The Flash #50

Flash War Finale

Joshua Williamson Writer
Howard Porter Artist
Hi-Fi Colorist
Steve Wands Letterer
Porter & Hi-Fi Cover
Francesco Mattina Variant Cover
Andrew Marino Assistant Editor
Rebecca Taylor Editor
Marie Javins Group Editor
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Our main cover shows Wally and Barry battling Hunter Zolomon, who is now calling himself the Flash after somehow harnessing the power of the Sage Force and the Strength Force. Despite the tagline at the end of last issue, this isn't really Flash vs. Flash vs. Flash — it's Flash and Flash vs. Flash. Wally and Barry's fight ended a while ago. In fact, it never really was much of a fight to begin with. Anyway, I think this is a fairly decent cover. Although, Hunter's stone hands to symbolize strength is a pretty stupid trope.

Mattina's final variant in this story once features Hunter, Barry and Wally all tangled up in a grotesque monstrosity. I don't like it. Mattina is always provocative, but only in the good way about half the time. This is a horrifying, confusing mess that does not serve this story well.

Our story picks up with Barry and Wally fighting Hunter, who utilizes his connection to the Strength Force by having rocks form around his hands. He also claims that the Sage Force makes him smarter, but all we see of that is the occasional psychic attack. He knocks down the two Flashes and takes off, saying he's going to do what they couldn't — fix the past, present and future.

As Barry and Wally chase after Hunter, we find out that Wallace and Iris didn't die. One of the Renegades, Commander Cold, managed to teleport them away before the "time wave" obliterated them from existence. Unfortunately, Cold wasn't able to send them anywhere specific, so they're just floating in a vast, purple void that he dubs "nowhen." At Iris' encouragement, Wallace starts running the three of them back to the time stream.

Hunter continues his trek through time, racing past significant moments in Flash history, saying he still needs to access one more Force before he can fix everything. Barry believes he's referencing the Still Force, a dark entity he's recently encountered. Wally struggles with the images of his family, and he desperately wants to reach out and talk to his children. Barry keeps him focused and observes that Wally's "temporal seizures" are hurting Hunter. So Barry urges Wally to embrace the memories of his past life and weaponize this temporal energy against Hunter. As Wally battles Hunter, he's supported by the images of Jai and Irey. And a mysterious voice says, "Keep going ..."

Wally unleashes all this energy, which takes the form of Max, Bart, Jesse and Jay. The "energy speedsters" blast through Hunter, who cries out in anguish. As his cries fade away, Barry finds himself back in Central City, just seconds after he left. The Justice League is still lying unconscious in the street, and the whole place is a wreck. A portal opens above him, and out pops Wallace, Iris and Commander Cold. Iris is happy to see Barry again, but Wallace and Cold are furious at Barry for causing this whole mess. Cold even says that, according to his computer, there's no more temporal energy in the Speed Force, meaning that time travel is now impossible for all speedsters — even with a Cosmic Treadmill.

Cold isn't happy about the idea of being stuck in this time, but he does help Barry find Wally, who somehow ended up in the snow in Mt. Hood, Oregon. Wally realizes that if the both of them got out, then Zoom must have, as well, and he immediately wants to take off to search for Hunter — and all the people who were lost. But Barry wants to stop running and just talk. Even though they've been talking nonstop this whole story, Wally does indulge him for a few pages before vowing to never stop running and racing away from his mentor.

Barry then begins cleaning things up by telling the Justice League everything that happened and working with Commander Cold to study the changes made to the Speed Force. Wallace starts spending more time with Damian Wayne and the Teen Titans, and Iris continues to keep an eye out for Wally, hoping he'll one day reach out to Linda Park. But nobody seems to notice the short boy with big hair and a red-and-white outfit racing through the streets, shouting, "Waa-hoo!"

Impulse says, "Not sure if you heard me or not, Wally, but who cares? Force Barrier's down and now the one and only Bart Allen is back!"

Yes.

He's back.

For reals this time. But we're not done yet. In an epilogue in the 25th century, the remaining members of the Renegades rush over to Iron Heights Penitentiary to check on the status of the facility's only prisoner. The shadowy figure has broken free, and seems to cause the deaths of the Renegades. The prisoner's cell identifies him as Inmate: Crisis, and he vows revenge on the Flashes, promising that worlds will live and worlds will die.




It's been a year and a half since this issue came out, and as far as I know, we still haven't learned exactly who this mysterious prisoner is. All clues point to Superboy-Prime, but we don't know for sure. Anyway, if it weren't for the return of You-Know-Who, I'd say this whole Flash War was quite a dud. Everybody yelling at Barry for being terrible at everything in general? Been there; done that. The Sage Force and the Strength Force? Yawn. Time travel being impossible? Yeah, right. This whole thing lacked any of the promised stakes. Also, notably absent, were all the side characters introduced by Williamson that usually bog everything down — Avery, Meena and August. You'd think some of these other speedsters would have had something to say during that big race that attracted the attention of the Justice League and everyone else in between.

But how can I complain about that when I finally — FINALLY! — have Impulse back! The real Bart Allen had been missing from comics for a solid seven years. And it had been 15 years since he was Impulse! It's glorious. After being Kid Flash, the Flash, Kid Flash again and stranded in the Speed Force for far too long, Bart's finally back to where he started. Granted, we still had to wait half a year before we saw him actually do anything ... but, like I keep saying, beggars can't be choosers. Bart's back, so let's be glad about it.

Metropolis is under siege! Can Clark Kent save his city when Superman can't? Action Comics.

A graphic novel collection of the best selling crossover series. Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II.

The DC Nation page is an interview with Ivan Reis, artist on Superman.

Tragically, this is the last story we have of 2018. So next time will be another Year in Review before beginning a very exciting 2019.

The Flash #49

Flash War Part 3

Joshua Williamson Writer
Howard Porter Artist
Hi-Fi Colorist
Steve Wands Letterer
Porter & Hi-Fi Cover
Francesco Mattina Variant Cover
Andrew Marino Assistant Editor
Rebecca Taylor Editor
Marie Javins Group Editor
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Our cover shows the Justice League and Titans trying to stop Barry and Wally on their Flash Race ... er, I mean, War! But seriously, it is really nice to see that this conflict has attracted the attention of the most powerful heroes on Earth. And it's a nice demonstration of how difficult it can be to contain the fastest men alive when they don't want to stop. The only downside of this cover is the Titans feel like a complete afterthought.

Our variant is another extreme closeup by Mattina, which is what he excels at. It's a painful, unsettling image of Barry screaming out in pain. But is it actually Barry? Look closer, and you'll see his eyes aren't glowing from his regular lightning — they're the sinister red eyes of Zoom. It's a really cool way to foreshadow the direction of this story.

Our story begins with Barry and Wally running around and around and around the world, and they're actually creating quite a mess. Enough so that anyone who's anyone in the DC Universe is actively trying to stop these racing speedster. Amanda Waller and Steve Trevor set up a bunch of tanks and military personnel in their path, mainly hoping the show of force would get their attention. But it's doesn't work. Wally is still determined to build up enough speed to free his children from the Speed Force, sparing them the torment he endured. Barry oddly suggests talking to Linda again, but Wally refuses to hurt her by talking about children she doesn't remember.

Eventually, the Justice League gets involved and Superman tries to chase down the Flashes. But he can't even catch up to them. Green Lantern sets up a massive wall, trying to vibrate it at a frequency to slow them down, but Wally easily plows right through it.

