Comic Book Review: Booster Gold #7

The Revolution was not all that impressed with Booster Gold #0. I appreciated that Johns and Katz put forth the effort to make the issue a true Zero Hour styled issue, but it was just too slow and repetitious for me. Having said that, there is still no doubt in my mind that Booster Gold #7 will get this title back on track. Booster Gold has been a huge surprise here at The Revolution. I just was not expecting this title to rapidly become one of DC’s strongest reads. Let’s do this review.

Creative Team
Writers: Geoff Johns & Jeff Katz
Artists: Dan Jurgens & Norm Rapmund

Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: We begin with Rip, Daniel Carter, Rose Levin and Skeets riding in a time sphere. Rip reveals to Daniel and Rose that they eventually get married and begin Booster Gold’s family tree. Rip then says that Booster Gold has destroyed the universe and that they have to fix his mistake of saving Ted Kord’s life.

Booster and Blue Beetle brawling with a huge army of OMACs. Booster fills Blue Beetle in on exactly what an OMAC is. Suddenly, Blue Beetle’s Beetle ship appears on the scene. Evidently, Ted signaled for his Beetle ship the minute they arrived back at Rip’s lab. Booster and Blue Beetle hop into the Beetle ship. Since Ted’s ship and the OMACs share some common Kord Industries technology, Ted has his ship make the OMACs believe that the ship is just another OMAC. Therefore, the OMACs stop attacking.

We cut to the Checkmate headquarters in the Swiss Alps. Maxwell Lord is triumphantly looking at a monitor screen that lists the various metahumans who have been killed by the OMACs. We see that Kyle Rayner, Black Lightning, Lightning, Thunder, Dr. Mid-Nite, Black Canary, Hawkgirl, Cyborg and Nightwing have all been killed. Brother I then informs Lord that all the Amazons have just been killed. Suddenly, Brother I informs Lord that Blue Beetle and Booster Gold were found by some OMACs. However, the two heroes having seemingly disappeared.

Our heroes pick up a faint distress signal coming from the old headquarters of the Justice League International in London. Booster and Blue Beetle arrive at the old headquarters and are greeted by Catherine Cobert, the old JLI liaison. Evidently, Catherine signaled the alarm in hopes of making contact with others who are part of the resistance fighting against the OMACs.

Catherine fills our heroes in on what has happened. Maxwell Lord is waging war against all the metahumans on Earth. That the JLA watchtower has been destroyed. That most of the major heroes in the DCU have been killed or are missing. And that Superman is now one of Lord’s weapons.

We shift to the Blue Beetle from the future arriving at the point of time where Supernova has been stuck in. Booster’s dad calls the Blue Beetle from the future the “Black Beetle.” Black Beetle then transports himself and Booster’s dad away from this time period.

We slide back to the old JLI headquarters where Booster is still digesting the fact that Maxwell Lord is controlling Superman to do his bidding. Blue Beetle then tells Booster that they need to get out of here immediately. That they need to find Rip. That Rip will know what to do.

Suddenly, Catherine transforms into an OMAC and notifies Maxwell Lord that she has both Booster and Blue Beetle. Booster and Blue Beetle start brawling with the OMAC. The OMAC eventually gets the upper hand. Suddenly, we see a mace come flying in and hit the OMAC. Then a couple of arrows blast the OMAC. The OMAC collapses to the ground. We see Hawkman and Green Arrow enter the room. Evidently, they are leading the resistance forces.

We zip over to the Vanishing Point where Black Beetle and Supernova suddenly appear. Black Beetle scoffs that Booster is such a fool. Booster’s dad sneers that Booster has always been easily manipulated just like his mother. Booster’s dad says that it was his daughter who was the only one with integrity.

