The Final Night #1

Chapter One: Dusk

Karl Kesel ... Writer
Stuart Immonen ... Penciller
Jose Marzan Jr. ... Inker
Lee Loughridge .. Colorist
Gaspar ... Letterer
Ali Morales ... Asst. Editor
Dan Thorsland ... Editor

The cover by Immonen and Marzan shows the biggest, most powerful DC characters — Batman, Flash, Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter — standing on Clark Kent's place of employment, The Daily Planet. It's an OK cover, but it seems to suffer from some of the crude computerized coloring that plagued this era.

Our story begins with Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes being alerted to an approaching alien spacecraft, which just happens to land in Metropolis. The alien introduces herself as Dusk and delivers a dire warning: The Sun-Eater is coming! She explains that a gigantic alien is on its way to devour the sun and destroy the solar system. So Superman summons every superhero imaginable to figure out a way to stop this upcoming threat.

And that brief glimpse of Impulse swinging his legs back and forth is all we see of him in this issue. The first plan the heroes come up with is to have Mr. Miracle create a large boom tube to teleport the Sun-Eater away. But that fails. Then all the energy-based heroes combine their powers to create a second sun in an effort to lure away the Sun-Eater, but that fails, too. Soon, the Sun-Eater envelops the sun, casting the Earth in frigid darkness. And Lex Luthor decides to end his tropical vacation to help the heroes save the world.




So that's not a terrible beginning to a big event book. Putting the sun at risk certainly is a large enough threat to unite all of DC's heroes, but unfortunately, only a select few can actually do something about it. It's a similar problem that faced Zero Hour, but unlike Zero Hour, Final Night so far isn't providing any random fighting opportunities for all the land-bound heroes like Impulse.

I only have the digital copy of this series, so there won't be any ads here.

Impulse doesn't appear in the next issue, so we'll skip ahead to The Final Night #3.

Impulse #18

Virtually Wasted

Martin Pasko Guest Writer
Anthony Williams Guest Penciller
Wayne Faucher Inker
Chris Eliopoulos Letterer
Tom McCraw Colorist
Jason Hernandez-Rosenblatt Assistant Editor
Paul Kupperberg Editor
Impulse created by Mark Waid & Mike Wieringo

Sadly it's time for another guest-creator issue of Impulse. But, as always, we have a nice cover by Humberto Ramos and Wayne Faucher. Unfortunately, this is a very misleading cover. Impulse sadly does not go into space ... yet. And the colorist made Bart's hair too light and his eyes blue, instead of yellow. But, this cover is notable for being the first in the series to show Bart not wearing his Impulse uniform.

Our story begins with a hallucinating teenager walking off the top of a tall building. Luckily, the news was right on top of this, giving Impulse a chance to rush over and catch the kid with a small whirlwind. Impulse sticks around to listen to the police, and he learns that there was a similar case not too long ago of a hallucinating teen showing no signs of taking any drugs.

Bart runs home, changes into his New York Yankees jersey, and finds Max preparing to spend a weekend alone at a log cabin. I guess Max knows he can leave Bart alone for a few days after he got by just fine when Max was kidnapped by Savitar. Bart thinks Max is still mad about the maid outfit prank during his adventure with Zatanna, but I suspect Max is trying to figure out what to do after telling Helen he's really her father. Anyway, Bart warns Max to avoid poison ivy, but Max assures him he can take care of himself. As soon as he leaves, Bart begins planning a party.

We then head to a sketchy part of town, where a shady man named Saul Zaranec is strong-arming a 17-year-old genius named Walter Traeger into providing him with some kind of high-tech implants. Walt warns him that there is a glitch in the transmitter not allowing subjects to exit the program and he needs more time to test the devices. But Zaranec accuses him of stalling and sends him on his way. Privately, Zaranec reveals to his henchmen that he's already got men to build more implants, he just needs Walt to provide the prototypes. And if Walt doesn't deliver in the next 24 hours, they will eliminate him.

The next day, Bart takes a field trip to The Dean Acheson Space Flight Center. (Dean Acheson was the Secretary of State under President Harry S. Truman.) Bart's class gets to see the astronaut training area, and Bart is most interested in watching a man experience the sensation of weightlessness while just sitting in an ordinary room. Walt Traeger then introduces himself and explains that the man Bart was watching was using his virtual reality program. Unlike conventional VR programs that require cables and headsets, Walt's technology utilizes a small implant, imbedded under the skin near the temple to transmit images directly into the trainee's brain.

We then check in with Zaranec, and find out that Walt has apparently sabotaged the equipment he gave him, making it impossible for Zaranec to replicate it. He does still have half a dozen implants, but he sends his goons to visit Walt personally to take all of Walt's equipment and take Walt out of the picture.

Meanwhile, Bart is bored after beating level 12 of Galactus Viper. So he decides to prank call Max at the cabin, but finds Max has set his machine to "announce only" specifically so Bart couldn't harass him with annoying messages. I guess Max knew that if there was a real emergency, then Bart would just run over there. Anyway, Bart gets so mad he throws the phone out the window, shattering the glass. Bart then decides to take a quick jog, which happens to take him right past Walt Traeger driving by. So Bart decides to follow him, suspecting he might be behind the cases of the hallucinating teens.

