Booster Gold #1,000,000 Review

BOOSTER GOLD #1,000,000
Written by Geoff Johns & Jeff Katz
Art by Dan Jurgens

I'm not sure why this needed to be Booster Gold One Million, as Peter Platinum and Booster's visit to the year one million didn't really add anything to the story nor did it last long, but this issue still managed to be another amzing issue in a sea of greatness that made up this week in comics.

Contrary to the cover image, there is no fight or dramatic confrontation between Booster Gold and Peter Platinum. After watching Ted Kord sacrifice himself to fix the timeline last issue, Booster got caught in a time distortion as time corrected itself around him and it sucked him into the future, specifically the year one million.

There, he quickly runs into Peter Platinum, who is the year one million version of Booster Gold and has perfected the scam tactics of Booster Gold to become one of the most popular heroes of that era. He thinks Booster has travelled to the future to get his "cut" and offers him 5% and later 10% to not expose him. Booster is disgusted that this is his only legacy as a hero. This is the only use of Peter Platinum and Rip Hunter shows up to pick him up in his time sphere shortly after the

After being picked up by Rip Hunter, Booster, still upset over the death of Ted and pissed about his current legacy to the super hero community, tells Rip off and quits the new Time Masters team.

Upon returning to his time period, he ends up fighting the Royal Flush gang, mirroring the opening of this series, and he's quickly backed up by Green Lantern and Green Arrow, who rib him about probably setting this whole thing up and, in general, talking down to him.

Booster is visibly annoyed and the confrontation is defused by Batman, who contacts Booster and demands he come see him immediately. In the Batcave, Booster doesn't want to hear Batman tear him a new one and quickly starts getting down on himself and lists his own faults before Batman stops him mid-rant and shows him pictures from the Joker's camera on the night Batgirl was crippled that show Booster trying to stop the Joker and getting tortured.

Turns out, Batman knew about this a long time ago (retconned in prep-time? does the goddamn Batman have no limits?), but noticed it was an older Booster than the one he had met in the early days of the Justice League and didn't question him until now. While the time travel implications of this are starting to hurt my brain, I loved what came next as Batman began to compliment Booster and telling him to keep doing whatever it is he's doing as he's proud of him and basically tells him to stop caring if people thinks he's crazy or a screw up and do what he thinks is right.

It was a hallmark moment, the second for Batman this week, along with what he did in Final Crisis: Requiem, and I'm pretty sure anyone that gets a heart to heart from Batman that doesn't involve him scaring the crap out of you has to feel like a million bucks and Booster is re-energized and heads back to Rip Hunter to rejoin the Time Masters.

It makes enough sense if you don't think about it too hard.  

There, Rip has a surprise for Booster with the "resurrection" of his sister, who has her own Booster-like outfit on and has been told all about Booster's mission to save time. Seems Rip plucked her out of the time stream at the moment of her death and since it's the future, there are no time ripples like with saving Ted. Not sure how this works, as there should be no concept of the past or future in time travel, but she's back, it's nice and it makes enough sense if you don't think about it too hard.

Here, we also learn the mysterious identity of Rip Hunter. Turns out he's Booster's son, as he tells him to keep up the good work and calls him "dad" as Booster and his sister use the time sphere to go off to Paris to celebrate. They were already gone and didn't hear him say this, but it's a nice touch for the fans and make sense with everything that's happened so far.

Finally, there's an awesome ending page where it shows an image of Skeets in a french beret and Booster and his sister in front of the Eiffel Tower with a historians take on the Booster Gold family and his legacy and they go to great lengths to make it sound like some profound insight into why Booster Gold was the only screw up or black sheep in the family of time travelling heroes and they conclude it by saying he was always smiling, despite his numerous screw ups, and that he was probably just an idiot on top of everything else.

Verdict - Must Read. Pure Booster Gold and I thought it was a great cap off to the Johns and Katz run on the book that really gets to core of what makes Booster Gold great. (not sure if Katz is gone, but it's Johns last issue co-writing). Look for it to dominate the Moments of the Week later this week.

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Booster Gold #10 Review

BOOSTER GOLD #10
Written by Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz
Art by Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund

Mr. Mind takes control of Booster's dad! Okay, now that I've spoiled the hell out of this issue, you have no reason not to read the rest of the review. Oh, and Ted Kord dies, again, just in case you want to skip spoilers.

