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.