Walt arrives at his boathouse to find Zaranec's men tearing up the place. Luckily, Impulse isn't far behind, able to disarm and scare away the men. Impulse also saves Walt's computer and helps him clean up, while Walt tells his brief life story. Apparently he graduated from high school at 8, got his doctorate before his driver's license, and has been living on his own since him mom died a couple of months ago. But he'll turn 18 next month, way before social services gets to his case file. Walt also explains that Saul Zaranec's father used to own Z Corp, a flight simulator manufacturer. But after Zaranec's dad died, the company couldn't keep up with the improvements made in virtual reality and went bankrupt. So Zaranec started dealing amphetamines to employees at the Acheson Space Center, and one of his customers told him about Walt's implants. Soon, Walt found himself being forced to go into business with Zaranec to create high-tech hallucinogens.

While Walt and Bart talk and clean, neither of them realize that Zaranec's men have regrouped and decided to turn Walt's own technology against him. They've loaded the implants in a high-tech rifle in an attempt to shoot the device into Walt's temple from a distance. But the fist shot hits Impulse instead, who falls off the boat and into the lake. The second shot misses Walt entirely, but knocks a hanging plant on his head, which knocks him out. Zaranec's goons believe they tagged Walt with the implant, and they carry him away.

Impulse groggily pulls himself out of the lake, feeling like an anchor and wondering why he isn't bleeding if he was shot in the head. Impulse sees Zaranec's men drive away with Walt, and he begins to follow them. But just then, the goons activate the implant, believing it's in Walt's head. Suddenly, Bart finds himself flying through space in an astronaut suit, just like on the cover. When Walt fails to react, the henchmen decide to ramp up the hallucination, causing Impulse to believe he's encountered a UFO carrying several deceased rock stars, including Elvis Presley, John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix. Impulse then realizes he's in a hallucination, so he vibrates the implant out of his head.

By the time Impulse recovers, Zaranec's men have given up on tormenting Walt with the implant and have decided to just shoot him and dump his body in a cave. Zaranec himself arrived at the cave to do the job, but Impulse got there just in time. Using the stalagmites and stalactites as weapons, Impulse disarms and knocks out the bad guys and save Walt, who also turns himself in for his role in the whole mess.

Bart goes home and acts all cool when Max gets back, saying he almost missed him. Bart then says, "But that whole move with that virtual reality guy was stoopid buddies, yo?" I don't know if that is supposed to be 30th century slang or 1996 slang, and Max doesn't know either, groaning that the language has been reinvented in the two days he's been gone. Bart then notices Max covered in rashes from poison ivy and teases him the rest of the night.


I didn't care too much for this issue. It certainly dealt with an interesting idea, but the whole story was too convoluted and required too much convenient happenstance. And while I appreciate the effort to make Walt closer to Bart's age, I felt like Pasko put too much on Walt's plate. It's not enough to make him the smartest 17-year-old on Earth, who has created this amazing technology, but he also has to be an orphan? And his relationship with Zaranec was far too complicated, especially for stand-alone, throw-away characters. It reminds me a lot of Gridlock, except this time there was a teenager involved.

R.J. Spassov, of Bolivar, Ohio, actually expresses some disappointment in Mark Waid, wanting him to delve deeper into the topic of religion. R.J. says it would have been nice to see Bart actually investigate some different views, as long as the issue didn't turn into a tirade for or against organized religion.

Phillip Cosand, of Bothell, Wash., speculates that Bart must be close to 16, and he says he'd like to see a story of Bart learning how to drive. Editor Paul Kupperberg says that would be fun, but he fails to correct Phillip by saying Bart is closer to 14 years old.

Doud Ohmer, of Covington, Ky., wonders why Helen Claiborne didn't inherit any super speed from Max Mercury, but he is excited to see how she reacts to the news that Max is her dad. Doud also enjoyed seeing Trickster and White Lightning team up, and hopes the Trickster makes more appearances in Impulse or The Flash.

Paul D. Petrovic, of Canton, Ohio, says he enjoyed Impulse #14, but he warns that if Humberto Ramos permanently leaves, he will drop the book.

Tony Favo, of Grovedale, Australia, applauds Mark Waid for waiting a year to reintroduce White Lightning and sticking to his plot lines instead of succumbing to the "Bad Girl" popularity. Tony also asks if John Fox (the future Flash) will appear in Impulse, but Kupperberg says he'll be too busy.

PL Kenny, of Deckerville, Mich., praises issues #13 and #14, enjoying the moments with Roland and Carol. PL is also happy that Mark Waid was able to handle religion without falling into offensive clichés.

Laurie Flechner, of Bridgeport, Conn., praises Ramos' cartoonish art and Waid's stellar dialogue. She also wants Impulse to meet the Sovereign Seven again, and hopes for more scenes with Helen, Carol and Preston. Now on to the ads:

Retro name. New attitude. Teen Titans. By Dan Jurgens and George Pérez.

