Young Justice #32

Anita's Date With Lobo (Because, Y'Know, What Else Can We Really Call It?)

Peter David Writer
Todd Nauck Pencils
Lary Stucker Inks
Ken Lopez - Letters
Jason Wright - Colors
Digital Chameleon - Separations
Tom Palmer Jr. - Assistant Editor
Eddie Berganza - Editor

This issue's cover is by Todd Nauck and Lary Stucker with the colors of Ian Hannin. I have to admit, this is the rare Nauck cover that doesn't really work for me. And I don't think it's necessarily Nauck's fault, I just have a strange bias against headshots like this. Everyone looks unnatural without their necks. But looking past this, I will say everyone looks good, and it is nice to finally put the spotlight on Empress, who has been on the fringe for so long.

Our story begins at the home of Donald and Anita Fite, where a mysterious caller with a voice that "sounds like gravel tumbling around in a cement mixer" is asking for Anita. The teenager assures her father she's a big girl and can handle any unwanted attention herself. Anita tries to gently let down the caller, saying she's busy tonight, but her date says he's already arrived at her house. As he begins knocking on the door, Donald offers to send him away, but Anita says he might not be able to handle this one. She tells him how there's a new member of Young Justice who's interested in her ... and is kind of psycho. Donald says he's always considered Young Justice a bunch of good kids, even if his job often put him against them. But he will not allow one of them to intimidate his daughter. He answers the door, fully prepared to send the young "psycho" away.

But to Donald's and Anita's surprise, on the other side of the door is a very polite and well-dressed Lobo. His hair is combed, his usual biker outfit is swapped out for a suit and tie, his red eyes somehow have pupils now, and he has a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates in his hands. Donald turns to Anita, saying he'll let her choose whether she wants to go with this odd, but well-behaved young man. Lobo gives the chocolates to Donald, promising they're the best in the galaxy. He hands the flowers to Anita, who's still trying to figure out when she arrived on Bizzaro World, but she ultimately agrees to the adventure of a date with Lobo. The Top Teen asks what her curfew is, and she starts to say midnight, but her dad says it's ten. Lobo promises to bring her back at 10 o'clock. He leads Anita to his space hog, but before they fly off, he removes the contacts that Wonder Girl apparently gave him to make his eyes look more normal.

We then head over to the Catskills resort, where Cassie, Cissie and Bart are hanging out in their normal clothes. Superboy joins the giggly bunch, and initially thinks they're laughing at his new costume. But they tell him they're still laughing about their fun afternoon they had with Lobo. Cassie explains that Lobo came back with Bart's spaceship, which the Myrgians were nice enough to install an invisibility screen on, so it could be parked out back inconspicuously. Bart wonders if they should be called Myrgians or Myrgites, but Cassie tells him they're getting off track. Bart excitedly tells Kon that he helped Cissie and Cassie, and Cissie takes over the story, lifting up her hair to impersonate Lobo.

As Cissie begins her impersonation, she uses the word "frackin'" instead of "fraggin'," and Bart corrects her, taking the chance to mention again that he helped. Cissie continues, saying that Lobo was distraught, because all he can think about is Empress. Bart interrupts again to say that they asked him to help. Cassie thought it was very sweet to see a love-struck Lobo, so she told him that Empress likes him, too. They then spent the next hour convincing and preparing Lobo to ask out Anita, not warning the poor girl, because, y'know, where's the fun in that? Bart says once more that he helped, and Cissie says he wound up being the star of the show. Cassie wishes she could have seen Anita's face when she answered the door, and they all burst out into laughter once more. Superboy, however, is quite stunned by all this, and he asks his friends to tell him they didn't actually do what they just said they did.

We return to the big date, where Lobo and Anita have arrived at a fancy Mexican restaurant called Sergio's. Unfortunately, the maitre'd denies the young couple a table, even though there are plenty of empty seats available. As Lobo tries to reason with the man, Anita turns away and covers her face in embarrassment. The maitre'd tries to explain that he can't accommodate Lobo as easily as he can snap his fingers, but when he does snap his fingers, Lobo suddenly becomes vicious. His hair flies up, his eyes glow red, and spit froths from his mouth. The intimidated maitre'd agrees to seat Lobo, and snaps his fingers to summon a waiter. On the second snap, Lobo instantly returns to the well-behaved version from the start of the date. Anita missed what happened, and Lobo isn't sure why the maitre'd changed his mind, either.

As soon as Lobo and Anita sit down, every nearby table asks for their check and leaves as soon as possible. Lobo orders a bottle of the restaurants best wine, which he promptly snaps open, shattering the neck of the bottle. Anita can't help herself and begins laughing out loud at the over-the-top absurdity of this situation. Lobo seems a little worried that she's not having a good time, but she assures him she is, and she politely refuses the wine, pointing out that she's underage. Lobo asks Anita what her story is, so she delves deep into her background, telling Lobo all about her grandmother, a Haitian Vodoun priestess, who moved to Louisiana to raise her daughter, Oshi, who eventually grew up and fell in love with Donald Fite.

We cut back to the Catskills, where Superboy is trying to explain to his friends that they've just sent Empress out on a date with a ticking time bomb. Cassie says it was just a joke and that Anita can handle it herself. Cissie says maybe Anita will find out it's not so easy to fill her boots. Kon points out that Cissie is jealous that Anita replaced her on Young Justice, an accusation Cissie denies. Cassie quickly calms Kon and Cissie down, saying that they did give Lobo some additional help. This is where Bart comes him. The speedster happily shows off his newest book, "Hypnosis Made Easy" by Dr. M. Johnson. Bart explains that after reading the book, he hypnotized Lobo to control his aggressive tendencies. Once he snapped his fingers, Lobo became calm and sociable. Cassie and Cissie assure Kon that Bart had mastered the technique of hypnotism, but Kon asks if he mastered it as well as he "mastered" lip-reading by reading a book. At this comment, everybody stops laughing and begins to worry.

Continuing Anita's story, Donald and Oshi were married and Anita's Grandmere slowly came around to Donald — after she used her Vodoun ways to curse him with baldness. Anita displayed a natural athleticism at an early age, and she lived a happy childhood until her mother was killed by the Baron Sin Gaaz. Donald worked for the justice department at the time, and almost single-handedly took down the Baron's crime organization. In retaliation, the Baron burned down the Fite's apartment with Anita and her mother inside. Anita miraculously survived, then spent the next few years with her Grandmere, learning her Vodoun ways. On her Grandmere's deathbed, she gave Anita a magic staff that granted her the ability to teleport. Anita also performed a ritual that required her to slice open her hand, but that's where she decided to stop sharing her story with Lobo.

So Lobo tells his story, about how he was born on Czarnia and the nurse who delivered him went insane. Later, Lobo killed his entire race and spends his days fragging bastiches and drinking people under the table. Anita decides she'll pretend Lobo never told her that. The restaurant then brings out some live music and a dancer, who unfortunately has a habit of snapping her fingers. The snaps start slowly, giving Anita a chance to figure out what's going on. But as the snaps speed up, Lobo increasingly loses control, essentially becoming a ticking time bomb, just as Superboy feared. Eventually, the "bomb" does go off, leaving a ragged Lobo lying in a pile of rubble that used to be the restaurant.

Superboy, Bart, Cassie and Cissie rushed over to Donald Fite's house to explain the situation and warn him that his daughter might be in danger. Donald regrets ever trusting Young Justice, but just then, Lobo and Anita fly in on the space hog. Lobo is back to his usual self, wearing his Wink 281 shirt, and, while not acting overtly aggressive, certainly is a long way from the polite Lobo that showed up earlier this evening. Donald notes the change in Lobo's appearance, but Anita says she prefers him this way, and she even gives Lobo a kiss on the cheek. Lobo happily exclaims that "one evening with me, they'e mine, just like that!" He snaps his fingers, which causes Bart, Cassie and Cissie to become aggressive, Lobo-like versions of themselves (Bart even swears, saying, "You're @*!$% right we are!). Superboy says, "Nice hypnotizing there, Impulse." But Lobo says these three look great to him.


I do like this recent trend of Young Justice to focus on two characters. First was Robin and Secret, then Impulse and Superboy, now Empress and Lobo. It was nice to get Empress' backstory, as well as a mention of the Baron, whom we haven't seen since that quick glimpse during the Olympics in Australia. Most of all, I loved how Bart was able to have a huge comedic impact on this issue even in a limited role. And it was refreshing to see these teenage superheroes kicking back and relaxing on a Saturday night, living life as normally as is possible for them.

Our letters to the editor begin with Paul Watson, of Essex, England, enjoying the origin of the Super-Cycle, especially since Impulse got all the best lines in the issue. He, did, however, feel that Superboy's "machismo running wild" was a little out of character. Paul was surprised that Cissie didn't hit the game-winning home run, but he was glad Doiby got a chance to shine, with some more help from Impulse. Paul also stands by his request for Lobo to leave the team as soon as possible.

