Justice League of America #25

The Second Coming Chapter Four: The Best Lack All Conviction

Special 25th Issue brought to you by
Writer: Dwayne McDuffie
Pencils: Ed Benes, Doug Mahnke, Darick Robertson, Shane Davis, Ian Churchill, Ivan Reis
Inks: Ed Benes, Christian Alamy, Darick Robertson, Rob Stull, Ian Churchill, Joe Prado
Color: Pete Pantazis
Letters: Rob Leigh
Cover: Ed Benes w/Hi-Fi
Assistant Editor: Adam Schlagman
Editor: Eddie Berganza

Our cover is a perfect example of Benes' weaknesses. Bland, emotionless faces, combined with an obsession for boobs and butts. Vixen, Zatanna, and Wonder Woman are the worst offenders here. I mean, how are you supposed to fight super villains with that much exposed cleavage? How are you supposed to run, jump and kick with two heavy beach balls strapped to your chest? I have nothing against beautiful superheroes, but this over sexualized garbage feels like a cheap copout. Benes can't draw a beautiful woman, or give her a realistic human expression on her face, but he can make her breasts as big as her head, and make sure to show off her nipples when she stands to the side. And he even does this with normal women. In a scene inside this issue, he gives a random closeup to the enormous and perfectly shaped buttocks of Kathy Sutton, the girlfriend of Red Tornado. OK, rant over.

This issue is a special double-sized celebration, meaning there are a lot of side stories we'll be skipping. I will comment on one, though. Red Tornado formally proposed to Kathy, which I thought was odd, because I had always believed they were married. I mean, they did adopt a daughter together. Perhaps things changed during Infinite Crisis.

Anyway, the only story we care about is Vixen's story. She gets sucked into her Tantu Totem by the West African god of mischief, Anansi. He traps her in red spiderwebs and prevents the rest of the JLA from rescuing her when they also enter the totem. Anansi says all stories belong to him, and he changes the stories of the heroes trying to save her. When young Bruce Wayne went out to the movies with his parents, the swashbuckler film they wanted to see was sold out. So they instead watched a Western about a vigilante who shot and killed every evildoer he met. When Bruce's parents were murdered in the alley, Bruce became so angry, he actually frightened the killer, who dropped his gun and tried to run away. But young Bruce picked up the gun and shot the man who murdered his parents. He then grew up to become Paladin, a gun-wielding vigilante who killed every criminal he encountered.

But in Anansi's new reality, there still is a Justice League, although it's significantly weaker. There's a new Green Lantern and Aquaman. Wonder Woman married Superman, but quit the League after Doomsday killed Superman. And for reasons not fully explained, Bart Allen is the Flash, even though he's wearing a slight modification of his old Impulse uniform.

As Anansi talks, windows appear in his spiderwebs, showing Vixen images of this new reality. Vixen finally manages to break free of the webs and leaps into one of the windows, arriving in this new world. She now seeks to gather as many of these altered heroes as she can to take them back to defeat Anansi and restore reality to what it was before.




This was a rather bland comic. I do like the idea of alternate realities, and seeing how one little change can have larger consequences down the road. McDuffie spent more than two pages going over the alternate Batman's story — and that was quite interesting — but he only spent one or two panels on each of the other alternate heroes. I'm sorry, but I feel ripped off when I'm given an alternate reality where Bart is the Flash, but I'm not told why.

Next time, we'll wrap up this story and the year 2008 with Justice League of America #26.

Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge #3

Book Three

Geoff Johns Writer
Scott Kolins Artist and Covers
Dave McCaig Colorist
Nick J. Napolitano Letterer

The main cover is Kolins at his best. No, I still don't like his style that much, but I do have to admire the loving detail he puts into every drawing of the new Trickster. Kolins takes the time to draw every single "Yo" on his gloves, each stripe and pattern on his clothes, as well as a plethora of gadgets and gags just falling off his person. All in all, this is a great cover.

Our variant cover, which I got from dc.wikia.com, shows the Rogues reflected in the pool of blood coming from a red-gloved individual. This is a striking image, but unfortunately, not entirely accurate. As we'll see at the end of this story, that glove is supposed to be yellow.

Our story begins with the Rogues reaching their old observatory hideout — a place that troubles Mark Mardon, as it was the scene of him first becoming the Weather Wizard and killing his brother. The Rogues boot up the old monitor equipment, and Mirror Master gets to work with his mirrors. It doesn't take him too long to locate Inertia. Trickster initially thinks it's Kid Flash, but Mirror Master realizes it is Inertia, just wearing the Kid Flash uniform, because he sees Inertia is running around with Zoom at the moment. Heat Wave wants nothing to do with Zoom, but Captain Cold doesn't seem concerned, and he leads them off.

Zoom, meanwhile, is teaching Inertia how to manipulate time and perform his devastating super-speed snap. But when Inertia snaps his fingers, nothing happens. He wants to stop training, but Zoom insists they stick with it. Inertia asks why he teamed up with Libra and the Secret Society, and Zoom explains he wants to create more tragedy to make the heroes stronger. He says Bart Allen did not survive because Inertia pushed too hard, and now he's going to help him make the ones left better, such as the Titans and the Flash. Inertia asks Zoom why he didn't let him kill the Flash's kids, and asks to do it right now. But Zoom demands he keep training. He tells Inertia to feel his internal clock, saying he can change it in himself and others. Finally, Thad begins to get what Zoom has been telling him.

Suddenly, the train yard these two have been training at (no pun intended) becomes covered in thick fog. The Pied Piper approaches from the shadows, declaring it "Show time." Zoom urges Inertia to stay put, and a huge chunk of ice crashes right in front of the speedsters. The Rogues appear in the ice's reflection, and Captain Cold tells Zoom to run away, as they only want the boy. Zoom says he hates Rogues and destroys the chunk of ice, leaving the Rogues exposed. Weather Wizard jokes that Zoom's sidekick is Kid Zoom, and he lifts Inertia up in the air with a whirlwind. Zoom catches Inertia, pulls him down to the ground, and tells him to stay out of the way.

Zoom lands a punch on each Rogue, telling them they only occupy the Flash's time and don't contribute to his growth like he does. Zoom then prepares to snap his fingers in Captain Cold's face, but he's interrupted by the Pied Piper's music. The music immobilizes all the Rogues and Zoom, and Piper first kicks Mirror Master in the face for killing his parents. But Piper is immediately stabbed in the shoulder from behind by Libra, who says he doesn't believe the rumors that Piper is able to conduct the powers of the Anti-Life Equation through his instruments. Libra is also holding the Weather Wizard's young son in his arm, which makes Mardon quite mad.

Libra tells everybody present that they all have a place in his Secret Society, and Heat Wave seems to begin to be hypnotized by Libra's voice, so Captain Cold tells him to focus on the fire instead. Zoom tells Inertia he believes Libra is wasting his breath, as the Rogues will never want to be a part of this. Libra continues, however, telling Weather Wizard that if he wants his son back, he needs to pledge his loyalty to the god of evil, and if not, Libra vows to drink the toddler's blood in sacrifice. With lightning shooting out of his eyes, Weather Wizard tells Libra that the only person who ever cared about him when he was younger was his brother. But Mardon killed his brother to avoid going back to prison, so he asks Libra what makes him think he cares anything about that child. But Libra believes he's bluffing, and urges Mardon to just say "No." As Weather Wizard and Libra become locked in an intense stare down, Mirror Master nervously begins to ask Cold what to do, but Captain Cold chooses to let Mardon make the choice for himself.

Inertia, however, becomes impatient with this, and before Zoom can stop him, he runs up to Libra and snaps his fingers in the toddler's face, saying it's "Nap time." Inertia successfully pulled off Zoom's favorite attack this time, knocking down everyone around him and completely disintegrating Weather Wizard's son. Zoom grabs Inertia by the scruff and demands to know why he did that. Inertia says he's just listening to his clock, like Zoom taught him. And as he escapes Zoom's grasp, he spins around in a whirlwind, saying he does want to become Zoom's sidekick. He changes the colors of his costume, saying he's not Inertia, or Kid Flash, but Kid Zoom. Thad's new costume has red boots and a red top, with yellow pants and yellow gloves. And he declares his intentions to cause a whole lot of tragedy.

Libra asks Kid Zoom to join him, but Thad becomes unnerved by Libra's hypnotic voice and begins attacking him. But right before Thad can kill Libra, Zoom stops him, saying tragedy cannot be random — it must be calculated. Thad argues that Zoom isn't taking things far enough, saying he doesn't want heroes to merely fail — he wants them to lose and be in pain when they do. Thad then grabs Zoom's head and the two become enveloped in red lightning. Thad explains that Zoom gave him the other end of the string of his "time power," and now he's unraveling the sweater, pushing Zoom backward and stealing his time. As Zoom cries out in pain, he relives key moments of his past, until the whole thing ends with a big explosion.

