Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Booster Gold

Lardy, I just read this issue as well, and absolutely loved it. You hit on all the main reasons...I will say that I felt Booster scream (it kinda reminded me of the Superman scream during Crisis on Infinite Earths),and it took me by surprise. Wasn't really expecting an issue like this based on what we had seen with the creative team, and am that much more impressed by it because of that fact.

The only other thing I'll tousch on was the fact that it's implied that Booster keeps Ted's final resting place intact to the apparant end of time.

Definitely felt the scream as well, AB. Also loved how the lecture to the would-be Robin Hood transitioned suddenly into one with Ted.

I have yet to read this particular issue, but count me in as someone who is really enjoying this creative team's run on Booster Gold.

Lardy, you hit on the most important part, that the creative team is not relying on just humor, but also give us a series with some real heart to it (not to mention, lots of excitement and action). They've had a good balance on hitting all the right notes.

I have to say, from Johns to Jurgen to the current guys, every creator who has touched Booster's series has done an excellent job. Booster Gold has consistently been one of comicdom's best superhero series for a few years now.

Do you own the issue yet, Cobie? If so, hurry up and read it! I'm dying to hear how much you totally agree with my review!

Seriously, I'm curious to see what you think! I personally think it may have been the best issue of any comic I've read recently, up there with Chew 15, anyway.

Caught up on Booster Gold #38 & #39 last night, after I put it towards the front of my reading pile because of Lardy’s review (see LW—a solid review may garner some efforts in others to respond!).

Booster Gold #38 was a WWII story in which Booster met back up with General Glory from the Justice League International run. Personally, I always thought General Glory was more annoying than funny, but for some reason, I find the whole Ernie shtick to be hilarious. I’ll admit when I saw the General my immediate thought was “ooooh boy…” (not in a good way) but I actually found the issue to be quite hilarious! So much of it comes from Skeets & Booster’s interaction, which is done wonderfully by G&D.

Following that, Booster #39 is the above-referenced story Lardy mentions in which Booster deals with the pain of having just had an adventure with Blue Beetle and then returning to the present and recognizing he is dead. I expected it to be good—but wow, I didn’t realize how powerful it would be! What really nails the issue is the way the emotions build up throughout the course of the first 20 pages or so—it’s masterfully done! Things start off with some subplots, humor, science, etc., and quickly move to Booster getting out on his own. From panel #1 it’s all very subtly leading towards Booster’s emotional moment towards the end, but the creative team actually don’t even hint that is where it’s going until mid-comic. By the time Booster arrives at the grave of Ted Kord, the emotional build-up is very powerful and then there is an enormous release. I thought it was very powerful stuff. Those are all emotions most of us have had when dealing with the death of a loved one and I thought it was handling very well. I’m impressed.

Batista’s artwork continues to be hugely pleasing on the eye. He has really emerged as a premiere “superhero artist” in my mind. It’s a very timeless style that fits right in today, could have fit in the 80’s and could have fit in the Silver Age. Lardy's above Sprouse-comparison is a good one I think; both have taken their styles to new levels.

The coloring on Booster Gold also really feels superior to many other comics. It just ‘pops’ really well. It’s done by “Hi-Fi colors” which of course, makes me lose any interest in knowing who that is.

A character I loved that is quintessential Giff/DeMatt: the Booster! I expect we’ll see more of him.

All in all, I agree that this was the best of the Booster-dealing-with-Ted's-death issues, of which we've had a few. I think it's a turning point for Booster, though I do expect more Ted Kord at some point in the future.

It sure was!

*CHOKE!!!!* No way this issue can't grip at the old heart-strings.

Booster reminds me of a twin who has lost his brother... which I imagine would be particularly devestating.

You guys mention Sprouse, but I was seeing hints of influence from Giffen's current style as well in Mr. Batista's art this issue.

I am loving it.

This is certainly one of my "CURRENT TOP 5", which I will update at the end of the month!

I'll re-emphasize here something I said elsewhere: the best two comics I've read since early November were Chew 15 and Booster 39!

In an effort to get out of my comfort zone and to momentarily take a break from the oldies, I've borrowed the first two BG trades from the library.

Booster has always been a character I despise, but since the idea behind this series seems to be that he matures and redeems himself from his despicable behavior in the past, and since Geoff Johns can (sometimes) be great, I decided to give these a go.

So far I've just read the first issue and looked at the comments in this thread about it. I have to say, I didn't like it as much as the rest of you. I found the set-up too derivative of Marvel's Exiles, and the idea that he has to keep pretending to be the selfish, incompetent jerk did not appeal to me, although FC put it into perspective quite nicely with this observation:

Jurgens' art (I've always liked him as an artist, but never as a writer) is quite nice, and issue #2 deals with a young Katma Tui, one of my favorite heroines, so I'll definitely read #2 and share my thoughts on it in this thread.

