Year in Review: 2025

This past year was a crazy one for me, personally, as I decided to return to school and acquire a master's degree in the hopes of changing my career. My schoolwork kept me too busy to blog, which wasn't really a problem until Mark Waid decided to start writing some new Impulse stories! But now I'm all caught up and ready to review the year, beginning with the obligatory box office scroll. 

I think we may be entering a new era of film, as China's Ne Zha 2 dominated the box office with over $2 billion. The second-highest film was an American animated sequel, Zootopia 2. Just sneaking into the top 10 was DC's lone entry of the year, Superman. It was a nice reboot for the character and the studio as a whole, which has finally shed the bleak Zack Snyder vision for the colorful James Gunn world. Marvel put out three movies — Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, and Fantastic Four: First Steps — but none of them were able to crack the top 10. Fantastic Four was my personal favorite of the year (I even saw it twice in the theaters!) and I thought Thunderbolts* was really underrated. The new Captain America film was not very good, though. Of course, I still haven't seen it all the way through. When I went to see it in the theaters, I was very sick, but determined to make it through. After all, my wife and I rarely get to go out and we already had the babysitter lined up and everything. But halfway through the movie, I had to run into the bathroom and throw up. I'm so glad my local Cinemark had exceptionally clean bathrooms that day! I ended up having to vomit twice during the movie, but still managed to come back to see the Red Hulk at the end.

As for Impulse, 2025 was a year of few, but significant appearances. In March, Mark Waid featured him in Justice League Unlimited #5. It was a thrilling, but frustrating addition to the Impulse canon, as poor Bart wasn't really allowed to do anything of any significance. After being largely neglected for the next nine months, Waid suddenly thrust Impulse back into the limelight with Impulsepoint, which will carry over into 2026. This has been the most interesting thing anyone has done with Bart in years, so it should be no surprise that it heavily influenced the awards for this year.

Best Story: The Flash #26

This issue was the brilliant kickoff to Impulsepoint — Bart's decision to insert himself into the heart of the company-wide DC KO event, but on his own terms. I love how Bart actually came up with a good plan — go back in time to defeat a frozen Darkseid — but he just didn't think it through all the way. I also loved being able to return to his origin a bit, and actually got a new take on his life in the virtual reality world. And then there's the sheer fun of visiting an alternate timeline, which is always irresistible for me. It has been a long, long time since I've had an Impulse story this fun and exciting.

Best Writer: Mark Waid

For the sixth time, the creator of Impulse claims this award. He really left me frustrated after that Justice League Unlimited story — almost like he was teasing me with Impulse, but denying Bart the ability to make an impact — but Waid more than redeemed himself with the launch of Impulsepoint. And I do have to apologize to Christopher Cantwell, who is Waid's co-writer on these Flash issues, but I'm not able to discern exactly how much he's contributing to the story. The whole thing feels like a classic Waid tale and Bart's personality is handled just the way Waid would do it if he were writing alone. So he gets the award alone. This year, anyway. Last year's winner, Simon Spurrier, was never in contention. He only begrudgingly threw Bart into the background of a few scenes of his sprawling, incomprehensible mess of a Flash run.

Best Artist: Dan Mora

Mora has quickly become one of my favorite comic book artists of all time, and I am absolutely thrilled to be able to include him on this list. He drew a beautiful Bart in Justice League Unlimited, and has provided some stellar covers to Impulsepoint. Vasco Georgiev did not make much of an impression on me during Spurrier's run, but once he started drawing for Waid and Cantwell, his art began to soar. It's amazing what can happen when someone is given a coherent script! But as impressed as I was with Georgiev's work, Mora still beats him in my book.

Best Supporting Character: Wally West

This is the third time Wally has earned this title, and there really wasn't any competition. Bart's interactions with Max were too few and brief to be considered. But Wally not only had a Justice League Unlimited adventure with Bart, but now he has followed him into this Impulsepoint story. And even though he and Bart keep butting heads, Wally has shown he truly cares about Bart. It's a really fun dynamic, that has unfortunately been shoved aside by too many writers in favor of Wally and his own children. Luckily for me, I have Mark Waid to revive that glorious '90s nostalgia.

Best Villain: Darkseid

Being a fringe character, Bart seldom gets to directly battle the main villain of a major event. But Waid didn't pull any punches and threw Bart right into Darkseid's face — or rather, Darkseid's fist into Bart's face! I was truly stunned to see Bart confront the biggest villain in all of DC. And to my delight, Bart actually managed to keep his composure and find a way to not only escape, but to rescue Wally, as well. Darkseid was the main instigator behind the massive DC KO event, and he is responsible for Impulsepoint, which makes him the obvious choice for this award. There were no other contenders.

So, what's next? Well, I have no doubt Waid and Cantwell will give us a thrilling conclusion to Impulsepoint. I just hope that beyond that, Bart won't be forgotten. I know it's too much to ask for his solo series to be revived, but maybe somebody could bring back Young Justice? In either case, I promise to still be here, reviewing every appearance of Bart Allen.