In 2008, I returned to America from my two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Czech Republic. One of the souvenirs I brought back with me was a Czech version of the Batman: Hush story. This began my journey of officially reading comic books. I also was happy to come home to some incredible superhero movies.
For the first time in history (as far as I can tell) a superhero movie was the top grossing film of the year. The Dark Knight pulled in a staggering $997 million, as well as two Academy Awards — Best Sound Editing and Best Supporting Actor for Heath Ledger (who was sadly given the award posthumously). Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull came in second at $787 million, followed by Kung Fu Panda at $632 million. Slumdog Millionaire dominated the Academy Awards with Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Original Score and Best Original Song.
But 2008 was especially significant for superhero films. The Dark Knight proved that superhero films could be serious and be treated seriously. Hancock — a superhero story not based on Marvel or DC comics — became the fourth-highest grossing film of the year. But the eighth-highest, Iron Man at $585 million, arguably became more significant than even The Dark Knight, as it launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ten years and 20 films later, Marvel is still going strong, churning out hit after hit (much to the envy of DC). And it all started in 2008 with Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk (the reboot of 2003's disastrous Hulk). In 2008, we also saw the final attempt to bring the Punisher to the big screen with Punisher: War Zone.
Sadly, 2008 was not a good year for Bart Allen. He was still dead, which meant that his appearances were few and far between, comprising mostly of flashbacks or alternate versions of him. We were introduced to a second evil clone from the future (also named Bart), but he faded away from existence. Bart's original evil clone from the future (Inertia) was revived from his suspended animation, only to promptly go insane, become Kid Zoom, and be brutally murdered by the Rogues. So it was a tough year for every version of Bart. But we still managed to have a little bit of fun this year ... right?
Best Issue: Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge
I know I'm cheating a little bit again, but I couldn't pull out one issue of Rogues' Revenge to put as the best. All three issues were essential to the story, building up to the climatic end. So I picked the whole miniseries, and chose the cover of my trade paperback as the lead image. This story was by far the most interesting thing that involved Bart and Inertia of the year. It was the perfect resolution to Bart's death, involving everyone who was present at the murder scene (except for Abra Kadabra and Val, but that's OK). Iris was able to find some joy after so much grief with the return of her husband, Barry Allen. Zoom tried to "atone" for Bart's death in his own insane way by building up Inertia, but ultimately paid the price by losing his powers. The Rogues gained revenge for Inertia's manipulations and reestablished themselves as some of the premiere super villains in the DC Universe — except for the Pied Piper, who seemed a bit confused by his motivations and role in everything. And Inertia finally paid the ultimate price for arranging Bart's murder. He was rescued from a fate worse than death, only to be officially killed a day later. Such is life!
Best Writer: Geoff Johns
Johns wins this award for the fourth time, tying Mark Waid for the most all-time. And, as is often the case, Johns essentially won this award by default. He was the only person writing any interesting stories involving Bart and/or Inertia. Waid did throw in an Impulse flashback into a quick backup story this year, but that was far too brief to warrant any consideration for this award. Johns gave Inertia a tragic, but fitting end. And in his other Final Crisis miniseries, Legion of 3 Worlds, Johns planted the seed for Bart's eventual return.
Best Artist: Scott Kolins
As I keep saying, I am not a fan of Kolins' style. But he did put a lot of effort into Rogues' Revenge, and it showed. Besides, no one else even contends for this award. George Pérez drew a beautiful issue of Legion of 3 Worlds, but that was only one issue, and Bart only showed up in two panels. So Kolins earns the reward for his high level of detail and being the artist to put Inertia down for good.
Best Supporting Character: Brainiac 5
This was another difficult year for this award, as Bart was dead and nobody was able to interact with him (funny how that works). But there were a couple of stories where Bart was alive and well. The backup story in The Flash had Impulse interacting with Wally West once again, but like I said, that was an excruciatingly brief story. And it mostly involved Wally whining about how impulsive Bart was. So I default to the other story that featured a living, breathing Bart, Legion of Super-heroes of the 31st Century. This was a bland and dull comic that perfectly matched the bland and dull animated series it was based off. In it, Impulse met Bouncing Boy and Triplicate Girl, who did very little to help Bart save his disappearing virtual reality world. But Brainiac 5 was able to save the day quite quickly. So I give him this award, not just for this issue, but for all the fun little moments Bart has had with Brainiac 5 throughout the years. Also, the real Brainiac 5 in Legion of 3 Worlds began the process of reviving Bart this year.
Best Villain: Inertia
For the fourth and final time, Thaddeus Thawne claims this award. This year, Thad didn't get to directly confront Bart, but his mere existence did cause Wally to have a brief ethical dilemma when the Flash Museum caught fire. And Inertia would have killed Wally's kids, too, if Zoom hadn't stopped him. But Inertia still did manage to kill a bunch of people, including a helpless toddler, during his last few hours of insanity. A year spent in suspended animation only fractured his already unstable mind, and, armed with Zoom's powers, he became a potentially unstoppable force of murderous rage. Luckily the combined efforts of the Rogues were enough to get rid of him for good. Although Inertia wasn't as compelling a character as he was back in 2000, he still proved to be rather interesting in his last big hurrah — or rather, last big insane whine. Rest in peace, Thad.
Next time, we'll begin the year 2009 — the year of Bart's return! He'll be a part of Legion of 3 Worlds, Flash: Rebirth and Blackest Night, in addition to a handful of cameos along the way. And we'll even return to the Smallville TV show.
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