When Barry finally realizes he can't stop Wally, he decides to help him. Wally plans on racing into the Speed Force together and smashing through the other side, and his body turns into pure energy as he reaches the necessary speed. Barry can't quite keep up with him, but he feels that something is wrong. Wally keeps pressing ahead, until there's a large explosion and the two of them come crashing down in Central City, surrounded by the Justice League and Titans.

The sky is filled with a raging purple and yellow storm, and Barry ominously says he thinks they broke the Speed Force. Wally is wondering where his children are, when suddenly, all the heroes around them are knocked out. A voice explains that they didn't break the Speed Force — they broke the Force Barrier.

The voice naturally belongs to Zoom, who was faking being powerless when he last encountered Wally. Hunter admits he manipulated Wally and Barry because he needed the both of them to break that barrier and grant him the power he needs to become a "true hero." Hunter also changes his costume to the classic Barry design and even declares himself the Flash. As Barry and Wally charge at Hunter, demanding to know where Jai and Irey are, Hunter demonstrates his new powers from the Sage Force and the Strength Force.




Huh. So this is the climax of the grand Flash War, the four-part story that had two and a half prologues. It's interesting ... but I feel like Williamson couldn't fully commit to the idea of Barry actually fighting Wally. There was a lot of yelling, a lot of bluster, but it all dissolved pretty fast. And so now Zoom is randomly calling himself the Flash, so we can technically still call this a Flash War — Barry Flash and Wally Flash against Hunter Flash. I guess it's fine ... just a little odd. Of course, nothing is more odd than the idea of a Sage Force and a Strength Force. I don't think I'm against the idea of these other Forces, but I don't understand the logic of them being exclusively connected to the Speed Force. Oh well. The important thing here is the Barrier has been broken, which will be a big deal for us next issue. But first, the new ads:

Justice League Odyssey. Going where no League has gone before!

Justice League Dark. The wonder of magic fights darkness with light!

The DC Nation interview is with Robert Venditti, writer of Green Lantern.

Next: Flash vs. Flash vs. Flash in The Flash #50!

The Flash #48

Flash War Part 2

Joshua Williamson Writer
Howard Porter Artist
Hi-Fi Artist
Steve Wands Letterer
Porter & Hi-Fi Cover
Francesco Mattina Variant Cover
Andrew Marino Assistant Editor
Rebecca Taylor Editor
Marie Javins Group Editor

Our main cover shows Barry and Wally in chains, being judged by the Renegades in the Temporal Courts. This is a rather misleading cover, as neither of these characters are facing any legal action — only Iris is. Also, this story is supposed to be about Wally vs. Barry, so putting them both against the same enemies kind of negates that idea.

Our variant shows an angry Barry racing forward. It's pretty basic, but still evocative. Mattina seems to do better when he can focus on one character. Last issue's was a mess, but this one is pretty nice and clean. The funny thing, though, is all the dead space above Barry. It's like Mattina was expecting the traditional title and issue number and everything up there, then got surprised by the minimalist line at the bottom. And that's a shame, because he could have taken advantage of that extra space and drawn Barry even bigger.

Our story begins with a heartwarming memory of Wally taking Jai and Irey out to a track to learn about their powers. But this memory soon makes way for the cold reality of Wally standing in front of the empty costumes of his lost children.

Zoom tells Wally that his kids are still lost in the Speed Force, and when Wally takes a swing at him, he suddenly remembers his old foe. Believing Zoom is responsible for this, Wally naturally wants to fight, but he's shocked to see that Zoom is unwilling and apparently unable to fight back. Hunter says he's lost his powers (although he still chooses to dress in his old Zoom uniform).

Thanks to the Flash Museum's video screens, Hunter is able to show Wally how Barry nearly destroyed the world by creating the Flashpoint, and how when he tried to make things right, not everything came back. Hunter tells Wally that there are still other people trapped in the Speed Force like he was, but he has the power to run into it, destroy the Speed Force and rescue his lost children.

Wally has a hard time believing this, until Wally, Iris and Wallace show up. Barry tells Wally that he can't trust Zoom. But when Iris also remembers Wally's kids, he becomes convinced that he needs to save them. Barry doesn't want to risk losing Wally to the Speed Force again, but Wally's willing to take that chance. He runs away from Barry and travels back in time. (I'm not sure why he didn't try to go straight to the Speed Force from the 25th century, but there you go.)

Barry follows Wally back in time, and Hunter runs away from the others with a strange blast from his massive judge's gavel. A big bright white light begins to consume everything, as the Renegades explain that history has been changed and their reality is disappearing. Wallace holds Iris tight, and they are consumed by the light together.

Back in the present, we repeat the opening scene of this story, with Wally vowing to stop Barry if he gets in his way. But instead of actually fighting, Wally just starts running away, with Barry following close behind.




This is a good story, but it has taken us so long to get here. And it's still ridiculously slow paced. Page after page of repetitive, useless dialogue. Look, we all know where this is headed, why don't we just get there? However, the art is decent, and the continued glimpses of Impulse and Max are helping me continue through this journey. Let's close out with the ads:

A game of copycat and mouse! Catwoman.

The icy hands of justice. Batman.

The DC Nation interview is with Bryan Hitch, artist on Hawkman.

Next: The race is on!

The Flash/Speed Buggy #1

Speed Buddies

Writer: Scott Lobdell
Penciller: Brett Booth
Inkers: Norm Rapmund (pgs. 1-10, 12, 15-18, 28, 36-38), Mark Irwin (pgs. 29-33, 35), Marc Deering (pgs. 20, 21, 24, 26, 27), Matt Banning (pgs. 11, 19, 22, 23, 25), John Livesay (pgs. 13, 14, 34)
Colors: Andrew Dalhouse, Pete Pantazis (pgs. 13, 34, 35)
Letters: Tom Napolitano
Cover: Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund & Andrew Dalhouse
Variant Cover: Dan Mora
Assistant Editor: Liz Erickson
Editor: Jim Chadwick
Superman created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster
Superboy created by Jerry Siegel
By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel Family

Our main cover shows Wally West racing Speed Buggy in front of a crowd of DC and Hanna-Barbera characters. It's Brett Booth's usual mess of elongated characters and shapes, too many messy details, unbearable lettering and a complete disdain of having to draw anything in the background. Crowd scenes like this (and inside this issue) should be a lot of fun because of all the cameos and easter eggs. But with Booth, it's an exhausting chore to try to decipher with spiky blob is the New 52 Kid Flash. And so many people like Booth! I don't get it.

Our variant takes the same idea as the main cover, but outshines it in every way imaginable. The Hanna-Barbera characters look like Hanna-Barbera characters. The DC characters look like DC characters. There's a lot of energy, movement and unadulterated fun on this cover. I really wish Dan Mora handled the art on this issue instead of Booth and a legion of inkers.

The main story tells the horrifying origin of Speed Buggy. Instead of being a lovable car that can talk, Speed Buggy actually was a human being whose body was gruesomely fused into a car, and now the man's soul is trapped inside this vehicle. I find this terrifying, but everybody seems fine with it. Oh, and the car can tap into the Speed Force, too.

Anyway, we only care about the epilogue, where Wally and Speed Buggy stage a race for charity. Barry, Wallace, Iris and, inexplicably, Bar Torr, all show up to allegedly cheer Wally on, but they all seem to doubt his ability to win. Bar, who has never interacted with anyone here besides Barry (and that encounter did not go well), magically seems to fit right in.

And the issue ends right as the race begins. It certainly lacks the appeal of a Superman/Flash race, but Lobdell and Booth certainly tried to bill it as such. And since this story is out of continuity anyway, they had no problem shoe-horning Bar into this story, even though it makes no sense whatsoever. And I'm probably one of the only people who was bugged by this. I'm sure most people just said, "Hey, neat! The New 52 Kid Flash!" But I'm not like most people. Ugh. Let's just get out of here with the new ads:

We have another wedding invitation for Batman and Catwoman, but this time it's been defaced by the Joker. Again, it's a very clever advertising campaign — I just wish DC actually pulled the trigger on the marriage.