Gerry Brown calls Empress redundant and lacking in motivation. Gerry suggested adding Static or Rocket to bring some diversity to the team, noting that Static's personality would work great with Bart. Eddie Berganza admits they have been working on ways to bring Static Shock to Young Justice.

Brian Seidman, of New York, was surprised that Young Justice #28 had so much baseball and so little of the Forever People. But he did like the interaction between the Super-Cycle and Lobo's space hog, suggesting they bring in the Batmobile, Robin's Redbird and Wonder Woman's invisible jet. Brian was also thrown off a bit by Superboy's behavior toward Wonder Girl, and he notes that the team still has some unresolved leadership issues. Now for the new ads:

Where are they now? Legion Worlds.

It's time to kick some butt. (Well, the ones that have butts, anyway.) Pokémon Stadium 2 for Nintendo 64.

Her life is a bed of roses. Poison Ivy statue.

Green Lantern Dragon Lord.

Agents of Planetary figurines.

Green Lantern Hal Jordan power ring prop.

Powerpuff power. got milk? with the Powerpuff Girls in banana, chocolate and strawberry flavors.

Next time, Bart hunts for Carol in Impulse #73.

Impulse #72

The Return of Lucius Keller Part 2

Todd Dezago Writer
Carlo Barberi Penciller
Juan Vlasco Inker
Janice Chiang Letterer
Tom McCraw Colorist
Digital Chameleon Separations
Joey Cavalieri Editor
Impulse created by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo

This issue's cover: Bart's worst day, captured in time by Ethan Van Sciver and Wayne Faucher. I always associate covers like this with the Bronze Age, whether or not comic historians would agree with my assessment. In any case, DC comics, particularly the Flash, have a long history of these type of melodramatic covers. There's a time and a place for them, and I believe when used sparingly they can be effective. Such is the case here. Carol has always been Bart's friend, but lately, there have been rumblings that she might be a bit more than that. So to take her away just as these feelings are beginning to develop truly makes for "Bart's worst day."

Our story picks right up where last issue left off, with Bart struggling to have a serious conversation with Carol. He tells her how Jeff Weber is a slime ball, who's been seeing Kristin Donovan behind Carol's back. And Bart believes that Carol deserves to be with someone who'll treat her better. Thankfully, Carol is open to Bart's words, and she begins to realize what he's having a hard time saying. She asks Bart who he has in mind, and her speech bubbles come out in the shape of hearts. As Bart embarrassedly stammers, Carol takes his hands and pulls him in for their first, real, romantic kiss.

But before their lips officially touch, Bart's hit in the head with a puff of pink gas. He falls down in a daze, as Carol is grabbed from behind by a masked female figure and pulled into a portal of bright light (essentially what we see on the cover, except Bart's not in his Impulse costume and the colors are different). Carol screams for Bart's help, but he's unable to fight off the effects of the knockout gas. He gets his costume out of his ring, but immediately collapses and can only helplessly watch as the screaming Carol disappears from view. Once the portal dissipates, Bart succumbs to the gas.

Meanwhile, several blocks away, Max has discovered the old Topeka Tattler, detailing Lucius Keller's fatal accident. Max quickly confirms that Helen is not in the house, meaning that his old nemesis has somehow found his way to the 21st century and is after the people Max cares about. This also means that Bart is a potential victim. So Max rushes out the door and slams right into Bart, whose hyper-metabolism has mostly rid him of the knockout gas, although he's still a bit woozy.

Bart tells Max that Carol's been kidnapped, and Max tells Bart that Helen's been kidnapped, too. Once Bart fully recovers, the two speedsters take off to find Keller and rescue Helen and Carol. Max tells Bart the story of Lucius Keller, how he was a brilliant scientist in the late 19th century, who accidentally killed his wife and daughter in a failed experiment involving a rocket-powered locomotive. Keller blamed Max for this tragedy, and when he couldn't kill Max himself, he began killing everyone Max had saved in his course as a superhero.

Max and Impulse then arrive at Keller's secret hideout in New Mexico, and Max tells Impulse to stay hidden outside, acting as their ace-in-the-hole, as he goes in to confront Keller personally. Keller has been waiting for Max, and he freezes his nemesis in place by showing a video of Helen tied up to a bunch of explosives and showing that he has his hand on the detonator. Max agrees to stay still, while Impulse surreptitiously vibrates through the walls to look for Helen and Carol.

Feeling he has the upper hand, Keller begins to gloat, boasting of how he managed to follow Max through time and to his joy discovered he now has a wife and son (mistaking Helen's and Bart's relationship to Max). But Keller has done his homework, knowing that Max's "son" is named Bartholomew and also has super speed, which likely means he's nearby. So Keller amplifies his threat, saying that if he presses the detonator, he'll not only be killing Helen, but also destroying the nearby town of Clayton. And the only way to prevent this tragedy, Keller says, is for Max to submit to his execution to atone for the lives he "so callously ignored."

Impulse stood still a bit too long during Keller's speech, perhaps getting too worked up by the whole situation. Unfortunately, this leads to his capture by a large, squid-like robot. Luckily, Impulse is able to vibrate free from its grasp, but now he's exposed. Keller reminds Max not to move as Bart battles the robot, but Max does advise him to keep vibrating through the machine's tentacles. Bart successfully accomplishes this, but isn't able to make any real progress in the fight until Max tells him to go into the robot's head, recalling their previous battle against Keller's other giant robot. However, Keller was counting on Bart doing exactly that.

Impulse crashes into the squid's head, only to find Helen tied up to about a thousand sticks of dynamite. He frantically tells this to Max, who immediately surrenders to Keller. Bart warns Max not to give in, reminding him of his own words that Keller is insane. Keller mocks Bart's impudence, wondering if all 21st century children refer to their parents by their first names. He tells Impulse that he'll disable the detonator for Helen and will allow Bart to take his "mother" back home. But Keller warns Bart that if he tries to return to save his "father," then he'll decimate Clayton, New Mexico.

As Bart unties Helen, Keller decides to rub some salt in Max's wound by telling him that his "wife" was dressed so immodestly because she was apparently off to meet a "gentleman caller." Max finally tells Keller that he's mistaken and that Helen is actually his daughter. Seeing how this news has thrown Keller off his game, Max digs a little deeper, suggesting that Helen looks how Keller's daughter might have looked had she lived.

It's Keller who has now frozen with fear and uncertainty, and Impulse and Helen stick around to listen to the rest of Max's verbal beat-down. Max points out that Keller must have truly gone mad to have created a time machine, yet not use it to go back in time to save his loved ones from the disaster. Lucius Keller had never considered this, and the weight of this idea causes him to fall to his knees and drop the detonator. Max quickly tells Bart to grab the detonator, while he grabs Keller. The villain doesn't bother putting up a fight, only able to moan about the loss of his wife and daughter. Bart notices that the detonator doesn't appear to be hooked up to anything, but then he realizes something much more crucial — Carol is nowhere to be found.

Bart runs all around the cave, but can't find her. He angrily grabs Keller by the scruff and demands to know where Carol is, but Keller doesn't know who he's talking about. Max promises Bart they'll find Carol as soon as they take Keller to Arkham Asylum and dismantle the time machine before it falls into the wrong hands. But Bart has another idea. Before anyone can stop him, he hops into Keller's time machine, saying, "I'm sorry, Max!! I don't have time!! I hafta go back! I've got to find Carol!! I ... I ... love ... her ..."


Well, here it is. Bart has finally admitted he loves Carol. We've been building to this a long time, so it doesn't feel rushed or forced. But in a small way, I do find this development somewhat bittersweet. Part of the appeal of Impulse to me was that he was a kid, not a teenager dealing with angst and love triangles. But I guess even ageless comic book characters do need to starting growing up a bit — after all, Impulse has been 14 years old for about six years now. So on a whole, I support this storyline with Carol.

Slightly more problematic for me, though, is the storyline of Lucius Keller. How did he know that Max traveled forward in time to the 21st century? From his point of view, Keller was successfully killing all the people Max had saved, until Max suddenly disappeared one day. Shouldn't he have assumed that he drove Max into retirement? Instead, he somehow correctly deduced that Max retreated to more than 100 years in the future. Also, if Max knew where Keller secret hideout was all this time, why didn't he destroy it back in 1896? Keller was using his advanced technology to kill dozens of people, so it seems like Max should have caved in that hideout to cut off the source of Keller's power. Ideally, I think Keller should have left a note with the old newspaper, telling Max where he could find him. Because that was what he ultimately wanted. So yeah, the concept of Keller might have been interesting, but the execution was just a bit too sloppy for me.