Explore the Heart of Darkness computer game sampler. Free! With two wrappers from Gummi Savers.

Nick in the Afternoon. The Return of Stick Stickly. I do vaguely remember this popsicle stick hosting the brief segments between cartoons.

The new animated series Superman comes to Kids' WB! this fall. This Superman show was actually very good, and I'll eventually get around to reviewing it on my other blog.

DC OverPower card game. Batman and Superman.

Coming to life this summer ... The Adventures of Pinocchio trading cards.

Watch This Space tells a rather interesting story about the publication delay in Robin Plus. (For some reason they don't say Robin Plus Impulse, but that's what it is.) Apparently penciller John Royle was trying to photocopy several pages of the comic in Manchester, England, when he got caught in an IRA bombing. John made it out OK, but three pages were lost, which he had to re-draw from scratch.

Red K. It'll rock Superman's world. Superman: Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite.

Next time, we'll head to November 1996 to take part in DC's big event of the year — Final Night.

The Ray #27

Time and Tempest Book III: Requiem

Christopher Priest – Script
Jason Armstrong – Penciller
Drew Geraci – Inker
Kevin Cunningham – Letterer
James Sinclair – Colorist
Alisande Morales – Asst. Editor
Brian Augustyn – Editor

The cover by Armstrong and Geraci shows Ray rapidly aging and disintegrating. This is a rather striking image, and it almost happens in the issue, but not quite.

If you can remember back to The Ray #25, you'll recall that in the year 2016, an adult Bart Allen, now the Flash, grew frustrated with Ray for being a big jerk and knocked him out. Unfortunately, Bart also left Ray's door open, which enabled some of his business rivals to come in and shoot him in the head. But what we didn't know then, was that Ray's energy was transported a few thousand years into the future to Warworld, which is inhabited by the survivors of Earth's demise, locked in never-ending conflict. Ray was brought there by the mysterious Tempest, who wants him to end the fighting, but he's not even sure where to begin.

After some fighting, and an unexplained and unnecessary transformation of Ray back into a 19-year-old, he meets Turon, the son of Tempest. He reveals that Tempest, who is the daughter of Captain Atom and Maxima, has been lying to Ray the whole time. Apparently she has been perpetuating the war and wants to absorb Ray's power.

So Ray uses himself as bait, visiting Tempest and allowing her to suck away his power. This causes Ray to rapidly age and shrivel up, similar to what we see on the cover, but it also creates an opening for Turon to attack his evil mother. Ray then recovers, becomes a 40-year-old again, and absorbs Tempest's energy, killing her once and for all. Ray then returns to his body in 2016 and finally dies in front of Flash, Triumph, and his girlfriend Gaelon.

We then return to 1996, where 19-year-old Ray is reunited with his father, who he thought was dead. And the story continues in a decidedly non-Impulse direction, so I'll just end it here.


I was disappointed by this issue. After The Ray #25 spent so much time developing this adult Bart, I was really excited to see him again. But he didn't do anything in this issue, which overall, felt rather worthless. I mean, who cares about the future version of Ray traveling even further in the future to defeat some vague villain? I sure don't.

There aren't any letters to the editor in this issue, but there are a couple of new ads:

Protector of the earth? Alpha Centurion. Story by Barbara Kesel and Stuart Immonen. Art by Dean Zachary, Wade Von Grawbadger, and Pam Eklund.

Watch This Space talks about New York Knicks center Patrick Ewing visiting the DC offices to promote the greatest movie of all time, Space Jam. Unfortunately, DC incorrectly listed Ewing's height as 6-foot-7, when he is a full 7-feet tall. But DC did announce a comic adaptation of that most wonderful movie, so I need to see if I can track that down. Watch This Space also announces a series of cross-overs with the Legion of Super-heroes, including Impulse.

Who says protecting the universe ain't no party? Superboy and The Ravers. By K. Kesel, Mattsson, Pelletier, and Davis.

Sex, bugs, rock 'n roll. Joe's Apartment.

Next time, we head to October 1996 for Impulse #18.

Impulse #17

Quicker Than the Eye

Mark Waid Story
Humberto Ramos Pencils
Wayne Faucher Inks
Chris Eliopoulos Letterer
Tom McCraw Colorist
Jason Hernandez-Rosenblatt – Assistant Editor
Paul Kupperberg – Editor
Impulse created by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo

This is another great cover by Ramos and Faucher, which shows our lovable Impulse being pulled out of Zatanna's hat. I love everything about this cover, except for Zatanna's brown hair. Everyone knows her hair is black! But the important thing is this cover announces a rather high-profile guest-star in Impulse. And, as our editors kindly remind us, this is not the first time Impulse has met Zatanna. They teamed up in The Adventures of Superman #522, helping Superman rebuild Metropolis. Actually, Zatanna just showed up at the end and brought the whole city back to normal with her magic, completely negating the work Impulse and the other heroes had done the whole day.