Supergirl: Being Super.

The DC Nation page shows Jim Lee's designs for Superman's new villain, Rogol Zaar.

Next time, we'll return to the Flash War with The Flash #48.

The Flash #47

Flash War Part 1

Joshua Williamson Writer
Howard Porter Artist
Hi-Fi Colorist
Steve Wands Letterer
Porter & Hi-Fi Cover
Francesco Mattina Variant Cover
Andrew Marino Assistant Editor
Rebecca Taylor Editor
Marie Javins Group Editor
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Our main cover shows the Flash War in full throttle — Wally vs. Barry! To the death? Probably not. But they sure are mad at each other, which is odd, considering how happy they were after Barry's cheesy, I mean, uplifting speech at the end of last issue. Anyway, this is a decent enough cover to kick off this storyline (which has already had two and a half prologue issues).

Our variant by Mattina is a disappointing mess. Barry, Wally and Wallace are surrounded by various enemy speedsters, but they all look terrible. Wally looks like an idiot and Wallace and Barry look like they just smelled a really nasty fart. It's quite a shame after last issue's inspiring variant.

Our story begins with Barry angrily trying to talk Wally down from apparently attempting to journey through time. Wally shouts that if Barry doesn't help him save "them," then he'll make sure Barry never runs again.

We then cut back in time 47 minutes and 18 seconds. Barry and Wally happily visit Wallace and Iris after stopping a tidal wave. Iris asks Wally how his memory problems are going, and Wally says he actually wants the memories to come back, believing they might hold the key to figuring out what's happening. Suddenly, the Renegades from the 25th century arrive. They place Iris under arrest for murdering Eobard Thawne, prompting a brief fight — despite Barry's desire to talk. The Renegades all have the powers of the Rogues, except for the Golden Glider type, who's actually a Yellow Lantern.

The fight comes to an abrupt end when Wally collapses in pain under a new memory. The Renegades recognize this as a "temporal seizure" and the source of the time changes they witnessed in the Flash Museum in the future. Iris agrees to surrender to the Renegades as long as they promise to help Wally. Barry demands to accompany her, so he can testify that Iris only acted in self defense. And Wallace says he's coming, too ... just 'cause.

So they all teleport to the Temporal Courts in the 25th century, but to everyone's surprise, Wally isn't with them. He somehow ended up in the Flash Museum by himself, plunked right in front of displays of Max Mercury, Impulse, Jesse Quick and ... his children. Wally's been remembering quite a few things lately, but this is the first time he's remembered Jai and Irey.

And the mysterious voice, who claims the only way to save Wally's family is to destroy the Speed Force, belongs to none other than Hunter Zolomon, aka Zoom. He emerges from the shadows and vows to help Wally save his children.




It's finally happening! It's still too slow, and it took way too long to get here, and Wallace West really has no business being involved in any of this, but we're finally here. Wally has remembered his children. And he knows they no longer exist. This is such a massive, heart-wrenching idea, there has to be serious consequences. We'll see some of those consequences in Flash War, but, frankly, nothing will be as monumental as Heroes in Crisis — with the exception of the return of Bart Allen, naturally! And we'll get there ... eventually. But first, the ads:

You need justice ... to fight doom! Justice League.

Keeping the streets safe can stretch you pretty thin! Plastic Man.

DC Nation tells us to pick up The Flash #47 to start the Flash War. Which we already did. I hate it when the ads are for the very comic you're reading.

Next time, we'll take a quick break from this long-building war for the completely unexpected return of Bar Torr in The Flash/Speed Buggy #1.

The Flash #46

Road to Flash War

Joshua Williamson Writer
Scott Kolins Artist
Luis Guerrero Colorist
Steve Wands Letterer
Dan Panosian Cover
Francesco Mattina Variant Cover
Andrew Marino Assistant Editor
Rebecca Taylor Editor
Marie Javins Group Editor
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

One of the problems of a comic that comes out twice a month is it requires a host of interchanging artists. So, our third straight Flash issue comes with our third different art team and our third different cover artist. Anyway, this cover is a little weird with the Las Vegas-style lights everywhere and Wally's oddly drawn head. But it is really fun to see the images of Wally's past — the Teen Titans, his wedding, Savitar, gaining powers, Zoom and goofy little Impulse.

Our variant cover is an extreme closeup of Zoom. It's realistic. It's creepy. It's mesmerizing. I like that his teeth aren't perfectly straight — too many artists cheap out on teeth. And I like the detail on his eyes. I was always a little confused by his black and red eyes, but this cover makes it clear he has red eyes shining through black lenses.

I don't know why we got a Prelude to Flash War and a Road to Flash War, but Flash War hasn't begun yet. But that's how Williamson wanted it, I guess. Anyway, after Wally's meltdown last issue, Barry was worried enough about his old friend to take him to every expert he can think of — Zatanna, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern and Cyborg. But none of them are able to help. Wally is still being haunted by memories of the past continuity, and these memories are confusing this reality. While talking to Cyborg, Wally briefly sees him as the solid gold version he was in the late '90s.

Tired of being poked and prodded, Wally runs off to one place that always helps him feel safe and clear his head — the Flash Museum. He takes in a statue of himself and Impulse before reliving the defeat of Kobra. Eventually, Barry joins Wally by his side.

But to Wally's dismay, Barry tells him there is no Flash Museum, and there won't be for a long time. Wally realizes they're actually standing in an empty plot, and he was seeing a past, conflicting memory again. Barry takes Wally for a run to try to cheer him up, neither of them aware of Zoom plotting against them from the future.




The baby steps are continuing ... at a dreadfully slow pace. It was time for the Flash War to begin. But instead we got more setup that didn't really add much beyond what we saw in the annual. We already knew Zoom was up to no good in the future. And we really did not need the umpteenth pep talk from Barry. Williamson is addicted to those schmaltzy, "heart-felt" speeches, and it gets quite tedious.

It was interesting to see Scott Kolins drawing Zoom again, exactly like he drew him a decade ago. Interesting. Not particularly good or bad. Just another callback in an issue of callbacks. And Bart is coming back ... eventually ... so I guess I'm still engaged with the story ... to an extent. Let's close out with the new ads:

DC's greatest super heroes. Hanna-Barbera's greatest characters. Four different specials, including The Flash/Speed Buggy, which we will soon be covering.

The Wildstorm Volume 2. The new graphic novel collection of the acclaimed series.

The DC All Access page has turned into the DC Nation page, presenting a mock interview with Brainiac about the No Justice miniseries.

Next: Flash War begins!

The Flash #45

After the Storm

Joshua Williamson Writer
Christian Duce Art
Luis Guerrero Colors
Steve Wands Letters
Barry Kitson & Hi-Fi Cover
David Finch & Tomeu Morey Variant Cover
Andrew Marino Assistant Editor
Rebecca Taylor Editor
Marie Javins Group Editor
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Our cover shows Iris West apparently ripping off Wally's mask. It's kind of strange how angry she is, how shocked Wally is, and how worried Barry is. Last issue, Barry was strongly pushing Wally to reveal himself to Iris. So none of this makes sense. And the grand revealing scene at the end of this issue doesn't go down like this at all.

Our variant cover honors Superman's 80th anniversary. It portrays Superman and the Flash locked in another one of their iconic races, but unfortunately, both of them look pure evil because David Finch can only draw characters to look evil. The Superman/Flash race is supposed to be a joyful event — not intense and angry.