Impulsive Reactions begins with Joey Cavaleri urging readers to send in their thoughts on the new art team of Carlo Barberi and Juan Vlasco. He also mentions a Mexican volcano that delayed the delivery of some of his pages (I'm not sure if this led to a pushback of an issue's publication date).

Andy Oliver, of Essex, England, admits he hadn't been reading Impulse for a while, but after picking up the DC Direct figures of Max Mercury and Impulse (guess I need to grab those), he decided to check out Impulse #67. Even though it was the conclusion of a long-running storyline, Andy still found it accessible and entertaining. The party reminded him of a Flash story that had the Rogues throwing a party for Captain Cold, and he was especially glad to see Woozy Winks included. He liked the conversation between Martian Manhunter and Kyle Rayner, and, most importantly, loved the interaction between Max and Bart. Andy points out that those two have come a long way since Impulse #1.

Carlos R. Hall, of Jacksonville, Fla., suggests recruiting Rob Liefeld to do Impulse and a Silver Age Atom/Hawkman miniseries. (I'm personally glad this never happened, because I loathe Liefeld's artwork.) Carlos also asks for Wally West to be reunited with Bart Allen (thank you!) and for mini-busts of the original three members of Young Justice.

Tobias Christopher throws out an idea of Impulse having a little brother who is even more impatient than Bart.

Andy Barclay also likes this idea, saying it'd be a great Elseworlds story. Cavalieri mentions that Ethan Van Sciver recently had an idea that's "not dissimilar" to that.

Michael Bregman, of Gan-Yavne, Israel, points out that the real story of Impulse #69 wasn't Green Lantern, Adam Strange and Impulse fighting a big monster, but rather the development of Bart's character. Michael called it heartbreaking to see Impulse on this guilt trip, and he praises him for going out of his way to save the sea creatures. He liked how Green Lantern apparently saw too much of himself in Impulse, allowing the story to create some fun tension between the two of them, yet still do justice to the two characters. Michael is also happy that Van Sciver is still doing the covers. Now for the new ads:

And you think you friends are weird! The Little Vampire.

Justice takes wing! JSA: The Return of Hawkman by David S. Goyer and Geoff Johns.

Hey, kids! Comics talks about Legion Lost and Green Lantern: Dragon Lord.

You can instantly win a cruise and party like Spongebob Squarepants! Through select packages of Nabisco products.

Aladdin: Nasira's Revenge for PlayStation.

Two great talents. One immortal hero. Wonder Woman by George Pérez and Phil Jimenez.

Eat it from the inside out. Eggo Waf-fulls.

Cheese-a-mite! Cheese Nips.

Next time, we head into June 2001, the third-straight month where Impulse only appeared in his own title and Young Justice. So that means we'll be reviewing Young Justice #32.

Young Justice #31

Quiet!!!!!

Peter David – Writer
Todd Nauck – Penciller
Lary Stucker – Inker
Ken Lopez – Letterer
Jason Wright – Colorist
Tom Palmer Jr. – Assistant Editor
Eddie Berganza – Editor

Sssh ... SB is watching TV on this cover by Nauck, Stucker and Ian Hannin. And while Superboy gorges himself on Torgo's Pizza, Puffloids chips and Soder cola, flanked by a Flash pillow and a magazine with Nauck and Stucker on it, poor Impulse is left alone to fight off the evil mimes! If it's any consolation to Impulse, there are only three mimes to battle inside this issue, but he still does have to do all the work in this story. And I'm OK with that!

In keeping with the mime theme, there are only two words of spoken dialogue in this issue (giving Ken Lopez the easiest job in the world). The first spoken word comes from Kon shouting, "Quiet!!!!!" at Bart. Unfortunately for Bart, Kon's breath smells like onions. Apparently it's just the two of them today at the Catskills resort, and Bart wants to have some fun. He offers several suggestions to his friend, talking in pictograms instead of words, starting with an offer to go swimming. Bart could try out an Ambush Bug water tube, and Kon could certainly meet a couple of girls. But Kon only responds by putting a finger to his lips in a shushing motion.

But this doesn't stop Bart. He immediately launches into Plan B — a trip to the carnival, where he and Kon could dazzle the workers with their skill at the shooting arcade and win all sorts of stuffed animals, including, but not limited to, Beeker from the Muppets, Cookie Monster from Sesame Street, Captain Carrot and figures from Mystery Science Theater 3000. Again, the shushing motion. So this time, Bart takes a drastic approach. He runs off, quickly returns as Impulse, and suggests he and Superboy battle Darkseid, Brainiac, Bizzaro, Chemo, Harley Quinn, Lex Luthor, Extant, Star Saphire, Starro, Solomon Grundy, Captain Cold, Sinestro, Amazo, Plasmas, Monsieur Mallah and the Brain.

Superboy buries his face in his hands, once again says, Shhhhh, then grabs Bart's head and turns it to the TV screen, showing him the Cheerleader Championship with Terri Jewel Jackson from "Wendy the Werewolf Slayer." Bart glares at Kon and his stupid choice in entertainment, then takes off. Kon breathes a sigh of relief and begins to enjoy a bowl of popcorn. Impulse returns with a party hat and noisemaker, and tries to sneak up on Kon. As he prepares to blow the noisemaker in Kon's ear, Superboy casually stops the noisemaker with his tactile telekinesis, causing Bart's cheeks to puff up and giving him a little bit of a coughing fit.

Impulse once again glares daggers at Superboy, then comes to the sad realization that he'll never be able to pull Kon away from the cheerleaders, so he heads out on his own. Consider Kon a Super Couch Potato, Impulse quickly finds an opportunity to be a hero. A villain with a black top hat, black cape and curly mustache has kidnapped a woman in a pink dress and tied her to the railroad tracks as a train quickly approaches. Impulse rushes in like a cavalryman on his trusty steed, and in no time at all, frees the woman and ties up the villain.

To Impulse's surprise, the woman punches him in the jaw and unties the villain. She answers Impulse's puzzled reaction by pointing to a film crew for Premium Silent Pictures: Classic Films in the Classic Style. The director is furious at Impulse for ruining his shot, and when Bart sees that the train is just a cardboard cutout being pushed by a bicycle, he realizes he was a screwball and quickly runs away.

As he runs, Bart's mind already begins exaggerating that encounter, picturing the actress smacking him in the head with a 2-by-4. He then comes across a book fair, complete with advertisements for MST3K, a woman reading "To Serve Man" and a man that looks exactly like Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons, reading "Space Trek 2020." Impulse throws himself in the middle of the fair and loudly announces his arrival, expecting to be showered with roses and begged for autographs. But everybody gives Impulse the same shushing treatment Superboy gave him. When Impulse tries to ask why, he's met with even louder shushing. He then takes a closer look at the sign, and realizes that he's at a Librarians Book Fair.

So Impulse continues his quest to find something to do. From a distance, he sees three figures that could be Superman, Batman and Catwoman. But when he gets closer, Bart sees they're just mimes, so he resumes his journey. Feeling pretty discouraged, Impulse plops down on the steps of a porch. A man sits down next to him, and, feeling grateful to have some company, Impulse immediately tells the man all about how he couldn't get Superboy off the couch, and the actress smacked him with a baseball bat, and all the librarians shushed him. In response, the man rips off a card from a book and hands it to Impulse. The card shows the sign language alphabet and says, "I am deaf and poor. Please help me by buying this card." Embarrassed, Impulse covers his face and sadly demonstrates that he has no money, or pockets for that matter. He hands the card back to the man, who stomps on Impulse's ankle and angrily storms off.

The frustrated Impulse keeps running, eventually coming across a trio of monks having a picnic with chicken, grapes, cheese, bread and wine. The monks invite Impulse to join them, and after checking to make sure they're addressing him, Impulse happily sits down with them, imagining himself living life as a monk. As he takes a bite of chicken, Impulse immediately begins telling the monks about how Superboy literally kicked him out the door. The monks all shush Impulse, and he realizes that if he became a monk, he'd have to take a vow of silence. So he immediately takes off, leaving his drumstick spinning in midair and the three monks rather confused.

Impulse is getting pretty angry now as he runs. Luckily, he comes across a familiar face — the Flash, whom he hasn't seen in quite a while (thanks a lot, Geoff Johns). Bart quickly tells Wally how Superboy threw him out the window, the librarians shoved the book "Silence of the Lambs" in his mouth, the deaf man severed his ankles with a chainsaw and the mime robbed him blind.

As Bart details how the monk cut off his hair to give him the classic monk look, a janitor picks up the Flash and walks away with him. Bart wonders why Flash is stiff as a board, then realizes he's at Madame Trudeau's Wax Museum. Bart slams his head against the wall five times, gets a big bump, then falls down.

