I spent the entire year of 2007 outside of the country, serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Czech Republic. I was focused full time on proselyting, so I didn't watch any TV or movies, or even read comic books. So I sort of consider 2007 as "The Year I Missed." Whenever somebody references something that I think I would have otherwise known, I immediately assume it happened in 2007.
The world of film was once again dominated by sequels. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End narrowly edged out Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in the box office, though both performed spectacularly well, grossing over $900 million worldwide. Spider-Man 3 was a frustrating disappointment, yet it was the third-highest grossing movie at $890 million. The Academy Awards were dominated by No Country for Old Men, which won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Best Screenplay. There were only two other superhero movies of the year to join Spider-Man 3 — Ghost Rider and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Both of those were pretty lame movies, but Ghost Rider did do just well enough to earn a sequel. Rise of the Silver Surfer and Spider-Man 3 were both franchise-killers, forcing major reboots years later.
I don't think it's hyperbolic to say 2007 was the worst year ever for Bart Allen. I mean, it can't get any worse than actually being killed, right? The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive limped along to a conclusion in issue #13, never using the same art team in at least two consecutive issues. Bart did make a couple of brief cameos here and there, most notably in Teen Titans with the promising, yet unfulfilling Titans East storyline. After his death, Bart's funeral was detailed in full in Countdown, and he received a special memorial service at Titans Tower. A giant marble statue of Bart was erected in front of the Flash Museum (but Superman-Prime destroyed it) and a large golden statue of Bart was placed next to one of Superboy in front of Titans Tower. After his death, most of Bart's "appearances" in the comics were flashbacks, showing the repercussions of his murder being played out in Countdown, Outsiders and other books. And of course, I can't forget the second appearance of Bart Allen on Smallville — an awkward attempt to create the Justice League without actually being the Justice League. All in all, things were pretty rough for the kid that was forced to grow up too quick.
Best Issue: The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #13
You can't get any more significant than this, right? Bart's funeral in Countdown was nice and all, but the issue was split with all the side stories of that series. Same for Bart's memorial in Teen Titans #50, and All-Flash #1. Those issues just didn't have enough Bart in them. So I have to go with the big one, where Bart chooses to sacrifice himself to stop Inertia and the Rogues from potentially blowing up all of Los Angeles. Yes, I did have a few problems with that issue — Bart's motivation wasn't entirely clear, nor was the perceived threat — but I did like how he kept fighting even after losing his powers. And his death truly was tragic.
Best Writer: Marc Guggenheim
Guggenheim was brought in with the express purpose of killing Bart in five issues. And he accomplished that task fairly well. But an interesting thing happened — Guggenheim accidentally breathed fresh life into The Fastest Man Alive. After trudging through eight unbearable issues under Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo, Guggenheim made things intriguing for once. Bart's life in Los Angeles and studies at the police academy suddenly became interesting. Guggenheim gave us a Bart with more realistic relationships, a Bart that acknowledged the mistakes he made, and a Bart that still remembered his previous connections to the Teen Titans. Guggenheim let Bart act much more like the Flash than Bilson and DeMeo ever did, and if he had been the initial writer, that series probably would have lasted a lot longer. Yes, I still have a bunch of problems with Guggenheim's writing, but his positives stood out far above the others in 2007.
Best Artist: Tony Daniel
Daniel started 2007 with the Titans East story in Teen Titans, but he didn't stick around on it too long, only doing the covers of the past few issues. But then he moved over to The Fastest Man Alive, where he gave us some of the best covers of that series, as well as being the penciller to officially kill Bart. I don't know if it was because of the inkers or what, but I felt that Daniel's work on Fastest Man Alive was a lot better than his work on the Titans at the time. I really have no complaints with him. It also helps that nobody else was even in contention for this award.
Best Supporting Character: Robin
This was a tough one. Last year's winner, Jay Garrick, was nowhere to be seen in 2007 — only showing up to give a short speech at Bart's funeral. Bart's grandma, Iris Allen, did play a major role in trying to prevent his death, but she completely and utterly failed at this task. I'm sorry, but I can't reward her for that gross incompetence. Bart's "girlfriend," Val, also played a big role by preventing an imminent explosion with "science," but I found that whole setup too far-fetched to give it any credit. Val had no business being anywhere near that machine or Bart for that matter. She was a bad girlfriend and a dishonest, creepy stalker girl. She deserves no praise. So the award goes to Robin, someone who had been Bart's friend for a long time, but never quite rose to the level of best friend. And in 2007, it seems like Robin realized that, too, and tried to make up for that. He was the one who reached out to Bart to ask him to return to the Titans, and he was the one who became worried about Bart obsessively searching for Inertia alone. Robin had one of the saddest and sweetest reactions to Bart's death, as well as giving beautiful speeches at both the funeral and memorial. Cassie showed passion at the funeral, too, but Bart's death seemed to linger with Tim longer. Case in point, Tim became so overcome with grief, that in the future, he created clones of Conner and Bart. Yes, they were all insane and evil, but that gesture is kind of endearing in a way.
Best Villain: Inertia
Bart's original evil clone wins this award for the third time. He didn't directly kill Bart, but he does bear the brunt of the responsibility. He played a long con to gather all the Rogues, work them up into a murderous frenzy, and lead Bart into a trap designed to take the Speed Force away from him. And it almost worked perfectly. Thad didn't count on the Rogues turning on him so quickly, nor did he anticipate the return of Wally West. Thad did point out that Wally's return may have been the main reason Bart lost his connection to the Speed Force, but neither he nor Wally realized that if it weren't for Inertia's machine, Wally probably wouldn't have been able to come back at all. I know the Legionnaires helped with their "lightning ritual," but their main target was Bart Allen. I think Wally needed Inertia's machine to separate the Speed Force from Bart's body before he could have come back. Anyway, Inertia sadly isn't as compelling as he was during the Impulse series, but he still was a formidable foe. And as Impulse's greatest villain of all time, Inertia really did deserve the "honor" of being the one to finally kill Bart.
Next time, we'll begin 2008 — the first full year without a living, breathing Bart. We will have a few months with nothing to review. But thanks to flashbacks and alternate versions of our character, we'll still have plenty to talk about. And all that begins with Bart's second evil clone in Teen Titans #53.
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