The timing of this issue is rather weird. It's after the annual issue, which was the prelude to the Flash War, but the Flash War hasn't started yet. This is an epilogue to the previous Flash event. (This was common problem of Williamson's writing — constantly overlapping his stories.) Anyway, the bulk of the issue involves the complex, huge cast of speedsters Williamson has been growing over the past two years — Wallace, Avery, Meena and August. It's a mess.

Anyway, all we care about is Wally, who has finally decided to come talk to his aunt Iris. He awkwardly brings her some tulips, and before he can say anything, Iris identifies him as the other Flash, due to his red hair. Wally starts to walk away, apologizing to Barry. But Iris grabs his arm, looks into his eyes, and shocks Wally by saying his name. He begins to weep to see she remembers him and they share a tender embrace.

But after they hug, Iris shocks Wally again, by asking where everyone else is. Barry is also stumped by this, and when Wally starts to think, blue lightning begins to spark from his eyes. Memories start flooding into Wally's mind, and he painfully yells out that he now remembers everything.

Wally finally remembers Impulse! This raises the stakes quite a bit. Now, instead of merely bemoaning the fact that no one remembers him, Wally now knows there are others who are lost and forgotten. It makes sense for Iris to know this, since she visited the Flash Museum in the future. But I don't know why Barry is ignorant of this crucial fact. He was also at the museum. Did all the displays of Bart, Max and the rest just escape his notice? Yeah, I know he was busy fighting the Reverse-Flash, but Barry's a police scientist — he's supposed to pay attention to details.

Regardless, this is a slow build toward Bart's return, and it'll be fun when we get there. But first, the new ads:

A Save the Date for the wedding of Catwoman and Batman, accompanied with a checklist for the ensuing crossover. It's a really clever ad ... unfortunately, DC didn't have the guts to actually go through with the marriage, but that's a complaint for a different blog.

Dark Nights: Metal was just the beginning. Justice League: No Justice.

The DC All Access interview is with Andy Kubert, artist of New Challengers.

Next: The road to Flash War! (Even though we just had the Prelude to Flash War ... whatever.)

The Flash Annual #1

Prelude to Flash War

Joshua Williamson – Writer
Howard Porter and Christian Duce – Art
Hi-Fi – Color
Carlos M. Mangual and Travis Lanham – Letters
Porter and Hi-Fi – Cover
Andrew Marino – Assistant Editor
Rebecca Taylor – Editor
Marie Javins – Group Editor
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Our cover shows Wally West wearing his new uniform, while sadly holding his two old uniforms. This is a great way to illustrate the awkward position Wally is in. He's no longer Kid Flash or the Flash anymore. He's something in-between, forcing him to wear what I think is a stupid and ugly uniform. The biggest problem with it is how it exposes his red hair, potentially revealing his secret identity. But as we'll see in this issue, Wally doesn't really care about his secret identity — much like he did in the '90s.

Half a year after our brief tour to the Flash Museum in the 25th century (in which Iris West killed Eobard Thawne with a black hole gun), we are finally returning to that setting. A team of investigators is poring through the rubble, trying to figure out what happened. And right on Page One, with no chance of us missing it, is a smashed-up statue of our beloved Impulse.

On the next page, we see another image of Impulse, standing next to Johnny Quick, Max Mercury and John Fox. And on a floor below him is a statue of Bart's dad, Don Allen, one of the Tornado Twins. It's all pretty exciting stuff, but that's all the Bart we get in this issue. However, this Flash War storyline is rather significant to Bart's return, so I will provide a quick recap.

The 25th century investigators learn that Eobard Thawne has been murdered, and they make a brief mention to the fact that Eobard had previously captured an unnamed, yet seemingly dangerous individual, who is now the sole prisoner of Iron Heights. As the investigators continue their work, the museum begins to change around them, and their advanced computers inform them that the timeline is being altered by events in the 21st century.

Back in the 21st century, Wally, Wallace and Barry work together to defeat the Top fairly easily. Afterward, Barry tries to push Wally to finally reveal himself to his aunt Iris, but Wally is reluctant, based on how poorly his interactions with Linda Park have gone. Wallace agrees with Barry, pointing out how Iris has been suffering from severe nightmares since she killed Thawne. Wally didn't know about this and he is outraged that Barry not only put Iris in that position, but that he neglected to tell him about it.

So Wally takes off and pouts, lamenting the fact that the only people who remember him are Barry and a handful of the old Titans (who have recently disbanded). Eager to find someone who might know who he is, Wally tracks down Frances Kane, aka Magenta, his sometime girlfriend/sometime villain from the '90s. Frances does have her memories restored, which initially leads to a fight, as her villainous personality is awakened. But Wally manages to calm her down and she gives him a nice pep talk about the importance of knowing the truth, even though it may hurt.

Wally then moves into a new apartment overlooking Keystone City, financed by his old friend, Dick Grayson, who apparently stole the money from Bruce Wayne. While enjoying the view from his empty lodging, Wally spots an unusual crackle of blue lightning on the bridge below, so he races off to investigate.

Back in the future, the investigators learn that Iris was responsible for Eobard's death. Their leader, a hooded judge, orders them to travel back in time and bring Iris to justice, so the investigators don their Rogue-inspired uniforms and dub themselves the Renegades. Once the Renegades are gone, the judge removes his hood to reveal ... Hunter Zolomon, aka Zoom!




It's been a solid year and a half since Rebirth, but now things are finally starting to pay off. And by that, I mean the return of the '90s and early 2000s era of the Flash family. This issue gave us a very strong hint of Impulse's return, as well as two big supporting characters/villains from Wally's life. It is rather fun and exciting. I still wish we could get more Bart stuff and sooner, but after having absolutely nothing for so long, this is a welcome relief. Let's check out the ads:

Can anyone stop these Dark Multiverse nightmares? Dark Knights Rising: Wild Hunt.

An eight-page preview of The Immortal Men.

The DC All Access interview is with Jim Lee, artist of The Immortal Men.

Next time, our road to Bart's return continues in The Flash #45.

Super Sons #12

Super Sons of Tomorrow Finale Last Minute Saved

Peter J. Tomasi & Patrick Gleason Writers
Tyler Kirkham Artist
Tomeu Morey Colorist
Rob Leigh Letterer
Giuseppe Cammuncoli & Adriano Lucas Cover
Dustin Nguyen Variant Cover
Brittany Holzherr Associate Editor
Andrea Shea Assistant Editor
Alex Antone & Paul Kaminski Editors
Brian Cunningham Group Editor
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Superboy created by Jerry Siegel.
By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Our main cover is the first real clunker of this crossover, which is a shame, since this is the finale. This cover presents a bleak, messy picture of future death and destruction, I suppose. But none of that happens in this issue. And the tone of this cover is completely different from the tone of this issue.

Our variant cover is another beautiful offering from Dustin Nguyen, matching up nicely with his variant from Super Sons #11. The two covers form one gorgeous image of Superboy and Robin standing in front of Titans Tower. It's moody, but not overwhelmingly angsty. It's bold and heroic, but also quietly vulnerable. Simply put, it's a work of art.

Our story picks up with Savior being sucked into the timestream. Everybody around sees the random images of past DC events flash past him, but nobody quite knows what they mean. Once the last bit of energy completely fades away, Superman turns everybody's attention to the Titans of Tomorrow.

Conner says that in his past (but Clark's future) Clark had told him not to say much about time travel and alternate realities. Superman agrees with this, but Superboy and Robin are hoping the visitors from the future will stay a while and teach them some things. But Cassie gently points out that's exactly why they can't stay. Superman expresses his sympathy for Tim's death, but Cassie says he didn't die — just was lost in time.