We briefly cut back to Superboy to see that he is still watching the Cheerleader Championship and has created a nest of junk food around himself, similar to what we saw on the cover. Impulse is still angrily running around, now applying some ice to the bump on his forehead. He comes across the O'Brien Arena, which just happens to be hosting the Cheerleader Championship. But what makes Impulse stop is the sight of the three mimes he met earlier robbing the ticket booth at gunpoint. Impulse quickly checks for the silent film director, and when he realizes this isn't a movie, he happily prepares to do some actual hero work.

The mimes spot Impulse, and they act like there's a wall in front of them. Impulse charges forward, then bounces off an actual invisible wall. By the time he gathers himself, the mimes are already making their way down a hallway in the arena. Another mime trick creates a huge gust of wind that knocks Impulse off his feet once more.

The mimes make it to the main stage, but Impulse is right behind them. Settling on a ranged attack, Impulse grabs an armful of cheerleaders' pom-poms and hurls them at the two male mimes. This distracts them long enough to allow Impulse to properly tie them up. The female mime, however, quickly takes a hostage — host Terri Jewel Jackson. Keep in mind, all this is being broadcast on live television. Superboy jumps up from his junk food heap, but he's too far away to do anything.

Impulse has an intense stare down with the mime. After a moment, he takes one step forward. The mime immediately pulls the trigger three times, but nothing happens. Impulse lets the bullets fall from his hand, shocking the mime. Terri Jewel Jackson then slugs her would-be assassin, and all the cheerleaders swarm and kiss Impulse, their hero. Superboy watches all this unfold, and closes the story with the second word of spoken dialogue: "D'oh!"


I won't be so bold as to call this a perfect comic book. But it's as close as you could possibly get to perfection. Every gag was a delight. Every page, panel, expression and pictogram bubble was beautifully crafted with the comedic precision of David and Nauck. And only these two creators could have done this. Let's be honest, this is not a Young Justice story, it's an Impulse story. But I can't really see anyone on Impulse being able to pull this off. As such, I have to say that the best single issue of Impulse is actually an issue of Young Justice.

There might have been some Young Justice fans disappointed to take a break from the complete cast of characters and all their separate storylines. But I hope that this issue brought a smile to their face half as big as mine, and that they'd be willing to indulge this Impulse-centric tale. I also like to think that there might have been some strong Impulse fans like me, who really wanted Bart to have a bigger role in Young Justice. At the end of the day, I found something that I absolutely love and can over and over again, and I guess that's all that matters.

Our letters to the editor begin with Brian Bearese praising Young Justice #27 for not letting the story take a back seat to the humor. He enjoyed the return of Cissie, the addition of Empress and Lobo, although Brian feels Lobo should only hang around for a few issues. Brian also compliments the art, asking the creative team stays on board for a long time, and also requests a guest appearance from Spoiler.

Paul Watson, of Essex, England, admits he doesn't know anything about baseball, but still loved issue #27 all the same. He loved the interaction between Cissie and Traya, and was also a big fan of the team's baseball uniforms. Eddie Berganza says the baseball motif of the costumes was all Todd Nauck's idea.

Joe Torcivia, of Westbury, N.Y., called the story a combination of Space Jam with Friz Freleng's Baseball Bugs to produce the Strangest Sports Story this side of Julius Schwartz. Joe also comments on Lobo's unusually good behavior, expecting him to swap out the baseball for a frag grenade (which he literally did in the next issue).

James the Daaknite really appreciates how the same creative team has stuck together for 27 issues. He does, however, have a problem with Empress saying "mon," feeling that's a bit stereotypical. Berganza says they didn't mean to offend, but were just trying to use shorthand to show that she's not African American. Now for the new ads:

The future of collecting. WizardWorld.com, featuring Paul Dini.

SimCoaster for PC CD-ROM.

We picked a code just for you. If you take this code and punch it in at www.EetandErn.com it'll help you get cool stuff.

The kick of fruit juice in Starburst will get your brain asking "what if?"

Next time, we get the second part of the Return of Lucius Keller in Impulse #72.

Impulse #71

The Return of Lucius Keller Part 1

Todd Dezago Writer
Carlo Barberi Penciller
Juan Vlasco Inker
Janice Chiang Letterer
Tom McCraw Colorist
Digital Chameleon Separator
Joey Cavalieri Editor
Impulse created by Mark Waid & Wieringo

This issue's cover delineates and delivers new meaning to the term "steampunk," as drawn by Ethan Van Sciver and Wayne Faucher! It is a fun cover with a pretty goofy pun on it. Granted, in this issue Impulse and Max aren't chased around by this particular steampunk machine, but you get the idea. In any case, it's always a nice change of pace to put the spotlight on one of Max's villains.

Our story begins in Northeastern New Mexico, at a secret lair that has been hidden underground since the late 1890s. There's a big flash of light, and the machine we saw on the cover materializes out of thin air. Turns out this is a time machine, transporting Lucius Keller, sworn enemy of Max Mercury, or, as he knew him in the 19th century, Blue Streak. Somehow, Keller figured out Max had traveled to the future, so he's followed him here to kill everyone Max holds dear.

We then head over to Manchester Junior High, where Preston and Rolly have been tasked with videotaping the boys' soccer practice. Jeff Weber considers these two to be nerds, so he purposefully runs into them, knocking down Rolly and camera on a tripod. When Preston tries to stand up to Jeff, he calls them girls and wusses before rejoining the team. Preston wonders what Carol sees in Jeff, and Rolly points out that Jeff only acts this way when Carol's not around.

Impulse, meanwhile, has just stopped a bank robbery in St. Louis. On his way back home, he drops off the guns he took with Officer Hannaburgh, in what appears to be a regular occurrence. Bart changes back into his school clothes and meets up with Preston and Rolly 12 seconds later. Preston and Rolly tell Bart all about Jeff, who is currently sitting in the stands, flirting with cheerleader Kristin Donovan — even though he's supposedly dating Carol. Rolly laments that they're unable to do anything about this, but Bart eyes Jeff's gym bag and gets an idea.

Bart pulls out an extra pair of Jeff's shorts and sneaks up underneath the bleachers to slide the shorts around Jeff's ankles. Jeff doesn't notice because he's too busy plotting a lame excuse to give to Carol so he can spend the night with Kristin instead. When the coach calls Jeff back to the field, he trips over the shorts, much to the amusement of his teammates. The coach yells at him for stupidly wearing two pairs of shorts, and when Jeff says the shorts aren't his, the coach points to Jeff's name on the waistband. Jeff wonders how his shorts got out of his bag, and when he turns to look at it, Bart, Roland and Preston are all innocently looking away and whistling.

Shortly, Bart walks away with his friends, who are still laughing at Jeff's humiliation. But Bart's still a bit mad, saying he hates the way Jeff lies and cheats on Carol. Preston realizes that Bart doesn't like because he actually has feelings for Carol. He says that everyone knows Carol's always had a crush on Bart and she was just waiting for him to wake up. Bart denies this, saying she's just his friend. But Roland agrees with Preston, suggesting that maybe Bart does have feeling for Carol but he doesn't know it yet. Bart thinks this is ridiculous, but Preston and Roland still stand by their theory.

The next day, Lucius Keller arrives at the northside of Manchester with a large robot he intends to distract Max Mercury as he attends to the more personal aspects of his scheme. Meanwhile, Bart is unable to focus on the teacher's lesson on blue-striped tree frogs because he's so perplexed by his relationship with Carol. He can't help staring at her, wondering what Bart plus Carol equals. Carol eventually notices Bart's staring, as does the teacher, who scolds him for not paying attention.

Later, Bart overhears Jeff telling Carol he can't meet her that night because his coach has called an extra practice. Carol suggests that she could go to the practice and do her homework on the sidelines while she waited for him. Jeff objects to this too strongly, and lamely says that Carol's presence would distract him. He then notices Bart and tells Carol that she can do her homework with Bart and then give the answers to him later tonight. Bart thinks of Jeff as a snake, but then he suddenly gets another idea.

Bart quickly takes off and reappears at super speed, and the only one who notices is Carol. As she walks home with Bart, she points out that Bart doesn't like Jeff. Bart says he thinks she should be with someone who treats her nicer, so Carol asks who he's talking about. Bart's thinking of himself, but he can't bring himself to say it. Suddenly, a blue-stripped tree frog pops out of Bart's shirt. Bart says he ran off to the Amazon get the frog to help Carol with her homework, and she comments on how fun it is to be with Bart. Jeff, meanwhile, is with Kristin Donovan once again, bragging about how all needs to do is splatter a little mud on his uniform to pull off his lie to Carol. He opens his gym bag to find it's stuffed with frogs, planted there by Bart — his true purpose for running to the Amazon.

