Impulse Control – Part II
Written by Mark Waid & Christopher Cantwell
Art by Vasco Georgiev
Colors by Matt Herms
Letters by Buddy Deaudoin
Cover by Dan Mora
Editor Chris Rosa
Group editor Paul Kaminski
Superboy created by Jerry Siegel
By Special Arrangement with the Jerry Siegel Family
We're once again treated to a stellar, dynamic cover by Dan Mora. The energy is fantastic and I really appreciate the little detail of the lightning bolt on the bottom of Bart's shoes. I do have my nitpicks, though. Cosmic Boy's head got cut off by the Flash logo, which had to be pushed down to accommodate the DC KO Tie-In banner. An even bigger problem (pun intended) is the presence of Colossus Boy. He does not appear in this issue. It would have been neat, but he didn't, making this cover yet another example of false advertising. Sadly, Impulse didn't make it on any of the variant covers, even though he is the main character of this story.
We pick up in Tunguska, Russia, in 1908, where Bart is stunned by Max Mercury's insane diatribe about trying to appease his "dark god" (Darkseid) in order to gain Omega Speed and kill the Speed Force. To help put things in perspective for himself (and mostly the reader), Bart quickly recaps his history and that of the Legion of Super-Heroes. This is presented in cute little cartoon (or chibi) versions of these characters.
As adorable as it is to see baby Bart with his parents, this isn't what happened (at least originally). Don Allen was killed before Bart was born. And Meloni was separated from her infant the moment he displayed super-speed powers. Of course, continuity has changed quite a few times since Bart was introduced to the world back in 1994, so I guess any writer could come along and tell a different story. But until then, this is what we've got.
Anyway, Bart realizes that Darkseid has somehow changed history to cause the Legion of Super-Heroes to be inspired by him instead of Superman. And since the Legion of Darkseid has access to time travel, they were able to anticipate Bart's attack against their master. The evil Saturn Girl addresses Max as Whip Whirlwind and commands him to kill Impulse.
Bart immediately starts fleeing from his former guardian and happens to pass by Wally, who just barely popped out of the time stream. Before Bart can explain anything to Wally, Whip Whirlwind tackles the Flash and forces him into a lake. Wally easily breaks free, but is instantly attacked by the Legion of Darkseid and is subdued by a blast of electricity from Lightning Lad. Whip complains that Flash and Impulse are too fast for him and begs for the Omega Speed. But Cosmic Boy calls him a peasant, unready for such a gift. Cosmic Boy explains that they need to capture Impulse, as his Allen bloodline makes him a conduit. Since Bart's too fast for Whip, Cosmic Boy asks Saturn Girl to summon "her."
As Bart keeps running, he feels the Speed Force screaming out in pain. He also regrets having to fight Max, saying, "He's like ... my ... I dunno. But I care about him." Bart passes a train labeled Trans-Siberian, which tells him he's in Russia. Suddenly, he's slammed into by a blast from the past, his long-forgotten cousin, Jenni Ognats, aka XS.
Bart likened this experience to the head-on collisions he learned about in driver's ed. He tries to talk to XS, calling her "Cousin Jenni," but she coldly insists that her only family is the Legion. She proclaims herself the living embodiment of Omega Speed, which Bart thinks sounds pretty dumb. He then catches her monologuing about the frailty of the Speed Force and he escapes by hopping aboard the Trans-Siberian train. XS quickly catches up to him, and offers him a spot on the Legion of Darkseid. Bart's thought bubble creates a cute little equation of Impulse plus Darkseid equalling a big red X.
Wally, meanwhile, quickly recovered from the electrocution and stole Cosmic Boy's flight ring to quickly catch up to Bart. He's frustrated that Bart took this fight to a crowded train, which means they're going to be changing history now. He pops down into the train just in time to hear Jenni call Bart the fastest of the other speedsters. She encourages him to embrace the Omega, repeating the famous phrase, "Darkseid is." Bart, of course, can't help but mock that phrase by asking, "Darkseid is what?"
At this point, Wally intervenes and knocks XS out the window, much to Bart's horror. Wally tries to explain that this Jenni and Max aren't the real versions that they know and love, as they're caught in a new reality corrupted by Darkseid. He then orders Bart to help him evacuate the passengers off this train and blames him for permanently altering history because he decided to leap into the past. Bart argues that as heroes, they should change history and fix every bad thing.
This argument is interrupted by the arrival of the Legion of Darkseid. Wally tries to warn the train passengers to lift up their hands and feet to protect them from Lightning Lad's attack, but none of them understand him. Bart shouts out to them in Russian, and they listen, managing to survive the electrified train. Wally is shocked to learn that Bart speaks Russian, and Bart admits that he was so bored on the Watchtower that he speed-read a bunch of language dictionaries.
Wally and Bart then evacuate all the passengers in two seconds, but they are caught aboard the train as Cosmic Boy raises the entire vehicle 700 feet in the air. He then lets the train fall while the Legion of Darkseid brings Whip Whirlwind into a time bubble to go prevent Barry Allen from being struck by lightning and becoming the Flash.
After the train crashes, Wally is grateful that his protective aura managed to save both him and Bart. Of course, he's still angry and begins chewing out Bart again for dragging them back in time. He asks why Bart can't see things his way for once, to which Bart angrily shouts, "Because I'm not you!" Bart sadly laments that he's not just another Flash — a feeling that Wally understands all too well. Suddenly, Bart feels something wrong. He's lost his connection to the Speed Force, fearing it's dead. Luckily Wally is still connected, but he can feel the pain the Force is in. Realizing that the Legion has changed Bart's past, Wally says they have to get Barry Allen.
This was another solid entry in this story. The art was once again dynamic and perfectly fitting the frenzied pace of a confused Bart and Wally running around like chickens with their heads cut off. And Bart's personality was perfectly represented by Waid and Cantwell. Unfortunately, I don't know how much Cantwell contributed to this story — I suppose it's likely that Waid merely supplied the main plot and Cantwell handled all the nitty-gritties, but that's just speculation. Either way, the final product is very nice. I am a little sad, however, that this issue ended with Bart losing his powers, at that means he's going to have a significantly reduced role moving forward.
I also have tons of questions that I don't expect anyone to answer. If Bart's enrolled in high school and taking driver's ed classes, then where does he live? Who's his guardian? And when, exactly, did Bart read all those language dictionaries? Has he been living on the Watchtower for an extended period of time? Or was this something he just did a minute before deciding to take Irey out on a joyride? Longtime fans will remember how Geoff Johns gave Bart the ability to remember everything he read — a unique trait among speedsters — but nobody has really nailed down whether that power still applies. Oh well. I'll just try to enjoy what little of Impulse I do get these days.
To be continued...