Our story begins with Bart waiting for Max to get ready for Zatanna's one and only show in Manchester. Bart feels like Max is being a turtle, so he rushes off to the arcade. But Max arrives before he can put the quarter in the machine, and the two head backstage to meet Zatanna. Max is an old family friend, having known Zatanna's father, Zatara, and helped Zatanna defeat Dr. Light not too long ago. Zatanna thinks Bart is adorable, and she asks him to be her assistant for the night. Max thinks putting Bart on a stage would open the flood gates, but Zatanna brushes him off. Bart is naturally very excited by the whole thing, and he even begins talking backwards to mimic Zatanna's spell-casting ability.

Zatanna's show gets off to a rough start, though. Zatanna introduces a trick called Poseidon's Coffin, which involves her being put in a straightjacket and submerged in a tank of water. But Bart puts on the straightjacket and performs the trick himself before Zatanna can finish introducing it. The rest of the show continues in this pattern, with Bart doing everything before Zatanna and messing things up. Finally, Zatanna gets so frustrated, she shouts, "Trab —teg tsol!"

The crowd cheers at the disappearance of Bart, believing it to be part of the act. But Max knows better, and all Zatanna can do is shrug, and cast a spell to teleport herself to Bart's location. It probably would've been easier for her to cast a spell to bring Bart back, but then we wouldn't have this fun adventure that follows.

Bart finds himself in a magical realm with floating castles and giant warriors. They tell him he's in the Realm of Kroz, and that he's not welcome there. They attack him with their massive maces, which shred Bart's civilian clothes, leaving his Impulse uniform underneath. Bart begins to play with the giants, causing them to attack each other. He then heads off toward the floating castle, believing he's in a video game.

Zatanna arrives just in time to see Bart run off, and when she tries to follow him, she discovers her magic doesn't work in this realm. She is then captured by the giants, who take her to the evil wizard Kroz. She tries to tell him she and Impulse arrived by accident, and Impulse thinks it's all a game, but Kroz believes they're his enemies, and he sends his minions out to destroy Impulse. But Impulse easily and gleefully defeats all the monsters, mummies, giants and assassins.

Impulse then arrives at Kroz's chambers, and, wielding a large samurai sword, quotes Buzz Lightyear with a "To infinity ... and beyond!" Bart has fun fighting with Kroz, and asks him if he's from Legend of Magda. Zatanna tries to help by casting her spells, but none of them work. She notices that Kroz is beginning to anticipate Impulse's patterns and speed, so she tries to warn him and accidentally says, "Trab — wols nwod!"

Impulse then freezes in midair, and Kroz silences Zatanna before she can give him back his speed. Kroz prepares one final blast from his magic staff, but Impulse reveals he was faking it and dodges the blast in time. The spell bounces off a mirror behind Impulse and strikes Kroz, slowly disintegrating him.

Zatanna asks Bart how they're supposed to get home if her powers really don't work, and Bart chides her for not playing enough video games. He grabs Kroz's staff and tests it out by summoning a bunch of video games, Max in a maid's outfit, and a whole bunch of bunnies. Zatanna finally yanks the staff away from him and uses the staff to return them home.

Bart's disappointed to see the staff doesn't work in this world, and he offers to help Zatanna clean up. She strongly refuses his help, and he thanks her for the game. The exasperated Zatanna almost transforms Bart into something, but restrains herself and pushes him away, right toward a very upset Max still in the maid's outfit.


This was a really fun, back-to-basics goofy Impulse adventure. Which is necessary coming off the more serious story of Max being Helen's father. And it was wonderful to have Humberto Ramos doing the art, since his great expressions and timing helps the comedy shine. Well, maybe timing isn't the right word for a comic book, but perhaps pacing? Anyway, it was great, whatever he did.

The letters column begins with an editor's note thanking Anthony Williams for filling in for Ramos. I personally wasn't too crazy about Williams' work, but he apparently pleased DC enough to become the go-to fill-in artist for Impulse.

Blake M. Petit, of Thibodaux, La., praises Mark Waid for discussing the topic of religion, and he wonders what exactly the Trickster is up to in Impulse #14. Blake also falls just short of criticizing Anthony Williams' art, mostly lamenting the fact that Humberto Ramos is taking so many breaks.

John Shaver, of Ankeny, Iowa, calls Impulse a really cool book and thanks the creators for bringing back White Lightning.

Jeff DeMos, of New York, got a bit philosophical about the religious nature of issue #14, drawing parallels to Bart wanting Max to tell him what to believe in and so many people in real life who just follow the crowd.

Ed Homa Jr., of Claymont, Del., says he would have liked to see Mike Parobeck or Mike Wieringo be the fill-in artist, but also says Williams did a good job. Ed also likes the idea of Trickster and White Lightning forming a rogues gallery for Impulse.

Doud Ohmer, of Covington, Ky., hopes that Trickster teams up with Impulse to bring down Lord Manny, Blotto and White Lightning. He also wants Bart to go on a date with Carol.

Mike Harris, of Belleville, Ontario, calls Impulse the coolest comic around and says he loves the interactions between Bart and Max and how Bart helps all the kids around him. Mike also requests team-ups with Green Lantern and the Ray. Now for the ads:

Home is where the hostages are. House Arrest. Starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Pollak.