Max is out on patrol when he spots the robot, which feels dreadfully familiar to him. Helen, meanwhile, has put on a fancy dress to go to the opera with Matt Ringer. She heads off, playfully interpreting Dox's barking as a mother telling her to have a good time and not stay out too late. Just outside, Bart spots the rising smoke coming from the robot's destruction, and he quickly takes off as Impulse.

Four seconds later, Impulse and Max Mercury are racing around the machine, trying to keep it at bay until Max decides the best strategy. He suggests attempting to shut it down from the inside. Before they get a chance to try this, the robot opens up machine gun fire on our heroes. Bart catches all the bullets (even though they're hot) and he asks Max what he should do with them. Max reminds Bart of what they were just talking about, so Bart vibrates into the robot and throws all the bullets into its gears. Bart's plan works perfectly, and the giant machine quickly falls down as an obsolete pile of metal. Max darkly says that his was too easy, since this machine reminds him of an old foe he had — a brilliant scientist who lost his family when one of his inventions exploded. Unable to face his guilt, this man turned it into a bitter hatred for Max. Bart asks if it's possible to have feelings sometimes and not even know it, and when Max says yes, Bart's thoughts again turn to Carol.

A little later, Bart takes Carol out for a walk and finally brings himself to tell Carol that Jeff's cheating on her. Carol is understandably hurt by this, and Bart kindly apologizes, explaining that he's only telling Carol this because he cares about her and doesn't want to see her get hurt. But in the midst of this emotional conversation, neither of them notice a shadowy figure spying on them from the bushes.

Meanwhile, Max returns home to find that Dox has somehow been shut in the kitchen pantry. He then notices a copy of The Topeka Tattler from 1893 left on the table. The headlines read: "Rocket Sled Tragedy. Inventor loses family in accident." This confirms Max's fear that Keller has returned, and he begins to fear for Helen's life.


Lucius Keller was originally introduced in Impulse #58, and I think it's pretty neat that Dezago went back to that side story and has expanded on it. Max has had a handful of villains — Savitar, Dr. Morlo, Glory Shredder — but most of them have already been defeated, so it's good to give him another one, especially when you consider Max's long-spanning career. But the return of Lucius Keller actually played secondary to the Bart-Carol-Jeff love triangle. I think this is still developing at an appropriate, adorable pace. Yes, Bart has kissed Carol once before, but that was more of a joke than anything. Now, finally, it seems like things will get serious between them.

Impulsive Reactions begins with Joey Cavalieri talking about getting caught in a wind storm that sent all his Flash manuscripts flying and he figured this must be what it feels like to live in Manchester and have Impulse randomly zoom by.

Chuck Brouillette, of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., called Impulse #68 a treat. He enjoyed how Adam and Alanna Strange were handled, Impulse's Inertia-inspired focus, and Green Lantern's motivations. Chuck loves how Impulse manages to balance the silly with the serious, saying that balance makes the series read so real.

Daniel E. McMasters, of Sacramento, says he was fooled by the solicitation in Previews magazine that made it sound like Max Mercury was going to die. He was not only dreading the death, but the eventual return of Max, so Daniel was very happy to see Max survived Mercury Falling. He says Impulse #67 brought back some of the humor that had been missing during Mercury Falling. Daniel admits to considering dropping the series, but with Max still alive and Carlo Barberi coming aboard, he's staying on.

Robert Kowalski, of Detroit, says Adam Strange is his favorite hero, and he loved seeing him and Impulse thrown together into a Circle of Fire epilogue. Robert appreciated how issue #68 recapped Adam Strange's history, and he enjoyed everything from the lava pigs to Green Lantern's line about needing to save Rann from Impulse. Now for the ads (once again Bart and his friends were all dressed in Nautica clothing):

Thermonuclear cheesehead! Cheese Nips.

All-new action figures from DC Direct! Red Tornado and Martian Manhunter.

Winning $10,000 isn't half as cool as spending it. Get ready to go on a shopping spree. Because if you find a Golden Wrapper inside specially marked boxes of Pop-Tarts toaster pastries you could win $10,000 instantly.

The Silver Age Justice League of America villains PVC set.

A lot of magic. A little reminder from Kellogg's. Mini bean bag toys shaped like Disney characters inside cereal boxes.

Wrigley's Juicy Fruit chewing gum. Gotta have sweet?

Next time, we get a very special Impulse-centric story in Young Justice #31!

Young Justice #30

Round Robin

Peter David – Writer
Todd Nauck – Penciller
Lary Stucker – Inker
Jason Wright – Colorist
Ken Lopez – Letterer
Tom Palmer Jr. – Assistant Ed.
Eddie Berganza – Editor

Robin's in the middle of it in this issue's cover by Todd and Lary (still only one "r") and the colors of Ian Hannin. I don't care too much about Robin's girlfriend, Spoiler, nor am I particularly interested in any love triangle involving her. But I am really interested in this new, berserk side of Secret. Seeing her going after a fellow hero in such a savage manner is more than enough to make up for the lack of other Young Justice characters on this cover.

Our story begins with Traya, Cissie, her mom, and her new agent, Frank Balkin, having lunch at Guy Gardner's famous restaurant, Warriors. Cissie is overwhelmed by not only the prospect of having an agent, but also being surrounded by so much superhero memorabilia. And it really doesn't help that our party's waitress just so happens to be dressed as Arrowette. The restaurant is crowded, and with all the costumed waiters running around, there's soon a collision between two different Supergirls and a Power Girl. Frank tries to ease the tension by joking about the Elongated Man, Plastic Man and Stretch-O colliding and causing all the customers to rubberneck. The joke does not go over well.

So the agent tries to get down to business, telling Cissie that she is a champion of the people — people who now want to see her. Cissie says she's not interested in having her face on T-shirts or cereal boxes, but she's interrupted by a girl a little younger than her. The girl has bushy hair, braces, bad acne, and a T-shirt with Cissie's face on it. She calls Cissie her heroine, saying she used to be so miserable in school until she watched Cissie on TV. This inspired her to take up archery, which has helped her make new friends and gain confidence. The girl says Cissie saved her life, and she asks for an autograph. Soon, Cissie is surrounded by fans, including a couple of the waiters. Bonnie assumes Frank set this up, but the agent says this is purely spontaneous.

(Now let's take a look at all the "heroes" we saw at Warriors: Plastic Man, Atom, Flash, Superman, Guy Gardner as a Green Lantern, Mister Miracle, Blue Beetle, Metamorpho, Martian Manhunter, Black Canary, Doctor Fate, Ambush Bug, Firestorm, Aquaman, Blue Devil, Zatanna, Captain Marvel and probably a few more I missed.)

We then cut to a lonely highway, where a cop has pulled a man over for speeding. But the man surprised the cop when his back was turned and pointed a gun at his head. The policeman begs for his life and tells the man that he won't get away with this. The gunman says he stole both the car and the gun, so nobody will be able to track him down. The only way the cop will get out of this alive, he says, is if some "supertype" shows up to save him at the last second.

Suddenly, a boom tube opens up right above the two men, and out of it pops Young Justice on the Super-Cycle and Lobo's Space Hog. Robin is shocked to see they've returned to Earth instead of Myrg. Wonder Girl is happy to be home, hoping they were only gone for one day. But Impulse is worried about his new spaceship. Empress says Doiby should be able to pilot it back, but Bart reminds her that Doiby is staying on Myrg.

The commotion distracts the gunman, giving the policeman an opportunity to disarm the man and handcuff him. He thanks Young Justice for their help, but none of them knew what was going on. As they fly away, Wonder Girl points out that it was very generous of the Forever People to let them keep the Super-Cycle, but Impulse says that just the thing anyone would say if they didn't have their own spaceship. Lobo has grown tired of Impulse's complaining, so he offers to fly back to Myrg himself and retrieve the ship. Bart is very happy with this offer, and Lobo says it'll give him a chance to open the spaceship up and make some modifications. As he takes off, Robin worries that the Top Teen will return to Earth with half a dozen angry races on his tail.

Frank and Bonnie drive Cissie and Traya back to their boarding school, and Cissie admits she's actually looking forward to working with an agent. As Traya points out, the money was a big factor in her decision, since she might now be making enough to put her through grad school. Plus, it'll put to rest Bonnie's dreams of launching an Arrowette action figure. When Cissie opens her door, she finds Cassie waiting for her. Reflexively, Cissie cowers into a ball and begs to not be teleported away or to have a mask put back on her face. But all Cassie wanted to do was give her a rare flower she found on New Genesis.