When the lightning clears away, Zoom is left as Hunter Zolomon, stuck in a wheelchair before he tried to use the Cosmic Treadmill. Hunter slowly begs for his powers back, saying he needs purpose. Thad moves in to kill Hunter, but Captain Cold stops him, calling him classless for going after babies and cripples. Thad says there's no honor among thieves, and turns on the Rogues. Heat Waves shoots a blast of flames at him, but Thad confidently proclaims he can run through fire. Heat Wave tells Thad he can't run through his fire, and sure enough, Thad's boots begin to melt and become stuck to the ground.

Trickster then throws a small bomb at Thad, which does hurt him, but also frees him from Heat Wave's fire. Thad responds with a fierce counterattack, landing a blow on Mirror Master, Trickster and Captain Cold, while proclaiming that none of them would have been able to hurt Bart if it weren't for him. But the Pied Piper plays that special frequency once again and freezes Thad in place. Captain Cold asks Weather Wizard if he wants the honor of killing Inertia, but Weather Wizard says they should end this together. Thad tries his best to fight through Piper's paralysis, but he's unable to break free as each of the Rogues points their weapon at Kid Zoom. They say this isn't for Kid Flash, or Mardon's son. "This is one $%@#$@-up year." And the Rogues kill Thaddeus Thawne.

Captain Cold mocks the Pied Piper for still trying to fit in, but Piper says he just stopped Inertia, that's all. Cold points out that Piper is an accessory in this murder, and he threatens to spread that word around if Piper comes after the Rogues again. By this point, Libra has recovered from Thad's attack, and he congratulates the Rogues. He does say it's a shame about Zoom, though, as he was to be the messenger of Darkseid. Hunter weakly says he needs to get back to the Cosmic Treadmill, but Cold is more concerned about Libra's mention of Darkseid.

Libra says he is the reverend of evil incarnate, and he tells the Rogues they're now ready to take on the Flashes. Cold says Libra doesn't have anything to offer them, but he says the first Flash they battled in Central City (Barry Allen) is back from the dead. Cold doesn't believe him, but Libra insists it's true, citing the lightning storms with no rain and the Speed Force being turned inside out. He warns the Rogues that the Flash will hunt them down when he learns they killed Kid Flash. But Cold says they aren't in a hurry to begin that battle, and he has Mirror Master takes them away through a large sheet of ice he shoots on the ground. Before they disappear, Cold tells Libra if he has any strength left after the Justice League gets through with him and Darkseid, then he should tell him to stay off Earth. Libra manically shouts that they have to join him because evil's going to win.

We then cut to Keystone City, where the Pied Piper has apparently turned himself in to the police. As Detectives Chyre and Morillo deal with this, someone calls them outside. They're greeted by the sight of the deceased Kid Zoom, next to a note that reads, "Tell the Flash we're even. — The Rogues."

The Rogues, meanwhile, have retreated to the basement of the Flash Museum in Central City. Trickster asks if he's on the team now, and Cold says he's "gettin' there." Heat Wave is still affected by Libra's words, asking Cold if he believes evil will really win. Cold says he doesn't believe in "evil," just different shades of gray. Mirror Master, who has never faced off against Barry Allen, starts recounting stories he's heard of him. Apparently Barry, unlike Wally or Jay, did not treat the Rogues like it was all fun and games. Weather Wizard confirms this, saying Barry took them as seriously as Abra Kadabra or Gorilla Grodd. Heat Wave still doubts Barry's return, but Weather Wizard assures him lightning can strike as many times as it wants.

Trickster worriedly asks Captain Cold if he's really going to hang it up and run away, but Cold says he doesn't like running. Besides, if the Central City Flash really is back, it wouldn't matter where they ran to. Cold concedes that Libra was right about them having unfinished business with the Flash, so he vows once the skies are back to blue, the game's back on. And if the Flash is really back, there's no more rules in this universe to follow. And as they talk, we see that Barry really is, in fact, alive and well, steadfastly running toward the events in Final Crisis.




And thus we come to the tragic end of Bart Allen's greatest villain, his one, true evil clone, Inertia. Todd Dezago wrote Inertia as a complex character, who was truly conflicted by his evil mission and the genuine love he felt while playing the hero. Unfortunately, no other writer picked up on that idea with Inertia, and mostly portrayed him as a simplistic, murderous sociopath. Wally subjected Thad to a fate worse than death for the murder of Bart by placing him in a suspended animation that only made him more insane and murderous. And when Thad was finally freed, he became every bit as impulsive as Bart ever was, except with a lust to kill everything in sight. It was interesting to watch the normally collected and calculating Inertia suddenly being completely swayed by everything around him. He went from hating Zoom to loving him to hating him again so fast, even Bart would get whiplash. And even though I'm sad that Inertia was killed, I kind of think it's for the best. Maybe he now finally gets to rest.

This story as a whole was a lot of fun. Very violent and gruesome — but oddly satisfying in a way. Perhaps I felt like the Rogues and just really wanted to break something after "one $%@#$@-up year." And this story certainly broke a few things. We got to see just how powerful the Rogues and Inertia could be when pushed past their limits. And it felt right rooting for the Rogues in this situation, as we got to understand their trauma, see their code of conduct, and primarily face them off against even more evil and sadistic villains.

I do have a couple of nitpicks, though. One, Trickster's involvement here didn't make any sense. It was convenient plot-wise to have a newbie to explain everything to, but I don't understand why the Rogues would let him accompany them on this deeply personal, highly dangerous mission against Inertia and Libra. I also don't get what Johns was doing with the Pied Piper. If he really wanted to take down the Rogues, then why did he only freeze Inertia at the end? He easily could have frozen all of them (like he did earlier) and have all those villains incarcerated. It felt like Johns was trying to have his cake and eat it, too.

And, for better and worse, this whole story served as a platform to make way for the return of Barry Allen. I felt like Johns utilized some revisionist history in describing how Barry battled the Rogues much more seriously than Wally and Jay. As far as I can tell, Barry came from the happy-go-lucky days of the Silver Age filled with scientific Flash Facts and bad puns and quips. Wally and Jay certainly had their fair share of serious stories in the '90s. But beyond that, look at how Johns eliminated the main rivals of Bart and Wally. Inertia is dead and Zoom is back in a wheelchair, leaving only room for the original Reverse-Flash, Eobard Thawne. I'm not entirely opposed to the idea of Barry returning, but I don't think it has to come at the cost of the rest of the Flash family and their rogues gallery.

Regardless, this was a very well-done love letter to the Rogues by Johns and Kolins. It was a fun, action-packed story that tied in well to the main Final Crisis series. And it certainly was the biggest story we got to review during the year Bart Allen was dead.

Next time, we'll take a quick look at another alternate version of Bart in Justice League of America #25.

Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #1

Book One

Geoff Johns – Writer
George Pérez – Pencils
Scott Koblish – Inker
Hi-Fi – Colorist
Nick Napolitano – Letters
Adam Schlagman – Asst. Editor
Eddie Berganza – Editor
Cover: George Pérez & Dave McCaig
Silver Cover: George Pérez & Hi-Fi

Just like the Rogues' Revenge miniseries, the main covers here will focus on just one character. But where Scott Kolins went with a more stylized look, Pérez tried a more realistic look, which comes off rather odd. Lightning Lad's face just looks a little off. But I do like the detail of the other two Lightning Lads in the ball of lightning.

I don't know why DC calls this the "silver cover" — there's nothing silver about it. I just know this as the variant cover nobody wanted. When I picked up this series from my local comic shop a few years ago, they only had this variant cover for four of the five issues. Besides the major drawback of the massive red stripes on the sides, this cover isn't too bad. Superboy-Prime is back. Angry as ever, wearing his Anti-Monitor armor again, and no longer looking like a Superman-Prime.

Our story begins at the end. The end of time, that is. We see a figure wrapped in bandages and shrouded by a purple cloak, known as the Time Trapper. He laments his inability to kill the Legionnaires, comparing them to the cockroaches inhabiting his floating city. The Time Trapper decides to reach into time stream to pull out Superboy-Prime and put him in position to destroy the Legion.

Superboy-Prime crash lands into a farmer's field in Smallville in the year 3008. The xenophobic farmers believe this to be another alien trespassing on their property, so they attempt to kill him like they have killed many others. The massive blast from the laser gun destroys all of Prime's clothes — except for a small rag that conveniently covers his genitals. The farmers recognize him as Superboy, but Prime immediately kills them with a blast of heat vision, saying he's Superman.

