Tag Archives: Bart Allen

A Glimpse of Impulse in Smallville: Season 11 #10

Impulse on the cover of Smallville Season 11 #10 by Scott Kolins Who’s that speedster on the cover of Smallville: Season 11 #10? Last month we got a hint that the Flash/Impulse would be returning to Smallville in January’s print issues (which I think line up with December’s digital issues). The text about an “old friend” was vague, and the figure running past Superman was blacked out so that we couldn’t see who he was, but the implication is clear.

DC’s February solicitations are out, teasing a story about “speed storms,” with a cover full of lightning and…what’s that? Someone moving at super-speed behind Clark!

Here’s a glimpse of Bart Allen’s new look for the Smallville digital-first comic book. What we can see of the outfit looks to be inspired more by Impulse than the Flash, though for some reason he seems to have died his hair blond.

Smallville Season 11 #10 Cover by Scott Kolins

SMALLVILLE SEASON 11 #10
Written by BRYAN Q. MILLER
Art by JORGE JIMENEZ
Cover by SCOTT KOLINS
On sale FEBRUARY 6 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T

The first time in print for these digital-first adventures!
Superman races to find answers as mysterious “speed storms” begin to break out across the globe.
Lex hands Tess an ultimatum: Reveal everything she knows about the Man of Steel, or face oblivion.

This Week – Flash: Move Forward HC, digital Gorilla Warfare & The Alchemist

Struck by a bolt of lightning and doused in chemicals, Central City Police scientist Barry Allen was transformed into the fastest man alive. Tapping into the energy field called The Speed Force, he applies a tenacious sense of justice to protect an serve the world as The Flash!

The Fastest Man Alive returns to his own monthly series as part of the DC Comics—The New 52 event with the writer/artist team of Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato. The Flash knows he can’t be everywhere at once, but he has seemingly met his match when he faces DC Comic’ hottest new Super Villain, Mob Rule, who really can be everywhere at once!

As Mob Rule wages a campaign of crime across Central City, including an electromagnetic blast that plunges the city into darkness, The Flash learns the the only way he can capture Mob Rule and save Central City is to learn how to make his brain function even faster than before—but as much as it helps him, it also comes with a steep price.

This volume collects issues 1-8 of the monthly series.

— Amazon’s description of the book.

And yes, contrary to previous reports it does collect issues #1-8. I met Brian Buccellato at Long Beach Comic & Horror Con over the weekend, and he showed off a copy of the book.

Digital Backissues

ComiXology adds Flash #70-71 and Impulse #31-32. Flash #70 concludes the 4-part “Gorilla Warfare” crossover with Green Lantern #30-31, while Flash #71 is the first part of a 2-part story with an all new Dr. Alchemy. Impulse #31 has Max Mercury going up against his old nemesis Dr. Morlo, and Impulse #32 focuses on one of Bart’s friends, Preston, as he deals with both being injured as a bystander in a superhero/villain fight and facing his mother’s mental health problems.

This Week’s Digital Flash(backs): more Gorilla Warfare

This week’s digital back issues at ComiXology include Flash v.2 #68-69 and Impulse #29-30.

Flash #68 concludes the two-parter re-introducing Abra Kadabra, and presents a new vision of the 64th century: a highly regulated world where everyone’s lives are planned down to the second, controlled by a massive computer called the Chronarch. (Mark Waid, Greg LaRocque)

Flash #69 & Green Lantern #30-31 feature the first three chapters of “Gorilla Warfare” — not the current storyline of course, but a crossover between Flash and Green Lantern in which Hector Hammond teams up with Grodd. (Mark Waid, Gerard Jones, Greg LaRocque, M.D. Bright, Romeo Tanghal)

Impulse #29 marks William Messner-Loebs’ debut on the series, as Bart and his friends stumble on a group of criminals dumping toxic waste near their town.

Impulse #30 is a tie-in to the Genesis crossover in which all the super-powers…and all the hope as well…are drained from the world…and an old enemy of Max Mercury’s takes the opportunity to settle the score. (William Messner-Loebs, Craig Rousseau)

Today’s half-remembered quote that I’ll fix when I have time to look it up:

“What kind of super-villain puts the location of his evil lair on his web page?”

This Week: Digital Flash Year One & Impulse in the 30th Century

This week’s digital releases at ComiXology include Flash #64-65 and Impulse #25-26.

Flash #64-65 conclude the Mark Waid/Greg Larocque “Flash Year One” story telling Wally West’s origin, focusing on his first summer as Kid Flash. Impulse #25-26 finish up the story revealing the future world Bart Allen left behind when he came to the present, and the family who stayed to protect him. But when he returns to our time, Max Mercury has mysteriously vanished!

Flash/Impulse in Smallville Season 11?

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It seems kind of silly putting a question mark in the title, but really, who else is an old friend running with Superman going to be?

From DC’s January Solicitations:

SMALLVILLE SEASON 11 #9
Written by BRYAN Q. MILLER • Art by JORGE JIMENEZ
Cover by SCOTT KOLINS
On sale JANUARY 9 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T

The first time in print for these digital-first stories.
An old friend returns to the series with a new look. What terrible secret is he carrying?
The secret of “Earth Two” Chloe is revealed.

Smallville’s scarlet speedster is Bart Allen, played by Kyle Gallner. When he first appeared in season four’s “Run,” commercials advertised him as the Flash, but when he returned in the sixth-season episode “Justice,” he was given the code-name Impulse. (Green Arrow remarked that Bart “didn’t get to pick his nickname.”)

This version of Bart was a troubled teen who used his speed for petty theft until an encounter with Clark Kent put him on a more heroic path. He later joined forces with Green Arrow, Cyborg and Aquaman in what became the Justice League.

Presumably the silhouette is there to put off revealing his costume (unless DC has decided to replace Bart with Barry or something, but that seems unlikely), though it’s conceivable the “old friend” is another character entirely.

I haven’t been following the series, so I’m not 100% certain how the digital/print schedule works out, but my understanding is that every three digital chapters are collected in one print issue, so we’ll probably see this story on ComiXology in December.

This Week’s Digital Flashbacks: Born to Run and Impulse’s Family Reunion

Flash #62: Born to Run Part 1 Impulse #23

It’s an all-Mark Waid week in ComiXology’s digital Flash/Impulse back-issues. Last week they finished re-releasing the last of the William Messner-Loebs run on The Flash, and this week, they begin Mark Waid’s classic run on the series with the first two parts of “Born to Run,” re-telling Wally West’s origin in the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths universe (Flash #62-63).

In Impulse #23-24, it’s an origin of sorts for Bart Allen as well: his mother catches up with him from the 30th century and wants him to return to his own time, and we get to see for the first time the centuries-spanning Thawne-Allen feud. Interestingly enough, this is near the end of Mark Waid’s run on this series. In a few weeks, they’ll begin on the run by…William Messner-Loebs.