Robin returns to Gotham City and meets up with Spoiler. They have a slightly rough conversation about Robin's refusal to reveal his secret identity to Spoiler, but she goes home on good terms with him. However, Spoiler didn't realize she was being trailed by Secret, who feels like Spoiler is mistreating Robin, and she attacks Spoiler in a jealous rage. Robin must have suspected that Secret was trailing him because he calls Superboy to ask where Secret is. Superboy, who has somehow scored a full body massage with Empress at their Catskills resort, tells Robin he last saw Secret hovering behind him in mist form.

Robin remembers how Secret asked him out and was despondent when she learned he already had a girlfriend. Fearing for Spoiler's life, Robin decides to make a call to Red Tornado. And Spoiler's life really is in danger. While she does manage to get in one hit with a brief electric shock, Spoiler is no match for Secret, who is angrier than we've ever seen. At the end of the fight, Spoiler desperately points out that Robin will not be happy with Secret if she kills her. Secret darkly responds with, "Oh, I'm not going to kill you. Although you're going to wish I had!"

Red Tornado arrives not a moment too soon and neutralizes Secret with a whirlwind. He only releases her when Robin says she's had enough. Robin then has a talk with the two girls about respect, privacy and trust. He eventually gets them to agree to stop fighting, but they both had their fingers crossed behind their backs.


It's really good to get back home after spending so much time in outer space. And everyone (well, most everyone) got a chance to unwind. I kind of wish we got another panel or two of Impulse, but we'll get plenty of him next issue. What we did get, I really did like. Cissie's story is still really interesting and developing at a great pace. And while I still don't care for Spoiler or what this issue set up for Robin's ongoing series, I am fascinated by Secret. It can't be a coincidence that she had her biggest meltdown shortly after meeting with Darkseid.

Our letters to the editor begin with Brian Seidman, of New York, praising the art team for their work on Young Justice #26. He's also a big fan of Li'l Lobo's addition to the team, saying his dynamic with Robin reminds him of Batman and Guy Gardner back in the JLA. Brian also is eager to learn more about Secret.

Michael Bregman, of Gan-Yavne, Israel, recalls how Young Justice #1 gave him mixed feelings. He felt the series was too silly for his tastes, but he stuck it out and was pleased to see how it developed dramatic depth as it went on, while still being able to balance the incredible silliness. Michael isn't sure about the violent Lobo joining the team, but he does enjoy Cissie's subplot. He also asks for a Point Men miniseries. Now for the new ads.

Without the coupon it's called shoplifting. Snickers Cruncher. This coupon is unfortunately placed on the back of the cover, meaning every reader who wanted to enjoy a free candy bar had to cut a huge hole right in the middle of the cover.

A dark future ... an uncertain past ... no one left to trust. Oni for PlayStation 2.

Your world will never be the same. Farscape on DVD and VHS.

Serving suggestions: mild, medium or momentary black-out strength. Tang.

Hey, Kids! Comics talks about Kevin Smith's new Green Arrow series and an Elseworlds series called Superboy's Legion.

Feed your soul. Corn Nuts.

Sim Coaster on PC CD-ROM.

Peanut Butter Advisory: Unexpected Content. Peanut Butter Twix.

My money's on the chick with the lion. Portal Runner.

Champions come in all shapes and sizes. Mario Tennis.

Paper Mario with a "free demo" — a picture of Mario you could cut out.

Milk mustaches don't last long when you're a sponge. Which means I may have to drink another glass of yummy chocolate milk. Or two. Or three. Or four. Spongebob Squarepants.

Next time, we'll meet a foe from Max Mercury's past in Impulse #71.

Impulse #70

Impulse, The Movie

Todd Dezago • Writer
Carlo Barberi • Penciller
Juan Vlasco • Inker
Janice Chiang • Letterer
Tom McCraw • Colorist
Jamison • Separations
Joey Cavalieri • Editor
Impulse created by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo!

This issue's cover is deftly rendered by Ethan Van Sciver and Wayne Faucher! This is a fun homage to The Flash #123 by Carmine Infantino, the first story that brought the Jay Garrick Flash and the Barry Allen Flash together. But here, we have the Bart Allen Impulse and the Mike Ringer "Impulse" rushing to save Carol Bucklen. Don't worry, though, they're just making a movie, so she's not really in any danger. Or is she? Anyway, this is a really fun cover that harkens back to Flash history. And I'm glad to get as much Ethan Van Sciver on this book as possible, but I still hold to my belief that the cover artist should be the inside artist. It's Carlo Barberi's book now, and the readers should see that.

Our story begins with Bart walking down the street with Carol, who has apparently been having a hard time since being dumped by Jeff Weber. Bart's glad that Carol has finally come out of her room since the breakup, but as Carol describes the feeling of having her heart broken by Jeff, Bart suddenly becomes very angry. He suggests Carol completely forget about Jeff since he's a jerk and she's better off without him. Carol starts to agree, but suddenly Jeff himself shows up, saying he's out on a run to train for soccer season. Bart snidely says, "You call that running?" Jeff asks for a private conversation with Carol, and she instantly goes against Bart's advice. Bart steps aside, believing that Carol is now going to get back at Jeff, break his heart, beat him up, and he and Carol will laugh about dumping Jeff in the garbage. But Bart doesn't realize that the exact opposite is happening.

Carol gives Bart a big shock by announcing she's going out with Jeff for pizza later. Bart begins running around her almost at super speed, listing all the reasons why she shouldn't get back with Jeff. But Carol says that Jeff admitted he made a mistake, and she thinks it'll work out this time. She manages to calm Bart down and they meet up with Preston, Wade, Mike, Rolly and Ayanna. Preston announces that they're entering the Alabama Amateur Filmmakers' competition and they want everyone involved. And what better subject for their film than their very own hero, Impulse. For a second, Bart thinks Preston's going to ask him to play Impulse, but they've already decided on Mike, dressing him up in the homemade costume we saw on the cover.

Suffering his second major shock in the past five minutes, Bart tries to stammer out a protest, ultimately complaining about Mike's oversized red boots. Preston says that everybody knows Impulse has big feet and Wade speculates those big feet are the source of Impulse's speed. Bart starts to say that Impulse doesn't have big feet, but then he and Carol look down at his shoes, and Bart has to reluctantly agree with his friends. Mike laments that he's not as buff as the real Impulse, Rolly says his hair should be red, Wade says he needs a deeper voice, and Ayanna adds that Impulse has an English accent. All of these critiques completely baffle Bart and Carol.

Preston starts divvying up assignments. He put the story together with Wade, who wrote the script. Preston will also serve as cameraman, while Rolly takes care of sound and editing. And Bart will play the movie's villain, Dr. Bad. Bart starts to protest this as well, but Carol gets him to be nice with a quick elbow to his ribs. So they start to get ready for their opening scene — Impulse getting his super powers from aliens. Once again, Bart has a hard time with his friends completely messing up everything Impulse, but Carol advises him to keep quiet to protect his secret identity.

We then cut to the home of Bart, Helen and Max, who has just returned from patrol. He playfully gives Helen a hard time for spending so much time with her new boyfriend, Matt Ringer, and he asks where Bart is. Helen tells him about the movie, which worries Max. Helen says that Carol is with Bart and she asks what trouble he could get into. Both Max and Helen laugh a little at this, but soon stop, realizing that with Bart, one can never be too careful.

Our filmmakers next head to the Manchester Train Station, where they'll ultimately show Carol being tied to the tracks like on the cover. But first, they want to shoot Mike running next to a stopped train, which they then plan to edit so it'll look like he's outracing a speeding train. However, they have to get the shot quick, since the train is ready to take off at any minute. So Mike starts running, but he trips and falls on the tracks just as the train starts picking up steam. Bart quickly saves Mike, moving too fast for anyone to see, and Carol points out it's a good thing Bart agreed to come along, while everybody else asks Mike how he did that. (Also of note in this scene, it looks like Barberi drew himself as one of the spectators at the station.)

Back at Helen's house, she and Matt are preparing for a picnic. Matt pets Dox, commenting that his son, Mike, is always talking about Bart's dog. Matt would like to buy a dog for him, but he's worried Mike would just accuse him of trying to buy his love. Carol advises Matt to be patient, saying Mike will see through is anger in time. The couple then heads out the door, neither of them realizing that Dox has slipped out the back.

Shortly, the filmmakers have headed to an intersection, where Mike is set to run against some cars and trucks stopped at a red light. While shooting this, Bart vents to Carol about how this movie is using aliens and stupid villains to make Impulse look like a complete idiot. Carol manages to keep a straight face, but is otherwise unable to respond to Bart's complaint.

They then head into an old warehouse to film the big showdown between Impulse and Dr. Bad. Bart puts on his costume — a large purple coat and sunglasses — and poses with Carol tied to a chair. Everybody else is at the top of a catwalk near an open window to film Mike come running in from across the street, while Bart and Carol hold very still. Bart still has a bad attitude about the whole thing, but he is complying.

