Cover: Ethan Van Sciver & Wayne Faucher

Impulse #50

Jul 1999 · DC · 2.25 USD; 3.50 CAD

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“First Fool's”

★ 1st appearance — Inertia

About this Issue

Impulse #50 marks the beginning of the defining creative run on the series: writer Todd Dezago and penciller Ethan Van Sciver took over from William Messner-Loebs and Craig Rousseau, bringing a fresh energy that would carry the book through its final 40 issues. The issue's central Batman-and-Joker team-up story — with an obliviously cheerful Bart Allen somehow proving useful against Gotham's most dangerous villain — is a sharp demonstration of the series' signature comedic tone and its knack for exploring what happens when DC's most impulsive hero stumbles into the most serious corners of the DC Universe. Most significantly for long-term continuity, a cloaked, unnamed figure silently observing Bart's every move on a computer screen in the final pages constitutes the cameo debut of Inertia (Thaddeus Thawne), Bart's clone and principal nemesis, whose full reveal in #51 would kick off one of the most consequential villain relationships in Flash Family history.

writer Todd DeZago · artist Ethan Van Sciver · inker Prentis Rollins · colorist Digital Chameleon · colorist Rick Taylor · letterer Janice Chiang · cover Ethan Van Sciver, Wayne Faucher

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (NM) $0

Flagged key issue — estimate limited by sparse sales.

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

More listings for this title

NM $7.95 NM $19.81 CGC $79.99 Impulse #50 Comic Bart Allen Max Mercury DC Comics 1999 $2.99 Impulse AGENT OF THE BAT #50 July 1999 DC Comics JOKER BATMAN Cover $3.64 Impulse #50 DC Comics Agent of the Bat Batman Joker 1999 $7.19 Impulse #50 1999 DC Comics Ethan Van Sciver Cover Batman Joker Todd DeZago Comic $7.9 DC Comics Impulse Agent Of The Bat? #50 Dezago Bagged Excellent Condition $7.95

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History

Dezago lobbied actively for the assignment: Ethan Van Sciver has recalled that he specifically submitted Impulse sample pages to DC after noticing the series' declining sales, and was brought aboard as penciller alongside inker Prentis Rollins, with Dezago writing. The issue's letters column doubles as a creative-team introduction, with Dezago, Van Sciver, Rollins, and letterer Janice Chiang each addressing readers directly — a self-aware, fan-friendly touch in keeping with the book's irreverent personality. Dezago has acknowledged drawing conceptual inspiration for Inertia from a reference to Bart's 'evil twin' buried in the prose book The Life Story of the Flash, collaborating informally with Van Sciver, Mike Wieringo, and Grant Morrison on the character's design and concept before debuting the shadowy figure here.

Trivia · 8 facts

On-sale date: May 12, 1999; cover date: July 1999. Published by DC Comics. Editor: L.A. Williams.
First appearance (cameo) of Inertia (Thaddeus Thawne) — a 30th-century clone of Bart Allen engineered from Thawne genetic material — shown only as a hooded, unnamed figure watching Bart on a monitor in the final pages; his first full appearance and naming occur in Impulse #51.
Marks the debut issue of writer Todd Dezago and penciller Ethan Van Sciver on the series; Dezago would write all remaining issues through #89 (2002), and Van Sciver's tenure here launched the career that would later produce Green Lantern: Rebirth and The Flash: Rebirth.
Interior credits: Todd Dezago (writer), Ethan Van Sciver (pencils), Prentis Rollins (inks), Rick Taylor and Digital Chameleon (colors), Janice Chiang (letters). Cover by Van Sciver and Wayne Faucher.
Story title: 'Impulse … Agent of the Bat?' — a deliberate spoof of the concurrent DC series Azrael: Agent of the Bat. The plot begins on April Fool's Day, with Bart impulsively racing to Gotham City and becoming entangled in a Joker hostage situation alongside Batman and Commissioner Gordon.
The issue contains a running gag in which the credits are hidden inside a mock MAD magazine-style ad, consistent with the series' irreverent, fourth-wall-aware humor.
Collected in the Impulse 100-Page Spectacular (2011), which reprints issues #50–53, as well as in the DC Comics Presents: Impulse #1 digital collection.
Inertia went on to become the villain directly responsible for Bart Allen's death during The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive (2007), cementing the importance of his first shadowy appearance here to the broader Flash Family mythology.