Booster Gold #35, #36 and #37 - DC

In this story-line, Michael has gone back in time to help out his buddy Ted, as well as Mister Miracle and Barda. They're on a mystical planet trying to recover a book . . the almost-but-not-quite Book of Destiny. We were first introduce to it in the new Brave and the Bold series a few years ago. But apparently it's made it's way here. Anyways, on this little trip, things just seem to keep going from bad to worse. They end up on this mystical planet because one of the Queen's stalkers . . Hieronymous the Underachiever . . is the person who has the book. He has enough knowledge, and foresight, to use it to take over this planet. But not enough to actually change reality. Lucky for us . . and the planet, of course. Anyways, long story short, they end up with the book, but . . before getting it, Hieronymous had swiped a Planet-Pounder from the Darkstars and was planning on using it to black-mail the Queen. With this new threat to his recently acquired kingdom, he activates it and teleports away. Which leaves our group of heroes left to try to stop it. Of course when they try to do so the Darkstars arrive and assume that they're the ones that stole it. And believe me, issue #36 isn't any less complicated. Ted ends up sleeping with the Queen . . rejects her, and then is turned into a chipmunk. Michael . . who had gone back to Earth when he escaped from the Darkstars . . remember, he's still trying to get information to prove Max's existence . . he comes back for his buddy and is immediately arrested once again. They take him to the Starlag . . an intergalactic prison. There he finds Vril Dox, before he founded LEGION, and he realizes that the Dominators, the Khunds and Okaarans are all working together. That's when he realizes that he's in the days shortly before 'Invasion!' If you don't remember, that was a storyline in the early 90's. Anyways, he's stuck in here with his best buddy, Ted the chipmunk, when they come across a woman trying to break out . . Estrogina. She's Zamaron and commands a group of female Zamaron pirates. In issue #37, they're the ones that are going to help her make her final escape. Basically this issue is a stream of mayhem has Estrogina works he way top-side, where her friends are scheduled to pick her up. And of course she takes Booster along for the ride because she's decided that he's to be her man-toy. They indeed make it out, and back onto her ship. Michael is just stalling for time because he'd gone back to Earth to ask Ted how they got out of this situation. Basically he has to wait for the spell to wear off. When he goes back to being normal, Estrogina will regurgitate him. Not the best plan, but . . I guess it works. They go back to Earth to clean up. Michael wants to give up and head home, but Ted reminds him that they still need to retrieve the book because now it's in the hands of the Darkstars. Which sets us up for the next issue . . 'Assault on (Darkstar) Precinct 2460!' Like I said . . it just keeps going from bad to worse. I really like this book. I find it very entertaining. Much improved from it's first incarnation, back in the 80's. However, having said that . . I do think that it's lost a little something with Dan Jurgens departure. I thought he really put a lot into this book, and now . . a little bit of the 'heart' is missing. Don't get me wrong. I think Keith Giffen and JM DeMatteis are doing a good job. I guess I'm just not a big fan of all this wacky humor. And when those two get together . . it definitely gets piled on. Like I said, I still like it. It just seems like there's a lot of minutia right now. Maybe once Michael gets back to the present, and away from Ted, some of this will quiet down. We'll see. Anyways, I think Chris Batista is doing a good job with the art. And I think Michael is a great character. If he's going to turn in to Rip's father . . and turn him into the man he is today, then I guess there's still a lot of stories ahead of him. Plus, he still has a lot of growing up to do. That's what I think I liked so much about Dan's re-imagining. It really gave Booster a lot more potential than he ever had before. I guess I just can't wait to see that realized. Anyways, overall I think it's a good book. I'm not thrilled with this story-line, but . . I love this character.

Time Masters - Vanishing Point #1 - DC

Since I've been following Booster Gold since the beginning . . and Dan Jurgens started off on the writing and art of that book . . as well as this . . this one, to me, seemed like an obvious extension of the Booster Gold story-line. Basically, Rip and Booster have gone off in search of Batman. Rip knows that Superman and Hal Jordan will attempt the same thing, so . . he gets them involved so that they don't upset the time-stream in their fumbling efforts. But it's an uneasy alliance. Rip and Booster already know that some things can't be changed. No matter how much you don't like the events. And even with all their might and power, some things are just meant to be. Booster learned that the hard way when he tried to help out Barbara Gordon. But it's just not in Clark or Hal's nature to sit by idly, watching an obvious injustice, and not try to do something to help. Anyways, they're going back into the past to look for Bruce. Supernova is trying to get to Vanishing Point, but he's discovered that it's been destroyed. Everyone is assuming that Supernova is Daniel Carter, but . . I'm not so sure. Per Degaton and Despero don't know that Vanishing Point is gone yet, but they do know that they're having some trouble navigating the time-stream. Michael's sister Michelle is also involved in all of this. And on the final page, when Rip tries to send everybody back, he finds that he's be shunted to a different era. The book ends with him coming face to face with Claw, the unconquered. Like I said, to me, this seems like just another issue of Booster Gold. But . . there's the whole tie-in with Bruce's return in October. So that's the draw. But I think the purpose of this series is more to define the players and teams in this whole time-travel business. We even get some time with Rip when he was a kid. Time he's spending with his father . . Michael. I'm sure this story-line will play a part in Batman's return, but . . I think it's really just an excuse for this series to happen. As usual, a tremendous job by Dan Jurgens. I don't think Dan gets enough credit for everything that he's done for the DC Universe. And it's been quite a lot. I don't have time to list it all here . . look it up sometime. Suffice it to say, he's been an invaluable asset. This should be an exciting series as well.