Preston calls action, but as Mike starts to run, he sees Dox starting to cross the street behind him, stepping out right in front of a truck. Mike tries to get the dog to stop, but it keeps happily trotting toward him. While everybody's worried about Dox, the rickety old catwalk begins to collapse. Bart realizes he has to choose between saving his dog and saving his friends. Naturally, Bart chooses his friends. He throws on his Impulse outfit and catches Ayanna, Wade, Rolly and Preston, dumping them on a pile of dirt outside the window so they all think they just fell there naturally. But while he was doing this, the truck driver saw Dox, honked his horn and slammed on his breaks. Bart hears Mike call out Dox's name, and the world's fastest teen fears he was too late to save his dog.

Bart returns to Carol, puts his civilian clothes back on, and together they join with the others to see what happened to Dox. Turns out, Mike ran in front of the truck and scooped up the dog to safety. Mike returns Dox to Bart, who rejoices as his dog repeatedly licks his face. Everybody is amazed at Mike's heroism, and he explains that it must have been his costume, which inspired him to do what Impulse would have done. Bart is surprised to hear this, and Carol pulls him aside to say, "And you couldn't understand why they wanted to make a movie about you ... ? Du-uh ... could it possibly be because you're their hero ... ?"


After spending the last two issues on a somewhat dissatisfying adventure in space, it was refreshing to get back to the basics — Bart hanging out with his friends in Manchester — and just in time for the new artist. These low-key, slice-of-life stories are the backbone of Impulse, and Dezago does such a great job with the supporting characters. And I really like the pace of Bart's developing romantic feelings. It's slow, clumsy, awkward, confusing, and perfectly natural and realistic. The idea for an Impulse movie is a fun one, and I loved Bart's reactions to his friends' ignorance. I only wish we could have seen Bart actually act as "Dr. Bad" for a bit.

Carlo Barberi put up a pretty strong debut issue. His style isn't as refined as Ethan Van Sciver's, but it is very reminiscent of both Humberto Ramos and Craig Rousseau. It's fitting that the fourth (and final) artist on Impulse would perfectly capture the look and feel established by the previous artists, but still have enough of his own style to distinguish himself. I do think he draws hands and fingers a little too chunky, and sometimes his mouths look a bit weird when they're yelling, but these are minor nitpicks. Barberi nails the essentials. Bart still looks like an awkward teenager with big feet, big hair and a very expressive face.

Impulsive Reactions begins with Sarah Finnegan, of Washington, D.C., praising the finale of Mercury Falling. She admits that she missed the clues of Inertia posing as Impulse, and she enjoyed the theme of Bart's love for Max. Sarah also interpreted Inertia's running off as a "suicidal plunge," but Joey Cavalieri advises to not count out Inertia so fast, hinting that Dezago may bring back a changed and chastened Inertia.

Paul Tapner, of Poole, England, initially thought Impulse #64 was just a completely irrelevant diversion. But after reading Impulse #65, he realized how everything fits together. Paul ends his letter by praising that issue's cliffhanger ending and great art.

LilChica prematurely cheered the breaking up of the Carol-Jeff relationship. She says she's not quite ready for Bart and Carol to get together, but she did like how Bart was there to comfort his friend.

Max Mercury II points to Carol saying Bart's cuter than Inertia and hopes this starts opening the door of a Bart-Carol relationship. Max also enjoyed the scene of Zatanna switching all the heroes' costumes, and he says he also was hoping that swap would exchange powers, as well.

TheReturnofJustinCredible simply says, "Jesse Quick as Plastic Man. Yummy."

TheRay says he hasn't read Impulse in a year or two, but he picked up Impulse #67 just because it had the JLA and JSA on the cover. His favorite part was Bart introducing Wonder Woman as his cousin. Now he's going back and picking up all the issues he missed.

Da Caped Crusader also liked Jesse as Plastic Man, but insists Wonder Woman as Aquaman was better. He also enjoys how the letter column is now including comments from the DC website.

DataLore was just happy to see Zatanna again. Now let's take a look at the new ads. But first, I'll say that once again Bart and all his friends were exclusively wearing Nautica clothing in this issue. For what it's worth, Barberi did seem to make this a bit more subtle than Van Sciver did a few issues ago.

Grab it and go ... anywhere. Go-Gurt portable yogurt.

Meet hockey's way cool chimp! MVP: Most Valuable Primate on Videocassette and DVD.

Everything he knows is wrong! Superman: Return to Krypton.

Cartoon Cartoons comic books.

A subscription ad showing the Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Laboratory and Scooby-Doo. But it also lists Impulse as an option, offering 12 issues for $19.95. The cover price for Impulse in 2001 was $2.50.

Welcome to the resurrection. Green Arrow.

A ballot for the 8th Annual Wizard Fan Awards. None of the listed options have any ties to Impulse, except for former Impulse letterer Chris Eliopoulos, who was nominated for his work on Savage Dragon.

See anyone you know? Disney's House of Mouse. This cartoon had the fun concept of bringing together every Disney character from Snow White to Hercules into a night club owned by Mickey Mouse. Unfortunately, the execution was lacking as the animation and voice acting couldn't do justice to many of these guest characters.

Next time, Impulse and the team finally come back to Earth in Young Justice #30.

Young Justice #29

Forever and a Day

Peter David – Writer
Todd Nauck – Pencils
Lary Stucker – Inks
Ken Lopez – Letters
Jason Wright – Colors
Digital Chameleon – Separations
Tom Palmer Jr. – Assistant Editor
Eddie Berganza – Editor

This month's cover is another fine piece of work by Nauck and Stucker, with Ian Hannin on colors. It's a fun race between Young Justice on their super-cycle against the Forever People on their larger super-cycle. Most of the people here are quite serious, but a few seem to be having a good time. And I'm always happy when Impulse gets to be in the front of the cover. But while this "race" is really fun and does a great job of showing all the major characters of this month's story, we'll soon find out that the "villains" of this issue are the super-cycles themselves.

Our story begins on Earth, with young Traya being called in to the principal's office. Word has gotten out that Cissie has gone missing, and Principal Foster is understandably concerned. She hears Traya's explanation — that Cissie "just kinda disappeared" — and justifiably believes the young girl is covering for her roommate, who's probably out to see a boy or something of that matter. Traya, who has been honest the whole time, is quite perplexed by this line of reasoning.

Bonnie King-Jones then enters the office, munching on a bag of pretzel sticks in an attempt to quit smoking. To Mrs. Foster's surprise, Bonnie takes a rather nonchalant attitude toward her daughter's disappearance. Bonnie asks Traya if Cissie disappeared in a bust of light or some sound, but Traya answers in the negative. So Bonnie tries to calm down the principal by saying that Cissie is likely off with Young ... (she catches herself) friends, and should be back soon. Mrs. Foster tries to emphasize the severity of the situation, saying that Cissie's not just going to materialize out of nowhere. Right on cue, there's a flash of light in the principal's closet, and out comes tumbling Cissie. Traya happily waves at her friend, and the vindicated Bonnie says, "Never argue with me. Mother knows best."

Meanwhile, at a gratuitous fight scene on New Genesis, Lobo is locked in a fierce battle with Big Bear. Well, actually it's just a playful spar, but it has been going on for twenty minutes and the two powerhouses have destroyed a lot of trees in the area, so Robin yells at them to give it a rest. Wonder Girl and Empress are complimenting Beautiful Dreamer on her hair, which smells like honeysuckle. And Superboy is telling Vykin all about Riproar and how Young Justice got their super-cycle in the first place. Vykin is familiar with Riproar, calling him a lower-echelon Darkseid minion.

Impulse interrupts everything by shouting out "Nuts nuts nuts!" Everyone turns and sees the poor boy desperately trying to hold on to the super-cycle, which has once again gone berserk. Impulse is quickly thrown off the vehicle, but Superboy manages to catch him. Bart explains that the two super-cycles were kind of nuzzling each other, but then suddenly started flipping out. Like any rational person, Superboy finds it odd for two vehicles to "nuzzle." Moonrider explains that technology is sentient on New Genesis, constantly learning and growing. Robin points out the challenges in having your technology in a constant state of flux, and Lobo calls it "fraggin' wonderful." Wonder Girl asks if he could use another word besides fraggin', but Lobo says he can't and stay code-approved, a comment that goes over Cassie's head. (If it also went over your head, check out the Comics Code Authority and its rather pointless history.)

