue and Vice is a 94-page prestige-format book featuring dozens of characters. There's a lot going on here, but Impulse only shows up in one panel, so I'm going to give this the briefest of recaps. The story begins with the JLA and JSA deciding to start an annual tradition of having Thanksgiving together. Everything's going great until Captain Marvel, Plastic Man, Green Lantern, Mr. Terrific, Batman, Doctor Fate and Power Girl become possessed by the Seven Deadly Sins of Man, which are usually safely locked away at Shazam's base, the Rock of Eternity.

The possessed heroes turn on their teammates, throwing a handful of them into various prisons before  heading out to wreak havoc in the world. The remaining members of the JLA and JSA team up to try to figure out what's going on. To make matters worse, there's an epidemic of insanity spreading around the world, forcing all the rest of Earth's superheroes to try to quell riots across the globe. And this is where we see Impulse, fighting one such riot in New York, alongside Robin, Wonder Girl and the Red Tornado.

As you can see, this story perpetuates the error from the Secret Origins issue that forgot Red Tornado is no longer working alongside Young Justice. Anyway, to make a long story short, we find out the main villain behind all this is a powerful being named Johnny Sorrow, who teamed up with the ghost of Despero and enlisted the aid of a psychic from Apokolips called Doctor Bedlam (not to be confused with the Bedlam we've seen Young Justice battle several times). Johnny Sorrow imprisoned the wizard Shazam, releasing the Deadly Sins to possess the heroes. And Despero possessed President Lex Luthor to throw off the reader, I guess.

As interesting as the setup is, I found the the conclusion a bit wanting. After a brief pep talk from Dr. Mid-Nite, Batman is able to shake off the Sin of Anger through sheer willpower, I guess. Batman tells the others that Captain Marvel is the key, so Green Arrow shoots Wonder Woman's lasso around his neck, forcing him to say his magic word, which returns his powers to Shazam, who promptly entraps the Seven Deadly Sins again. Green Lantern and Sentinel capture Johnny Sorrow and use his powers against Despero, saving Lex Luthor and the world.

It's not a bad story. Just a bit disjointed and with an all-too convenient ending. But there was definitely a lot of fun here. It's always neat to see heroes turn evil, and this time, they weren't just generic evil, but different shades of evil — anger, lust, envy, sloth, etc. And this issue did include the DC version of the demon Surtur (although he was much cooler in Thor: Ragnarok).

Next time, we'll do an issue with a bit more Impulse, Young Justice #52.

Young Justice #51

Zand on the Run

Peter David Writer
Todd Nauck Penciller
Lary Stucker, Jaime Mendoza, Andrew Pepoy Inkers
Ken Lopez Letterer
Tom McCraw Colorist
Digital Chameleon Separations
Tom Palmer, Jr. Associate Ed.
Eddie Berganza Editor

This month's cover is by Todd Nauck and Lary Stucker. Colors by Tanya & Richard Horie. The image is an homage to Crisis on Infinite Earths #12 by George Pérez. In place of the Anti-Monitor, we have Lady Zand, who kind of grows big like this in the story. I think it's a pretty fun cover, but sadly, Impulse is covered up by the words "Attack ON the Fifty Ft. Woman!"And the big purple box under the DC logo was an annoying ad for some preview pages of the new Aquaman series.

Our story picks up where we left off with our main hero, Impulse. He and Ray have just defeated the Trickster, prompting Bart to say, "I'd call it trick and treat." Ray adds, "Just another case of spring forward, fall back." But Bart doesn't like this additional comment, and he accuses Ray of trying to "outquip" him. Ray takes offense at this, and before too long, the two begin attacking each other.

Turns out, this conflict was the result of two villains named Fear and Loathing (I assume they have some sort of psychic powers). Luckily, Wonder Girl, Devastation and Slo-Bo (who got wrapped up in their fight) come falling out of the sky and land on Fear and Loathing, breaking their control of Impulse and Ray. Wonder Girl and Devastation continue their personal and emotional fight, leading to Devastation throwing Cassie into Superboy and Damage. As Devastation moves in for the kill, Lady Zand appears and tells her that's enough. Devastation makes the mistake of threatening Lady Zand, who takes her out with one hit. So Slo-Bo leads an all-out attack against the leader of Zandia.

We then cut to Agua Sin Gaaz's mansion, where Empress, Ishido Maad, Secret and Bonnie King-Jones are gathering themselves up after their big fight against the Baron. Ishido, who was unconscious for most of the fight, asks if Sin Gaaz really is dead. Secret confirms this, saying she pulled him into her, listening to him screaming and calling out to his gods, who only laughed and condemned him to unbearable torment. Everyone wishes Secret hadn't gone into such detail, and they all begin to head out, first passing through a room filled with tons of babies in pods. Empress asks if these babies are alive, and Secret says she can tell that they're not. Suddenly, a disco-ball-like device from the ceiling shoots a beam through Secret's chest. She loses control of her powers, and a big, swirling hole emerges from her chest. She calls out to the other to make it stop, but Bonnie's arrows and Ishido's bullets bounce off a force field protecting the device.

Back outside, Lady Zand has somehow fused herself with the land of her country, becoming an enormous earth monster. So we get a scene similar to the cover, except Lady Zand is made of mud. As she attacks the heroes, she tells them that Agua Sin Gaaz is dead and their mission is accomplished, so she offers the chance for them to leave in peace or leave in pieces. Wonder Girl and Superboy debate whether she's telling the truth, but both are distracted by the bright lights coming from the Baron's mansion.