Booster Gold #34 - DC

Michael has gone back into the past, once again, to try to find something to bring back to the future to prove to the Justice League, and the rest of the world, of Max's existence. However, upon arriving, he's overwhelmed with emotion, because of his long lost friend, Ted, and . . he's gets wrapped up with an adventure that he really has no business being on. Ted has been hired by an order of the Vatican to retrieve a 'kind of, sort of' copy of the Book of Destiny. Apparently somebody, quite a while ago, had viewed the book and wrote down some cliff-notes of what he had read. The book is so powerful that even in this weakened, diluted state, it was still powerful enough for someone to seek it for monetary gain. They end up on some sorcerer's world . . or something similar, where they find Heronymous, the Under-Achiever holding the book with hopes of conquering the universe. Michael and Ted have also dragged Scott and Barda along for their adventure. Their argument to get them to join? 'Do you really want to leave the fate of all creation . . in the hands of Blue Beetle and Booster Gold?' A pretty convincing argument, actually. Anyways, while all of this is going on, Michael still has to deal with a couple of other people in his life . . Michelle, his sister, and Rani the little girl he brought back with him from Daxam's future. Michael's always got so many things going on that he hasn't been paying much attention to either of them. I think that's probably going to come back to bite him in the butt. I enjoy Keith Giffen and JM DeMatteis' stories, but . . I just think that when they get together, with these characters, they get way to goofy. I thought it was interesting though that this issue Booster realized that he's not that person anymore. After a while of yucking it up with Ted, he realizes just how loose he played it back then. It's a pretty mature realization, actually. Anyways, Chris Batista is doing the art, with a little help from Chris. Overall I think it's kept a good feel to the book, since Dan left. I like this character. I think there's a lot of potential here. I'm just not fond of all the goofiness. Hopefully it'll pass.

Booster Gold #33 - DC

First of all . . I just want to say . . I think there's more to this little girl that Booster brought back from the future, Rani, than anyone even suspects. There's nothing really pointing in that direction that would indicate that there's a problem, but . . I just want to put it out there that I think she's going to end up being at the center of . . well, something. I don't know what, but . . I think something is going to happen in a future story that will put her at the center of the problem. Or maybe the solution. But there's more to this little girl than we've seen . . so far. Anyways, most of this issue is spent with Michael going back to the days of the JLI to find some piece of evidence that he can bring back with him that will show that Max Lord is a real person. Right now, as seen in the Generation Lost mini series, Max has convinced the world that he never existed. No one can remember him, or even know who he is. Except for . . Michael, Fire, Ice and Captain Atom. And Max has discredited the other 3, so . . it's kind of in Michael's hands to try and sort this all out. The irony being . . Max didn't mess with Michael because, well . . he didn't really think he was worth the effort. He figured that with all of his previous actions, Michael has pretty much discredited himself. But Max doesn't know that Booster is in league with Rip Hunter now, so . . I think that'll be his mistake. Anyways, he goes back and gets a tape of Max and the JLI when they gained International status on the steps of the UN. The problem is, this videotape was Max's recruiting tool. So it played a large part in the formation of the JLI. And makes it important . . 'It's part of the chain. You should know by now that you can't take any artifacts that had a direct bearing on past events. You want this thing to work, you've gotta find a link that fell off the chain.' And I hate to say this, but . . if anyone can figure this out . . it's going to be Booster. If he's not good at anything else, he's a master at thinking outside of the box. I thought Keith Giffen and JM DeMatteis did a great job with this story. You have to admit . . they make a great team. And Chris Batista did a good job with the art. He really gave the part of the story about the JLI a feel similar to the old book. It was a bit nostalgic. I really like this book, and Michael's character. And I really think we're just seeing the beginning of some great stuff for him.

Booster Gold #32 - DC

I think both Keith Giffen and JM DeMatteis are hugely talented people. But . . there's something about when the two of them get together that things tend to be a little over the top . . as far as humor, I mean. There's a joke that they carry on through this book with this little girl that Michael is trying to save on Daxam. She has to go to the bathroom. So while the planet is being carpet-burned by a bunch of angry Daxamites, with their heat vision . . and Booster is a few hundred feet underground trying to save a few of it's people, and retrieve a relic for Rip . . at the same time they're looking for a bathroom for this little girl. While it was funny, and kind of ironic . . at first . . it felt like they dragged it out way to long. And I know that they were trying to show the intensity, or severity of the situation, but . . I find it odd that these people would be cracking jokes. Also, Booster is mad at himself for even taking this mission in the first place. Sometimes when Rip asks him to do stuff he just jumps in without thinking. So while he's trying to save these people, and someone asks who he is, he sarcastically replies . . 'Just call me Major Idiot.' That ends up being another joke that's carried throughout most of the issue. So anyways, my point is . . while I appreciate both of these guys' talent, I think we can tone down the 'idiocy' a bit. It'll still be an exciting, and fun read. But . . that's just my opinion. Anyways, it ends up that Michael has come to the 30th century because he needed to retrieve the Helmet of Fate. The next day, Darksied would be taking over Daxam, so . . it would've fallen into his hands. That would not have been good. So, while Michael does take comfort that he saved the universe . . once again, he's still upset about the lives that were lost. So much so that he brought the little girl, Rani, back with him to Rip's lab. Hard telling how that's going to affect things, but . . with Booster's luck, I'm sure it'll cause some kind of major problem. Overall I enjoyed the issue. I think they've done a great job with this incarnation. Between Geoff and Dan, they've laid a pretty solid foundation here. Plus, the future should be exciting because at the end of this issue Michael find out that Max is back. Chris Batista took over on the art with this issue. I thought it looked good. I liked it. Yes I think the feel of this book will change a bit, but . . I think we're still in good hands. So . . I'm hopefully optimistic.