Big Bear and Moonrider jump on their yellow cycle, but are unable to prevent it from promptly flying away. Robin, Superboy, Wonder Girl and Lobo all try to contain their red cycle, but don't seem to have much more luck. Robin points out that their cycle is trying to follow the yellow one, and Superboy repeats his favorite joke about Robin being trained by the world's greatest detective. But an exasperated Robin finishes the joke for him and tells Kon to drop it. Empress then stands in front of the super-cycle, stretches out her hand, and with glowing fingertips and eyes, commands the vehicle to stop. To everyone's surprise, the super-cycle actually did stop moving. But when Lobo calls out, "That's m'girl!", Empress loses her focus, and the cycle flies off, knocking Anita to the ground. Superboy chews out Lobo, calling him a Kiss reject, and as Empress gathers herself up, she bemoans that on a team with Superboy, Robin and Impulse, she had to be Lobo's girl.

If you were wondering what Secret has been doing this whole time, we see that she has become entranced with the beauty of New Genesis and gone off on her own through the woods. Secret happily takes in the trees and flowers, nothing that it's so different from the violence, darkness and things that terrorize you in the night. But she suddenly grows cold, feeling like she doesn't belong here — that she doesn't deserve to be somewhere like this. Secret suddenly finds she's not alone in the woods, as she comes face to face with none other than Darkseid himself.

We cut back to the frantic heroes of Young Justice and the Forever People, completely unable to contain their wild rides. Superboy cries out that even his tactile telekinesis is ineffective, and Wonder Girl complains that Kon is once again explaining his powers as if nobody knew how they worked. Beautiful Dreamer comes up with a decent plan and slows down the super-cycles with a mirage of a hoard of parademons. When Robin points out the parademons are just illusions, Superboy tries once more to get out his "world's greatest detective" joke, but this time both Wonder Girl and Lobo tell Kon to shut up.

The illusion did halt the super-cycles' progress, but the two vehicles suddenly begin spinning around violently, shaking all the occupants off them. Superboy catches Robin, and as the two vehicles begin wrapping themselves around each other, the Boy Wonder says he thinks the cycles are making out. Lobo lands hard on Moonrider, knocking out the leader of the Forever People just as he was trying to give them some orders. The super-cycles end their "make-out" session and form into one large robot that immediately starts blasting off a bunch of lasers. Superboy takes one of these lasers to the chest to protect Cassie, who once again complains to him that she can protect herself.

The Forever People believe the only way they can stop the super-cycles is to summon the Infinity Man, even if they'll have to do so without the unconscious Moonrider. So they pull out their special box and say their special words. Impulse sees this, assumes they're playing some sort of game, and decides he wants to join in, too. So he touches the box at the same time as the Forever People, and they all merge together to become ... Infinity Man with an Impulse twist.

Back on Earth, Cissie tells her mom all about her adventure in space, which Bonnie thinks would make a great movie starring John Travolta. As they head back into Cissie's room, she's shocked to see her mom has taken the liberty of hiring an agent, Frank Balkin, and three women to handle the fan mail. The massive pile of letters is gone, replaced with desks, boxes and filing cabinets, with the women stamping Cissie's autograph on 8x10 glossies of her to send back to the fans. Frank excitedly tells Cissie about his plans for her to receive some major endorsements, but Cissie doesn't seem too thrilled about it.

We cut back to New Genesis, where Robin is desperately trying to tell Infini ... uh ... Impu ... whatever! that he probably doesn't need to fight the super-cycles and just give them some space. But Infinity Impulse (I'll call him that) insists he knows what the Forever People and Impulse knows, and that Robin should leave such matters of galactic import to beings who can fully comprehend them. He ends his speech by saying, "So, y'know ... chill!" Superboy groans that Impulse has suddenly become too fabulous for words now that he's gone a "little cosmic."

Robin and Wonder Girl spot Lobo trying to use a laser blast to light a cigar, and they both tell him that is a disgusting and dangerous habit. But Lobo takes his chances, only to receive a full laser blast to his face. The Top Teen retaliates by punching the super-cycles off into the horizon. Infinity Impulse congratulates Lobo for his impressive blow, but Lobo punches him, as well, breaking them back up into Impulse and the Forever People. Vykin blames Impulse for making their link with the Infinity Man unstable. Impulse thought it was awesome and he asks to do it again, but Big Bear and Serafin staunchly oppose this idea.

Cassie tries to take advantage of this break in the action to confront Kon, pointing out that he's been overly protective of her since the Olympics in Australia. But as Cassie talks, she realizes that Kon has been acting this way since Tana died during Sins of Youth. Kon tries to deny this, but Cassie puts it all together, saying that he loved Tana and now he doesn't want harm to come to anyone else he ... but before Cassie can finish the sentence, Lobo comes blasting by on his space hog, and Superboy seems grateful for the distraction.

All the heroes regroup near the super-cycles, which are now emanating a bright glow and are wrapped up in a strange, twisted tangle. In the excitement, Superboy instinctively grabs hold of Wonder Girl, who has to tell him to let go of her. There's a flash of light, and the super-cycles are untangled and seemingly back to normal, with a new, small blue super-cycle sitting between them. Beautiful Dreamer says this new vehicle will be the perfect size for her child, and she names the blue super-cycle Kirbee (in honor of the creator of the Fourth World, Jack Kirby). A stunned Robin says aloud that their super-cycle was having a mating cycle and it needed another one to make a ... spare, as Superboy says. Empress asks if Young Justice ever has any normal adventures, like something involving a monstrous incarnation of evil.

Just then, Secret shows up with her new friend, whom she calls "Mr. Doug Side." She tells everyone that she was feeling kind of down, but when she met Mr. Side, he told her that what she thinks are weaknesses are actually strengths and she needs to embrace everything about herself that she fears. Secret admits this sounded odd at first, but the more she thought about it, the more she came around to this line of thinking that if anyone's afraid of her, that's their problem, not hers. And that her first priority has to be doing what's true to her. Darkseid tells Secret that she has great potential, then he politely kisses her hand and excuses himself. Secret turns back to her friends, and can't figure out why she's only met with stunned, blank stares.


This was a thoroughly wacky and fun issue of Young Justice. I was getting a bit weary of keeping the team in space for so long, but when we get hilarious, bizarre adventures like this, it's worth it. The Forever People are pretty hard to take seriously, which makes them the perfect foil for Young Justice. The biggest problem with them, though, is the Infinity Man, who is so powerful that writers often have to find ways to hinder him a bit. In the Young Justice episode "Disordered," Infinity Man was essentially being mind-controlled by hostile forces. Here, Peter David swapped out the Forever People's leader with Impulse, which was a much funnier way to weaken Infinity Man.

In addition to the goofy antics of the super-cycle's mating cycle, David once again did a great job of weaving in a bunch of great subplots. We don't know exactly how Cissie got sent back to Earth, but it goes without saying that Doiby somehow figured out how to teleport her back home. And it's always great to see Bonnie, who is making actual progress at being a better mother, but at the end of the day, is still Bonnie King-Jones. Poor Superboy had a rough going in this issue. No one would let him complete his old, tired jokes, and his relationship with Wonder Girl is taking a new, awkward turn. This actually fits in nicely with Superboy #83, which shows the Kid going through an "uncool" rut after the team gets back to Earth. But the biggest bomb drop of this issue was Secret's very casual and disturbing conversation with Darkseid. She's always been a bit on the "dark side" so to say, but now things have taken a whole new intensity with this apparent friendship with the biggest bad of the DC Universe.

Our letters to the editor starts with Paul Watson, of Essex, England, expressing disappointment that Young Justice #25 wasn't a massive anniversary issue, and he calls the reveal of Empress' identity too obvious. Paul also begs for Lobo to be kicked off the team.

Scot W. Myers, of Charleston, S.C., is very happy to see things working out between Cissie and her mom, and while Scot wasn't surprised at the Empress reveal, he did enjoy how it was handled, especially with the facial expressions Todd Nauck gave everybody. Scot loved how the story quickly dived into the next adventure with the arrival of a spaceship in a giant crate filled with packing peanuts. He also calls Lobo a hysterical addition to the team.

Brian Seidman, of New York, says he sometimes groans at Peter David's visual puns, but he's always amused. Brian did have an inkling that Anita was Empress, but he never expected Bart's package to arrive from Ali Ben Stein. He wonders if David purposefully waited this long just so he could use the line, "Fedeus Ex Machina." Brian says they should name the spaceship, but he doesn't offer any suggestions. He also asks for Arrowette to officially return to the team and wants to see more of "that guy drinking brains."

Michael Bregman, of Gan-Yavne, Israel, called the revelation of Empress hilarious and silly, but it also made a lot of sense. He also says Young Justice's expressions were priceless, and he's glad this mystery didn't drag out too long. Michael said the arrival of Impulse's spaceship reminds him of Acme deliveries the Coyote would use to try to get the Road Runner — another bit of silliness, but Michael likes having something light to contrast the darker tone of the last few stories.

There aren't any new ads this issue, so I'll see you next time, when we begin the Carlo Barberi era with Impulse #70!