Booster Gold is a favorite of the Revolution. Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund have been turning in quality work. Now the Blackest Night crossover has arrived. Overall, the Blackest Night crossovers have been disappointing. In this case, I have been curious to see what Jurgens does with the Blue Beetle.
Creative Team
Writer/Artist: Dan Jurgens
Additional Art: Mike Norton
Finished Inks: Norm Rapmund
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: The first few pages recap Booster’s origin and how he became friends with Ted (Blue Beetle) Kord. The story is told up to and including Ted’s death. Black Lantern Ted rises from the grave.
Rip Hunter’s base in Arizona…Rip is working on his blackboard. On it he has written…
“Who stole the Miracle Machine?
Waverider Lives!
Legion of Justice. Codename: Assassin
Magnus-Metal Men. Superior will come.”
Rip can not find Booster. He questions Skeets about the scan he ran on the Black Beetle in a previous issue. Skeets hesitates then says that he did not find out anything new. He leaves to check on the current Blue (Jaime Reyes) Beetle to see if he has seen the Black Beetle.
The past…Booster travels back to Ted (Blue Beetle) Kord’s funeral. He thinks back to all of the times he has failed. Then he thinks of all of the things he wants to say to the others. But he can’t.
El Paso, Texas…Skeets questions Jaime. Jaime has not seen Booster or the Black Beetle. He changes into the Blue Beetle.
Back at the funeral…Booster has his hand on the coffin. He apologizes for not being there for Ted when he died. Wonder Woman tells him that Ted would want him to forgive himself. He is so choked up that he can’t do a eulogy. He will do better for Ted’s sake.
Metropolis…Daniel Carter and Rose are arguing. Rose wanted to go out but Daniel is playing video games. Blue Beetle and Skeets are at the door. Daniel has not seen Booster but he wants to help find him.
The old Blue Beetle ship crashes through the roof. Black Lantern Beetle gets out. Since he can’t find Booster, he attacks Daniel. Blue Beetle knocks him through the wall into the neighbor’s yard. The neighbor comes out to see what is going on. Black Lantern Beetle rips the neighbor’s heart.
Daniel changes into Supernova. He swoops in and
grabs Rose. Black Lantern Beetle shoots him.
Booster returns in time to see Jaime falling to the ground. Black Lantern Beetle has Supernova pinned to a fence. Booster is stunned to find his friend Ted Kord is back as a Black Lantern.
Commentary
The Good: One of my favorite things in this incarnation of Booster Gold is Rip Hunter’s blackboard. The line that caught my eye this month was “Who stole the Miracle Machine?”. My best guess is that this ties into the Final Crisis: Escape mini-series. In that series, the Miracle Machine was revealed as a central part of the story. Many questions were left unanswered. Hopefully, Jurgens will be addressing some of them.
I like the way that Jurgens brings the reader up to date. He is able to work the disappearance of Booster’s sister naturally into the story. He uses the Black Lantern as a device to replay Booster’s past.
One of the best examples of writing in this issue are the scenes at the funeral. Jurgens has the captions tell us what Booster is thinking. The first six pages of this segment, he does not include any word balloon. No dialogue is necessary. The art is used to tell the story. Much of the mood is conveyed by the facial expressions and Booster’s posture. Even without Booster’s thoughts, the art could tell the story.
In an interview, Jurgens says that he is using Booster’s failures to help motivate him to be a better hero. This issue is a good example of that.
Jurgens, now wearing the artist’s hat, is assisted by Mike Norton. They turn in another solid traditional style art job. When Norm Rapmund’s inks are added, the result is always good.
The Bad: I have no problems with this issue. Even the Black Lantern is well done.
Overall: Booster Gold continues to be one of my favorite books. Jurgens and the gang turn in a quality book month after month.
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Jim
3 thoughts on “Comic Book Review: Booster Gold #26”
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I think the Miracle Machine turned up, with a lot of other DCU gadgets like the Flash's cosmic treadmill; in FC: Escape. I liked it, but I don't know if any writers are going to refer back to it…
One of the things that impressed me about this issue was how well Jurgens wrote Jaimes' character. Lately other writers outside the BB feature don't get him. I had to check to make sure that Sturges wasn't co- writing.
Glad we finally got a funeral scene for Ted.
My favourite scene in this issue:
Jaime: "You aren't the Blue Beetle!"
Dead Ted Kord: "Neither are you, Junior."
(Dead Ted Kord drop-kicks Jaime down the street)
Pretty much sums up the way I feel about Ted Kord being dead in the first place.
Too bad Dan Jurgens will probably never get to write a Ted Kord BB series.