Legion Intermission: Jenni, Part 2
Let’s complete XS’s incursion into the 20th century Flash books.
Impulse #12 (1996)
by Mark Waid & Humberto Ramos
At the very least, Impulse wants this teamup to end with a bang.
After a difficult start in the previous issues, the two cousins have developed a friendship based on something they have in common…
…video games.
This might just be the angriest I have ever seen XS. Including witnessing multiple tragedies in the Legion career.
Impulse’s combination of super-speed and lack of attention span might just bankrupt the Flash family.
Wally West disappeared into the Speed Force in the last Flash issue I mentioned, but he’s been replaced by the Flash of the 27th century.
We’ll see him shortly because XS meets her in-between scenes of THIS book, but the mention that he might help her get back to the future doesn’t sit right with Impulse who JUST found a friend.
Why am I not surprised that SHE knows more about Elvis than him?
Turns out that Jenni is a huge fan of music.
Subtle as usual, Impulse.
After some subplots about Max Mercury, Impulse tries to convince him to basically adopt Jenni.
Max is all about keeping mysteries, so having a time traveler is a bit of an inconvenience for him.
…or it would if she didn’t have a sense of humor.
There’s a concert at Impulse’s school, where an old student who became a celebrity is supposed to play for the crowd.
I wouldn’t want Jenni to be taken away from the Legion, but I would read the crap of a series where she has to keep a secret identity in the 20th century.
It’s also a neat subversion for this book, where Impulse is usually the one being too reckless with his secret identity.
Unfortunately, the musician is being held back by someone he owes money to.
The two teen heroes go look for him, and the fight goes as you’d expect.
Dude, these two are the worst superheroes to told to wait.
And JUST as the concert is about to start… the musician is tackled by a fan and passes out.
Well, time to riot then!
Except… that bit at the beginning about speedsters being able to do just about anything if they practice enough?
This starts as ear-bleedingly bad…
…until the two get REALLY into it.
I wish I knew how to read music to judge if those notes makes sense.
For a medium without any sound, that was THE MOST EPIC CONCERT EVER.
What a great way to end this family reunion.
Yeah, as much as this breaks Bart’s heart, Jenni has a life in her future.
And just like that, she leaves. They will meet again briefly in a Flash storyline, but they won’t have a significant interaction until AFTER the Reboot ends.
And so we end the issue with Impulse leaving a note for Jenni to discover in the future, since she mentioned that the music museum was excavated recently from her point of view.
Flash vol2 #112 (1996)
by Mark Waid & Anthony Castrillo
Remember the Flash of the 27th century I mentioned? Jenni meets him at Johnny Quick’s funeral.
That scene is obviously set before the Impulse issue, and the scene that immediately follows is set afterwards because that’s when this new Flash builds a time machine for XS.
Anthony Castrillo is the guest artist for the issue, and he does a much better job drawing Jenni as a teenager than Oscar Jimenez.
And that is how Jenni returns to the 30th century. Well, after a detour that will get its own review.
Flash vol2 #114 (1996)
by Mark Waid & Oscar Jimenez
While XS doesn’t show up in this one, it does have a bit of Legion connection.
Because during all this, Wally West was sent into the timestream and bounced between various eras involved with the Flash… including meeting the Tornado Twins in the EARLY 30th century.
As a reminder, they are the children of Barry Allen and the parents of XS and Impulse.
This is a great story but outside of the scope of the retrospective. I absolutely HAVE to mention this moment though, since it’s one of my absolute favorite jokes of the run.
The reason why I’m covering this is that it’s a surprisingly rare glimpse at the generation that immediately preceded the Legion.
Turns out that Earth was REALLY against superheroes.
As a reminder that, while the Legion is either a utopia or as close as possible… it took a while to get there.
Oh great, we’re going to have to deal with “immigrants are taking our jobs” crap for the next thousand years. Why am I not surprised in the slightest?
But on the positive side, it took only one generation to move from THIS to the Legion being galactic superstars.
Too bad we didn’t see much of this era. The Tornado Twins can’t have been the ONLY superpowered heroes around.
Legion significance: 3/10
XS and Impulse’s friendship will play a role, even if they don’t meet for ages.
Silver Age-ness: 1/10
Bart Allen becomes incredibly popular at the school for like one issue, after which everyone completely forget he was suddenly an amazing musician.
Does it stand the test of time? 10/10
With the caveats about the Ramos artwork I already mentioned last time, this was awesome.
The story REALLY sells the friendship between the two cousins, to the point that her leaving is a gut punch for the reader almost as much as it is for poor Impulse.