Category Archives: Out This Week

This Week: Impulse in Smallville (in print!) plus Digital Flashbacks for Wally West & Bart Allen

Smallville Season 11 #9 Cover by Scott Kolins

The print edition of Smallville Season 11 #9, the first part of a story guest-starring Impulse (Bart Allen), arrives in stores today. If you’ve been reading online, this contains the same story as the digital edition Smallville Season 11 #25-27. (Confused yet?) Written by Bryan Q. Miller; art by Jorge Jimenez with a cover by Scott Kolins.

Also in digital back-issues at ComiXology, we have four new issues from the 1990s:

Flash #90: Wally West has realized that his whole trial has been manipulated by Abra Kadabra…too late to stop an injunction against using his powers within city limits. Now he has to stop Kadabra and clear his own name while on the run from the law. (Mark Waid, Mike Wieringo)

Flash #91: Determined to never leave anyone behind again, Wally West adds Johnny Quick’s speed formula to his own super-speed…and finds himself trapped in a single moment of time. (Mark Waid, Mike Wieringo.) This issue was included in the Flash: The Greatest Stories Ever Told trade paperback collection.

Impulse #45: “Bart’s mom comes back from the future to see her time-lost son, but not everybody is imbued with the spirit of the Christmas season. The odds of there being peace in Manchester are slim!” (William Messner-Loebs, Craig Rousseau)

Impulse #46: As the Flash family of the late 20th century prepares to embark on the time-spanning mission in “Chain Lightning,” Impulse imagines meeting his grandfather Barry Allen…and how different his life might be with this living legend as his mentor instead of Max Mercury. (William Messner-Loebs, Craig Rousseau)

Impulse #46

This Week: Gorilla Warfare in Flash #15, Flashbacks to the New Trial of the Flash & Impulse

Flash #15

Flash #15 is out today (preview).

“Gorilla Warfare” rages on! In THE FLASH #15, Barry Allen must go to extreme measures to defeat Grodd while the Gorillas take over the Gem Cities. With his body out of commission, The Flash uses the Speed Mind to glimpse the future, and things are not looking good for him and the Rogues! Can Barry think of a way out of this situation? Or are the Gem Cities doomed forever? From the creative team of Francis Manapul, Brian Buccellato, Marcus To, and Ryan Winn, THE FLASH #15 races into stores this Wednesday.

Smallville Season 11 is on break this week (DC’s digital firsts are generally three chapters each month) and will be back next week, along with the print edition of the first three chapters of “Haunted” guest-starring Impulse.

Meanwhile, ComiXology’s digital re-releases continue:

Flash #88-89: Wally West is sued for negligence by a woman who was horribly injured during the battle with Razer, and the shock sends him into a frenzy of crimefighting. How do you fight a lawsuit when you blame yourself? Can even the fastest man alive save everyone? Flash on ComiXology

Impulse #43: Gamal runs a convenience store in Manchester, Alabama, but in his home country, he was a brilliant scientist and inventor. Now he’s being pursued by foreign agents intent on weaponizing his inventions.

Impulse #44: School bully Evil Eye steals his dad’s super-villain costume for Halloween. What could possibly go wrong? Impulse on ComiXology.

This Week: Digital Flash vs. Santa & Impulse vs. Virtual Pe(s)ts

Flash #87: Flash vs. a gang of machine-gun-toting Hawaiian shirt-wearing Santa Clauses.

ComiXology’s digital reprint schedule for the 1990s Flash series brings us up to Flash #87 the day after Christmas. Though these Hawaiian-shirt-wearing, machine-gun toting Santas would rather fill up their own sacks than deliver anything to children.

Remember the Tamagotchi craze of the 1990s? Kids were as determined to take care of their virtual pets as today’s Farmville players are worried about harvesting their crops. Impulse #42 follows the fad off the deep end, as the virtual pets come alive and threaten the real world.

And finally, be sure to check back on Friday for the next chapter of “Haunted,” the Smallville Season 11 story guest-starring Impulse.

Impulse #42: Virtual Pest!

This Week’s Digital Flash: Argus, Arrowette & Smallville

Flash #86 Impulse #41

This week’s Flash comics are all digital, including two re-issues today, and one new chapter in the Impulse story on Smallville on Friday.

Flash v.2 #86: The Flash and Argus go against the alien weapons-dealers, the Combine. (Note: ComiXology’s summaries have been off a few issues lately. They describe this one as having to do with the lawsuit storyline.)

Impulse #41: “Arrowette’s back and she’s asked Impulse to help her solve a string of mysterious thefts in several schools. In order to do so, Bart’s got to accompany her to a dance where he believes he’s uncovered the source of these thefts–and it involves just about everyone in Flash’s Rogues Gallery!”

Smallville Season 11 #26: Continuing “Haunted,” guest-starring Impulse. Read more about this storyline in last week’s article..

This Week’s Digital Speedsters: New Impulse in Smallville, Flash(back) to Razer & More

Smallville Season 11 #9 by Scott Kolins

I haven’t been able to confirm it, but the numbers line up. On Friday, DC will release the digital edition of Smallville Season 11 #25, which I believe is the first part of the story guest-starring Bart Allen/Impulse which will appear in the print edition Smallville Season 11 #9–11. A cover isn’t up yet, so this is the spoiler-blocked version of the print #9 cover.

These digital-first comics are set in the continuity of the Smallville TV show, not the New 52 or old DCU. DC releases three weekly issues at 99 cents each month, then collects them as a single $2.99 print issue the following month. Smallville Season 11 on Comixology.

And in digital reprints from the 1990s, we have…

Flash #85

Flash #85: Part two of Wally West’s battle with Razer, as a Keystone shopping mall is, well, razed to the ground. Something that happens in the background will turn out to have a major impact a few issues down the road. Flash on ComiXology.

Impulse #40: “It’s Manchester High’s annual parent/kid picnic, and this wouldn’t be an Impulse story if something as simple as potato salad and three-legged races didn’t lead to big trouble.” Impulse on ComiXology.

Impulse #40

This Week’s Digital Flashbacks: Flash vs. Razer & Impulse with the Trickster

Flash #84

ComiXology has made another change in their Flash/Impulse re-issue schedule. For a while they were releasing three issues of the 1987 series starring Wally West each week, then two issues of that series and two of Impulse. Recently, they caught up to where the comics released for the Flash 101 sale left off, and pause the Flash but kept Impulse going. This week, Flash is back, but they’re releasing just one issue of each 1990s speedster series: Flash #84 and Impulse #39.

Flash #84: Fresh out of the dual wringers of “The Return of Barry Allen” and “Back on Track,” Wally West carries on protecting Keystone City, this time going up against a blade-armored mercenary known as Razer.

Impulse #39: The Trickster returns, pulling in threads from the organized crime, toxic dumping and flood storylines.

Update: Here’s the Impulse summary from ComiXology (I can’t believe I forgot this one): “The Trickster is back in town. And you can bet he’s got something up his sleeve when, working with Impulse, he tricks Manchester’s rival crime families into believing the toxic waste they’ve been dumping in town is actually a formula that can turn metal into gold!”

Impulse #39