I have to say, I've been a little rough on Booster Gold since around issue six. The title took a serious change in tone from the humour driven plots to a serious "grim and gritty" future tale that sucked the humour from the book for me. Add in I wasn't the biggest Ted Kord fan (didn't hate him, just no mad gushing over his return like other fans) and I was really starting to lose interest in an otherwise great title.

This issue changed all that. Skeets is back and "shitting" all over Maximillion, literally, while tossing around some great lines. How Johns and Katz have managed to keep the true star out of this book for so long will remain a mystery to me.

Skeets wasn't the only one making with the funnies. Even Mister Miracle and Ted were throwing some one-liners around. Loved the, "I hate time travelling nazis", scene.

The crux of this issue seems to revolve around Booster fading from existence after having messed with time once too often. The time sphere the Ultra-Humanite destroyed last issue was the original time sphere Booster used to come back in time. With it destroyed, the current Booster was pulling a Back to the Future fade out every once in a while during his fight with his "father".

Yes, Booster's father isn't quite himself. It seems Mr. Mind, in his larva state post-52 (or is that pre-52? He did go back in time, but it does take place after 52...my head hurts.), is inside Booster's dad's head, literally, pulling his strings. I loved this scene and it finally makes sense how Booster's drunken loser of a dad is leading a time travelling super-villain team. Didn't see the Mr. Mind reveal coming at all and that made it all the better.

In the end, the true hero, Skeets, is the one to save the day by sending some feedback into Booster's dad's ear, causing Mr. Mind so much pain he was forced to try and escape. Booster blasts him as he's leaving the ear, taking his father's ear off in the process. Mr. Mind managed to survive, but only until Ted could walk over and squash him like a bug. Well, he's already a bug, so it's not "like" a bug, but just squashing him. You know what I mean.

After seeing Booster fading out and getting an update from Skeets, Ted takes action the only way he knows how - by killing himself to fix time. I'm not sure how this worked, as Ted would have to die back at the hands of Maxwell Lord in Infinite Crisis, not in the current broken timeline, but the Black Beetle, who reveals himself as Jaime Reyes' "greatest enemy", does his best to try and stop Ted from fixing things. I wonder if Black Beetle will show up in the future in the Blue Beetle book. He makes claims that Jaime killed someone, most likely a girlfriend or wife, close to the Black Beetle and Mr. Mind promised him Jaime would never become Blue Beetle as long as Ted doesn't go back.

Verdict - Must Read. It seemed like more happened in this issue than the last four or five issues combined. It had action, comedy, major reveals and was just a joy to read.

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Booster Gold #9 Review

BOOSTER GOLD #9
Written by Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz
Art by Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund

The last few issues of Booster Gold left me a little disappointed. The humour and fun had been sucked out of the book in favour of a desolute future storyline and we were going in circles with assaults on Maxwell Lord with BG and Ted going alone and then doing it again with Green Arrow and Hawkman and it looked as if they were setting this issue up for yet another recruitment drive to plan an attack on Lord...again.

To say I was a little unimpressed with the repetitive nature the story was taking would be an understatement. However, this issue manages to redeem the recycled plotlines with the return of the old Justice League International and some actual ass kicking being delivered to Lord and the OMACs for a change.

I was really impressed, for probably the first time ever, with Mr Miracle's elaborate prison cell sequence. I always considered the character a joke and it was an unexpected show of respect from the villains to have him locked up the way he was. I was equally impressed with the female Dr Light, who was the one responsible for putting an end to Lord in an excellent display of power with her killing blow.

Overall, I'm still disappointed with the way this book has turned out ever since Supernova was revealed to be Booster's father, but the series is showing signs of life again with this build up to the conclusion to Johns and Katz' run on the book. Shame they didn't cut the filler issues with Green Arrow and Hawkman and the numerous failed attempts at stopping Lord.

Verdict - Check It

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Booster Gold #8 Review

BOOSTER GOLD #8

Written by Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz
Art by Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund

If you've been reading Booster all along, this is more of the same. With how fast Johns and Katz introduced and then killled off the resistance in this altered timeline and the general lack of emotion or slightest hint that it bothered Booster or Ted leaves me feeling like the last few issues were filler. Add in the fact it ends with Blue and Gold looking to track down the remnants of the old JLI and it makes me wonder why that wasn't the first step they took and issue or two ago. We're basically back to where we started when they first arrived in the future, no better or worse for the wear.