Prime flies into town, finding the streets empty except for a robot walking dogs. He disdainfully realizes he's in the future, and quickly locates a Superman Museum. The museum isn't open yet, but Prime lets himself in and is greeted by a hologram of Jimmy Olsen to act as his personal tour guide. Prime is quite bored and disgusted by the whole museum, until he comes to the Hall of Villains. Using his x-ray vision, Prime is horrified to find the statue of himself has been buried in the back storage. The Jimmy Olsen hologram explains they're moving the Sepberboy-Prime statue to make way for Neutron, which was being repainted. He says Superboy-Prime was a loser barely worth mentioning, calling him a Clark Kent from a parallel Earth long dead, who was always whining about how our Earth wasn't as "perfect" as his. He then briefly recounts how Superboy-Prime was beaten by Kid Flash, Superboy and Sodam Yat.

Prime begins stuttering at the Kid Flash part, saying Bart Allen cheated by having all the Flashes gang up on him. He also becomes enraged by the museum's portrayal of his other two major battles, claiming "This isn't how anything happened!" He begins destroying all the statues of the villains, saying he's more significant than all of them. By the time he moves on to tearing apart the Teen Titans statues, the security guards catch up to him. But Prime kills them all with his freeze breath.

Prime then begins working on the statues of the Legionnaires, while the Jimmy Olsen hologram tells him all about the Legion of Super-Villains. This catches Prime's attention, so he has the hologram teach him that all those villains are currently on the prison planet of Takron-Galtos. So Prime puts on the clothes his mannequin wore (apparently the Anti-Monitor armor works) and he flies off to that prison planet. He easily fights through the guards and frees Lightning Lord, Saturn Queen and Cosmic King. To Prime's surprise, these three not only recognize him, but praise him as their inspiration and guide. They gladly agree to help him, believing he'll lead them to their final victory.

The Legion of Super-Heroes learn of this, so they call in Superman from the present day. Brainiac 5's message comes from Superman's concealed Legion ring on his finger, asking him to help. When Superman says "yes" the ring becomes a "rip cord" pulling him to the 31st century. When Superman arrives in the future, he sees a monitor showing the prison planet covered in massive fires in the shape of the Superman "S" shield. The Legionnaires explain that a young man that looks like Superman was seen destroying the Superman Museum and all of Smallville, before releasing all the prisoners of Takron-Galtos and destroying that entire planet.

Superman is able to identify Superboy-Prime, saying the last he heard of him, Prime disappeared after killing one of the guardians of the universe. Brainiac 5 says since they're up against a super-powered brat from a parallel world, their solution is obvious. He puts up images of the two other Legions on the monitors and says they need to fight fire with fire. Superman warns the Legionnaires of Prime's rage, saying he won't ever stop ... not unless they do something drastic. Lightning Lad assumes this means killing Prime, but Superman says that's probably not even possible anymore. Instead, he suggests they try to reach out to Prime, to find the boy who helped save the universe during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. In short, Superman says they need to redeem Superboy-Prime.




This is the beginning of a huge, sprawling epic. It's Johns at his finest, teaming up with one of the few artists who could pull off such a feat. To DC's credit, they insisted on allowing Pérez draw each issue of this five-part miniseries. Unfortunately, this task would prove too daunting for even Pérez to meet a monthly deadline. Think about it. Each Legion has more than 20 members, and Pérez has to draw three different versions of all those characters. Not to mention the 20-plus members in the Legion of Super-Villains and any other fun little extras Pérez wants to put in the background. Needless to say, this is a beautiful, well-done series, but it did suffer from some publication delays.

The story itself has a very strong premise. Superboy-Prime is back and angrier than ever. And now he has a whole army behind him. But, he's still the same, insecure whiney brat, who is terrified of Bart Allen. And that puts a smile on my face. The only part I didn't like is Johns' insistence that every single artifact we see in any museum is the authentic thing. It makes no sense for a museum 1,000 years in the future to put real Anti-Monitor armor on a mannequin. It's just an annoying plot convenience. Still a fun story, though. We'll return to this series, but not for a little bit. Until then, let's check out the ads:

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Next time, we'll wrap up the Rogues' Revenge miniseries and learn the final fate of poor old Thaddeus Thawne.

Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge #2

Book Two

Geoff Johns Writer
Scott Kolins Artist and Covers
Dave McCaig Colorist
Nick J. Napolitano Letterer

Our main cover follows the same idea of the first issue, this time giving the focus to Heat Wave. I like the idea, but I have to admit Heat Wave doesn't look quite as intimidating from the side. That bulging gas mask looks pretty goofy.

I pulled the variant cover from dc.wikia.com once again. And I actually like this one. The Rogues are tipping the balance of Libra's scales — figuratively in the story, literally on this cover. I like it so much, I wish we didn't have those big red Final Crisis labels eating up all the space.

Our story begins with a quick montage of the Rogues talking about Libra and Libra's group of villains talking about the Rogues. Captain Cold maintains his disdain for secret societies, but Mirror Master and Heat Wave seem a bit concerned about making enemies out of all the villains who have joined Libra. Most the villains on Libra's side don't think too highly of the Rogues, and Doctor Light wonders why they wouldn't want to be a part of evil's eventual victory.

For reasons I don't fully explain, the Rogues begin their quest to kill Inertia by visiting their old tailor, Gambi. As Weather Wizard explains to Trickster, they liked Gambi not because of his fashion sense, but because he knew how to construct outfits that could withstand the rigors of their work. For example, Weather Wizard's suit is made of fabric that's resistant to 500 mile per hour winds. The Rogues unfortunately see that someone has broken into Gambi's and left a message for Captain Cold by burning a mannequin dressed like his late sister, Golden Glider, and leaving a note on it asking, "Who's next, Cold?"

The Rogues find Gambi beaten and tied up in the back, but still alive. Taped to Gambi's shirt is one of Mirror Master's mirrors. When Captain Cold picks up the mirror, he's greeted by a man who introduces himself as Chill, leader of the New Rogues. He, Burn, Mirror-Man, Mr. Magic and the Weather Witch have been hired by Libra to bring in the Rogues to punish them for being disbelievers. Chill also says that the Penguin was able to acquire some of the Rogues' old weapons to give to this new group. Chill then tells Cold that they've kidnapped his father and will kill him if they don't surrender to Libra. But Captain Cold says he'll find the New Rogues and will kill them and his father himself.

We check in with Inertia, who is trying to run away from Zoom and the Kid Flash costume he wants him to wear. But Zoom catches up, and begins beating up Inertia some more. Inertia says he had heard that Zoom lost his mind when the Cosmic Treadmill blew up in his face, but he never expected that Zoom would actually be on the Flash's side. Zoom says he's only on his own side, and he performs a quick profile on Inertia. Zoom says that as Bart Allen's clone, Inertia became twisted and obsessed with finding his own identity, but he failed, and now he wants to take Bart's identity. So Zoom offers him the chance once more to take it. Thad says he doesn't want it anymore, so Zoom hits him with one of his devastating super-speed snaps. With blood running down his face, Thad asks Zoom why he wants him to put the Kid Flash costume on. But Zoom says he doesn't want Inertia to do this — Libra does.

Meanwhile, the New Rogues are debating whether they should be worried about Captain Cold's threat. Mirror Master appears on the mirror they used to communicate with, and he mockingly points out that it's quite simple for him to track the refraction back to the meat locker they're currently hiding in. Chill realizes how serious this is, and he suggests they turn out the lights to render the mirrors useless, but Mr. Magic refuses, saying he can take on the Rogues with Abra Kadabra's old wand. Suddenly, the Rogues walk right through the reflection of the freezer's door.

Burn is the first to attack, engulfing Heat Wave in a blast of flames. But Heat Wave calmly stands in place, explaining that Gambi designed his suit to withstand much high temperatures than this. He then returns fire (literally), saying that the Flash's suit is able to withstand the friction he creates when running 20 times the speed of sound, but Heat Wave's fire can melt the Flash's boots. Burn's heat suit is no match for Heat Wave's fire, and he's quickly burned alive.

Weather Witch tries to hit Weather Wizard with a bolt of lightning, but he easily absorbs the blast. He then strikes her with a much larger bolt, instantly reducing her to a pile of bones. Chill tries to hit Captain Cold, claiming that he's tougher than Cold since he grew up on the streets of Gotham. But Cold says his dad was a lot tougher than Gotham. Mirror Master has blinded Mirror-Man, enabling Trickster to get a large slinky around his neck, killing him. Mr. Magic turns the slinky into a cobra that attacks Trickster. Mirror Master then creates four mirror clones of himself that all gang up on Mr. Magic, saying that even though he and Axel aren't the original Mirror Master or Trickster, their predecessors aren't alive anymore.