Aqualad asks the visitors how they'll get back, and Bart says they'll use residual reserve. Wallace correctly interprets this as using the Speed Force they came in on like a time tether to slingshot back, and Bart's impressed by his knowledge. So everybody says goodbye, and Bart races around Cassie and Conner until they all disappear.

Beast Boy can vaguely remember Cassie, but he can't quite place her and wishes they could have gotten their names. Damian still doesn't understand why they didn't pry the Titans of Tomorrow for some information. Wallace proudly shows off a selfie he took with them right before they left, but Raven angrily destroys his cellphone to protect the timeline. And that's the last we see of the future adult Bart Allen and the Titans of Tomorrow.




This issue was really more of an epilogue than a finale. The main conflict had been resolved last issue, and all that happened here was wrapping things up. On a whole, this was a nice, fun story, but it had a very quiet, unusual ending. I was thrilled to see the Big Four return in a way, but Conner, Cassie and Bart didn't get that much to do. But, we had solid writing and great artwork each issue, and I enjoyed myself through this tale. Let's wrap up this up with the new ads:

Family is what you make of it. The Terrifics.

An eight-page preview of Sideways.

The DC All Access page is an interview with Jeff Lemire, writer of The Terrifics.

Next time, we'll get to work on bringing back the real, original Bart Allen. Yes, your read that right. It's going to be a long, slow journey, but we will get there. And it all starts with The Flash Annual #1.

Superman #38

Super Sons of Tomorrow Part 4 Into the Light

Peter J. Tomasi & Patrick Gleason Writers
Sergio Davila Penciller
Vicente Cifuentes Inker
Gabe Eltaeb Colorist
Rob Leigh Letterer
Ivan Reis, Oclair Albert & Hi-Fi Cover
Jonboy Meyers Variant Cover
Holzherr/Chen Associate Editors
Antone/Kaminski Editors
Cunningham Group Editor
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Superboy created by Jerry Siegel.
By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Unfortunately, Francis Manapul didn't finish all the covers for this crossover (he only had two more!).  Fortunately, Ivan Reis is a solid artist, so I can't be too sad. This cover implies that Savior has taken care of a whole host of heroes and the last one on his list is Superboy. However, nothing like this happens or has happened in the story. Yes, Savior did make sure Superman and Batman were incapacitated before he moved against Superboy, but he hasn't (and won't) do anything to any of the Teen Titans — especially Raven, who mostly agreed with Savior.

Our variant is by one of my favorite artists, Jonboy Meyers. But this is a sad, symbolic cover, showing the trauma of Jon's out-of-control powers. Can I just say how great it is to finally have competent artists on this blog? That last run of the Will Pfeifer/Scot Lobdell Teen Titans really wore me down.

Our story picks up with Aqualad, Kid Flash and Starfire locating Superboy and Robin in their underwater lair. After a brief fight, all the Titans agree to go to the Fortress of Solitude. Damian strongly objects to this plan, but everyone else thinks it's the only place to keep Jon safe from Savior.

We then cut to the Titans of Tomorrow — Superman, Wonder Woman and the Flash — being dragged through hypertime by the severed hand of Tim Drake. Conner, Cassie and Bart are confident the hand will eventually lead them back to Tim, but first it takes them through all the stops Tim made through his obsessive mission to the past.

When the current Teen Titans reach the Fortress of Solitude, they're shocked to find the place in a wreck, suggesting a big fight had recently taken place there. And to Jon's horror, he finds his dad trapped in a cage of red kryptonite just outside the fortress. Superman warns his son to stay back, since the red kryptonite will mess with his emotions, but he's too late. Superboy loses control once again, falling into some sort of enraged trance, while a sphere of energy grows around him.

This emotional spike was enough for Raven to locate him, and she teleports herself, Beast Boy and Savior up to the Fortress. Aqualad is able to help Superman break free easy enough, and the Man of Steel immediately goes after Drake, demanding to know what he did to his son. Future Tim explains that since Jon's half-Kryptonian, he doesn't have control of his solar flare ability. And, naturally, Tim argues that Jon has to die today so millions will be saved in the future.

Suddenly, the Titans of Tomorrow arrive in a portal of blue lightning, and they announce their intentions to bring back their teammate. But when they spot Jon in trouble, Cassie immediately jumps to action, throwing her lasso around the growing sphere of golden energy coming from Jon. Beast Boy decides to help, too, by turning into a giant octopus and perching himself on top of the sphere. Cassie order Raven to use her powers to contain the energy, and Superman gets both the Flashes running around the sphere to try to reverse its polarity. Wallace West is surprised that Cassie and Bart know Raven, and Bart casually explains that they know everyone here.

Savior's hand reattaches itself to his body, but then the chronal energy begins attacking the rest of him, and he realizes he only has a few moments before the time-void pulls him out of this era for good. Conner tells Clark he failed Jon once, and he won't fail him again, as the two Supermen fly into the growing sphere of energy. Damian then jumps on Tim's shoulders and begins beating him up, rightfully accusing him of causing this whole mess. But Savior was inspired by the heroes' sacrifice, and he realizes all their efforts at containment aren't working.

Drake tosses Damian off him and tells the Flashes to generate a circulating funnel aimed directly at himself. He announces his plans to save everyone and take all the power with him, as he directs Raven, Beast Boy and Cassie to release the energy. The Flashes' whirlwind worked perfectly and the surge of power blasted Tim, who disappears in a flash of light. Everything quickly falls back to normal and Jon is alright, asking his dad what happened. Superman says, "Someone made things right ... by giving all he had ... to save us!" And on the last page, we see a smiling Savior being flung through the hypertime, past images of all the major DC events.




What a fun story. Future Tim Drake may have been insane, and a little murderous, but he never was fully evil. At the end of the day, all he wanted was to save the world, and he got to do just that. And, of course, we found out the Titans of Tomorrow weren't evil, either. They knew Tim was mentally unstable and they just wanted to help him. Unfortunately, future Bart didn't get to do anything more interesting than run around in a bunch of circles, but it's still nice to see him — especially drawn by Sergio Davila. I hadn't heard of him before this, but now he's one of my favorites. This was a gorgeous comic.

Let's wrap up with the new ads:

Cold as Hell. Swamp Thing: Winter Special.

We then get an eight-page preview of Damage, part of The New Age of DC Heroes.

The DC All Access page is an interview with Justin Jordan, co-writer of Sideways.

To be concluded in Super Sons #12.

Year in Review: 2017

This is the second straight year with little to no Bart Allen stories in all the comics, movies and TV shows DC offered. Which is a shame, since 2017 was another huge year for superheroes and sci-fi in general. The Academy Award for Best Picture (and three other awards) went to The Shape of Water. The top-grossing film at $1.3 billion was Star Wars: The Last Jedi. And four superhero films cracked the top 10 highest grossing list.

Marvel produced four stellar features — Logan, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Thor: Ragnarok. Logan was nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, but lost to Call Me by Your Name. Guardians was nominated for Best Visual Effects but lost to Blade Runner 2049. DC put out three movies, one good, one goofy and one ... rather terrible — Wonder Woman, The Lego Batman Movie and Justice League. So we had five fantastic movies between the Big Two and only one stinker. That's not so bad. Except for the fact that Justice League was supposed to be the best of the batch. How can you mess up a movie with Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg? Well, Zack Snyder, Joss Whedon and DC sure found a way.