You can earn prizes or cash. Olympia Sales Club.

CHOMP! The Video Game. A CD-ROM based on Gummi Savers.

Alaska. A missing father. A desperate search. An unforgettable adventure.

The Superman Batman Adventures on USA Network.

Legends of the Dead Earth. Aquaman Annual #2. By Peter David, Ed Hannigan, and Steve Mitchell.

Watch This Space talks mostly about Kingdom Come, detailing a book-signing tour for Alex Ross and Mark Waid.

New low fare to the third dimension. Virtual Boy.

Next time, we return to the far future of 2016 to catch one final glimpse of adult Bart Allen in The Ray #27.

JLX #1

A League of Their Own!

Gerard Jones & Mark Waid Writers
Howard Porter Penciller
John Dell Inker
Chris Eliopoulos Letterer
Gloria Vasquez & Heroic Age Colorist and Separations
Ali Morales Ass't. Ed.
Brian Augustyn & Ruben Diaz Editors
Special thanks to Chris Duffy

This is the byproduct of the great DC Versus Marvel/Marvel Versus DC event of 1996. After several of the top heroes of each company battled each other to an indecisive conclusion, DC and Marvel created a handful of standalone comics taking place in the Amalgam Universe, which combined DC characters with their Marvel counterparts. With JLX #1 — a combination of Justice League and the X-Men — we have Aquaman combined with Namor the Sub-Mariner, Cyclops with Ray, Nightcrawler with Creeper, and our lovable Impulse paired with Quicksilver (who recently had a great part in X-Men: Days of Future's Past). This Impulse/Quicksilver character is named Mercury, and although it's not explicitly stated in this issue, I've seen websites name him Pietro Allen. I like how his design is basically the normal Impulse look with a simple color swap — it shows just how great that original Mike Wieringo design is.

Our story starts with a chaotic battle over the waters of the North Atlantic. Apparently Mariner had been framed of some great crime and imprisoned by the Judgment League Avengers. After being rescued by his fellow mutants — a splinter group now calling themselves JLX — they get into a big fight with their former teammates. Mercury is kept busy catching all of Hawkeye's trick arrows before they disable their cruiser. But Captain Marvel bashes the cruiser, preventing Mercury from catching one arrow, which knocks out Runaway.

Finally, Angel-Hawk decides to put an end to the fighting by faking a broken back with the help of the mysterious Mr. X. When all the heroes see one of their own so badly injured, they decide to call off the fighting for now. The Judgment League Avengers take off, vowing to recapture Mariner if his guilt can be proven.

The JLX jump into the cruiser with Mr. X to resume their mission to find the ancestral home of mutantkind. Mr. X warns them that Captain Marvel damaged the hull, which means submerging could kill them all, but they all agree that no risk is too great. Mr. X uses his telepathy to probe Mariner's mind to find the location of Atlantis, and all the heroes brace themselves for their dangerous mission. Mercury, in particular, is quite impatient, seeking any distraction to take his mind off his recent failure with the Flash.

The damaged cruiser nearly falls apart, but it manages to get JLX to the domed city of Atlantis. Once inside, the heroes find all the civilians mysteriously missing. Suddenly, they're attacked by Will Magnus and his army of sentinels. The fight goes poorly for JLX, until Mr. X transforms into a large green alien to chase away Magnus and his robots. Mercury asks X what kind of vitamins he's been taking, but X reveals himself to be J'onn J'onzz, the last survivor of the Skrulls. Mercury wants to chase after Magnus, but J'onn says their priority should be finding the lost citizens of Atlantis.


Wow. What a wild and crazy story. And intentionally so, if I'm not mistaken. Everything was so wacky and over-the-top, it kind of felt like they were making fun of the melodrama that so often prevails in the Marvel comics of this time. It certainly seems like the creators of this comic had a fun time making it, pretending this was part of a much-larger, long-established universe. They created a fake letters page, and sprinkled in tons of editorial references to comics that don't exist. For example, Mercury wasn't fast enough to save Flash from Professor Kang in Flash and The Scarlet Witch #10.

It was kind of boring that Impulse was combined with another speedster, which didn't give him any new powers. But he did have a new "emo" attitude, which was pretty fun. Overall, I'd say I did enjoy this issue. It had a pretty fun and wacky concept, and thankfully didn't take itself seriously. We will see one more of these Amalgam comics, but sadly, Mercury will play a very small role in it. Now on to the ads:

Bag one of these cool Sega Game Gear Games and score $5.00 back from Honeycomb! Now on marked boxes of Honeycomb and these other Post cereals, you'll find a rebate offer good for $5 back when you mail it in with a proof of purchase from any of these exciting Sega Game Gear Games.

A new breed of Gothic. Paradise Lost. Draconian Times. Featuring the first single "Enchantment."

Primus. Tales from the punchbowl. Enhanced CD.

Take a look-see. The Bottle Rockets. The Brooklyn Side. And Dog's Eye View. Happy Nowhere. At Sam Goody and Musicland.