Mirror Master forces Abra Kadabra's wand out of Mr. Magic's hand, which Weather Wizard snaps in two by stomping on it. He tells Axel that if he wants to be a Rogue, then he needs to learn that the weapon doesn't make the Rogue. He then creates a tornado inside Mr. Magic's stomach, causing him to grotesquely explode from the inside out. Captain Cold, meanwhile aims his gun at Chill and pulls the trigger. When nothing seems to happen, Chill mocks him for having a weapon as old as he is. Chill then tries to punch Cold, but his fist somehow becomes stuck in midair. Cold explains that he first a wide beam to create a cold field — an invisible wall of absolute zero. He says he uses this field to slow down the Flash enough to see him, but on ordinary people, it's a lot less pleasant. Cold snaps off Chill's hand, which shatters like brittle ice. Captain Cold puts his gun to Chill's head, saying he wasn't the first to pick up his gun and try crap like this, and he won't be the last, but he is today.

With all the New Rogues now dead, Captain Cold apologizes to the visibly shocked Trickster, explaining that they needed to send a message to Libra and his followers: "Don't mess with us. Don't mess with our families." Trickster says families don't matter to him, but Weather Wizard insists they do, explaining you either love or hate your family — there's no in between. Mirror Master helps Captain Cold find his father, and Len Snart stoically marches into the room, telling the others not to worry, as this confrontation will be quick.

We then see the Pied Piper is also tracking down Inertia. By the time he finds him, Thad has finally given in to Zoom's and Libra's request and has put on the Kid Flash costume. Zoom begins training Thad, telling him that he's not tapped into the Speed Force anymore, and is actually drawing power directly from Zoom. Meanwhile, Iris Allen and the Garricks have visited the West household. Iris tells Joan that she felt Barry reach out to her, explaining that whenever Barry ran, it felt more electric than Jay or Wally running. While they talk, Jay checks in on Jai, who's complaining about feeling weird and tired, in addition to missing his dad.

We return to Captain Cold confronting his father. Len tells his dad that his sister is dead, and his dad immediately blames Len for Lisa's death. Len points his cold gun at his dad, who tells his son he's as weak as his mom. Len punches his dad, then turns and walks away from him, asking Heat Wave to kill his dad for him. Weather Wizard asks Captain Cold if he feels better, and Snart admits he doesn't, but he felt it was worth a shot. Cold then asks Wizard if he'd be willing to let them return to their old observatory hideout to set up base and find Inertia. Wizard reluctantly agrees, and Cold has Heat Wave burn the entire building down as they leave through Mirror Master's mirror. Trickster is still a bit disturbed by Cold leading this slaughter after all his talk about rules, and Mirror Master insists it was necessary after what Libra did. Mirror Master then tells Trickster that if he wants to stay on the Rogues, he needs to tell Cold why he needs — not wants — to be on the team.

Gorilla Grodd is watching the Rogues walk away from a monitor room with Libra. Grodd offers to rip the Rogues apart, but Libra says he wants the Rogues because the Flashes could be a problem and he needs people with experience fighting the speedsters to be on his side. Libra explains that the speedsters are the keys to this crisis as they have been to all others, and that they can unlock the door that their great evil has shut. Grodd asks Libra why he had Zoom recruit and train Inertia, and Libra says it's because he wants the Rogues to kill Kid Flash again to prepare them for the upcoming war against the speedsters. Grodd still believes the Rogues will refuse to help him, but Libra is convinced otherwise. He says the Penguin's goons miscalculated with Captain Cold, but he has a plan to control an even smarter, more powerful Rogue — Weather Wizard. Libra then shows Grodd that he has kidnapped Mark Mardon's toddler son.

This was another solid installment in this miniseries. It was nice to have it clearly laid out just how powerful the Rogues are. There's a reason the Rogues have been able to hold their own against the Flash for so long — and Johns showed us that reason. As for Inertia, we didn't get a whole lot this issue — mainly just setup for the climatic finale. I still think it's a little weird that Zoom would work under another villain, but it is actually consistent with him working with the Secret Society of Super-Villains in Infinity Crisis. So I guess you could call it an consistent inconsistency. The art was pretty good once again, except for a few more coloring mistakes and one weird panel where it looked like Mr. Magic had eight fingers on one hand. I am, however, getting tired of seeing Kolins draw characters in the rain. Instead of the characters looking wet, they come across as oddly shaggy. 

Next time, before we can finish this Final Crisis miniseries, we have to begin another one: Legion of 3 Worlds.

Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge #1

Book One

Geoff Johns Writer
Scott Kolins Artist and Covers
Dave McCaig Colorist
Nick J. Napolitano Letterer

This is a pretty cool cover by Kolins. Forgive the pun, but I do actually really like this. A simple, yet evocative image of the leader of the Rogues, Captain Cold, presented in minimalistic shades of blue, yellow and white, contrasted sharply against a black background. I think slightly different covers like this are exactly what you need for a special mini-series tie-in to a major event.

I got this image of the variant cover from dc.wikia.com. This follows the Final Crisis format of confining the image to the middle third of the cover, which is a really ridiculous idea. Yes, it does have the added benefit of standing out from all the other comics on the shelf, but it robs the artist of the ability to showcase their skills. Then again, I'm kind of glad this particular image isn't bigger. This is Kolins' take on the death of Bart Allen, in all its horrific gruesomeness.

Our story begins with Captain Cold, Weather Wizard, Heat Wave and Mirror Master finally returning to Keystone City. They fought their way off that nightmarish planet in Salvation Run, and as soon as they returned, they were recruited by the new villain of Final Crisis, Libra. But Captain Cold was disturbed by how Libra so easily killed Martian Manhunter, and he still holds a grudge against all the other villains who refused to help them when they were on the run after killing the Flash. So, under the cover of a rainstorm provided by Weather Wizard, the Rogues return to their old safe house.

However, the safe house has been taken over by the new Trickster, Axel Walker, and his gang of five stooges. The Rogues easily defeat the henchmen and Mirror Master traps them in a mirror. Trickster arrives just after the fighting finishes, and he doesn't seem too bothered by the fate of his gang. Instead, Axel is thrilled to see his heroes have returned. He shows them a wall covered in newspaper clippings of the Flash's death and fate of the Rogues. Axel explains that he heard the original Trickster, James Jesse, had died, and he was worried that the rest of the Rogues had, too. Tar Pit said Zoom had buried them under the Flash Museum, Computron swore they were banished on another planet, and Double Down bet they were locked up in Titans Tower. But now they're here and Trickster praises them for having killed the Flash and won the game.

Captain Cold angrily slams Trickster against the wall, saying the game wasn't supposed to be won — that they've survived by having unspoken rules. And the Number One Rule is to never kill a speedster. The Rogues then sadly engage in some revisionist history, as Heat Wave laments that Flash was always able to run through his fire before. Weather Wizard says his lightning bolts never hurt Flash that much. Mirror Master says that was the case, until Inertia stole the Flash's speed. Trickster is shocked to hear the death of the Flash was an accident, but the Rogues aren't completely honest with him or themselves, since they won't admit that they knew full well that Bart had lost his powers before their final attack. But Captain Cold is the most honest, saying they got greedy and stupid. Which is why he says it's time for the Rogues to close up shop, take off their costumes and disappear.

We then cut to Police Precinct 242, where one of Pied Piper's rats is spying on Detectives Morillo and Chyre, still looking over the case of Bart Allen's death. Morillo insists the murder had to have been a mistake, and is still confused as to why the Rogues followed Inertia in the first place, and why the reformed Pied Piper was with them. As they talk, Piper blasts a whole in the side of the wall and knocks out the detectives.

In Central City, we check in on Iris Allen, who is tearfully poring over photos of Barry, Wally and his family, Jay, Bart, and what looks like a miscolored Max Mercury. As she weeps over her wedding photos and fingers Barry's old Flash ring (which is now her necklace), a mysterious voice says Iris' name. She sits up with a jolt and looks out the window in time to see a massive bolt of lightning.

We then see Libra has had little trouble rounding up most of the other Flash rogues. But in the middle of one of his speeches, Dr. Light gives him a message Mirror Master left behind. The small shaving mirror shows a recorded message of Captain Cold telling him the Rogues won't join his society and that he's on his own when the Justice League comes after him for the death of Martian Manhunter. Libra angrily smashes the mirror, calling Cold a troublemaker.