Booster Gold #31 - DC

This one is a little bittersweet as it's the final issue by Dan Jurgens. Geoff Johns originally wrote this book, with Dan taking over later on the scripts. But he's been drawing it for the whole run. Plus this character was actually created by Dan, back in the 80's. Dan kind of uses this issue to wrap things up. At least from his point of view. It starts out with Booster stopping a gang that's been causing a rash of robberies in Metropolis lately. It's the normal beat down from the frustrated super-hero sort of thing. But the part that I liked was . . as Booster is chasing down the final member of the gang, he gets shot. Of course it doesn't hurt him, because of his protective field. But it does ricochet and kill a little girl's dog. Booster feels worse about that than anything else. It's just something to add to his long list of what he perceives as recent failures. So, after talking to Rip, Michael finally decides to talk to Michelle about what happened to them in Coast City. He doesn't want there to be one more thing hanging over his head. Michelle knows that it wasn't actually Michael's fault, but . . that doesn't stop it from hurting any less. She was originally going to leave, but in the end she decides to stick around because she realizes that Michael is the only family she's got. As a little gift, Rip takes Michael back to the beginning of the day, and they go to the park to save the dog. 'There are very small, isolated, generally inconsequential things we can alter.' Now . . next issue, JM DeMatteis and Keith Giffen take over on the scripts. With Chris Batista doing the art. And they're jumping in just in time for a major story-line . . the Return of Bruce Wayne. And another time-travel title is coming out soon . . Time Masters. Also Booster will be involved in this summers mini-series . . JLI: Generation Lost. So there's plenty of Booster coming out. We're just losing Dan. But hopefully he'll pick up another series someplace. I think the guys a great talent. Thanks for all the great stories!

Booster Gold #30 - DC

This issue wraps up Booster's little Coast City trilogy. He and Skeets are back there because it seems that sometime in the near future the US Government has assembled it's own time-stream continuity agency. The problem is, they're more concerned about righting their perceived wrongs, than necessarily following the rules of time-stream management. And since Michael and Rip seem to have written that book . . they should just leave the driving to the professionals. Anyways, there's an agent, Sondra Crain, that's trying to stop Coast City's destruction, or . . failing that, she'll try to evacuate all of it's citizens. However begrudgingly Booster knows . . the past is solid. It can't be changed. At least that's what Rip has told him over and over again. But this Sondra makes a pretty good case for it's 7 million inhabitants. So Booster says 'Screw it!', and tries his best to block Mongul's attempt to blow it up. We already know, though . . that effort will be in vain. It does however give Skeets the time to home in on 2 more chronal anomalies . . Michelle and her friend Drew. They end up saving Michelle, but they can't save Drew. And . . Booster ends up saving himself. That is to say . . a future version of himself has come back to stop him from trying fix something that's destined to happen. When he creates the time-portal to save Michelle and Skeets, his future self pushes him through it also. Yes it's a little confusing, but . . it works. And in the future at Vanishing Point we see that Rip also knows about this future Booster/Michael. In fact . . he's very comfortable with him because the future version knows that Rip is his son. At the end of this issue, it almost feels like the series could end. But it won't. Next issue we'll learn the final fate of Michelle. Then . . after that . . the creative staff of this book will be changing. Keith Giffen and JM Dematteis will be taking over the scripting chores. While Chris Batista will be doing the art. Oh yeah . . and Kevin Maguire will be doing the covers. It'll be sad to see Dan Jurgens move on, but . . he's done a hell of a job on this series. And since he's leaving it in such great hands . . I can't wait to see where we go from here. I really like this book. I hope it keeps it's momentum for a long time to come. I'm sorry, I forgot to mention that Jerry Ordway helped Dan out with some of the art this issue.