Super hot deals. Loud Lucy. Breathe. And Poe Hello. Also at Sam Goody and Musicland.

Vampire: The Dark Ages role playing game.

From the jaws of defeat ... DC Versus Marvel Issue #4. David, Jurgens, Castellini, Rubinstein, Neary.

Do you have what it takes to be a superhero?! D.W. Bradley's CyberMage: Darklight Awakening. Available on PC CD-ROM.

Next time, we get back on track by heading to September 1996 for Impulse #17.

Impulse #16

Running from the Past

Mark Waid Story
Humberto Ramos Pencils
Wayne Faucher Inks
Chris Eliopoulos Letterer
Tom McCraw Colorist
Outgoing associate and editor Ruben Diaz and Brian Augustyn welcome new kings of speed Jason Hernandez-Rosenblatt and Paul Kupperberg
Impulse created by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo

It is pretty sad to see the great editorial team leave, but it is wonderful to get back on track with Ramos drawing Impulse again. And we're treated to another solid cover by Ramos and Faucher, showing us that this will be a special Max Mercury issue. It's good for Impulse to take the back seat every now and then, especially when we're in Waid's competent hands.

Our story begins with a flashback. We see Max and Bart move into their Manchester house, and Bart is overly eager to unpack at super speed, but Max holds him back. Their moving boxes also had some labels — Humberto's Pencils, for one — and one called Bart's Cool Stuff. I'm not exactly what possessions Bart had with him, coming so soon after arriving from the 30th century, but that doesn't really matter. The flashback continues to show Max meeting Helen Claiborne, and Bart trying desperately to get the two dating, but Max continued to keep his distance. Until now.

We catch up with the end of Impulse #15, with Helen being abused by her ex-husband, Jim. Max slams Jim into the wall, shouting, "Take your hands off my daughter!" Bart and Helen are equally surprised by this, and Max, finding it difficult to explain, quickly runs away. Bart can't help himself from commenting on Max running faster than he's ever seen. He then realizes that he basically told Helen that Max is a superhero, and he tries to cover his tracks. But the more he says, the more he reveals, ultimately telling Helen that he, too, is a superhero.

We then get an extended flashback of Max back in 1947. While battling the evil Dr. Morlo, Max inhaled some mustard gas. He was taken to the house of Dr. David Claiborne, where he and his wife, Laura, watched after Max while he was in a nine-week coma. And even after Max wakes up, he's in such a bad shape, David has him stay in the house for a few more months until he's fully healed.

As time passes, Max begins to form a friendly relationship with Laura. He tells her about his time-traveling past, which means he has no friends or family. He points out how similar he is to Laura, who has no life outside the house and has a very distant husband. Max asks Laura if she loves David, and all she can say is, "He's my husband."

Back in 1996, Helen tells Bart that she has noticed a lot of odd behavior around him, but never gave it too much thought. Luckily, Bart is able to change the subject to Helen's abusive ex-husband. Helen insists she's fine, and says this has happened before, which is why she has a restraining order against Jim. The police arrive and take Jim away, while Helen, like Max, reflects on her past mistakes.

We return to 1948, where Max offers to take David fishing. But David, the only doctor in Manchester, says he's too busy. Max points out how often Laura is left alone while David is working, and David says Laura can handle it and that she knew what she was getting when she married him. Max asks David if he loves Laura, and all he can say is, "She's my wife."

Late one night, Max and Laura go up to the roof to gaze at the stars — the one constant in all his time-traveling. Laura tells Max she's longed wished for an escape from her loneliness. One thing leads to another, and Max and Laura make love. David walks in on them and weeps, saying, "She's my wife ..." Laura runs to David's side, and Max runs far, far away. He runs so fast, he jumps ahead to 1957.

The current-day Max is still running, still shedding bitter tears. Bart manages to catch up to him, having followed the scorched footprints — although he is a bit out of breath. Bart tells Max he let slip  the fact he and Max are superheroes, but he's willing to take responsibility. Max finally stops running and tells Bart he'll talk to Helen.

So Max sits down on a couch with Helen and tells her everything. He says when he finally got the nerve to look up Laura again, he found she had already died, but was survived by a daughter. So when the opportunity to relocate Bart came along, he chose Manchester in order to be closer to Helen. But Helen is quite upset that Max never said anything of this before, and even let her flirt with him. The distraught Helen tells Max she won't reveal his or Bart's secret identity, then she tells Max to leave.

But before he opens the door, Helen tells Max that he was the smile that occasionally appeared on her mom's face. David left Laura when Helen was very young, and Helen never remarried. She was often very sad, but every now and then would look at the stars and smile. Helen says she's glad to finally know the whole story. And this story ends with Max taking Helen outside to stargaze, while Bart watches from a distance.


Aaahh ... it's so nice to get back to the great team of Waid and Ramos. The emotion of this issue would have fallen flat in lesser hands. And it's so great to have the payoff on Max's mysterious background, which Waid has been teasing to pretty much the whole series. But, as wonderful as it was to have the focus on Max, I do have to say that I do not approve of his actions here. Under no circumstances is it appropriate to sleep with another man's wife. And running away/avoiding this problem for a lifetime, with or without time travel, is not good, either. But I applaud Mark Waid for giving us a flawed character. Max became more human with this issue, and more interesting.