At the restored Flash Museum, we see that Inertia has been placed on a new pedestal that identifies him as Thaddeus Thawne and explains that he was Bart's rival from the far future. The Bart Allen room has been changed significantly, but Inertia is still forced to stare at an identical statue of Impulse and Kid Flash. But Inertia didn't stay in this new environment for long, as the warden of Iron Heights Penitentiary, Gregory Wolfe, somehow learned that Inertia is alive and obtained the authority to transfer him to his prison. As Wolfe's men take Inertia off the pedestal, Wolfe says the Flash should have chopped off Inertia's legs instead of placing him in suspended animation.

Suddenly, a mysterious voice calls out to Inertia, followed by a red lightning bolt striking him in the chest. To the guards' horror, Inertia slowly begins to move again. They consider using their tasers on him, but hesitate because the lightning set off the automatic sprinklers (a feature that was undoubtedly added because of the fire). Inertia begins to speak, and we sadly see that one year of suspended animation was not good on him. He says he's spent the past year thinking about millions of different ways to kill people. He immediately rips off one guard's head, before grabbing the other and saying he wants to find out if he can stretch his intestines over 20 miles.

We return to the Pied Piper, who has retreated to his Rathaway Estate, reviewing the documents he stole from the police — James Jesse's last will and testament, containing information on the Rogues, written in invisible ink. We learn that Piper and the original Trickster did actually intend to take down the Rogues and were undercover when they went along with Inertia's plan. But they failed miserably, and now Hartley's old friend, Wally, won't even believe him. Hartley sadly laments that Bart Allen will never be replaced.

The Rogues, meanwhile, have learned through the news that Inertia has escaped the Flash Museum and killed at least 10 people so far. Before they even got a chance to pull off their costumes, Captain Cold stands up and says before they quit the game, they need to break their Number One Rule one last time.

At the West family home, Irey wakes up her brother, Jai, in the middle of the night, complaining about feeling "all tingly." Linda tells her kids to get back to sleep, promising to wake them up when their father returns from his latest mission with Jay Garrick. Inertia approaches the West home, saying, "First Bart — now your kids, Wally." But he's suddenly stopped by Zoom, who hits Thad hard enough in the face to shatter his goggles. Zoom tells Inertia he gave him his speed back, and he can take it away, just like Inertia took a great hero trying to be better away from the world. Zoom presents Inertia with a Kid Flash outfit, promising to make him better, too.




This was the necessary story we needed to fully wrap up the death of Bart Allen. Everyone responsible for his death has gone through a year of agonizing punishment, and now we get to see how that changed them. The Rogues recognize that killing Bart was way out of line, and if it weren't for the news about Inertia, they would have completely retired altogether. Pied Piper is finally able to begin resuming his work to take down the Rogues. And poor Inertia only became more insane and murderous during his time spent in suspended animation. It's interesting to see Zoom is also mourning the death of Bart, indicating that he genuinely believed in Iris' mission to save Bart and help him become a better hero. Zoom may be insane and murderous, but his main motivation has always been to improve heroes. We even get to see Iris in this issue, feeling a bit nostalgic, and receiving a premonition of the return of her long deceased husband. The only people missing from this issue who were also present at Bart's death are Val and Abra Kadabra. And that's not a particularly big loss.

I don't care for Kolins' style, but I do appreciate the level of detail he puts into his drawings. And Kolins and Johns both have a deep love and respect for the Rogues, which makes this series a wonderful manifesto on why the Rogues are different from other super villains and how powerful they can truly be.

Next time, we'll follow the path of Inertia in the second issue of this three-part series.

Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century #15

In a Flash

Jake Black Writer
Robert Atkins Penciller
Rick Ketcham Inker
Heroic Age Colorist
Pat Brosseau Letterer
Alex Szewczuk Cover Artist
Jeanine Schaefer Editor

Our cover shows us what Impulse might have looked like had he appeared on the short-lived Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century animated series. And I have to say he looks pretty good. The show itself was rather slow and simplistic, but I think Impulse could have been an interesting addition to their cast. Unfortunately, this issue does not feature all the characters on the cover.

Our story begins with Bouncing Boy taking Triplicate Girl on a date to John's Virtual Reality Game World. They hook up to the VR and enjoy some jungle and deep-sea adventures before their visors suddenly go to static. Our heroes soon find themselves in what appears to be Keystone City in the 21st century.

Bouncing Boy is frightened by what appears to be a bolt of lightning zooming right toward them, but it turns out just to be Impulse, who immediately demands to know why these two are "erasing" his world. Bouncing Boy insists they haven't done anything, but Impulse explains that something has happened to the Keystone City program, causing buildings and people to start disappearing. So Impulse does not consider the sudden appearance of these two people to be a coincidence.

Bouncing Boy gets a little heated by this accusation and tries to explain what happened to him and Triplicate Girl. Impulse asks, "Are you for real?" — by which he means, "Are you flesh and blood?" Triplicate Girl is able to calm things down and give Impulse the full story. He asks how long they've been at the VR center, and when she says only half an hour, Impulse realizes they aren't causing the erasing, since things started disappearing days ago.

Bouncing Boy asks Impulse who he is and why he brought them here. Impulse says he didn't bring them here, and his name is Bart. He explains that he has these crazy abilities, but he's not great at controlling them, so he was sent to this VR world to get them under control. He kisses Triplicate Girl's hand (much to the chagrin of Bouncing Boy) and asks if there are any more like her at home. Triplicate Girl coyly says there are a couple, actually.

Bart then apologizes to both of them for not giving them a warmer introduction, explaining that no one else from the outside has ever entered his virtual reality world before. Bouncing Boy then begins to wonder who did bring them here, and Bart speculates it might just be a glitch in the network. He's never heard of the Legionnaires before, but Bart is hopeful they can help him figure out what's going on. Triplicate Girl is enthusiastic to help, Bouncing Boy ... a little less so.

Bart says that everything in this VR world is real to him and the people that live here. He buys a hot dog from a street vendor, explaining that he has a super high metabolism and needs to eat a lot. Bart gets Triplicate Girl an ice cream cone, speculating that she should be able to taste it. He says the reason he's so worried by the erasing is because all the people in his VR world experience it like it's real. When buildings disappear, homes are lost and loved ones are missing. The people might be fake, but the trauma they experience is real. After giving this speech, Bouncing Boy is fully on board, saying they'll help Bart save these people, since that's what they do.

As soon as this new alliance is formed, our heroes hear a shriek coming from the Keystone Bank building. But by the time they get there, the building is already gone, with one lone surviving bank employee, who happened to be out at lunch when the building disappeared. Bart asks his companions if they have any ideas, so Triplicate Girl decides to fly up high in the air to see if she can spot any patterns. Bart tells Bouncing Boy that she's "really something," and Bouncing Boy says he doesn't know the third of it.

Bart quickly grows impatient as Triplicate Girl continues flying around the city. In an attempt to get Bart to sit still for a minute, Bouncing Boy asks him where Bart really lives while he's plugged into this VR to get his powers under control. Bart says he's not hooked up somewhere and literally lives in here. And even though he knows it's all fake, it is home to him, which is why he needs to stop the erasing. Triplicate Girl then tells the others she's spotted another building disappearing near the clock tower. So Bouncing Boy follows Bart to the corner of Waid and Wieringo, but once again they're too late.

Impulse can't understand how even with his great speed, he's still not fast enough to get to these buildings, and he laments the pointlessness of having powers that don't even help. He wishes he could somehow run into the middle of the network to see the glitch for himself, and Bouncing Boy says that might not be as hard as he thinks.

Even from within the VR world, Bouncing Boy is able to get a message out to Brainiac 5 in the Legion Headquarters. He explains the whole situation to Brainiac 5, who quickly does a search for Bart, Keystone and VR. Brainiac 5 finds out that something weird is coming from the city simulator itself and its affecting every VR system on Earth. So Brainiac 5 joins his teammates in Bart's VR world.

Brainiac 5 says it's an honor to meet Bart Allen, who immediately asks if he's flesh and blood, too. This version of Brainiac 5 is actually a sentient computer, but he does assure Bart that he is also a Legionnaire from the real world. Bart asks if he's found the glitch, and Brainiac 5 pulls up a map to show him the source of the problems are coming from the dead center of Keystone City. Bart realizes that's City Hall, so he leads his new friends off to save the day.