Booster Gold #29 - DC

This is another book that I enjoy more than I care to admit. Whoever thought that not only would Booster Gold come back, but . . his book would become a pivotal part of the DC Universe? To me, this is mostly due to Dan Jurgens incredible job here. Yes he had some help from Geoff Johns in the beginning, but . . for the most part he's pretty much written and drawn this entire series. I'm guessing he has a special affection for him since he created him . . almost some 30 years ago now. Wow! Time sure does fly. Anyways, Rip and Michael are trying to stop this other group from taking out Hank Henshaw, the Cyborg-Superman. It turns out this Sondra Crain, whom Michael is trying to stop, is actually an operative of the US Government's Slipshift project . . some 80 years in the future. According to her, they're just trying to save the people of Coast City, and the future atrocities that the Cyborg-Superman commits. Which . . Michael has a hard time arguing with, but . . he also knows what he and Rip have encountered and seen. Any change to the time-stream, no matter how altruistic, can have unforeseen circumstances in the future. Generally . . not for the best, either. But still . . he doesn't like how this is going down either. But, it all may be moot because by the end of the issue we find out that they don't have days to save the citizens of this fair city, but only hours. The event has already begun. Also, I'm not sure how Michael's sister, Michelle fits into all of this, but . . she's also in Central City right now. Michael just doesn't know it yet. This book also has a huge nostalgic feel to it right now . . for me. Dan also did a lot of the work during the Death of Superman story-line, and this thing with Coast City happens right during all of that. So this book, to me, kind of feels like those old Superman or JLI issues. Speaking of which . . there's a Justice League mini-series coming out in May, Generation Lost, which contains a lot of those JLI members . . including Booster. That should be interesting. Anyways, Dan wraps up this story in the next 2 issues . . as well as putting Michelle onto whatever her future path is as Goldstar. Unfortunately though . . that will be his last. However, the good new is that Keith Giffen and JM DeMatteis will be taking over the scripting chores, with Chris Batista doing the art. So the future of Booster . . or his past, whatever the case may be . . still looks bright. Also, in the final Blue Beetle back-up, Matthew Sturges and Mike Norton finally put to rest the possibility of Jamie turning evil, because of the Scarab's Reach influence. I was also starting to think that he may become the Black Beetle in the future. But it looks like Peacemaker has put a stop to all of that. This is all because of when Jamie rebooted during the Reach invasion. The Scarab had always been damaged, but when he did that he essentially fixed it. Although fixing it meant that it gained more control. However, after Peacemaker nukes him this issue . . I'm thinking it may be broken again. Anyways, things end on a good note . . Jamie's back home with his friends. So for now, his future is simply with the Teen Titans . . and Traci 13. I'm sure.

Booster Gold #28 - DC

This issue is really a good jumping on point for new readers. We get a background story on Michael, and his mission. And in the back-up, we're also filled in on what Jaime's up to, and what's brought him to this point. Anyways, in Booster's story, we finally catch up with Michelle. It seems that she was pretty fed-up with all the time-travel stuff, so she went a few years into the past to hide. The problem is . . she ended up in Coast City. Yes, that Coast City . . shortly before it was destroyed. However, her story is going to intersect with Booster's pretty soon. He's sent back into the past because someone from the future is trying to stop Hank Henshaw from becoming the Cyborg-Superman. Even though he's done tremendously evil things, the chaos that would ensue from his not having been created would be even worse. At least that's the way Rip tells it. Anyways, Michael accomplishes his mission, and then we see that Michelle is confronted by the Cyborg-Superman in Coast City. With such a specific connection, I can't imagine it'll be too long before their stories over-lap. In the meantime, I think Dan Jurgens has done a great job with this character, and book. I love his work. In the back-up, after getting Jaime's back-story to date, we find that the Scarab is pulling him to Biayla. Specifically, the site where Dan Garrett first found it. It appears that all of Jamie's troubles have been coming from when the Scarab got rebooted out in space . . during the Reach fight. Previously, he had been working with a broken Scarab. When it rebooted . . it got fixed. And now it wants to fulfill it's original mission . . to become an infiltrator of the Reach. This was a tool that the Reach had planted here millions of years ago to help them take over the planet once it evolved. It appears they're ready to fulfill that plan. But from the final panel, it looks like the Peacemaker may have something to say about that. This story was by Matthew Sturges and Mike Norton. It's called the Beginning of the End, and . . it's supposed to wrap up next issue. After that . . Blue Beetle is no longer listed as a back-up feature in this book. I guess we'll have to wait and find out what his future holds. I liked this issue. I think this is a very under-rated book. I think if more people would give it a shot, they'd find out that it's not what they'd expect.

