This week sees the release of Flash #16 by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato, part 4 of “Gorilla Warfare.” IGN has a preview. Meanwhile, we get two digital backissues each of Flash and Impulse from the 1990s.
The Flash takes Grodd into the Speed Force in a last-ditch effort to defeat the mad gorilla! And…he loses?! Plus: The Rogues, the introduction of a major villain and a look at the one and only date between Barry Allen and Iris West in The New 52!
Digital Flashbacks: ComiXology is adding Flash #102-103 (Wally West) and Impulse #49-50 to the digital back catalog.
Flash #102: Wally West vs. Mongul, the alien warlord who destroyed Coast City. Update: Check out Devin’s action figure recreation of the cover at The Fastest Fan Alive.
Flash #103: Linda has run off, the only clue being a photo of her with her ex– an ex whom Wally didn’t know about! But relationship troubles are the least of their problems, as the couple have to work together to stop a cult from raising a demon.
Impulse #49: Evil Eye is sent to a behavior modification camp run by Wally’s ne’r-do-well father, but Bart suspects the camp is going too far. It’s up to Impulse to find out what’s going on, and shut it down if he has to. This is the last issue of William Messner-Loebs’ run on the series.
Impulse #50: Todd Dezago takes over as writer. Impulse teams up with Batman, and we get our first hints of Bart’s “dark twin,” Inertia.
Flash #102 was one of the more ho hum stories, but it had one line by Wally in the midst of the battle that had me rolling in laughter so….a keeper.
Bart: I loved Messner-Loeb’s work back then. How was Dezago’s? Was it the same light-hearted style?
Flash #102 – I think I know exactly which line you mean.
Impulse – Dezago’s style was a little more epic and a bit more serious, though he tried to keep the humor in. If you’re familiar with JLA: World Without Grown-Ups, Perhapanauts or Tellos, you get an idea of the range he usually goes for.
But there are some really serious arcs, like “Mercury Falling” (available in TPB), “Dark Tomorrow,” or the Max Mercury spotlight that sets it up.
I remember an interview with either Dezago or Waid about how the later editors on Impulse wanted it to be more of a straight super-hero book instead of a comedy, and I definitely remember reading that Dezago was frustrated with the editorial edicts during the final year, when they insisted on giving Bart extra powers and forced so many crossovers on the book that it lost all its own momentum.
Flash #102: I think what made that line so great was that it just seemed to come out of the blue. You’re expecting declarations of bravado…and then that. 😀
Impulse. Ah. Yeah, come to think of it I do have Mercury Falling. Got that back in 2009? First trade I purchased after getting all The Flash ones with Wally as Flash.
Editors and Editorial are becoming dirty words in my book. What is the mindset that demands some people to take something that’s not broke and try to stick their own stamp on it…thus damaging the product?