When they arrive at City Hall, Brainiac 5 begins to explain a hunch he has, but Bart doesn't stick around to listen to it and just runs straight inside. Brainiac 5 sighs, and follows him in, and sees that his hunch was correct — a half-man/half-machine villain named Tharok is behind this. Triplicate Girl tells Tharok to step away from the console he's plugged into, but Tharok refuses, saying he's using this computer to connect to the entire virtual reality network to download every VR program ever created. And once he's done downloading all that information, Tharok says he'll be able to destroy real cities, too. He then creates an army of virtual robots to dispose of the intruders.

Bouncing Boy and Triplicate Girl begin fighting the robots, but Brainiac 5 pulls Bart aside. He says he read that Bart is fast, so he asks him to blaze a trail through the robots to give him access to the computers behind Tharok. Bart agrees, calling Brainiac 5 "Greenie," and quickly helps him hook up to the computer. Brainiac 5 explains that he's rerouting the system to cut out Tharok and rebuild the city, but it's going to take some time, so he asks Bart to keep the robots off him while he works. So Bart creates a couple of whirlwinds to blow the robots away.

It doesn't take Brainiac 5 too long to work his magic, and just like that, Tharok is knocked out, the robots disappear, and all the buildings return. Brainiac 5 also makes sure to send a signal to the real world authorities letting them know Tharok is here. To all that, Bart says, "Kickin'!" Brainiac 5 then explains that Bouncing Boy and Triplicate Girl plugged into the network at the exact moment Tharok was erasing a structure to absorb the tech as an upgrade. Using a 21st century phrase, Brainiac 5 says their "lines got crossed."

Bouncing Boy asks Bart if he's ever considered joining the Legion of Super-Heroes, but Bart says he won't be let out of this VR world until he gains complete control of his speed. Triplicate Girl hopes that comes soon, and Bart says he looks forward to meeting her sisters. He then takes off to check on his city, saying, "Later, gators!" — a phrase that confuses Triplicate Girl. Brainiac 5 tells them they should head back to protect the real world, and when they take their visors off, Triplicate Girl tells Bouncing Boy she'd like to go on another date with him, but preferably one without bad guys and evil robots.




Well, I gotta give this comic credit — it certainly has the same look and feel of the show it's based on. Unfortunately for me, that look and feel is very slow and simplistic. It's intended for a younger audience, which is fine, in and of itself. But this particular issue was dreadfully boring. It took forever to figure out who the main threat was, and then he was defeated in an instant.

But I was thrilled to see that someone was still willing to write a new Impulse story years after Bart gave up that mantle and during a time when he was technically dead. I've always been interested in a what-if scenario where Bart stays in the future and joins the Legion of Super-Heroes (with or in place of his cousin XS). I have also always wanted to see more of Bart's time in the VR world, but this issue gave us a very bland, dull experience. And I don't understand why his VR world was based on the 21st century. Apparently whoever put him in there was preparing him for a trip back in time. But why? Well ... it doesn't matter, anyway. This is Bart's only appearance in this universe.

Next time, we'll return to the main DC Universe, which is currently embroiled in the big event of the year, Final Crisis. Since Bart's dead, he won't appear in the main story, but he will show up in a flashback in the off-shoot miniseries Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge.

The Flash #241

Fast Money Part Four: Flash Mob

Tom Peyer Writer
Freddie Williams II Art and Cover
Tanya & Richard Horie Colorists
Travis Lanham Letterer
Rachel Gluckstern & Eddie Berganza Editors

Our cover shows the Flash Museum engulfed in flames and an injured Flash valiantly protecting the immobilized Inertia from a group of armed individuals. Unfortunately, this isn't quite what happens in the story, although the basics are there. The Flash Museum does catch on fire, and Flash does rescue Inertia. Mark Waid's second run on The Flash has already ended, but I'm glad Peyer is following up on Waid's story in All Flash #1.

Our story opens with Wally and Jay being rescued from Gorilla Grodd by Wally's children, Iris and Jai. To Wally's great dread, however, Iris has gone through another rapid aging spurt and is now about 16 years old, while Jai is still 8. Grodd mysteriously fades away right in front of our heroes. Before they can figure out what happened, they learn that the hysterical mob of people Grodd has stirred up is currently burning down the Flash Museum. So Wally rushes over there with his two kids, telling them to take care of the crowd while he runs inside the museum to get something.

Wally immediately heads for the Bart Allen room, where Inertia is still frozen in place, forced to stare at statues of Bart as Impulse and Kid Flash. (And we see on the opposite wall behind those statues is a picture of the cover of Impulse #2.) But when Wally sees Inertia, he suddenly hesitates. He realizes that he's essentially given Inertia immortality, which doesn't seem fair, considering that his 3-month-old daughter is likely to die of old age within the week. Wally actually considers letting Inertia burn in the fire, rationalizing that he probably wouldn't feel anything anyway.

Wally acknowledges that the loss he feels right now is different from what he felt when Bart died — there's no hatred or anger, just love and grief. This makes Wally's retribution against Inertia feel so empty, while the rest of his life is slowly driving him crazy. He kind of wishes he could just have a nervous breakdown and get it over with. Wally's kind of embarrassed to be caught wallowing in self pity in front of Inertia. In fact, he spends so much time standing there, caught up in all his emotions, he allows the flames to consume the Impulse and Kid Flash statues, and even begin to flicker against Inertia's chin. But even though Wally doesn't know what to do with Inertia, he decides to rescue him for now and worry about the rest later.

When Wally gets outside, Jai proudly shows his father how he and Iris built a wall to keep the mob out. He asks his dad who Inertia is, and Wally says he'll tell him later. The more pressing concern right now, though, is Iris, who is now 30 years old.




This was a pretty good issue. We had nice art and got a great look at the confusing, contradictory, yet completely natural emotions rattling around inside Wally's head. I liked how Wally's hero instinct naturally kicked in when he heard about the fire. Before he could put out the flames, he had to make sure all the people were safely taken out, and that includes the frozen Inertia. But once Wally got inside, he was suddenly faced with a difficult, ethical dilemma. In addition to Wally's reasonings he gave here, I'd also like to add that on one hand, Inertia's frozen state is a fate worse than death, and allowing him to die might be a merciful release from that tortured existence. There's no easy answers here, and I'm glad to see that Wally struggled with it.

Next time, we'll see a new version of Impulse in a different universe in Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century #15.

Tiny Titans #5

"Playground Invaders"

By Art Baltazar Writer & Artist
& Franco Writer
John Jones Editor
Stephanie Buscema Assistant Editor

Our cover by Baltazar shows the Tiny Titans East meeting up with the Tiny Titans for a playdate. Tiny Titans was Bart Allen's favorite TV show in the DC Universe. In our universe, it's a fun, kid-friendly comic, where the Titans and their counterparts are first-graders and Deathstroke is their principal. There is a Kid Flash in this series, but he's Wally West, so we haven't reviewed any issues until now, when a cute little Inertia shows up.

Our story begins with a bus labeled Sidekick City Elementary letting out a group of kids described by Speedy as "the Titans from the east side of the playground." These visitors step out of the bus and introduce themselves as Enigma, Duela, Kid Crusader, Inertia, Sungirl and Risk.

Speedy introduces Raven, Nightwing, Kid Flash, Starfire (just called Star here) and Barbara (Batgirl). Inertia is the first to interact with the other kids, telling Kid Flash he's heard of him. Kid Flash says he runs real fast, and Inertia says he runs "real, real, real, real, real fast!" To prove it, he asks Kid Flash if he wants to see him run around the world. Kid Flash says sure, to which Inertia immediately asks, "Wanna see it again?" Kid Flash doesn't seem impressed by this, but Raven and Risk are, saying that was "real, real fast!"

And that's all we get of Inertia in this issue. The rest of the issue basically just shows the kids playing nicely with each other. Duela and Enigma have a lot of bad jokes, and Nightwing has a hard time convincing everyone to use his new name. Psimon says he can relate, since everyone calls him Brainiac. And that's pretty much it.

This is a fun, cute series perfect for beginning readers interested in superheroes. I do find it a little odd, though, that this series would use the Titans East characters. Titans East was a very promising concept that ultimately fell flat, in my opinion, and I just don't see there being much appeal for these characters. And a universe with an Inertia but no Impulse is just plain wrong.

Next time, we'll check in on the real Inertia in The Flash #241.

Action Comics #864

Batman and the Legion of Super-Heroes

Geoff Johns
Joe Prado
Jon Sibal – Inker
Rob Leigh – Letterer
David Curiel – Colorist
Nachie Castro – Assoc. Editor
Matt Idelson – Editor
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

Our cover by Kevin Maguire shows Superman bursting through a wall of many different realities and alternate worlds. This would be interesting if you knew who all those other characters were. Superman looks pretty good, but I think the broken shards are too neat and uniform. And at first glance, it's all the same color and rather bland. I also don't think this cover ties in too well with this particular issue.