Now, I'm not saying I didn't enjoy this issue or the previous ones, but it just doesn't feel like any of this matters and you could skip the previous couple of issues and you wouldn't have missed a beat. Still a good book, but a far cry from the comedy goldmine the earlier issues were. I blame the severe lack of Skeets.

Verdict - Check It

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Booster Gold #7 Review

BOOSTER GOLD #7
Written by Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz
Art by Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund

I still love Booster Gold, but the title has lost a lot of the charm it originally launched with. The first four or five issues were comedy gold and I was laughing almost non-stop every issue. Booster inspiring the Sinestro Corps or getting drunk with Jonah Hex were golden moments for me. The last two or three issues have been complete departures from that formula with the odd exception here or there.

Regardless, I'm not hating this book or anything. It's just different. I knew they couldn't keep doing the whole monthly time fixing hi-jinx, but I didn't expect the shift in writing tone either.

This issue continued the destruction of time caused by Booster saving Ted. To no one's surprise, the future Blue Beetle, or Black Beetle, was evil and actually a part of the trio of time villains introduced earlier in the series. It looks like Booster's dad is actually not just some throw away or insignificant villain either, as he's the fifth member of the Time Stealers, as they are calling themselves now. He's the one that calls their meeting to order, implying to me he's the one in charge of the group.

One thing of note was when Black Beetle was talking to Supernova, Booster's dad tells him not to worry about his enemy's predecessor, which puts Black Beetle as Jaime Reyes', the current Blue Beetle, enemy. He's also named Joshua, which means nothing to me, but must have been given to us for a reason.

I suppose I should talk about Blue and Gold, since it's technically their book. They fight OMACs, have a few laughs and meet up with the resistance of this alternate timeline, Green Arrow and Hawkman. It's great to see them together, but not much really happened on their side of the story.

Verdict - Check It

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Booster Gold #0 Review

BOOSTER GOLD #0
Written by Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz
Art by Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund

"You rear-ended the Flash." Welcome back Booster Gold, I missed you. Whereas the last couple issues have been relatively straight forward and serious affairs, this issue returns to form with what made me fall in love with this book in the first place - the wit and hilarious charm.

While this is a "Zero Hour tie-in", there's not too much dealing with that. The Beetles and Booster run into Parallax and Extant, who Ted actually fights with a flashlight gun, in the timestream. The encounter only serves to send the team off to Booster's time period, but there's a great line by one of the Beetles, Dan I believe, where someone asks if Parallax saw them. He replies, and I'm paraphrasing, "We're a bunch of grown men in blue and gold costumes in a plastic bubble against a rainbow background. Yes, they saw us." It'll be in the Moments of the Week in all it's glory, so don't worry if I got it slightly wrong.

It seems that saving Ted Kord had some dire consequences, as there's a tonne of OMACs searching for Ted and Booster when the other Blue Beetles return to their time periods and blue and gold return to talk to Rip. The menacing look the future Blue Beetle gave as he explained Ted was safe before returning to his own timeline made me think he knew the consequences of saving Ted and used everyone to do it, but it could just be the art.

Verdict - Must Read

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Booster Gold #6 Review

BOOSTER GOLD #6
Written by Geoff Johns & Jeff Katz
Art by Dan Jurgens

There's no Skeets in this issue, so that makes this at least 60% less entertaining than when he and Booster are together. On top of that, there's a lot of exposition and recap segments where we are given updates on who the Blue Beetles are, who Ted Kord was, how he died, what he did when he was alive, what his favourite colour was and even found out how they get the caramilk into the caramilk bar. To say we weren't beat over the head with mountains of word balloons and text boxes is an understatement.

When we weren't being bombarded with words, this issue found time to retell events from OMAC and Infinite Crisis before finally getting down to the nitty gritty of saving Ted Kord. I think a lot of people let the fact that Ted's death was retconned cloud the fact this is a rather poorly constructed issue. You shouldn't have to sit through all that text and pointless fighting just to see a retcon. Where's the fun and hilarious exchanges between Booster and Skeets that made me love this series? Yes, it's great to see Ted back, but I doubt he'll stick around if Rip has anything to say about it. That retcon is the only saving grace for this issue and there's nothing else present that I found remotely noteworthy from this issue.

