Year in Review: 2022

The year 2022 saw an almost complete end of the two-year pandemic, which meant people went back to the theaters. Unfortunately, most of the movies they saw were either sequels or reboots. In fact, nine of the 10 highest grossing films of the year were sequels and the other one, The Batman, was a reboot. The king of the game was the long-awaited Avatar sequel, pulling in more than $2 billion. Marvel’s sequels for Doctor Strange, Black Panther and Thor all earned more than $760 million. And poor little DC could only muster one hit this year with The Batman. Black Adam and Super Pets were both pretty ugly, disappointing films.

It’s rather strange for me to be reviewing a year that ended less than three months ago, but that’s the joy I have with being nearly caught up to real time. And I would be completely caught up if I didn’t take a few months off after the birth of my second son. But now he’s nearly a year old and his older brother is about to turn 3, which makes things a little easier for me to write these little posts. And most of them are quite little these days, as Bart is almost always merely a side character wherever he shows up. There are a couple of exceptions, though.

Best Story: Earth-Prime: The Flash #5

Impulse made a few appearances in Young Justice: Phantoms this year, along with a smattering of episodes on The Flash, a couple of random comics and, most of all, the disastrous Dark Crisis: Young Justice miniseries. But only one story made me genuinely happy. Earth-Prime: The Flash #5 was an honest-to-goodness classic Impulse story — the first we’ve had in 20 years. Even though it took place in the awful CW continuity, this issue captured everything that was fun and delightful about Impulse’s solo series from so long ago. I’m really sad I couldn’t put one of the Dark Crisis issues here, especially since those tried so hard to make Bart smart and powerful. But they were just too painful to read for a whole host of reasons.

Best Writers: Jess Carson and Emily Palizzi

For the first time, this award goes to two writers. That’s not because there’s a tie or anything, but just because the two of them wrote the best story of the year. Unlike Meghan Fitzmartin, Carson and Palizzi clearly did their research. They know exactly who Impulse is and what makes him great. Heck, they even brought back Evil Eye! I really hope the two of them get to write more Impulse stories soon.

Best Artist: Todd Nauck

My favorite artist claims this award for the fifth time, purely for the work of two variant covers. It might not be entirely fair, but nobody else really grabbed my attention. Well, Laura Braga did, but for all the wrong reasons. Nauck’s covers, however, were gorgeous, exciting and wonderfully nostalgic. He somehow managed to fit every single major Young Justice character on those covers without making them feel cramped or crowded. And most of all, Nauck told a story with those covers that I really wish Fitzmartin and Braga would have told.

Best Supporting Characters: Chameleon Boy and Saturn Girl

In another first, I’m giving this award to two characters. That’s because — as far as Bart was concerned — Chameleon Boy and Saturn Girl were essentially one person. They were always together with Bart, doing the exact same thing. And they did have a pretty fun adventure in space together. Granted, most of their interactions took place off screen, but they did spend several months together, working in secret to try to save the universe and the future. Yes, Dark Crisis did reunite Bart with his oldest and best friends, but they were all pretty big jerks to Bart that whole story. And none of them really apologized to him. But he somehow had to apologize to Cassie? I don’t know. It was a big mess. Another strong contender for this award was Bart’s CW sister, Nora. She was constantly by his side both on the show and in the comics, but usually as the bossy big sister, constantly lecturing Bart to be less impulsive. I guess I ultimately place more value in watching Chameleon Boy and Saturn Girl strategically seek out Bart because of his expertise in time travel, opposed to XS babysitting her brother because she has to.

Best Villain: Mickey Mxyzptlk 

Yes, yes, I know, Dark Crisis: Young Justice was a hot mess. And the original Mr. Mxyzptlk would have been a much better choice than inventing a son for him. But Mickey was a truly formidable foe, who impacted Bart much more than Evil Eye or Magog or even Lor-Zod. Mickey sent Bart to an alternate dimension, forcing him to reach deeper into his power set than we’ve ever seen before to not only escape, but also ensnare his captor. But mostly I liked how Mickey accurately tapped into the pain of old Young Justice fans like me, who have seen our favorite characters constantly get pushed aside by the company that produces them. Yeah, Fitzmartin could have written Mickey better, but he truly was the biggest obstacle for Impulse in the year 2022.

Next time, we’ll dive into our current year of 2023, which gives us the triumphant return of Impulse to the Flash books! Sure, he’s still just a minor character, easily lost in the shuffle of the ever-growing Flash family, but at least he’s there! I don’t know what will happen after the One-Minute War, but I’ll try to keep covering it as it happens.