Secret's condition is growing worse, and she cries out that she's being turned inside out. Anita remembers how her grandfather boasted of once killing a warder before, and she fears this is a booby trap he set up for her. Ishido tries to find the power source of the device, when two lights suddenly fly out of Secret and go into two of the baby pods. The hole in Secret's chest closes up and she collapses to the ground. Ishido tries, but fails to pick her up, while Anita examines the two baby pods, becoming shocked by what she sees. Impulse shows up, saying Wonder Girl sent him to find out what's going on. He sees what Anita's looking at and says, "Whoa. Well, that's unexpected."

The battle against Lady Zand rages on, with all the other villains of Zandia retreating back to their mansions to leisurely watch the carnage while sipping drinks. Lady Zand says she can keep this going all night, so Robin theorizes that she can only use this power during the nighttime. He tells this to Wonder Girl, suggesting they fight back with light, so she orders Ray to light up the sky with everything he's got, and for everybody else to shield their eyes. Ray's worried about draining himself of energy, but he follows the order, anyway. After a huge flash of light, Lady Zand returns to her human form, and everyone else is left with a bit of a sunburn. With the fight finally over, Empress teleports out to the group, holding two babies in her arms. She says she can hardly believe it, but according to Sin Gaaz's records and Secret's confirmation, the two babies are her parents.



That was a pretty wild ending to a pretty amazing story. I do wish we could have had even more fighting scenes between all these heroes and villains, but that wasn't the focus of the story. The focus was Empress vs. Baron Sin Gaaz and his insane life creation experiments. And the continuing creepiness of Secret's abilities. And all that's great, intriguing stuff. And the art was still good, even though we had three inkers. I imagine Todd Nauck got a little behind after last month's double-sized issue, but he still managed to pencil every page — most of which were filled to the brim with dozens of characters. So all things considered, this was another impressive performance by Nauck.

DC in Demand talks about a bunch of comics we really don't care about, except the Flash, which is beginning a three-part story featuring Gorilla Grodd. The Aquaman preview came in the form of an eight-page insert in the middle of the comic book. But it only showed five pages of Aquaman #1, putting them side-by-side on three of the pages of this insert, leaving the rest for ads. And this whole insert was bookended by four more full-page ads, so pages 12 and 13 of this issue were interrupted by  12 pages of unrelated content. Very annoying.

An entirely new edition, an epic DVD experience. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Special Extended DVD Edition.

Egg Mania for Game Boy Advance, Xbox, GameCube and PlayStation 2.

Use everything at your disposal. Dispose of everything. Metroid Prime for GameCube.

It begins as a dream. Then it gets real. Haven: Call of the King for GameCube, Xbox, Game Boy Advance and PlayStation 2.

The Clone Wars are far from over. Star Wars: The Clone Wars for GameCube and PlayStation 2.

Gave peace a chance. MechAssault for Xbox.

That'll leave a mark! Tekken 4 for PlayStation 2.

You've been ready for this game since you were a little kid. Superman: The Man of Steel for Xbox.

Truth, justice, and the American way. Superman and JLA sticker books.

Unleash the power of three in a stunning new RPG. Suikoden III for PlayStation 2.

RoboTech: Battlecry for Xbox, GameCube and PlayStation 2.

Eight Legged Freaks on VHS and DVD.

Dr. Muto for PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube and Game Boy Advance.

Next time, we'll cover Impulse's very brief appearance in JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice.

JLA/JSA Secret Files & Origins #1

Stormchasers

Jim Beard / Writer
Clément Sauvé / Pencils
Serge La Pointe / Inks
Kurt Hathaway / Letters
Tom McCraw / Colors
Digital Chameleon / Seps

Cover by Carlos Pacheco and Jesus Meriño, with color and separations by Guy Major. From time to time, DC will attempt a horizontal cover, but they never fully commit to the idea (just like the Sins of Youth covers). The picture is going one way, but all the words are going the other. Anyway, this is your standard posed image of all the major members of the Justice League of America and the Justice Society of America. It's alright, I guess. Nothing too striking.

In keeping the tradition of Secret Files & Origins, this issue features a main story, several quick backup stories and a handful of profile pages. The main story serves as a prologue for the upcoming special, JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice, which we actually will cover on this blog because Impulse does make a very quick cameo in it. But all we care about today is this issue's backup story that includes Impulse.

We begin in Johnsville, Ohio, which is being threatened by the flooding Ohio River. Aiding in the relief effort are several members of the JLA, JSA and Red Tornado, which confuses a news reporter, since he's not sure which team the android belongs to. Red Tornado works alongside the townspeople to help create a massive wall of sandbags. Superman and Jay Garrick both join up with Red Tornado, and Superman asks him to rejoin the Justice League right before Jay asks him to come back to the Justice Society.

Red Tornado is honored by the requests, but he tells the two heroes he has to decline the invitations. As he talks, Impulse, Superboy, Robin and Secret show up to help, and they're all in a bit of a rowdy mood. Red Tornado tells Superman and Jay that Young Justice needs the guidance he once received from the JSA and JLA. The android says he has long searched for an identity, and now he has found one in a parental role to these teenaged heroes. He then takes off to scold Impulse about spilling sand in Superboy's face.

Bart had his own experience with a flood in Manchester, so I'd imagine this mishap with a sandbag was a mistake, and not just him goofing around with Kon. But more importantly, I have to point out the glaring continuity error in this story. Red Tornado put Snapper Carr in charge of Young Justice, and he hasn't been with them for quite a while now. And even when Red Tornado was the official supervisor of Young Justice, he still was an active member of the JLA. So the idea that he doesn't have time to be on the JLA or JSA is a completely ridiculous one, thus rendering the entire purpose of this story null and void.

Next time, I promise a much more meaningful story in Young Justice #51.