Best Story: Teen Titans #15

We only had three Bart-related stories in 2017. In one, we only saw the costume of Impulse. In the second, a future adult Bart appeared only on the last page of the comic. In the third, he actually appeared on both the main cover and the variant, and had a slightly larger role. He still didn't do too much, but it was by far the most we got all year. Adult Bart grabbed hold of adult Tim Drake's hand, lost through space and time, which will enable the Titans of Tomorrow to pay a visit to the current Teen Titans. Will they help the insane Tim kill Jon Kent, or will they join forces with our heroes to stop this man who now calls himself Savior? We'll find out pretty soon.

Best Writer: Joshua Williamson

This was a tough one. Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason are crafting an intriguing story in this Super Sons of Tomorrow crossover, but the adult Bart is just an afterthought (at least so far). Joshua Williamson didn't do much more — all he did was include Impulse's costume in the background. But that was a very significant, prominent Easter egg. It was on the first panel of the comic, the first thing we saw, saying, "Yes! Impulse will eventually come back! We don't know when, we don't know how, but it will happen!" So that brief moment of excitement puts Williamson over the top.

Best Artist: Jorge Jiménez

Surprisingly, Jiménez ties Todd Nauck with his fourth Best Artist award. And, just like last year, he wins without even have drawn an entire issue. But the work he did in Teen Titans #15 was the best artwork we had this year. Francis Manapul's covers were incredible, but he gave the Titans of Tomorrow distractingly bland faces. So Jiménez wins for the fourth time, drawing his third different version of Bart — New 52 Bar Torr, Smallville Bart and now Titans of Tomorrow Bart.

Best Supporting Character: Future Conner

The only Bart we saw actually talking and doing things this year was future Bart, who only interacted with future Conner and future Cassie. Conner gets the slight edge since he's the clear leader of the Titans of Tomorrow, guiding them on this mission to locate future Tim. And that's it for this category.

Best Villain: Savior

Again, I couldn't pull anything from that Flash issue, since it was just Impulse's costume sitting in a glass case. So that leaves us with the Savior, the insane future version of Tim Drake, who is driving the conflict of the Super Sons of Tomorrow storyline. We don't know yet if future Bart is actually working against Tim or just trying to help him, but Savior is clearly the best villain of the year.

Next time, we'll begin 2018 and things will finally get interesting. Still not a whole lot of Bart, but it's getting better. It all starts with the conclusion of the Super Sons of Tomorrow.

Teen Titans #15

Super Sons of Tomorrow Part 3 Tomorrow is Never Promised

Peter J. Tomasi & Patrick Gleason – Writers
Ed Benes & Jorge Jimenez – Pencillers
Ed Benes, Richard Friend & Jorge Jimenez – Inkers
Dini Ribero & Alejandro Sanchez – Colorists
Corey Breen – Letterer
Francis Manapul – Cover
Chad Hardin & Alex Sinclair – Variant Cover
Brittany Holzherr – Associate Editor
Alex Antone – Editor
Brian Cunningham – Group Editor
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Superboy created by Jerry Siegel.
By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Our main cover shows the Titans of Tomorrow contrasted with the Titans of ... well, today. It's a nice cover, but slightly awkward, in that Manapul was forced to give the Titans of Tomorrow unnaturally neutral expressions. It hasn't been revealed yet whether they are good or bad, and unfortunately the cover suffers because of that. Otherwise, it is very pretty and artistic.

Our variant cover also suffers from the same problem. Bart, Conner and Cassie all have the blandest, most boring expressions on their face. In contrast, the Teen Titans have the most ridiculous, over-the-top expressions. Starfire was unfortunately covered up by the top left info box, although in general I absolutely love the design of those boxes. So yeah, this cover is fine, but it could have been a lot better.

Our story picks right up where we left off last time. Superboy lost control of his powers, creating a large energy blast that knocked out the Titans, destroyed a chunk of the tower, and sent the unconscious Jon Kent into the San Francisco Bay. Damian quickly confirms his teammates are still alive, then leaves them a note asking for time and fishes Jon out of the water with a submersible. The future Tim Drake, meanwhile, repairs his destroyed Batman suit with some prototype equipment kept in the Tower's basement. And he insanely takes this opportunity to come up with a new identity for himself — Savior.

Damian tells Jon that he's encountered this future Tim Drake before, and he can attest to his murderous nature. He tried to call their dads, but neither of them are responding. Jon suggests they go to the Batcave or Fortress of Solitude, but Damian points out that Tim knows their secret identities and would look for them in those places. Jon is understandably worried about his power outburst, and Damian is able to explain that it seems similar to the solar flare Superman had at the end of the New 52. Regardless, Damian has taken it upon himself to be Jon's personal protector through this crisis.

We then cut to the Titans of Tomorrow headquarters, which is the same old Tower the team is currently using, complete with old statues of the founding members. Now that Tim has repaired his suit, his teammates have now lost track of him. Cassie says they could try to triangulate his position, but there's a chance they'll miss him by a few years — a margin of error that is too high for Bart's standards.

Conner points out that Tim has been obsessed with the timeline of other worlds lately, and Cassie observes that the timeline seems to be trying to pull Tim back at random intervals. She worries that this could have an adverse effect on Tim's mind, and Bart realizes that all they can do is wait till the next interval to pull Tim back ... and hope he doesn't screw up the time continuum.

Back in the current time, Savior meets with the remaining Teen Titans and tries to make the case for him to kill Superboy. All the Titans are naturally opposed to this, but Beast Boy and Raven are both open to the idea of helping Savior track down Superboy, so long as he doesn't kill him. Starfire, Aqualad and Kid Flash, however, think even that action is too extreme, and believe they should trust their leader, Robin.

As they debate, Savior's hand suddenly becomes enveloped in blue energy and disappears. In the Titans of Tomorrow HQ, they see this hand appear in their big time portal, and Bart immediately grabs hold of it. He tells the others that if they hang on, the hand will draw them right to Tim. Savior warns the Titans that other people are coming for him and they don't have time to keep debating. Raven and Beast Boy agree with him, so Raven teleports the three of them away. Starfire, Kid Flash and Aqualad are left behind, but Aqualad connects to the water to locate Superboy's energy signature.




The story has taken a rather complicated turn with so many groups of characters in motion with different goals. But it's still fun and intriguing. The jury is still out on the Titans of Tomorrow being good or evil, although Tim Drake has clearly been shown to be insane. Sane people don't put on a black trench coat, wield two guns and call themselves Savior. But his insanity doesn't fully reveal his teammates' motivations.

I was quite pleased to see one of my favorite artists, Jorge Jiménez, on this book. Sadly, he didn't draw the whole issue, but the pages he did draw were great. His style works so well with any version of Bart Allen. I wish we could get more. In the meantime, let's look at the new ads:

The Corps faces the Kryptonian killer! Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps.

Happy Holidays from DC, featuring Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Kid Flash, Superboy and Robin all crammed together on a sled.

Next time, believe it or not, it's already time for another Year in Review before we can continue this story in Superman #38.

Super Sons #11

Super Sons of Tomorrow Part 2 Sondown

Peter J. Tomasi & Patrick Gleason Writers
Ryan Benjamin Penciller
Richard Friend Inker
Gabe Eltaeb Colorist
Rob Leigh Letterer
Francis Manapul Cover
Dustin Nguyen Variant Cover
Andrea Shea Assistant Editor
Brittany Holzherr Associate Editor
Alex Antone & Paul Kaminski Editors
Brian Cunningham Group Editor
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Superboy created by Jerry Siegel.
By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Our main cover shows the Super Sons — Damian Wayne and Jon Kent — battling Batman with guns?! Well, this actually isn't Batman. It's the evil version of Tim Drake from the future we've seen a couple of times. Or, more precisely, another evil version of future Tim Drake. There's lots of similarities to the old Titans of Tomorrow storyline, but enough things have changed for me to just call him a brand new character. Anyway, this cover is wonderful, living up to Manapul's high standards.