Our issue begins with Batman visiting Superman in the Fortress of Solitude. He's upset to see him casually visiting with Lightning Lad, since Batman's still mad at the Legion for lying to them about their ritual that helped Wally West return to Earth. Batman also points out that they've met three different versions of the Legion. One they met during a fight against Mordru. Another on a quest for the Book of Destiny. And finally, the one we know best on this blog, the Legionnaires who helped during Final Night.

And that's all we get of Bart in this issue — just a cameo flashback of Impulse helplessly looking on as a bunch of other heroes tried to save the Sun from a Sun-Eater. And don't let that big Earth in the corner confuse you. It's just there to symbolize that this Legion is from a different Earth. Unfortunately, its placement in this panel makes it look like all these heroes are flying up to Earth.

Anyway, that was a well-drawn Impulse cameo, even if it didn't make much sense, as he literally did nothing during Final Night. But the main takeaway from this issue is the idea of there being three different Legions out there. And in a roundabout way, that will be the key to bringing Bart back to life.

There weren't any Bart appearances in July 2008, so we'll move on to August, starting with the kid-friendly Inertia in Tiny Titans #5.

The Flash #235

The Fast Life Part 3 of 4: Bart

Mark Waid & John Rogers – Writers
Doug Braithwaite – Artist
Jared K. Fletcher – Letterer
Alex Sinclair – Colorist
Rachel Gluckstern – Assoc. Editor
Joan Hilty – Editor

Our cover by Daniel Acuna shows Wally and Linda trudging past the Flash Museum, which has been buried in a sandstorm. The large statue out in front had been dedicated to Bart Allen, but then Superman-Prime destroyed it. I'd like to believe that the museum quickly built a new statue, but this time used it represent Barry, Bart and Wally. But that's just me. I don't particularly like this cover. The background is fine, but the characters in the foreground look very strange.

So! Mark Waid is back on The Flash! Unfortunately, this second run is not his best work. And he admitted as much, saying he probably just ran out of things to say with the Flash, after writing him for eight years. Waid also says that the editors withdrew many of the promises they made him before the second run started, and the initial artist left before the first issue, so the whole project was pretty much doomed from the outset. Anyway, none of that really matters because we won't be reviewing any of the main story here — just the backup feature.

Our flashback story details an adventure Wally had with a young Impulse on another world inhabited by aliens with horse-like faces. Wally admonishes Bart to be on his best behavior, to which Bart promises to be "best bestest like I'm a pretty princess." They're suddenly greeted by S'Kidds'Kakoth, who has recently acquired super speed, dressed himself as Kid Flash, and is offering to be Wally's "kickstand" named S'Kidd-Flash. Wally is a bit flattered by this polite enthusiasm, and he tells Bart he could learn a thing or two from S'Kidd-Flash. But Bart still sees Wally as an idiot.

S'Kidd is shocked to see Bart not wearing the classic Kid Flash uniform, and he asks if he's wearing a "jumpsuit of shame." Bart prepares to likely say something rude, but S'Kidd suddenly remembers why he came rushing toward the Flash in the first place — his mentor, the scientist Gorflack, is in mortal danger. S'Kidd explains that an alien army invaded their planet generations ago, but was defeated with the help of Jay Garrick. All of those aliens are gone now, except for one, who has taken Gorflack hostage to demand he find a way to send him back home.

Wally chews out S'Kidd for not telling him this right off the bat, and S'Kidd apologizes for being too excited. But Wally believes they still have a chance to save Gorflack, although they'll need a good plan. He turns to Impulse, but sees Bart has already zoomed off to rescue the scientist. Wally sighs and says they'll follow the same plan as always: Bart runs ahead without thinking, and occasionally things explode. S'Kidd-Flash is surprised that Impulse didn't wait for Flash's command, and Wally says Impulse doesn't wait for the next heartbeat.

Gorflack, meanwhile, is trying to explain to the alien that he didn't actually bring the Flash to this planet. His machine just gave Flash the "key to the door," but Flash did all the traveling himself. Impulse suddenly rushes in and takes the alien's gun away, chiding him for playing with guns in the house. Bart then becomes distracted by the gun, calling it a "cool anime-sized blaster." He wonders if it has an "alt-fire" setting for grenades or flamethrowers. Wally comes running in and warns Bart not to touch the gun, but he's too late. Bart accidentally fires the weapon, destroying Gorflack's machine.

Wally is sadly not surprised to see that Bart has caused another explosion, and S'Kidd notes that the blast is causing some sort of a chain reaction. S'Kidd pulls Gorflack to safety, who explains that his machine was channeling raw Speed Force, and if they don't stop this chain reaction, the very fabric of the universe could vibrate into chaos. Impulse tries to pull the alien away, but he knocks Bart down, believing this could be his ticket home.

Bart notices the alien's gun has begun to vibrate and spark with lightning, which he believes means it has been "jazzed up with Speed Force." So Impulse throws the gun back at the alien, who begins to disappear into one of the whirlwinds caused by the explosion, saying he can see his home. And just like that, everything is back to normal. Wally is worried that Impulse just killed that alien, but Gorflack's computers indicate that the alien's gun actually harnessed the Speed Force to send him back home.

S'Kidd apologizes to Wally once more for wasting valuable time when Flash first appeared. Wally tells him not to be too hard on himself, saying it took him a while to get the hang of being a superhero. But S'Kidd says Impulse has shown him that action is the "soul of courage" and that Bart is Wally's true successor. As they talk, Bart is playing with a random helmet he found in the lab, saying there are "probe-y" things in his brain and asking if he can keep it.




It is nice to see Impulse again. But this backup story just didn't have enough room to breathe. S'Kidd-Flash was an interesting character, but he really didn't get a chance to do anything. And the ending of this story just ... kinda happened. I also wasn't a huge fan of the art. Was it perhaps too realistic? Kind of an uncanny valley thing? Whatever it was, it just felt off. However, this was a nice little taste — a brief reminder of who Bart was back in 1995.

Well, we have now reviewed every appearance of Bart Allen up through the publication date of February 2008. But Bart is dead, and all the memorials and flashbacks have largely subsided. So our next issue isn't until June, with a random flashback of Impulse in Action Comics #864.

Teen Titans #54

The Titans of Tomorrow ... Today! Conclusion: Fight the Future

Sean McKeever • Writer
Eddy Barrows, Joe Prado & Greg Tocchini • Pencils
Rob Hunter, Julio Ferreira, Oclair Albert & Joe Prado • Inks
Rod Reis • Colors
Barrows and Hunter with Reis • Cover
Travis Lanham • Letters
Adam Schlagman • Asst. Editor
Eddie Berganza • Editor

Our cover by Barrows shows the evil clone of Kon attacking Supergirl and the evil clone of Bart attacking Ravager. The story inside implies that there's some kind of bad history between Bart's clone and Rose, but we never get the full story. Anyway, this is a well-done, striking cover, but it feels woefully incomplete for the conclusion of this story involving so many different characters. At the very least, the future versions of Tim and Cassie also should have been on this cover.

Our story begins with Miss Martian flying Robin back to the old Titans Lair in Gotham County. They see that Blue Beetle has barricaded himself inside the Lair, which fortunately has an indestructible door protecting its entrance. The main Starro has also arrived, wearing five Sinestro rings. Most of the Starro-controlled Titans Army are trying to break into the Lair, but a few of them do break off to attack Miss Martian and Robin when Starro spots them.

Inside the Lair, Bart's clone has woken up, but is still in his cell. Blue Beetle tells him that more than 20 metahumans are currently banging on the door, trying to put them under Starro's control. He says he'll release Bart, but tells him he needs to help. Bart's clone says he might just wait for those metahumans to release him, and then he'll take his chances. Blue Beetle is shocked by this attitude, saying Bart should be a little concerned for the teammates he's spent years with almost as a family. But Blue Beetle doesn't know that this Bart is a clone, who just laughs at this appeal to family.

The Titans Army then breaks into the Lair by tunneling under the door. Blue Beetle says now would be a great time for Bart to change his mind, and the clone hesitates for a second, but ultimately agrees to help. As soon as Blue Beetle opens the cell, Bart's clone grabs him and rushes out of the Lair and throws Blue Beetle up toward Starro. Blue isn't happy about this, but he does attack Starro with an all-out energy blast from his arm cannons. Starro protects itself with a shield of yellow energy and begins to order its mind-controlled army to start attacking Blue Beetle instead of Miss Martian and Robin.