Booster Gold #27 - DC

How do you make a time-traveling hero, and the stories that surround him more annoying and confusing? Throw in a Black Lantern, who happens to be his deceased dead buddy. I've said over and over again how time-travel stories give me a headache . . to much to think about, to many possibilities and variable, but with the Blue Beetle involved . . er, I guess I should say the Black & Blue Beetle . . things just seem to get more out of hand. However, that being said . . I really, really like this book and Booster's character. Which to me . . is just a testament of the fantastic job that Dan Jurgens is doing here. Yes the time-travel stories are still bothersome . . at least to me, but . . he's made the character likeable, the reader's become bought in, and the 'themes' of the stories have been exciting and heroic. I just loved the lesson that Booster had to learn by trying to save Barbara Gordon, over and over and over and over and over again. Anyways, after recently coming back from visiting Ted's funeral, again . . for who knows how many times, he's confronted by this twisted version of him as soon as he returns. He wasn't back yet when Black Ted came looking for him, so he attacked Daniel and Rose instead . . his closest family. Daniel don's the Supernova costume, but . . I don't really know why. It's not like it gained him much of an advantage or anything. Also Jaime shows up to help in the fight. Because of that, there's no back-up story. It's just all mixed into one . . 30 pages of art. Half of which are done by Mike Norton, with Dan doing the rest. Anyways, after going after Ted again and again, they realize that they can defeat him by sheer force. They're going to have to get creative. Rip has received the message from the Flash and relayed it to Michael. Together they come up with a plan. They go back in time and retrieve a gun from Ted's 'Beetle-cave'. It's a light weapon, and Skeets programs it to approximate the colors of the emotional spectrum. Booster also uses it to his advantage that the Black Beetle has trouble seeing mechanical things. So Skeets, essentially is invisible to him. After they separate the ring from it's host, Booster scoops up Ted's body and takes it to the one place where the Black Ring won't be able to find it . . Vanishing Point . . 'immune from the flow of time'. So now Ted's body is buried there. Seeing that this is a time-travel story, and everything seems to affect everything . . could this be the beginning of the Black Beetle? Maybe somewhere else along the line somebody else returns to Vanishing Point and brings Ted back again. The Black Beetle does seem to think of this place as his home. And . . you just know that's not the end of the story. It's wrapped up like it is, but . . I don't think so. Anyways, Michael and Jaime have a nice heart-to-heart conversation before they leave, and on the final page we see that Michelle has been displaced in time. She's hooked up with some guy named Drew and they're about to travel into Coast City . . before the destruction by Green Lantern, the Cyborg Superman and Parallax. That can't be good. From the previews it looks like the next story-arc is going to be about Booster concentrating his efforts on trying to find her. But it looks like her travels through time, and the time she spent at Vanishing Point, are going to change her somehow. I think it's going to be an interesting couple of months for Booster. Overall I like this book. The concept and basis of the stories irks me, but . . to me, the character himself more than makes up for any short-comings. I think Booster is a great character with huge potential. And I'm glad that somebody has finally realized that and is doing something about it. Thanks, Dan.

Booster Gold #26 - DC

Starting this week we're seeing how the rest of the DC Universe is dealing with this Blackest Night threat. Of course with Booster, it's Blue Beetle that's coming back to haunt him. However, when he first shows up Booster is nowhere to be found, so . . he attacks the next best thing . . Booster's ancestors, Daniel and Rose. But they already seem to be at odds. We haven't seen them in quite a while, but it looks like their almost forced relationship is starting to show the strains. When dead-Ted shows up, Daniel is quick to jump in to his Supernova outfit . . I think, just to get out of the house. I think he welcomes the change. Anyways, Michael had decided to go back in time and watch Ted's funeral again. He's just been thinking about him alot lately and he remembered how at the funeral he was so tore up that he couldn't even say anything . . he couldn't eulogize his best friend. He's felt guilt about it ever since. He comes back to find Daniel's house being attacked, dead-Ted is holding up Supernova ready to tear his heart out, and Skeets has brought along Jaime for help. I think this is a nice change of pace for this book. They can stop bouncing around through time for an issue or two to let us in on what's going on in the other people's lives connected to Michael. Such as his sister. Where's she at? As always, I think Dan Jurgens is doing a great job here. This issue he's helped out on the art by Mike Norton. Man . . that guy gets around. It seems like he's on 3 or 4 books every month. I guess that just shows that there's a lot of work for a good artist out there. Keep up the good work guys. I never thought I'd be saying this, but . . this is one of my favorite reads every month. 'Bwah-ha-ha-haaa!!'

Booster Gold #25 - DC

Booster, who's not really used to working this hard, seems to be a little frazzled and frayed after all of the recent action that he and Rip have been through. But as soon as they get back this issue, after wrapping things up last issue with the whole Batman thing, Rip tells him he has to return once again to get the pictures that Batman has of him in the Bat-cave. Reluctantly he agrees, after some heavy pushing by Rip and Skeets, and goes back 5 minutes earlier than his last visit. He hopes to avoid his confrontation with Batman, but this time he's found out by Damian. The rest of their story is pretty uneventful. Michael ends up talking to Dick, and he takes him back to let him see his parents alive as a peace offering. The real story comes from Rip and his investigations. The chronal energy on the Black Beetle reminds him of TO Morrow's attempts at mastering time travel. When he visits him, he finds out that the Black Beetle has been using him to get more chronal energy. Rip gives him all he wants and he explodes in a cascade of energy. But it appears that Skeets got something out of his scan of the Beetle before he and Rip take off. I think he knows who the Black Beetle is. But he's not saying . . yet. And what about Michelle? Where's she been during all of this? Obviously she's still back at Vanishing Point, but why haven't Michael and Rip done anything about getting her back? I still think Dan Jurgens is doing a great job here. Mostly these time-travel stories give me a headache, but . . I like the way he's handled the last few issue. Well . . all except for the part about Michelle. Personally, I think that's a loose end that they can't afford to leave hanging. In the back-up we get the second part of the Blue Beetle vs Black Beetle story. Jamie is playing awful hard, and it's starting to scare his other family members. The Black Beetle has already claimed to be Hector, and now he's claiming to be Jaime in the future. I don't think either of those are right, and Jaime doesn't believe it either. So then he tries to convince Jamie that he's going to be just like him. But I think the real reason he's here is just to get Jamie riled up. Jamie ends up stopping him with a Tachyon field, and he gets his sister, who's hurt, and the rest of his family out of there. Everything ends up pretty much back to normal. But it does raise a few interesting questions. Hopefully we'll get some more Blue Beetle stories to help sort through those. Like . . could the Black Beetle maybe be . . . Ted Kord? Hmmm!! An interesting story by Matthew Sturges and Mike Norton. Overall, I really like this book. I can't wait for the next.