Verdict - Check It

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Booster Gold #5 Review

BOOSTER GOLD #5
Written by Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz
Art by Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund

I think Booster Gold's hold on me is starting to wane. It still has it's moments and I do enjoy the book, but it's becoming fairly predictable and is showing signs of being a one trick pony with basically the same thing happening every issue. The ending to this issue shows signs that Johns and Katz have other plans in mind for the future of this series, so I expect my full blown Booster love to be back in full force with subsequent issues.

As for the contents of this issue, much like I predicted in my Post-Crisis Previews, the entire premise of this issue is Rip trying to teach Booster that some things just cannot be changed and were meant to happen. He does this by sending him back in time to try and save Batgirl from being shot and paralyzed by the Joker. Booster tries and fails over and over until Rip finally lets him in on his little secret that it was all just a lesson to show Booster he can't save Ted Kord and should stop trying.

To be honest, I found most of the Joker stuff fairly weak. There's little to none of the standard comedy from Skeets and Booster and Booster, who has taken hits from Doomsday, constantly gets physically beaten by the Joker and his sideshow freaks, which just strikes me as wrong any way you look at it. Add in the fact that this went exactly as just about everyone expected and the was a bit of a let down.

However, there's some good stuff here as well. We get a look at the villains who were behind Rex and Supernova and they end up being the Ultrahumanite, Despero and Degaton. Not sure who Degaton is, but none of these villains strike me as the kind of characters that would be behind this type of plot. I'm guessing someone else will be revealed as the mastermind of this scheme. Another great shot was a new chalkboard scene to open the issue up. The one I like is the "No trophy = Stephanie?" in reference to the trophy case for Spoiler in Batman's cave. Another good one is "Gog is dead! The age of Gog is upon us!". Reference to Johns' Kingdom Come arc in JSA maybe? I'll have the chalkboard in the Moments of the Week for those interested in all the random quotes.

Finally, the ending shows promise of giving this series a new direction with the introduction of several Blue Beetles from the past, present and future all requesting Booster's help in saving Ted Kord after Rip refused to help him.

Verdict - Check It. Usually a Must Read book, but this month's offering just fell a little bit below the bar. Still better than most books on the market though.

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Booster Gold #4 Review

BOOSTER GOLD #4
Written by Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz
Art by Dan Jurgens

Another solid issue from Johns and Katz, who most people forget about when giving props for the genuinely funny and entertaining Skeets Booster Gold title.

However, I'm confused as to the future of this title. Johns and Katz pretty much wrap up all the time fixing hi-jinxes this issue by not only revealing who Supernova is, but also who was guiding him and, on top of that, ending the Supernova threat and capturing his benefactor. While there's hints of another mystery man guiding these two, it still seems like this series is pretty much getting ready to end and ramping down. While I hope this isn't true, as this is probably the title I have the most fun reading each month, I really don't see where they can go with the remaining issues aside from trying to save Booster's friend, Ted Kord, the former Blue Beetle.

Don't let my Negative Nancy fears dissuade you from buying this issue though. It's still hilarious and a must read for everyone. I have faith Johns and Katz won't let me down.

Verdict - Must Read.

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Booster Gold #3 Review

BOOSTER GOLD #3
Written by Geoff Johns & Jeff Katts
Art by Dan Jurgens

My first question with this great issue is what happened to Rip Hunter's beard? Did he just decide to shave it down to a bunch of whiskers? He obviously didn't bother shaving the entire thing off, so is this just an art decision or some kind of time hiccup we should notice or what? This isn't a complaint so much as a general curiosity though. Just something random that struck me the minute I opened the book.

As for the actual issue, this is easily one of the best books this week, let alone month. Booster Gold continues to impress me month in and month out. Not only is it genuinely entertaining every issue, but it is also one of the funniest books on the market. Skeets riding his own horse side by side with Booster? Pure gold. Booster's tale of Super-dickery from Superman where Superman tells him he is not good enough for a cape? That stuff is hilarious. Drunk driving / time travelling and getting rear ended by Flash and Kid Flash as they time travel with their treadmill? That stuff is too awesome for me to make up.

