Year in Review: 2003

I was a sophomore in high school in 2002-03, and the big event for me that year was my marching band's trip to the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, on New Years Day. I played trumpet in this 292-member band that went down the streets, blasting "Call of the Champions" — the theme song John Williams wrote for the 2002 Winter Olympics. We were still pretty excited by that event and wanted the world to know that we were from Utah.

In the world of film, Return of the King dominated in both the box office and at the award ceremonies. After becoming the second movie after Titanic to gross more than $1 billion, Return of the King then went on to win all 11 Oscars it was nominated for, including Best Picture. I loved this movie as much as anyone, but I still think some of those Academy Awards were given to make up for the previous Lord of the Rings films being snubbed.

Three other movies passed the $500 million mark — Finding Nemo, The Matrix Reloaded and Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. As for superheroes, Marvel came out with three films — Daredevil, X2 and Hulk. However, the only one of those worth watching was the X-Men sequel.

The year 2003 was not particularly kind to Bart Allen. Without the Impulse series, and Young Justice facing a quick cancellation, Bart only appeared in 20 issues this year — his lowest total since 1994, which wasn't even a full year. Bart helped Young Justice wrap up their business on Zandia and with Secret, before getting his butt kicked by Zoom and a Superman robot. As Young Justice collapsed around him, Bart eagerly jumped at the chance to join the new Teen Titans. But on his first day on the job, Deathstroke destroyed his knee. And so the year ended with Bart resolving to be less impulsive and become Kid Flash.

Since this is my 10th Year in Review post, I think it'll be fun to go back over the previous awards.

Best Issue

1994: Flash #92
1995: Impulse #6
1996: Impulse #10
1997: Impulse #24
1998: JLA: World Without Grown-Ups
1999: Impulse #50
2000: Impulse #66
2001: Young Justice #31
2002: Young Justice #45
2003: Young Justice #55

All the awards for 2003 were pretty tough for me. There were very few highlights for Impulse this year. The Blitz storyline in The Flash was memorable, but Impulse was just a bystander during it. I also considered Teen Titans #4, which showed Bart's transformation to Kid Flash, but I'm still not sure if I think that's a good thing. So that left me with the last five issues of Young Justice, as they were the most enjoyable for me from an art and story perspective.

Young Justice #55 wins the award to represent the conclusion of that wonderful series and Bart Allen's time as Impulse. The final issue wrapped up the Secret storyline that had been building throughout the entire series. And it wasn't our heroes' superpowers that brought down Secret, but the normal teenager Trim Drake. Darkseid gave Secret what he saw as the most severe punishment, but was actually a blessing to her. And then the whole thing ended with a fun cameo from Young Justice One Million.

Best Writer

1994: Mark Waid
1995: Mark Waid
1996: Mark Waid
1997: Mark Waid
1998: William Messner-Loebs
1999: Todd Dezago
2000: Todd Dezago
2001: Peter David
2002: Todd Dezago
2003: Peter David

This award only came down to Peter David, Judd Winick and Geoff Johns. Winick demonstrated a complete ignorance of Impulse and Young Justice. And Johns was wildly inconsistent with Bart. At times, he had Bart act like a little kid — thinking it's gross to see people kiss and begging to watch Saturday morning cartoons. Other times, Johns had him act like an annoying know-it-all, spouting off memorized passages from encyclopedias — before he read an entire library. I know that by nature teenagers are inconsistent, and that Bart is really only 3 years old. But I still did not like how Johns wrote the character during this year. Or how he acted like the entire series of Young Justice and Impulse didn't happen.

David didn't get to do a whole lot with Impulse this year, but he did make sure to have fun with him. Bart got to goof off with Superboy and Ray, before having a candid conversation about how he never fears for his own safety, just that of those close to him. Mostly, David wins this award for creating an environment where characters could have fun and goof off, yet still deal with serious issues.

Best Artist

1994: Mike Wieringo
1995: Humberto Ramos
1996: Humberto Ramos
1997: Humberto Ramos
1998: Craig Rousseau
1999: Todd Nauck
2000: Ethan Van Sciver
2001: Todd Nauck
2002: Carlo Barberi
2003: Todd Nauck

This was perhaps the easiest award to hand out. The only other people who drew Impulse in more than one comic book in 2003 were Alé Garza, Scott Kolins and Mike McKone. And I don't care for their styles at all. (Well, in Garza's case, it's more of an issue of execution, rather than style.) So Nauck was the obvious pick. Not only because of the crisp, clean and expressive way he drew Impulse, but because he was also able to masterfully create scenes of dozens of characters and still make his deadlines without ever compromising on quality.

Best Supporting Character

1994: Damage
1995: Max Mercury
1996: XS
1997: Carol Bucklen
1998: Superboy
1999: Max Mercury
2000: Max Mercury
2001: Carol Bucklen
2002: Max Mercury
2003: Jay Garrick

You'd think that with Max and Carol out of the picture, this would be a shoo-in for Superboy, the perennial runner-up. But sadly, we just didn't have enough time this year for Bart and Kon to get up to their usual hijinks. They did make a sales pitch to the team, and played a game of random trivia, but that was it. Superboy became too preoccupied with trying to woo Wonder Girl, and as soon as he joined the Teen Titans, the whole Lex Luthor DNA bombshell hit.

But throughout this turbulent time in Bart's life, there was one — and only one — person who consistently stood up for Bart. And that was Jay Garrick. In The Flash and Teen Titans, Wally seemed to go out of his way to belittle and demean Bart. Luckily, Jay was usually there to put in a good word about Bart. He recognizes Bart's potential, and, like a responsible guardian, is staying on top of Bart's homework. He's no Max, but he's the best Bart has right now.

Best Villain

1994: Psimon
1995: Kobra
1996: Savitar
1997: President Thawne
1998: Bedlam
1999: Inertia
2000: Inertia
2001: President Thawne
2002: Bedlam
2003: Deathstroke/Jericho

Bart didn't face too many villains this year. Agua Sin Gaaz and Lady Zand were part of a larger story focusing on Empress. Darkseid was involved in the Secret business, but nobody directly fought him. Indigo and the Superman robot were just freak accidents. And Zoom, while a compelling villain, was all about Wally, not Bart. So that leaves us with Deathstroke, who may or may not be under the control of his dead son, Jericho.

Much like Zoom, this villain believes, in his own twisted logic, that he is doing a good thing. If he can frighten the Teen Titans enough to disband, then he'll save the teenagers' lives down the road. But more significantly, Deathstroke directly caused more physical damage to Bart than any one villain. Prior to this, Bart's greatest injury was the death of his scout, but that was pretty much a result of the hostile environment on Apokolips more than anything else. With Deathstroke, he meticulously set up a trap, paralyzed Bart, then blew away a part of his leg. And later that same day, he severely damaged Cyborg and nearly killed Robin. It only took this Teen Titans team a few hours to develop one pretty nasty villain.

Well, that's it for 2003. Next time, we'll begin reviewing comics with a publication date of 2004, which will mostly be Teen Titans. But there will be a handful of cameos scattered here and there, as well as the first appearance of a Bart Allen on TV via the Smallville show. But first, we will be treated to one more sighting of Bart as Impulse in JSA #54.