Booster Gold #24 - DC

First of all I just want to say that I think Dan Jurgens does an incredible job with this book. It really seems like he's pouring his heart into it. Plus, with doing the story and the art . . that's a lot of work. Norm Rapmund finishes his stuff, and it looks fantastic. This issue wraps up the Day of Death story-line. Remember, the Black Beetle helped Deathstroke finish off the Titans. That weakened the JLA, when there was no one to replace Batman when he died. Which led to Trigon taking over the planet. Booster's in the year 2020 now, and there's less than 38,000 humans alive. With the help of the resistance . . Zatanna, Kyle and Ollie, plus Booster's brought Raven along . . and Black Beetle and Luthor are secretly working behind Trigon's back . . they've worked their way into Trigon's secret vault. In there, Kyle gets a Green Lantern ring, and Zatanna sends Michael, Rip, Raven and Skeets back to their time-bubble. Unfortunately, Black Beetle has also obtained something he was after . . a Red Scarab. " . . far more powerful than the one I have. Together . . they will make be virtually unstoppable." I'm starting to think that the only way they're going to be able to stop this Black Beetle is to figure out who he really is. They have to stop him before he becomes this malevolent character. So they go back and Booster takes Deathstroke's place. The Titans live, and Raven gives Slade the memories so he'll think he was there. That part is back on track. But now he has to go put everything back in place with Batman. In the back-up, the Black Beetle again appears as he comes after Jaime. However, Jaime gives himself over to the Scarab and becomes a lot more powerful than he ever thought possible. There's one point in here where the Black Beetle convinces Jamie that he's Hector. He later says that's not true, but . . I'm thinking there's something to it. He may not be Hector, but . . I think he is someone close to Jaime. Maybe even . . Jaime himself. He tells Jaime that this is the day he dies, but . . he never really puts up much of a fight. It's more like he's taunting him than anything. So I'm thinking that he wants him to give into the power and influence of the Scarab. He's not going to die literally, but . . he's also not going to be the person he was before today. That's just speculation, but . . that's what I think. Somehow Jaime is tied into all of this. We just don't know the details. Yet! Anyways, it's an interesting story by Matthew Sturges and Mike Norton.

Booster Gold #23 - DC

I think this book has lost some of it's momentum, after Geoff Johns left, but . . I still have a soft spot in my heart for it. Booster is a great character and has some huge potential. Despite how he was handled in the past . . and his original emergence in the DC Universe, I think that now he's on the right path. I think there was a little adapting by Dan Jurgens when Geoff left, but . . I believe he's got control of the reigns now. This Black Beetle story-line seems to be more focused than the first one. Basically, someone in the future, at Vanishing Point, is directing the Black Beetle to specific events in the past which will lead to the destruction of the JLA. At the end of last issue, he helped Deathstoke and Ravager take down the Teen Titans. Apparently the loss of Dick, the heir to Batman, is more than the League can take. Without their 'conscience', the team quickly folds, and the world is ripe for the picking by Trigon. Rip and Booster become aware of their ultimate plans this issue, but they still don't know why, and who's ultimately behind the whole thing. At the end of this issue Booster, who's allowed himself to be captured in order for his counterparts to escape, comes face to face with Trigon. It's hard to believe that this character has been around since 1986. That's almost 25 years. Man does time fly. Dan originally created him, which is why he appears to be so emotionally attached to this series. Like I said, I really feel like this Black Beetle business has brought a focus back to this series. In the back-up, Blue Beetle faces Dr Von Neumann's creation, his daughter, if you will. She broke him out of jail because the good doctor gave her emotions when he built here. She's really struggling with that. Right now she'd rather exist without emotion than to deal with this constant pain. In the end Jamie takes her down, with Brenda and Paco's help, but then . . the Black Beetle shows up and takes her away before they can do anything with her. This will serve to push Jamie's story-line over into Booster's. This part of the story is by Matthew Sturges and Mike Norton. I really like this character . . these characters . . and I'm glad to see that we're back on track again. But . . I just thought . . whatever happened to Michael's sister? Didn't they leave her at Vanishing Point? What's she been doing during all of this? Hmmm!!