So I just finished #2. It wasn't about Katma at all. It was about Sinestro and Guy Gardner.

But the Gardner stuff was unexpectedly moving, and the subplots are enough to get me to keep reading the trade.

Just finished #3, #4, and #5.

Did we have to have Rip torturing Rex with items from the Marquis DeSade's collection? Even if it was off-panel?

Did we have to be reminded of "The Killing Joke?"

I'm losing patience, but it's not completely exhausted yet.

Well, somehow I got all the way through both trades.

What a dreary, depressing, ugly piece of dirt that "rescue Blue Beetle and accidentally make things even worse" arc was.

Yet another peek into Johns' mind.

The armchair analyst in me speculates that he's a neurotic manic-depressive who embodies all the worst things about the fan-child mentality.

I will never read another thing he writes again.

This time it's really over.

Interesting view of the trades Fanfie. Whikle I am in no way trying to put aside your opinion of the books, they are after all your opinions. I have to wonder if you looked for the bad in this to cement your reasons for disliking Geoff's writing. It's an easy thing to say that you're going into something with an open mind...but if you cannot stand a character, easily dismiss the premise for the book as being a rip-off (which I will not argue as it is similiar...yet different on it's own) and have a "thing" against one of the writers to begin with...it begs to wonder of there was an open mind going into it.

You seemed to like the Guy stuff and found som eof the sub-plots interesting at first...but then only cite the things that you dislike. Was there nothing else in the run collected that was decent to you?

There were points to everything that happened...such as revisiting "The Killing Joke." Thre is not a hero out there that would not do anything they could to hellp Babs through what she wentthrough, and it was a lesson in never being able to change the past.

It is a hero's journey to fully becoming a true hero...even one that has to do his thing behind the scenes. As the series has progressed, and to the current issues, Booster is coming into his own. Dealing with the loss of his best friend. Finding joy in having his sister back for however much time they have together...and realizing that things are not always what they seem.

I know I am not going to change your mind about these stories, but I wonder if you truly gave them a fair chance given the amount of things they had going against them from your personal opinions.

I appreciate what you're saying, Dev. And I really did go into this wanting to like it, as I love the concept of travelling through time and visiting alternate realities. The things you pointed out have helped me to realize that perhaps the extended arc was best appreciated by readers who were already fans of Booster and Beetle, which I was not. Without any emotional investment, there could be no real impact. As for Johns, I don't completely understand why I feel so let down by him on such a personal level (in the Random Review thread, I compared my reader/author relationship to him to a love affair gone sour), but I did go in hoping to be pleasantly surprised. Instead, I got gratutious turn-offs such as the alternate-timeline version of Beatriz being burned to death and Rip Hunter with a torture fetish. That is sick stuff which sits uneasily beside the gee-whiz sense of wonder that Johns is simultaneously going for. In fairness to Johns, it could also be that somebody (DiDio, probably) has been egging him on over the years to come up with greater gross-outs each time and Johns has gotten trapped in a private hell. I'm very upset with where DC has gone over the past five years, and I want it to stop, and I know the only way I can do my part to make it stop is to not give them my money.

I've always thought of Booster as a "light" book and don't recall offhand any of Geoff's more bloodthirsty tendencies coming out during his run (with Katz as co-writer, let's remember). All I remember was some violence with the Joker and maybe a recurring emphasis on Beetle's death scene.

But to each his or her own. I do believe it helps to have a love for the JLI era generally and the Booster & Beetle pairing particularly to be in the proper mindset, though. I don't know if most people who go into the book with either no predisposition or a negative one would ever really connect to the character and his book.

FL, I personally thought the Jurgens written stuff that followed surpassed Johns in a big way, so I hope you check that out too. I liked Geoff's stuff but I *loved* Dan's.

Review: Time Masters: Vanishing Point #5

This mini has been a bit of a mixed bag, supposedly filling in an adventure that occured between the pages of the Return of Bruce Wayne with Booster, Superman, GL and Rip Hunter out looking for him. Oh, remember that series? It ended a coupla months ago! This one won't end 'til next week! Good timing, huh?

The series has mostly been a fun, if inessential and fluffy, story since it began. Problem is, it's a fluffy, inessential story that's been priced at $3.99 a pop with only 22 pages per issue, so it hasn't felt like I got my money's worth.

This issue particularly feels like the fluffiest of the series yet with pretty much nothing of consequence happening. We continue to get a scene of future Booster's life with from Rip's perspective from Rip's youth. (Spoiler: If you didn't know, it turns out Booster is Rip's dad--yes, it's complicated!) We have an extended amount of pages to dismounting our group from Claw and the obscure pre-Koriand'r Starfire heroine from the '70s. Then, they pursue the two sorceror baddies they've fought the last coupla issues and defeat them before they can steal an atom bomb. And then there's a cliffhanger with the Reverse Flash suddenly showing up. It's choppy and feels kinda slapped together at best.