Black Beetle then mentions Ted Kord being alive. Supernova tells Black Beetle to not worry about Black Beetle’s enemy’s predecessor. That his legacy will soon unravel. Supernova and Black Beetle then enter a large meeting room where Per Degaton, Ultra Humanite and Despero are seated. Per Degaton welcomes the two villains into the room. Supernova curtly snarls that he officially calls this meeting of the Time Stealers to order. We see a chalkboard with the words “History will be OURS.”

Comments
The Good: Booster Gold #7 was another great read. Katz and Johns serve up such a nicely paced issue. We get a pleasant mix of drama and action. At no point does the story drag or wander, yet it certainly never feels rushed. Booster Gold #7 displays the usual impressive plotting skills that Johns has flashed on this title since the first issue. Booster Gold has such delightfully complex plotlines that are intricately woven and captivate the interest of the reader. And I appreciate that the plotlines are unfolding in a measured and steady pace.

Katz dishes out plenty of crafted dialogue in this issue. Katz continues to demonstrate an impressive feel for both Booster and Blue Beetle’s personalities. Katz generated excellent chemistry between the two long-time friends. What was really appreciated was how Katz managed to strike the proper balance between the old “Bwa-ha-ha” versions of Booster and Blue Beetle and the current modern and more serious versions of the two characters. These two characters should always display a certain cavalier attitude and good humor; however, they should never be reduced to nothing more than punch lines like they were by Giffen and DeMatteis.

I am really impressed with how Johns and Katz are writing Ted Kord’s character. They are giving us a truly heroic Blue Beetle who displays razor sharp quick thinking and deductive abilities that rival the big bad Batman. Johns and Katz are certainly doing their best to get across the fact that Ted Kord is a formidable opponent and is certainly no joke. This is a great job of rehabilitating a character that has been poorly handled in the past.

We got plenty of nice fight scenes. It was certainly great seeing Booster Gold and Blue Beetle back in action and fighting as a team once again. The coolest part of the big fight scene near the end of this issue was the appearance of two members of the resistance: Hawkman and Green Arrow. Ollie’s line about how this unusual team-up is proof that bipartisan efforts do happen was perfect. I dig this unlikely pairing and look forward to seeing more of them in the next issue.

Maxwell Lord’s war against the Earth’s metahumans is rather intriguing. I am curious to learn more about which heroes have been killed and which are currently underground and fighting with the resistance. Katz and Johns have placed our heroes in a seemingly impossible predicament and it should be fun watching them try and deal with this situation.

I loved the hook ending that we got with the dramatic meeting of the Time Stealers. We finally know this mysterious cabal’s name as well as all of their members. I really dig the Time Stealers. This is an excellent roster of villains and I can’t wait to see what Johns and Katz has in store with these villains.

Supernova is deliciously evil. I love his simply ruthless and nasty attitude. I also am curious to learn more about the Black Beetle. We know very little about him other than the Blue Beetles are his enemies and that his first name is Joshua.

Jurgens and Rapmund deliver plenty of quality artwork. Jurgens continues to impress me with his work on Booster Gold.

The Bad: The Black Beetle being revealed as a villain and a member of the Time Stealers was technically a twist, but it was so patently obvious that it was heading our way that I don’t really count it as much of a plot twist. The fact that this heel turn was so predictable and obvious makes me even more worried about the fact that it also looks painfully obvious that Ted Kord is slated to get killed off once again. That is disappointing.

Maybe Johns and Katz are setting the reader up and will swerve us at the last minute. However, the fact that it was so predictable that Black Beetle was really a villain makes me worried that Johns and Katz aren’t concerned with being predictable on this plotline.

Overall: Booster Gold #7 was a wonderful read. Katz and Johns continue to make Booster Gold on of DC’s strongest titles. Booster Gold is a well a balanced title that boasts action, drama and humor. We also get treated to good dialogue and a commitment to strong character work. The balanced nature of this title makes it easy for me to recommend it to just about any type of comic book reader regardless if you prefer more action adventure comic books or more character driven titles. I think Booster Gold will appeal to a vast array of comic book reader.