Booster Gold #22 - DC

I love the premise of this story, and that the Teen Titans are involved with the current story-arc, but . . I'm a little confused about what happened this issue. First of all, I want to say that I'm glad that Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund are back on the art chores. They do a fantastic job, and there's some great looking stuff in this issue. Plus . . I love that cover. I wonder why there was never a cover like that on the Teen Titans book. Well . . except for Booster of course. Anyways, this issue the Black Beetle is out to destroy the JLA. So he figures if he eliminates the Teen Titans that it'll dishearten them. "What better way to neuter the JLA than to take away it's greatest tactician? It's driving force?" So this issue he teams up with Deathstroke, and in turn helps out the Ravager . . Deathstroke's son, Grant . . beat the Titans by infusing his body with chronal energy. When Grant originally fought the Titans his own power betrayed him by burning him out from the inside before he could complete the task. I guess the chronal energy puts a halt to that process. So they don't disrupt time to much, the Black Beetle claims to be an agent of HIVE, and Booster claims that he's on the security force for STAR Labs. Although, if the Black Beetle is only concerned with taking out the JLA, I don't really understand why he's concerned about time paradoxes. It would all seem kind of moot, as long as he attains his goal. But, from what I understand, since Slade wasn't involved in this originally, the Black Beetle claims that HIVE was hiring him. Alright . . I guess I can accept that. Anyways the issue ends with it looking like the Black Beetle has accomplished his task . . all the Titans look dead, and Booster looks like he's drowned in the pool. Also Rip has returned to Vanishing Point but, while trying to investigate something, he's been knocked out. I love the Teen Titans, so I think it's great that we've returned to this point in their history. However, I find it hard to accept that they've allowed Booster in so easily. And where's Raven at? This was shortly after she first brought them all back together. Anyways, this is part 2 of 4 so maybe we'll get some more answers next issue. The back-up story is Blue Beetle by Matthew Sturges and Mike Norton. Overall, I guess, I enjoyed the issue. I'm just a little confused about the turn of events.

Booster Gold #21 - DC

Now this issue? After having just read Titans #14 . . this issue I thought was fantastic. First of all it guest stars Batman. Which is always a plus. Secondly, Dan Jurgens is back in charge of this book this issue. I really like the way the whole story rolled out, and . . I think Dan and Norm Rapmund do a fantastic job complimenting each other with their art and style. Every panel of this book looked fantastic . . from cover to cover. We start out with Rip at Vanishing Point where he finds that the Black Beetle is back. He's still trying to kill Rip. Which leads him to worry about the pictures that Batman has of Booster when he was bouncing back in time trying to save Barbara Gordon. Now that Batman's dead, he's worried about these pictures falling into the wrong hands, and the peripheral evidence that may point towards himself. After all, he's made it his lifes work to hide his identity. There can be no loose ends. So, Booster goes to the Bat-cave to abscond with the evidence . . which he finds is actually a pretty thick file . . but Batman is also there . . Dick Grayson . . and the Black Beetle. It seems that besides Rip, the Black Beetle is also obsessed with ridding the world of the Batman. He's not successful in the cave, but he does learn that the current Batman is Dick, so he quickly vanishes. Soon Dick's gone, and there's 2 Robin costumes in the display case. Now that the Black Beetle has messed with time, it appears that Dick was the first Robin to be killed. Now Michael has to go back in time and save Dick. This issue also marks DC's new marketing campaign. Some of their books have also gone up to $3.99, but . . the one's that have, as is the case here, also offer a back-up story. So, for $3.99 we get 2 stories and 30 pages of art. 20 on the main story, and 10 on the back-up. I know. It's still $3.99 for a book, but . . at least they're trying to do something to soften the blow a bit. Right? This issue's back-up was a Blue Beetle story. It's by the same team as his own book, when it ended, Matthew Sturges and Mike Norton. It's a decent story, part 1 of 3, about a man and his robots. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The Batman story is part 1 of 4, so we'll be seeing him for a while here. That's always a good thing. It looks to me like Dan is back on track here.

Booster Gold #20 - DC

Well, since Dan Jurgens does everything on this book now . . I guess this would be the 'Dan Jurgens fill-in month'. He did the cover, but that was it. Keith Giffen writes it and Pat Olliffe does the pencils. However, with Norm Rapmund doing the inks, as he does over Dan's pencils, the art really looking pretty close to Dan's stuff. Anyways, this issue was really kind of boring. There was a lot of explanation . . a lot of build-up, but then . . no real pay-off. Basically, Booster is bored when Rip's time-sphere stalls. So he decides to go visit the 50's. For some reason he enamored with that time-period. Rip's warned Booster that because of his intertwined destiny with time, that 9 times out of 10 he's going to wind up where he's needed most . . whether he likes it or not. This trip basically proves Rip right. He ends up as a rocket launch, and is immediately noticed by a very early version of Task-Force X. They're investigating the possibility that one of the scientists is a double agent. As they're pursuing this lead, they find out that he's got a rocket launch planned. A manned launch. Booster knows that this is years before it's supposed to happen so he has to stop it. "I'm going to break a few things. You guys carry on with whatever it is you have to do. Trust me, I'm really good at breaking things." Anyways, long story short, they stop the launch Booster returns to Rip. As Rip is checking to make sure he didn't disrupt anything, he finds out that the scientist actually went back to Russia, gave up his pursuit of manned flight and decided to build an exoskeleton. He was the guy who created the Rocket Reds. He was actually Sergei's grandfather. So now the question is . . who cares? As I'm reading this, I'm thinking that this story is really leading someplace. But . . it just lead to a big 'ol long winded explanation by Rip. Boring! Hopefully Dan will be back next issue and things will get back to normal. This fill-in issue? I could've done without.