Our first letter is a goodbye from Brian Augustyn, titled, "Family man loses mind — quits secure job." He basically says he's stepping down as a DC editor after eight years so he can spend more time with his two daughters. But he doesn't entirely say goodbye from DC, as he transitions into a freelance writer role, with one of his jobs co-writing The Flash with Mark Waid. I will miss Augustyn's great responses to letters, but I am looking forward to his run on The Flash.

Randall Kirby, of Ontario, Ore., simply says Impulse #12 was one of the best comics he's read in a while and he bought three issues of it.

Eric Gapstur, of Belle Plane, Iowa, said he used to be a Marvel fan until they started changing Spider-Man and Wolverine too much. So he picked up a copy of Impulse #8, and has since switched his allegiance to DC.

Adam Austen, of London, liked everything about issue #12, and wept at the departure of Jenni Ognats. He says the only bad thing about Impulse is that he has to wait 30 days for the next issue.

Melani Nazelrod, of Riverton, N.J., identifies herself as a 15-year-old girl. She calls Mark Waid an inspiration and Humberto Ramos the best and most original artist in the comic book industry. She begs for an Impulse cartoon, asks for Bart to visit Jenni in the future, and requests a Max Mercury miniseries.

Jason Domingo, of Montreal, identifies himself as a 13-year-old boy, and he says Impulse is one of the best things to have happened to his comics collection in a long time. The first thing that attracted him was Ramos' manga-style pencils, but he was also excited to see Waid writing it, since he creates realistic teenager situations. Jason expresses concern that Ramos will be pulled away from Impulse by Marvel (which is essentially what happened). Jason also asks if the character named Mercury in JLX #1 is the Amalgam version of Impulse. Jason Hernandez-Rosenblatt confirms this, and I hate to admit this, but I've never heard about this. None of the comic book databases included this version of Impulse in my searches, but now as I look at the cover of this Justice League X-Men book, I see what is clearly Impulse, only with silver hair. So I apologize for the gap in my efforts to review every Bart Allen appearance in chronological order. I will acquire and review the two issues this Mercury (Pietro Allen) appears in as soon as possible. Now for the ads:

They told her to get a life. They didn't say whose. Supergirl by Peter David, Gary Frank, Cam Smith.

The world's greatest heroes. Only in their dreams! Justice League: A Midsummer's Nightmare by Mark Waid, Fabian Nicieza, Jeff Johnson, Darick Robertson, Jon Holdredge, Hanibal Rodriguez.

Gotham barely survived Contagion. Can the world bear its Legacy? Detective Comics #700 by Chuck Dixon, Graham Nolan, Scott Hanna.

A rather odd ad explaining the recently announced DC line of science fiction titles now has to be called Helix, probably for legal reasons. I don't know and I don't care.

Legends of the Dead Earth. Azrael Annual #2 and Superboy Annual #3.

The Phantom trading cards. Disappearing from shelves everywhere this summer.

Next time ... well, depending on how long it takes for JLX #1 to arrive, it could be that DC/Marvel team-up, or it could be Impulse #17.

Impulse Annual #1

Speed Force!

Steve Vance Writer
Mike Parobeck Penciller
John Nyberg Inker
Chris Eliopoulos Letterer
Tom McCraw Colorist
Alisande Morales Assistant Editor
Brian Augustyn Editor
Impulse created by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo

Our cover is by Humberto Ramos and Wayne Faucher. Our Impulse, Bart Allen, is in blue in the top left corner, almost like a guiding spirit to the new Impulse, Trace Wyndham. Unfortunately, Trace has blond hair inside the issue, and the aliens in the bottom right corner also look a bit different and wear clothes. I guess this is what happens when you have a different art team for the cover.

Our story begins with a one-page explanation: Earth is dead. Those who once might have called it home are long scattered to the endless stars. But in that scattering, on a thousand different worlds, by a thousand different ways ... Earth's greatest legends live on.

We open on the planet Mtoncanf, where the restless Trace Wyndham is eager to board a starship and explore the cosmos. But the ruling Dargonian Empire won't let him leave. So Trace rushes past a guard and wreaks havoc in a restricted area. After causing a rather small mess, he's able to escape the aliens, only to be caught by an aging man with red hair and a white robe.

The man introduces himself as Kinnock and reveals he has super speed by zipping Trace over to his secret school miles away. He introduces Trace to his class, a bunch of teenagers with names like Zephyr, Glide, Spark, Fusion and Wisp. They're all practicing martial arts and tell Trace they've joined Kinnock in his fight against the Dragonians. But they don't fight the alien overlords directly, realizing the empire is far too mighty to defeat head-on. Instead, they focus their efforts on making Mtoncanf as inhospitable as possible for the Dragonians by sabotaging with their computers, putting sand in their food and flooding their quarters with insects. The idea is that eventually, the Dragonians will feel like Mtoncanf isn't worth the trouble and will leave. But to Trace's astonishment, Kinnock says he's been practicing his invisible resistance for four years.

