Smallville: Season Eleven #33

Haunted Part Seven

Writer Bryan Q. Miller
Art Jorge Jimenez
Colors Carrie Strachan
Lettering Saida Temofonte
Cover Art Cat Staggs
Assistant Editor Sarah Gaydos
Editor Kristy Quinn
Superman created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster

Our cover shows who I believe to be the Chloe Sullivan of Earth-2. I don't know ... it's incredibly complicated and I don't care about it since Impulse isn't involved. I suppose it's a fine cover, but I wish it reflected Bart's quest to find Jay Garrick instead.

Our story begins in Mumbai, out on the soccer field where Bart was playing with some boys back at the beginning of this tale. Unfortunately, we see the spark of energy threatening to ensnare a boy as he reaches for the soccer ball. That same kind of energy is also discovered in France, as police continue to cleanup the Brain's raid on the Louvre.

Luckily, Chloe and Oliver Queen are keeping track of these "speed incidents" at the Watchtower. Unluckily, they're unable to do anything to prevent these incidents from occurring, or the death toll to keep rising, other than report their findings to Superman.

Clark and Bart, meanwhile, have traveled to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah to track down Jay Garrick. They find an isolated house on the edge of the salt, and Bart wonders if the old hermit who lives there can help them find the original Flash. Turns out, the old hermit is Jay Garrick himself, still wearing his old uniform.

Jay invites our heroes in, and learns that Bart was the one who stole his identity a few years ago. Bart admits to this, but adds that Jay's wasn't the only identity he stole. Fans of the episode "Run" will remember that Clark saw Bart using three fake IDs — Jay Garrick, Barry Allen and Wally West. Jay asks Bart why he was targeted, since they've never met before now, and Bart says he honestly doesn't know. He confesses he has no memories from before he woke up with his abilities. All he remembers is a big flash of light and those three names in his head.

Clark glares at his friend for omitting this crucial detail of his past, and Bart just sheepishly says he didn't want to make a big deal of it. So Clark launches into a prepared speech about Carter Hall, the Justice Society of America, and how they need Jay's help. Jay says he knows Bart's having problems with his speed, so Bart blurts out, asking what Jay knows about the Black Racer.

Jay avoids the question and begins hobbling around the kitchen with his cane, saying the feds broke his leg back when they rounded up the JSA. Clark points out that his leg must have healed in the decades since, but Jay angrily smashes his cup of coffee, saying he didn't want his leg fixed. Clark doesn't understand this, but Bart does — Jay has seen the Black Flash.

Jay admits this is true, saying the monster haunted him every time he broke into a run. It got so bad, Jay could even hear it whispering to him when he was sitting still. He tells Bart they only ride the lightning, not control it. Clark tells Jay about the speed storms that are killing people wherever Bart's been, which Jay identifies as a sign the Black Flash wants to "collect" Bart. Jay says he only survived by stopping running, and if Bart won't stop, then he needs to die.




This was an interesting, but slightly conflicting issue. First of all, I am absolutely thrilled to see the Salt Flats (although the issue did not explicitly identify them). The Salt Flats are near and dear to my heart, as I've spent many a summer cooking hamburgers for racers from all around the world, seeking to set new records on the fastest place on Earth. It's only natural that such a location would be a natural magnet for speedsters — an idea that Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato explored during their run on The Flash.

I'm also happy to see Jay Garrick, although I'm sad that Clark and Bart didn't have to put in much of an effort to find him. They went to the JSA museum, which I guess gave them Jay's address, and they went straight there. Oh well. The concept of Jay living in solitude and perpetual fear of the Black Flash is a heart-breaking, yet intriguing one.

The fake IDs bit was nothing more than an Easter egg back in Bart's debut on the show. But now, all of a sudden, we learn that those weren't random names Bart pulled out of a hat, but names that came to him through some kind of Speed Force dream. And since Jay is a real, living person in this universe, the implication follows that Bart and Wally must be real, too. I'm not counting on finding out anything about them, which is rather frustrating. But then again, the name of the show is Smallville, not Keystone (or Central City).

And last, but not least ... Bart's amnesia. I'm quite disappointed that this Bart is following the same standard of the New 52 Kid Flash. I'm sorry, but a mysterious, unknown, unremembered past is not an interesting backstory. It's a lazy one. Bart wasn't given a concrete origin in "Run" because the writers didn't have the time or energy to give him one. Scott Lobdell didn't give him one partly because nobody knew what was going on in the early days of the New 52 but mostly because he wanted to buy time to put it together over a couple of years, all the while giving the false impression that he had something concrete in mind by dropping little hints that actually didn't say anything. Whew! And now we're going to play the same game in Smallville? No! I was actually somewhat enjoying this comic!

Next time, we'll return to my most favorite version of Bart in 2013, the one in Young Justice: Invasion.