DCU Comic Book Reviews

BOOSTER GOLD #25

Day Of Death, Aftermath

December 2009

Written by Dan Jurgens

Layouts by Dan Jurgens

Inks by Norm Rapmund

Cover by Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund

Synopsis

After restoring the timeline by preserving the life of Dick Grayson, Booster Gold returns to the batcave to destroy evidence of his time travel escapades.  In the batcave, Booster is discovered first by Robin, then by Dick Grayson (aka the new Batman).  Elsewhere, Rip Hunter tracks down T. O. Morrow, whose chronal energy, helped the Black Beetle steal the red scarab.  However, Black Beetle arrives to destroy the chronal energy before escaping.  However, Skeets scans Black Beetle before he gets away and finds something interesting.  Meanwhile, Booster explains to Dick why he is in the batcave and his time-traveling mission.  At first, Dick is uncertain about Booster’s claim he travels through time, but Booster provides evidence.  Later, Booster allows Dick a few moments to watch himself in the past, enjoying Christmas with his parents. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

So, last month we had an “epilogue” and now we have an “aftermath.”  Why not just name these as parts 5 and 6 of a six-part story rather writing a 4-part story with two additional parts?  Not that it makes much of a difference in terms of what Jurgens is doing, but the semantics of what to call the issue seems a little weird to me. 

Anyway, this is a typical issue for this book. We get Booster Gold hijinks, time travel, a little comedy with a little bit of mawkish sentimentality, and, of course, hints at the mystery of the Black Beetle.  In essence, it hits all of the marks that it needs to do.  That is not to say it’s bad.  Jurgens is a solid craftsman and this issue shows that.  This was an enjoyable issue and a solid finish to the “Day of Death” storyline, even if the beginning and end seemed to have little connection to the rest of the story.  The events in this issue are so far removed from the first issue of this story that Jurgens needed to spend a couple of pages providing a recap.  This story has meandered a little bit, lacking a little bit of focus.  Granted, Jurgens is able to bring everything back to the beginning, but it did not get lost along the way.  Still, it all works out and overall it was a good story. 

As I mentioned before, the entire set-up with Trigon seemed superfluous.  In this issue, the identity of T. O. Morrow seemed to be anticlimactic, adding very little to the storyline other than to reveal who was the mystery man.  Nothing Morrow did was in direct conflict with Hunter and there was nothing that Morrow did for the Black Beetle that was particularly relevant to T. O. Morrow.  Overall, Morrow felt like a red herring, a character that was built as being important but wasn’t. 

Does the blackboard have any meaning any more?  When it was first used in 52, it was used as a teaser for a bunch of upcoming plots for various DC characters throughout the universe.  Now, I am not so sure.  None of the stuff written on the board makes much sense or seems to have much connection to the DC universe.  The only thing I can think of is that Rip Hunter is using the board as a way to keep track of different anomalies (and to create a grocery shopping list) and it is not a precursor of upcoming storylines or plots. 

The ending is a nice moment but sadly I am not sure it would be accurate.  The Grayson family was part of a circus and as such would live with the circus as it traveled around the world.  Very few circus performers would own a house.  Their homes move as they move.  So for the Graysons to be in a small house for the holidays (at a time when a circus would be doing shows, not sitting around) doesn’t feel right.

Black And Blue, Part 2 of 2

Written by Matthew Sturges

Art by Mike Norton and Norm Rapmund

Synopsis

At Big Bend National Park, Black Beetle attacks the Reyes family, injuring Jaime’s sister Milagro.  Angered by the attack, Blue Beetle fights back viciously.  The scarab urges him to kill.  With help from Paco, Blue Beetle uses tachyons to hold Black Beetle in place, unable to time travel.  Black Beetle then claims to be Jaime, from the future.  Black Beetle tells him that in order to protect his family, he will need to become him.  Jaime refuses to believe it.  But he does wonder.  In his anger at what Black Beetle had done to his sister, Jaime very much wanted to kill the Black Beetle.  Does that make him a bad person? 

Review

Not much to see here, move along now.  Whether or not Black Beetle ends up being Jaime is almost not the point of this story.  The true point is the lure of violence that Jaime has been feeling since the scarab had to reboot itself.  In that regard, this was a nice little 2-part story, but ultimately nothing really gets resolved and the overarching theme of Jaime’s aggressiveness continues onward.  Don’t get me wrong, I like this story.  I like it, however, in the overall scheme of things and where Sturges is taking Jaime’s story.  But as a two-part story, it just doesn’t quite work. 

I like the way the story circles around, leading right back to the beginning of the Booster Gold story that just ended with the reference to T. O. Morrow.  I also like the little tease (“say hello to Ted Kord”) for the upcoming Black Lantern story.