Blue Beetle sarcastically thanks Flash for screwing him over, and Bart's clone says he should thank the Flash Museum for keeping a working Captain Cold gun on display. (Why does the Museum always have actual, dangerous weapons out in the open? Just display replicas!) Starro is too preoccupied with Blue Beetle's attack to protect itself from being frozen by Cold's gun. Bart's clone then jokes that he does impressions, and says, "Up! Up! And —" as he runs and jumps right through the middle of the frozen Starro.

We then cut to Wonder Girl debating with her future self while passing over Kansas. The future Cassie tells her younger self that Supergirl will come between her and Conner when he reenters her life. Wonder Girl doubts this, but Conner's clone arrives to confirm this. Wonder Girl then creepily becomes romantic with the clone, saying nothing can come between them after that one time they had sex in the Kents' barn. But Wonder Girl quickly realizes that this Conner doesn't remember that because he's a clone.

Back at the Titans Lair, Starro's five Sinestro rings fly out into space, searching for replacements. All the smaller Starros on people's faces die and fall off, and Blue Beetle yells at Bart for using him to kill Starro. Bart's clone assures him that Starro is not really dead and will grow back. Robin accuses the future Lex Luthor of corrupting their future selves, but Lex says he's merely an advisor of the Titans Army, and the real leader is the future Tim Drake. Robin then demands to know why Lex brought this huge army back in time, and Lex happily explains that they want to kill Ravager, Blue Beetle and Supergirl.

Bart's clone grabs a random arrow and holds it to the back of Ravager's head, accusing her of having stabbed him in the back at some point in his past. Kid Devil and Blue Beetle attack Bart, but Red Devil goes after Blue Beetle, explaining that the last time he killed him, it was a quick and painless death, but now he plans to take his time. Miss Martian hits him from behind, and all chaos ensues. Naturally, our heroes wouldn't have a chance against this large army from the future, but Supergirl shows up just in the nick of time to turn the tide.

The future Tim pulls Robin aside and tries once again to explain that if he follows this path, he'll make the world a utopia. As Robin tries to argue, Wonder Girl shows up and tells Robin about her epiphany. The clones of Bart and Conner don't have any memories of them. And when Wonder Girl realized that this means she can never truly have her Conner back, her older self remembered that feeling, too, and actually fought to hold off Conner's clone long enough for Wonder Girl to get back to Robin. Wonder Girl says it's time to let Conner go, and she kisses Robin.

The future Cassie couldn't hold Conner's clone back long enough, and he arrived in Gotham County just in time to see Robin and Wonder Girl kiss. He accuses Robin of betraying him, and flies in to attack. But the future Tim jumps in front of Robin just in time and shoots a kryptonite bullet into the heart of the clone he created. As Conner's clone dies, the future Tim openly weeps, telling his "brother" he was acting in self defense. But before the clone actually dies, he fades away from existence. Bart's clone is the next to fade away, just as he was about to kill Ravager. He shouts out "No! Not fair!" as his arm harmlessly passes through Ravager's head. She turns to watch the clone completely disappear, and says, "'Bye again, Bart ..."

The rest of the Titans Army begins to fade away, and Red Devil warns his younger self not to trust Blue Beetle. But he disappears before he can actually say why. Lex Luthor lashes out at the future Tim, accusing him of having ruined everything. But future Tim says everything was ruined to begin with. Lex fades away, leaving Tim as the last one. He looks at Robin and Wonder Girl one last time, actually smiles, then fades away, too. With only our Teen Titans remaining, they regroup and agree to join in on the Sinestro War. (They presumably went off to fight Superman-Prime shortly after this event.)

Eight years from now, Tim and Cassie are sharing a picnic right in front of the golden statues of Bart and Kon on Titans Island. Cassie gives Tim a big kiss for his birthday, but Tim cuts the picnic short and heads down into an underground lab. He's greeted by Miss Martian, who turns into her "true self" — the white form with the long ponytail — and also kisses Tim for his birthday. They're then greeted by Lex Luthor, who says he's not a fan of time travel, but he became intrigued when M'Gann told him  how he could become the trusted advisor to Earth's next generation of super heroes in its entirety.

Lex sees that Tim has prepared a Batman suit for himself, and he asks Tim if he's going to take Batman's place, even though he hasn't retired yet. Tim says Batman's "sort of heroism" isn't enough anymore. Lex worries about the "others," but M'Gann assures him the rest will be easy since she's already convinced Tim. Lex asks about their "other birthday boy" and when his part begins. Tim leads him to a tube of a full-grown clone of Kon, and says it begins today. Next to the clone of Kon is one of Bart and two women (I can't tell who they're supposed to be). M'gann says she feels like she's been waiting her entire life for this moment.




The final page says, "Not the end ..." but I'm pretty sure this is the end. As far as I can tell, we never see this version of Bart's evil clone again. Which makes that final scene completely worthless on top of being absolutely infuriating. Was Miss Martian controlling Tim's mind to re-create those horrific versions of their future selves she remembers fighting? Why? Thankfully, it doesn't matter.

This main story itself was also full of holes and similar leaps in logic, killing an otherwise interesting idea of Tim creating clones of Bart and Kon. If all the Titans Army wanted to do was kill Blue Beetle, Ravager and Supergirl, then why did they go back in time to the moment of the Starro invasion? And why did they create an elaborate plan to kidnap and imprison the JLA in specially designed cells, but didn't have a basic plan for taking care of Starro or killing their three targets? Was McKeever trying to show that the elderly Lex was becoming senile, because his "plan," or lack thereof, was very unlike him. Look, if you just want to kill three people, then don't bring an entire army to those people, and refuse to instantly attack, choosing instead to give a long lecture about how you plan to kill them.

I've complained about how this story handles time travel before, but I will give the ending a pass. When Wonder Girl kissed Robin, he was finally able to let Conner go and give up on his dream of cloning him. When he made that decision, that entire future ceased to exist. I liked the interactions between Bart's evil clone and Blue Beetle, but the Bart-Ravager relationship was underdeveloped. All in all, this was a promising, but unfulfilling story, hampered by sloppy storytelling and inconsistent art.

Next time, we'll get a quick flashback of sweet, lovable Impulse in The Flash #235.

Salvation Run #1

Brave Hellish New World

Bill Willingham Writer
Sean Chen Penciller Interior & Cover
Walden Wong Inker
Steve Wands Letterer
John Kalisz Colorist Interior & Cover
Stephanie Buscema Asst. Editor
Joey Cavalieri Editor
Variant Cover by Joe Corroney

The main cover shows the Rogues who didn't escape the Suicide Squad — Captain Cold, Heat Wave, Mirror Master, Weather Wizard and Abra Kadabra — facing off against a massive army. It's a pretty decent cover, and I particularly enjoy the text saying, "They killed the Flash ... now their sentence is ... Salvation Run." I'm always happy to see how the murder of Bart is affecting others.

I got this image of the variant cover from mycomicshop.com, my favorite online comic book store. This cover basically follows the same format of the main cover, except it includes a bunch of villains that aren't in this first issue — Lex Luthor, Catwoman, Solomon Grundy, Poison Ivy, Gorilla Grodd, Doctor Light and Man-Bat. They'll all appear later in this series, but I think anyone who grabbed this variant cover would have been disappointed.

Our story begins with Amanda Waller discussing with Rick Flag whether it was ethical of them, the Suicide Squad, to gather up all the super villains they could find and banish them on a different planet. Flag believes they're absolutely in the right, recounting the recent events that necessitated such a drastic action. Black Adam essentially destroyed an entire country, the Amazons invaded Washington, D.C., and, of course, the Rogues killed the Flash, whom Flag refers to as one of their "most revered heroes."

The rest of the issue deals with the struggles of the Rogues on this strange, new planet. They were allowed to keep their weapons and outfits, and promised they'd have a peaceful planet to conquer for themselves. However, that turns out that's not the case, as the planet is filled with deadly robots (including the army from the cover). The Rogues have to figure out how to work together in order to survive this hostile environment. At the end of the issue, they encounter the next group of villains teleported to this planet by the Suicide Squad. They're mostly C-list villains, but there are a couple of big names, such as the Joker, Mr. Freeze, Killer Frost, Clayface and Psimon.




This is was an interesting concept, especially since it was set up in other books like Countdown and the Outsiders. However, I do think it's a little far-fetched that the Suicide Squad was able to carry out this enormous mission — especially with Batman and the Outsiders investigating it. Unless, of course, a small part of Batman actually agreed with this and allowed it to happen. Hmm ... that could be an interesting twist. Anyway, we won't be covering the rest of this story, since, you know, Bart is dead.

Next time, we'll conclude our tale with the Titans of Tomorrow in Teen Titans #54.