Impulse #1 (April 1995)

Two of the big themes of the Flash mythos are legacy and family. Over the decades, numerous people have taken up the mantle of the Flash, from Jay Garrick, to Barry Allen, to Wally West, to the character that we're going to meet here: Bart Allen.

But before he was the fourth Flash (at least, before DC canon became the mess it is now), Bart Allen was once a teenage hero with a tendency to run without thinking, a kid who operated...on Impulse. Created by Mark Waid and the late Mike Weiringo, Bart's first full appearance was The Flash #92 (July 1994), making a cameo in the previous issue. He would go on to be a member of Young Justice and the Teen Titans.

But before all that, he had his own series as Impulse. This series lasted from 1995-2002. The first issue of it is the comic we will look at here. So, let's look at Impulse #1!

The cover is a Humberto Ramos and Wayne Faucher piece. It's pretty neat, depicting our hero outrunning a missile. It gives the vibe that Impulse is a bit devil-may-care, which fit his character at the time.

"The Single Synapse Theory"
Writer: Mark Waid
Penciler: Humberto Ramos
Inker: Wayne Faucher
Colorist: Tom McCraw
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulous
Editors: Ruben Diaz, Brian Augustyn
Executive Editor: Jennette Khan

The story begins at what appears to be a military base. They're testing a brand-new missile. But someone ends up invading the test.

Say hello to Bart Allen, aka Impulse. Due to his...unique upbringing, Bart has a bit of trouble when it comes to discerning fantasy from reality. His speed attracts the missile, making it pursue him. Bart thinks that's awesome. He causes the missile to hit its intended target. The people administer the test are left confused by what had just happened. Bart briefly appears to them, then zips off. 

We next switch scenes to a high school in Manchester, Alabama. 

In a bit of contrast to the seemingly ultra-confident Impulse, Bart Allen is quiet and what appears to be somewhat shy. We also see that he's actually pretty observant.

The teacher gives the class a little assignment: write about your own personal history. I can imagine that this would be a nightmare for a superhero in the DCU, as its history constantly changes.

But it's here that we get a basic idea of Bart's history up to this point. He's the grandson of the second Flash, Barry Allen. A short time before his death in Crisis on Infinite Earths, Barry had moved to the 30th century with his wife Iris. They had two children, twins named Don and Dawn Allen, who became known as the Tornado Twins. Don would be the father of Bart. Bart was born with a hyper-fast metabolism...that was causing him to age at an accelerated rate. 

As an attempt to help keep Bart sane, he was plugged into a virtual reality world. However, it wasn't fixing his hyper-fast aging problem, so Iris sent him back to the "present day" to see if the then-current Flash, Wally West (who is Bart's first cousin once removed), could help him. Wally was able to fix that problem, but Bart's, well...impulsiveness proved a bit hard to handle.

As such, Wally sent him to live with an elder speedster called Max Mercury, the self-proclaimed Zen Master of Speed. Max is unimpressed with Bart's attempt to write about his life. After all, Bart has to maintain his secret identity, much to his chagrin. The young speedster is struggling with living in 1990s Alabama. It's too quiet, peaceful, and primitive for him. Impulse's new mentor then shows him a newspaper article about his's little misadventure.

The elder hero notes the oddness of this, as the plant that produced the tank that the missile was being tested on was produced at a plant east of town. Its test range was there, too. Meanwhile, the people at the plant are preparing defenses for Impulse. And being the type to just jump into things, Impulse races towards the plant. He gets ambushed, but the speedster is able to overcome his foes. Bart then eyes a room, and just...walks in. He ends up falling into a dark void, and the story ends with our hero finding himself at...a whole lot of gunpoint. Nice work, Bart. 

This issue was pretty good. It does what a good first issue should do, in my opinion. It introduces us to Bart Allen, and gives us a bit of an idea of who he is and what he is about, character-wise. I do like that Bart is shown to notice little details. It helps show off his potential, that he is smarter than people give him credit for. Humberto Ramos's art has a bit of a...cartoony vibe to it, for lack of better words. It certainly fits Bart and his personality. 

If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2021 trade paperback Flash/Impulse: Runs in the Family. Thanks for reading this blog entry! Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, wear a mask, and get vaccinated! See you next time!