Kinnock takes Trace into a secret room and shows him a gold life pod. Kinnock says Trace's parents placed him in it as a baby when their spaceship encountered an emergency and was about to explode. Trace spent years in the pod's stasis tube, growing up in its virtual reality program. Eventually, Trace's pod was picked up by a Dragonian ship headed to Mtoncanf. The aliens didn't care about the boy inside, but Kinnock kept tabs on him and brought him to his school as soon as he could.

Trace initially has a hard time accepting this story, and he tries to leave. But Kinnock prevents him, saying the Dragonians are quite riled up at the moment and would be sure to punish Trace if they saw him again. So Trace reluctantly agrees to stay with Kinnock and help with his invisible resistance, on the condition that Kinnock help him get off the planet.

So Trace begins life at the school, helping out with the gardening and cleaning, feeling all the while like he's a prisoner. Later, Trace complains about not doing any fighting in a month, but Kinnock points out he's only been there two days. Kinnock then teaches Trace how to meditate and tap into the Speed Force. It only takes Trace a minute, and as soon as he does, he runs a couple of miles in half a second. Trace is very excited to learn all about the Speed Force from Kinnock, who decides it's time to give Trace a new name. Trace suggests Flash, but Kinnock settles on Impulse.

Kinnock teaches Impulse how to vibrate through objects and tells him that he has a one-in-a-billion genetic structure that is naturally in tune with the Speed Force, which is why none of the other kids have super speed. Impulse says it's a great coincide they crossed paths, but Kinnock says it was no coincidence at all. Later that night, Kinnock prepares the teenagers for a new mission: to sabotage the Dragonians' water supply to make it taste like it was poisoned, but not to actually poison it. Impulse randomly shows up in a new outfit that I guess he made himself.

Impulse rushes over to the Dragonians' quarters to sabotage the water, but he quickly gets bored and begins exploring. Unfortunately, he's spotted by the aliens, who begin firing at him. Naturally, they all miss and inadvertently damage the power core. Kinnock quickly arrives and tells Impulse they need to pull everybody out of the building before it explodes, which they do. However, the explosion attracted the attention of all the local humans, who are quick to praise Kinnock and his crew for standing up to the Dragonians. Kinnock is unhappy with this, but Impulse sides with the people and vows to take the fight to the Dragonians directly.

So Impulse spends the next two days taking down Dragonian installations, until the aliens send in a squad of shock troopers to quell the rebellion. The troopers have no chance of hitting Impulse, but they do blast one of his friends, which serves as a wakeup call for the young hero. While Kinnock treats the kid's wounds, Impulse asks him why he's stayed on this crummy planet. Kinnock says he used to travel from planet to planet, chasing bank robbers and saving kids from falling trees. But he gradually grew overwhelmed and decided to focus his efforts on one planet.

Early the next day, Kinnock awakens all the kids to tell them they're surrounded by shock troopers and now is the time to fight for their lives. So they engage in a big fight, but all the non-speedsters are quickly taken down. Kinnock begins taking the injured away to safety, while Impulse tries to hold off the entire army alone. But eventually, Impulse is overwhelmed and surrounded by dozens of missiles. There's a big explosion, and the shock troopers report to the Dragonians there are no survivors.

But don't worry, Impulse and all his buddies are still alive. Kinnock took them all underground and popped up to save Impulse at the last second. Kinnock leads them all into the mountains to rebuild their school and begin again their invisible resistance. Impulse vows to be more patient this time, and begins planning to make the Dragonians' armor itchy.





Ugh. This is why I hate annuals. I follow Impulse because I love Bart Allen, Mark Waid and Humberto Ramos. And here is an "Impulse" story without any of those people. And it costs more than regular, and has lower quality writing and artwork. And everything about this issue felt completely pointless! OK ... so here's an alternate version of Impulse in the future ... and he learns to ... not fight? Seriously, what was up with that ending? Let's happily retreat to the mountains and plan to create minor inconveniences for this "evil" alien empire, which only became antagonistic when all their buildings were being destroyed. What a complete and utter waste of a story.

There weren't any letters to the editor in this issue, so let's head straight into the few new ads.

Speed Reading! Flash: The Return of Barry Allen trade paperback. Wally thought his mentor was just about perfect ... until he came back from the dead. By Mark Waid, Greg LaRocque, and Roy Richardson. Cover by Brian Bolland. Waid originally considered introducing Bart Allen in this story, but later decided to make Bart the lovable teenager Impulse instead of an evil adult.

Experience the new DC Comics Online. One of the featured live chats involved Mark Waid, presumably to talk mostly about Kingdom Come.

Aztek: The Ultimate Man. By Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, N. Steven Harris, and Keith Champagne.

Batman/Demon and Batman: GCPD on the same page.

Legends of the Dead Earth. Detective Comics Annual #9 by Chuck Dixon, Flint Henry, and James Hodgkins.

Next time, we get back on track with Impulse #16.