Our variant cover is everything I want a variant cover to be. Unique, experimental and gorgeous. It's a quiet watercolor profile of Superboy in front of Titans Tower and I can't get enough of it.

Our story involves future Tim Drake coming back in time to prevent Jon Kent from losing control of his powers and killing millions of people. He breaks into Titans Tower, just as the team is debating whether Jon should be a Titan. Tim knows the Tower's defenses inside out, as well as the Titans' powers. He fills the room with air molecules that prevent Raven from teleporting away and Kid Flash from vibrating through the walls, and he coerces Raven into reading his mind to show the others that he's telling the truth.

After the Teen Titans relive Tim's memory of an older Jon destroying Metropolis, Tim covers Jon in a sticky black goo. But this only makes the boy panic and do the very thing Tim was afraid of — lose control of his powers. At Damian's coaching, Jon is able to fly up into the air to minimize the resulting energy blast. Raven and Kid Flash do a decent job protecting the Titans from this blast, but they are all knocked out, as well as the top floor of the Tower.

More significantly, though, Jon's energy blast disrupted Tim's cloaking device, enabling the future versions of Bart, Cassie and Conner to finally locate their time-lost former teammate. Bart worries Tim might have died in the explosion since Cassie can't get a read on his vitals. Bart asks Conner what they should do, and he says they need to do what Titans do — find him and bring him home, together.

Remember that adult Bart in the yellow suit? In 2005, a good version of him earned the Best Supporting Character of the Year award from me. Later, we met an evil version of this adult Bart (one that had been cloned by future Tim). Is this one good or evil? We'll soon find out. In the meantime, I am really enjoying this ride. The post-Rebirth Teen Titans weren't too exciting, but the Super Sons were delightful. It's great to have an excuse to dip back into this series.

Our first ad is for Doomsday Clock, a fantastic story that unfortunately still isn't done yet two years later. It's supposed to wrap up later this month (December 2019), but that's an awfully long time for a 12-issue miniseries.

We then get eight full pages previewing the new slate of comics produced by DC's Master Class — Damage, The Immortal Men, Silencer, The Curse of Brimstone, Sideways, New Challengers, The Terrific's and The Unexpected. I don't know if any of these really caught on, but DC sure promoted the heck out of them.

Next time, our story continues in Teen Titans #15.

The Flash #27

Running Scared Conclusion "I Will Possess Your Heart"

Joshua Williamson Script
Paul Pelletier & Howard Porter Pencils
Andrew Hennessy & Howard Porter Inks
Hi-Fi Color
Steve Wands Letters
Carmine Di Giandomenico Cover
Howard Porter & Hi-Fi Variant Cover
Amedeo Turturro Associate Editor
Brian Cunningham Editor

Our main cover is a bit of a mess. Barry Allen has apparently defeated, maybe even killed his arch enemy, Eobard Thawne. I'm not a fan of Di Giandomenico. I gave him an honest shot. I was so happy to get rid of Brett Booth and that creative team with Rebirth, that I just jumped right into this new Flash series without a second thought. But after about 30 issues, I had to admit that even though this artwork was unique, it wasn't that good. Or, at the very least, appealing to me. Luckily, this issue was drawn by two artists I do enjoy quite a bit.

The variant cover is a little more bearable, but still not quite enjoyable. It shows Barry and Eobard in mid-fight, with Barry turned black because of the Negative Speed Force. It's a rather complicated story, and we're coming in right at the very end of it, but it has no bearing on our purposes here, so I'm not going to try to recap it.

It's been more than a year since Wally West opened the door to past continuity in Rebirth. During that year, there was not even a hint of Bart Allen ... until now. Barry's fight with Eobard has taken him and Iris West to the Flash Museum in the 25th century. And although we don't see too much of the museum, we are given a very clear and deliberate look of what is unmistakably Impulse's old uniform.

This was just an Easter egg, but it was a thrilling, soul-confirming Easter egg. It demonstrated for the first time in almost a decade that DC was seriously considering bringing back Impulse for real. Not just Bart Allen, but Bart in his original, most beloved iteration. Unfortunately, we still had to wait a long, long time for that glorious return after this tiny reference.

There's no reason to go into the rest of this issue, so let's take a look at some of the other DC books that were coming out in July 2017.

Will the Dark Multiverse destroy the DC Universe? Dark Knights: Metal.

Celebrate the anniversary of DC publisher Jim Lee's industry-changing imprint! Wildstorm: A Celebration of 25 Years.

And we end with a checklist of Dark Knights: Metal. I gave that event a shot, but gradually grew frustrated with it as the later issues kept missing their deadlines.

We didn't have any other Bart Allen sightings until December of 2017 with the crossover event called Super Sons of Tomorrow. We'll jump in on Part Two of that story in Super Sons #11.

Year in Review: 2016

Bart Allen was virtually nonexistent in 2016. The New 52 version of him, Bar Torr, ran away off page in his only appearance of the year. An Impulse did appear in a KFC advertisement, and the real Bart did make a tiny cameo in a flashback. In the 23rd year of this character's existence, this was hands-down the worst.

However, 2016 was a huge year for superheroes. Captain America: Civil War was the top grossing film of the year at $1.15 billion. Deadpool was a surprisingly huge success, and X-Men: Apocalypse and Doctor Strange weren't too bad, either. Doctor Strange was nominated for the Best Visual Effects Oscar, but lost to The Jungle Book. And, finally, DC came back to the big screen with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad, which actually did win an Academy Award for Best Makeup. And speaking of Academy Awards, this was the year of the famous La La Land/Moonlight mixup.

I was initially quite defensive of Batman v Superman, arguing that Civil War shared many of the same flaws. However, time has proven me wrong. Civil War still is fairly low on my list of favorite Marvel movies, but it fits in very well with the other 20 films of that massive, incredible story. The whole of the Marvel Cinematic Universe elevates Civil War and helps it withstand the test of time. Batman v Superman does not enjoy this benefit. The DC Extended Universe devolved into a hot mess, with each subsequent film overcorrecting the sins of the previous. This created an unbalanced and bland story that can never figure out what kind of tone it wants. And on repeated viewings, years later, all the hope and ambition is lost, leaving all the flaws naked and exposed.

So yeah, DC's big films of the year were rather disappointing, but the CW TV shows were still fairly interesting in 2016. Unfortunately, the Flash show did not — and still hasn't — brought in it's own version of Bart Allen. Young Justice was still in hiatus. So we end up with some pretty lame awards this time. But I shall persist!

Best Story: DC Universe: Rebirth #1

There was no question here. That "conclusion" of Bar Torr's story arc was completely awful. And even though Bart didn't do anything in Rebirth, the story still had a massive impact on him. This was DC's way of acknowledging after five years of pretending otherwise that Bart Allen really did exist and the old continuity did happen. And then the door was opened for these old characters and ideas to slowly trickle back into the comics. This trickling was much too slow for my tastes, but I am still thankful to this story for creating that possibility.

Best Writer: Geoff Johns

Last year's winner, Will Pfeifer, forfeits this award for writing off Bar Torr in the lamest way possible. I seriously could not come up with a more unsatisfying ending for that character. So Johns wins his seventh award for helping DC find a way to move forward, utilizing the best aspects of all the previous continuities. And, of course, one of those great aspects was the Flash family.