The best sequences are the interludes, the one involve young Rip/old Booster and the pages with the Black Beetle, Liri Lee, Richard Rider and Supernova and how it all ties somehow to Waverider.

Honestly, with all this left untied and with Reverse Flash still looming, I'm skeptical we'll get a satisfying ending next week. Jurgens is either gonna leave some threads unresolved, or we're gonna get it all dumped on us in a haphazard manner.

I can't help but feel Jurgens could have cut a lot of filler in this series and put out a more satisfying product without all the side trips and detours. I feel like the purpose of this series is to tie up dangling threads from his runs on Booster Gold and Superman. If that's true, I don't think he's telling the best story possible to achieve that goal.

The art by Jurgens is very good as always, though I detect places where it may have been rushed. With the delays in publication this is very likely. But it's Jurgens, and fans of his will get a reliable though unexceptional example of his stuff.

At this point I have a hard time recommending this series to the unitiated. Its continuity-heavy and meandering at the same time. And the price is definitely not right.

Lardy's Rating for Time Masters Vanishing Point #5: 1.5 Donuts (out of five)!

I caught up on Time Masters #5 and I think I like it a bit more than Lardy does. From an artwork perspective it’s simply gorgeous to behold (with really great coloring) which makes it a lot of fun to read. From a story-telling perspective, well, there isn’t too much of a story there and it obviously doesn’t relate to Bruce Wayne in anyway, so it kind of makes it hard to recommend anyone buying this comic for $3.99.

What’s happened here is Jurgens obviously took his favorites (Superman, Booster and Green Lantern) and then created a story that (A) continues his plotlines involving Rip and Booster from his Booster Gold run and (B) restores his creation, the Linear Men. So it’s really for his fans as well as self-serving for himself. I happen to be a fan, so I can see why I’m enjoying it.

The Reverse Flash coming into the series with one issue to go seems pretty pointless and I wish Jurgens hadn’t gone there. I wonder if an editorial edict came down with “doing a time travel story? Put in the Reverse Flash because the Flash is a hot property right now!”. I personally kind of want to get this story over with already—the whole point of the series still seems be in question. I think this could have probably been a solid 4 issue miniseries but DC felt they had to go the full 6 for a trade.

I’m enjoying it, but like I said, I can’t really make a recommendation to anyone who isn’t already a major Jurgens fan willing to accept his self-indulgence.

Not reading Time Masters, but I can almost guarentee that Reverse Flash showing up is tying the whole thing into Flashpoint.

Well this run of BOOSTER is over.

Giff & DeMatteis brought me back but I am glad I stuck around for the rest of it. I have NOT followed any other FLASHPOINT book except this one, and I have liked what I've been reading.

I do hope a version of Alex can be seen again, post-nottaboot. maybe in JLI, which I assume is taking Booster Gold's slot in the new 52.

I recently read the final issue of Booster Gold, issue 47. I was actually pretty disappointed. the ending to the Flashpoint storyline seemed rushed as did the guest art of Rick Leonardi. I understand that Dan Jurgens probably needed the lead time for Green Arrow, but I would have preferred more than a couple of Jurgens pages. Leonardi is usually very good, but I'm sure he was asked to fill in pretty late. Leonardi also is what I'd qualify as a better "street-level" artist than one suited for Booster's more "sci-fi" bent.

I was kinda hoping Dan would reveal Alex as Booster's future wife and Rip's mom, but no such luck. She's given what appears to be a quick death scene but apparently survives to write on Rip's chalkboard at the end.

I was just hoping for more of a sense of closure on what has been one of my favorite DCU books from start to finish. Hopefully, Dan will make up for this in JLI....

New Blue & Gold mini by Jurgens!

I've been without a good Booster Gold fix for too long a while. That he's back with Ted and Jurgens means I am THERE!

8 issue mini... Sook can (hopefully) handle the full run!

At least it's by Jurgens which is infinitely better than whatever Tom King did to Booster.

There better not be any fat shaming jokes though.

So... I don't know if it's worth mentioning here instead of the FLASH thread, but Wally's trapped in the Speed Force and travelling through time trying to repair it... He's currently stuck in Bart's body and teamed up with a female mash-up of the Blue and Gold team, as the Gold Beetle. Her version of Skeets is Beets, who has to keep admonishing her not to tell Wally things she knows about his future, but she keeps dropping tantalizing hints at things... 5 more Crises...?? She's a hoot, in the BWAHAHA tradition. Not a book I buy, but I enjoy reading my buddy Mike's copy when I get our orders in from DCBS.