Booster Gold #19 - DC

I'm not going to get into all the specifics of this issue . . it's a time-travel story, remember? If I try to sort it out logically . . it's just going to give me a big 'ol headache. The long and short of it is . . this issue, Michael finally seems to have the time-line back on track. He's been going back and forth with this Egyptian knife thingy, somehow it's disrupting his control over everything, and last issue he ended up in ancient Egypt with another version of himself. He decided he needed some help. Oh yeah, they had to ensure the existence of the Blue Beetle also, which is how they ended up in Egypt. It was all somehow connected to the Scarab. So, while they're doing all of this, Rip is in the past, on a Gordanian slave-ship ensuring that Koriand'r escapes and has a future. Anyways, Michael gets everybody back to their proper places . . returns all of the time-spheres, and brings Rip back to the base. At the time, Rip was stuck because Michael had made such a mess of things that all of their futures were in question. He couldn't return on his own. So . . it appears that everything is back to normal. Well . . as normal as it gets for this group. But, there's still one more variable out there. Michelle was left at Vanishing Point and Rex Hunter showed her how she was supposed to have died. She's confused, distraught and doesn't know who to trust or believe. Now she's gone because she's used the time-portal to jump somewhere into time. And really . . that was the short version. I'm not sure where we're going to go from here, or . . what they're going to do about Michelle. And, from the way this series has twisted and turned in the past . . we could really go anywhere. I think Dan Jurgens is doing a pretty decent job here. I'm sure this is all a mess to work with and even harder to appear to have some semblance of order. But now that we've got the last story-line pretty much wrapped up, maybe we can move on to something a bit less convoluted. I love Dan's art. With Norm Rapmund's finishes, this book has a great look to it. I'd just hate for it not to have the future it deserves just because it's all a bit confusing.

Booster Gold #17 - DC

So with these 2 issues we finally wrap up this Reality Lost story-line. It was an ok story-line. It's just that all of this bouncing around through time . . with all of it's implications and possibilities . . it just gets all convoluted for me and gives me a headache. But . . I like this book and I like this character. So . . I'm trying. Dan Jurgens is doing the writing and the art now. Which, I would guess, gives him a bit more of an investment into the character. And Dan always does better when he's in this type of situation. Anyways, Michael's been bouncing around through time because of all the Chronal energy that's stored and built-up in this knife. But it seems that the real threat is that of the Scarab. You know . . the one that Dan Garrett finds and then, later on Jamie Reyes? Well apparently Rex Hunter, the guy who wanted to be Rip Hunter's original protege, whom we all thought was killed . . actually wasn't. He's been on this long complicated mission to try to implement his own version of reality. Rip knew that he was a bit twisted when Rex went back in time and tried to push a 10 year old Lex Luthor in front of a train. That's when Rip banned him from ever being a time-master. Well now he's set himself on this mission of destroying the Scarab that eventually ends up creating the Black-beetle. So, Rex, in his new chronal form, abducts Michelle and takes her to the Vanishing Point . . the end of time. There he wants to get access to one of the monitors so he can get the Scarab in the past and destroy it. Apparently he needs 3 versions of this knife in order to unlock the doors that secure the monitor. Although, with his chronal energy, I don't know why he couldn't just go back in time himself to take care of all of this. That's why these time-travel stories give me a headache. We always get this long drawn out explanation of how something is going to get done, or taken care of, but . . there always seems to be a much more logical way of doing it. And, no matter how they do it, there's always a ton of questions left in it's wake. What if they did this? What if they did that? Anyways, when Booster and Booster go back in time to try to straighten everything else, they leave Michelle at Vanishing Point. She's just found out from Rex that she's supposed to be dead. And that Rip saved her life. So while the boys were gone, she's been watching it on the monitors over and over again. I want to like this series. I really do. It's just all a bit befuddling. And if my explanation of this story sounds confusing . . . I actually think I accounted for everything pretty accurately. Any confusion . . is actually in the story-telling and subject matter itself. But I'm gonna keep trying.

Booster Gold #16 - DC

I kind of have mixed feelings about this book. When it first started and Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz were writing it, I thought it was terrific. There's been a couple of changes since and now Dan Jurgens is both writing and drawing the book. I still think it's a neat concept and has tons of potential, but . . it's just not the same. As much as I respect Dan's talent, nobody writes like Geoff. Sorry! Last issue, when Booster met up with Elongated Man, I actually didn't like it. At all. However, this issue? This issue is seems a little more on track. Michael isn't the goofy character that he portrayed himself as in the last issue. All of this time-travel stuff still gives me a headache, but . . it seems like it's getting easier. Long story short, at the end of last issue, Michael went off on his own into a time portal. He ended up in World War I. Hence . . the Enemy Ace cover. Anyways, he ends up saving a soldiers life . . . who ends up being Max Lord's grandfather . . I think. And, he ends up with the Egyptian Knife that's been causing all of this trouble. It was in Von Hammer's castle and he gives it to Michael to help him escape. However, when Michelle and Skeets leave the museum, they also have the knife. Ralph gives it to them for safe-keeping. So when Booster jumps back into time, from WWI, I'm thinking that they can't connect because they both have this knife. Or . . it could be the guy in the pink suit that's tagged along for the ride. Anyways, this series is fun. This story-line about the knife is a bit convoluted, but . . I don't think it's going to last much longer. Hopefully, we'll get on to something else. Soon! And how come every time Skeets says the name Michael I can hear the voice from the computer on Knight-Rider? Anyways, I thought this was a pretty decent issue. It seems like we're heading in the right direction. Maybe last issue was just a fluke. We'll see.