Best Artist: Jorge Jiménez

Jiménez wins his third award purely for one cover. But it was a great cover. And we didn't have any other good art to compete with this year. Rebirth had a slew of excellent artists, but unfortunately, the weakest artist of the bunch, Ethan Van Sciver, was the one who drew the one panel of Kid Flash.

Best Supporting Character: Wally West

As remarkable as it seems, in 23 years of Bart Allen stories, this is the first time Wally West has been named the best supporting character. He was always a strong candidate, but usually his relationship with Bart was just too antagonistic to justify the award. But finally, Wally wins for being the only person in the DC Universe to remember the real Bart Allen and actually take the first step toward bringing him back. And you don't get much bigger than that.

Last year's winner, Red Robin, almost won again for freely admitting he could kiss Bar. I like to imagine that Bar didn't run away because he suddenly remembered Solstice, but that he was embarrassed by Cassie mocking his budding romance with Tim. But that's just me creating a more interesting story than what we got.

Best Villain: The Durlans

This was the weakest category of the year. I guess the Durlans win by default more than anything. They were the only source of conflict in the only story where Kid Flash actually did anything. They successfully trapped him in an energy field he conveniently escaped from off-page. But more importantly, they inspired him to leave the team and the DC Universe forever.

Next time, we begin 2017, which is sadly not going to be much better than 2016. We'll kick things off with a quick, but crucial cameo in The Flash #27.

DC Universe: Rebirth #1

The Clock is Ticking Across the DC Universe!

Geoff Johns Writer

Chapter 1 – Lost
Gary Frank and Ethan Van Sciver Artists
Brad Anderson and Jason Wright Colorists

Chapter 2 – Legacy
Gary Frank Artist
Brad Anderson Colorist

Chapter 3 – Love
Ivan Reis Penciller
Joe Prado and Reis Inkers
Hi-Fi Colorist

Chapter 4 – Life
Phil Jimenez and Gary Frank Pencillers
Matt Santorelli and Frank Inkers
Gabe Eltaeb and Brad Anderson Colorists

Epilogue
Gary Frank and Ivan Reis Pencillers
Frank and Joe Prado Inkers
Brad Anderson and Hi-Fi Colorists
Special thanks to Mike Cotton, Brian Cunningham and Amedeo Turturro

Nick J. Napolitano Letterer
Cover Frank and Anderson
Variant Cover Reis, Prado and Alex Sinclair
Assistant Editor Andrew Marino
Group Editor Eddie Berganza
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel Family.

Whew! That's a lot of credits! This is definitely a comic by committee, but this is one of the few times that works. Anyway, our main cover (if you scroll up to it) is an enchanting wraparound, showing all of DC's heavy-hitters reaching out to a mysterious hand. Of course, all these heavy-hitters were characters who would go on to be featured prominently in the post-Rebirth world (Shazam had to wait a while, but he finally did get his own series). And the mysterious hand was a source of some nice debate, thanks to the expertly ambiguous coloring of Brad Anderson. On top of it all, I love Gary Frank's style. So this is a fantastic cover.

The variant cover is a little less straightforward for me. I guess it's saying that the Golden and Silver Age stories are set and confined, but the Modern Age is able to break free from the usual constraints of continuity. Because that's what this story did. It didn't destroy the New 52 continuity, but it did open the door to let the pre-New 52 continuity mix in with the current stories. Mostly, this was fun and exciting, but sometimes confusing and frustrating. But that's a debate for another day.

The digital copy of this comic offers the black-and-white for the variant, but not the main. That might be because a black-and-white rendering of that would reveal the mysterious hand. This is still good, though. Ivan Reis is also a great artist, and he fortunately chose to highlight some other characters that got big play after Rebirth — Jon Kent, Damian Wayne and Wallace West.

Wallace is probably the greatest mistake of the New 52. Initially, DC only had Barry and the fake Bart, with no mention of any other speedster. When cries for Wally West grew too loud, DC short-sightedly decided to bring in Wally as an African-American teenager, who was completely different from the original Wally in almost every way imaginable. So the cries continued, and DC was finally forced to acknowledge that this black Wally was a different character. But they couldn't get rid of him because, you know, killing off a diverse character you just brought in is in poor taste. Anyway, DC finally decided to bring back the original, real Wally West, for better and worse, in this exciting, reality-warping event.

Our story reveals that Wally has been trapped in Speed Force limbo since Flashpoint, just like the original Bart Allen. But unlike Bart, Wally has now found a way to contact the real world — albeit sloppily and randomly. He spends the whole issue reaching out to people who don't remember him or have any idea what's going on. This gives the readers a chance to review the current state of the DC Universe moving forward, while also providing the heart-breaking moment of Wally's wife, Linda, having absolutely no memory of her husband. Not only has reality been altered, but 10 years of time has been stolen. Wally isn't the Flash anymore — he's Kid Flash again. And he's the only one who remembers the old continuity that Flashpoint had supposedly erased.

Eventually, Barry does remember Wally and pulls him out of the Speed Force before he completely fades away. This creates an awkward situation with Barry as the Flash and Wallace as Kid Flash, and Wally caught in the middle. He's not quite the Flash, but not Kid Flash anymore. I don't know, I guess it worked for the most part. But the biggest takeaway from this issue was the heavy implication that Doctor Manhattan from the Watchmen comic was responsible for DC's shifting continuity.




I'm not going into deep detail here, since Bart only showed up in one panel (unfortunately drawn by Ethan Van Sciver), but this was a huge, fantastic step for DC to take. The New 52 was an initial success, but fundamentally flawed, leading to the DCYou and now Rebirth. There were some good stories there, but in our corner, the Teen Titans/Bart Allen world, everything was a complete mess. Rebirth opened the door for the return of the classic Flash family of old — Jay Garrick, Jesse Quick, Max Mercury and of course, our lovable Bart. Granted, it still took a few years for DC to actually take advantage of this, but at least that door has been opened. The New 52 was meant to be a springboard of creativity by wiping the slate clean. But it ended up being too confining and confusing (mainly because the slate wasn't entirely wiped clean and all the creators couldn't get on the same page). Rebirth offered more freedom, which is also a double-edged sword. But good, for the most part. I think.

Much like the New 52, Rebirth also reset the numbering on all its titles, with the exception of Detective Comics and Action Comics, which returned to their legacy numbering to make a push for issue #1000. Rebirth also boasted a slew of titles that shipped twice a month for the low price of $2.99 each. Naturally, these big changes demanded a bunch of ads to show off all the new stuff.

Wally West uncovers a secret that will destroy his friends! Titans #1.

Hunted by the fastest men alive! The Flash #1.

Batman vs. Gotham. Batman #1.

Now they're Damian Wayne's ... Teen Titans #1.

The biggest threat facing Earth's new Green Lanterns is each other! Green Lanterns #1.

How can you fight the man when you are the man? Green Arrow #1.

If you want peace, prepare for war! Aquaman #1.

Everything she knows and trusts will be taken from her. Wonder Woman #1.

Plausibly deniable. Completely certifiable. Suicide Squad #1.

Metropolis has a new man of steel, and his name is Lex Luthor! Action Comics #957.

Man & Son of Steel. Superman #1.

And in case that wasn't enough, there's also a two-page spread of all the heroes of Rebirth and a checklist of all the Rebirth specials that served as prologues to all the various titles. It was an exciting time, and I eagerly jumped into The Flash, Superman, Action Comics and Super Sons (when it eventually came out). Sadly, Bart Allen was nowhere to be seen. For quite a while. And so, that wraps up the year 2016. Next time, we'll still do a Year in Review (for tradition's sake) before beginning a slightly more robust 2017.