Impulse #20

Impulse peeks wide-eyed over the top of a copy of The Flash #118 in this wonderfully self-aware December 1996 cover by Humberto Ramos and Wayne Faucher — the tagline "Just when you thought it was safe to go into the checkout lane…" says it all. The oversized, wild-haired speedster seems genuinely startled by what he's reading, giving the whole image a goofy, endearing charm that perfectly suits Bart Allen's personality. Mark Waid, Ramos, and Faucher bring that same energy to the interior story "First Base," making issue #20 a fun stop in this mid-'90s DC series.