I love time travel books when they are handled properly and Booster Gold is definitely the best book I have ever seen handle the topic. Having Booster inadvertently be responsible for all of the random events in the DCU is a perfect role for him and I can't wait for the next issue. Do yourself a favour and go back to the shop and pick this book up. It's worth every penny.

Verdict - Must Read

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Booster Gold #2 Review

BOOSTER GOLD #2
Written by Geoff Johns & Jeff Katz
Art by Dan Jurgens

Johns does another incredible job with Booster Gold's second issue. I am a sucker for time travel and alternate universe stories. Books like Exiles, at least back when it first launched, and Mutant X, and Booster Gold is probably one of the best ones I have read so far. The premise is perfect and Johns is weaving an excellent story. He has a perfect grasp of DC continuity and excels in these types of stories.

Last issue, Supernova, or at least someone in the costume, spoke with Sinestro, back before he turned evil. This issue, we find out he told him Guy Gardner was set to become the greatest Green Lantern ever and would replace Sinestro. Sinestro does not take kindly to this and heads to Earth to investigate. Rip Hunter reveals to Booster that if Sinestro encounters Guy now, it will end up with Guy becoming the first Green Lantern instead of Hal and eventually lead to Sinestro forming his Sinestro Corps earlier and lead to him taking over the universe unopposed.

The bulk of the issue deals with Booster fighting with Sinestro, trying to stop him from speaking with Guy. In the end, Booster appeals to Sinestro vanity and uses his ego to convince him that Booster is from the future where Sinestro is still revered as the greatest Green Lantern ever. When Sinestro asks him what corps Booster is with, as he is wearing all yellow with a yellow ring, Gold tells him he is with the Sinestro Corps. This leads to the best panel of the issue with the mustacheeo twirling Sinestro pondering an entire Corps built in his name, most likely planting the eventual seeds for the current Sinestro Corps featured in Green Lantern.

Once he has taken care of Sinestro, Booster decides he needs to find out what is wrong with Guy, as he had been tailing him all day and was wondering why he was acting so distant and different from his usual self. After speaking with him at a bar, he finds out Guy's abusive father is dying in the hospital and wants to speak with Guy before he dies. In a rare touching moment from Booster, we learn about his own father's criminal activities and how Booster sacrificed a lot for him and never had a chance to say goodbye when he died and how he would have liked that. This inspires Guy to head back home to spend time with his father and give him one last chance before he dies. Skeets later informs Gold that this event leads Guy farther away from the Abin Sur crash site and causes Hal to become the first Green Lantern of Earth instead.

As Booster returns to his time ship, the Green Lantern death certificate changes into a Superman one. Before he can react to this, Rip Hunter is found beaten nearly to death and Supernova appears outside the ship, waving to Booster before flying off into a time vortex. This ends with Supernova, in disguise, speaking with Jonah Hex in the old wild west era. How this will lead to the death of Superman, I do not know, but I cannot wait to find out. Great issue all around. Jurgens art is clean and serves its purpose, but I am not a major fan of his, but I have no major complaint about it either.

Verdict - Must Read

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Booster Gold Archives

Archives - Back Issue Bins - DC - Booster Gold

Booster Gold

Booster Gold #1 - Booster Gold - Savoir of Time - Verdict - Must Read
Booster Gold #2 - Booster plants seeds for the Sinestro Corps - Verdict - Must Read
Booster Gold #3 - Booster gets drunk with Jonah Hex - Verdict - Must Read
Booster Gold #4 - Booster rear-ends the Flashs' cosmic treadmill - Verdict - Must Read
Booster Gold #5 - Booster tries to save Barbara Gordan from being paralyzed by Joker, fails - Verdict - Check It
Booster Gold #6 - Booster saves Ted Kord from Maxwell Lord - Verdict - Check It
Booster Gold #0 - Zero Hour Tie-In, fights Parallax and Extant - Verdict - Must Read
Booster Gold #7 - Booster destroys the future - Verdict - Must Read
Booster Gold #8 - Booster and Ted meet up with the resistence - Verdict - Must Read
Booster Gold #9 - Booster and Ted reform the JLI - Verdict - Check It
Booster Gold #10 - Booster and Ted reform the JLI - Verdict - Must Read
Booster Gold #11 - Verdict - Must Read
Booster Gold #12 - Verdict - Must Read

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