Arcing to a Conclusion

I don't know. A solid portion of the U.S. sure loves the Confederate Army, who definitely lost. Or, for another example, Trump. Multiple times bankrupt, convicted of several crimes, lost an election. Complete loser, but beloved by a disturbingly large portion of the dumbasses in this country.

Tangent Comics Volume 3 collects the last 8 one-shots from the original Tangent Comics run. *Deep breath* In order, Superman (Mark Millar, Jackson Guice, Lovern Kindzierski, Comicraft); Wonder Woman (Peter David, Angel Unzueta, Jamie Mendoza, Pam Rambo, Comicraft); Nightwing: Night Force (John Ostrander, Jan Duursema, Gloria Vazquez, Comicraft); The Joker's Wild (Karl Kesel and Tom Simmons, Joe Phillips, Jasen Rodriguez, Moose Baumann, Comicraft); The Trials of the Flash (Todd DeZago, Paul Pelletier, Andy Lanning, Joe Rosas, Comicraft), Tales of the Green Lantern (James Robinson, J.H. Williams III and Mick Gray, Lee Loughridge, Comicraft, Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Mike Mayhew, Wade von Grawbadger, Georges Jeanty, Drew Gerard, Ostrander, Ryan Sook), Powergirl (Ron Marz, Dusty Abell, Dexter Vines, James Sinclair, Chris Eliopoulos); and JLA (Dan Jurgens, Darryl Banks, Norm Rapmund, Rob Schwager, Comicraft)

I'm not sure why they distributed the comics so unevenly between the volumes (6 for the first volume, 5 for volume 2, but 8 here.) Especially given the differences in goals of some of these stories. Superman, Wonder Woman and Powergirl fit in theme with the comics from volume 2. Each provides an origin and introduction for this universe's version of these characters, albeit with wildly different approaches.

Millar's Superman (real name Harvey Dent) is the sole survivor of a covert government experiment performed on a largely African-American town in an attempt to perfect a way to give people super-powers. It worked on one baby, in the sense that his mind is evolved far beyond a normal human's. A Man of Tomorrow. Wonder Woman's the result of an attempt to broker peace between two alien races by combining their genetics into one perfect warrior. Except both races consider her an abomination. And Powergirl is China's second attempt to create a superhuman warrior. She's a real success, but she's not sure she wants to be.

Millar's is fairly cynical, as Dent grows increasingly detached from humanity, dealing with crises because he just wants problems to solve rather than actually caring much about the people he helps. I mean, I doubt those people care, but his girlfriend does care that he's distanced himself from her. The bit where she confesses cheating on him and Harvey responds that he's a telepath, so he knew she was going to cheat before she did made me roll my eyes. I feel like this character heavily informs how Millar writes Reed Richards, but maybe it's just Millar in general.

Peter David turns his story into a running gag, as the title character spends an entire fight having an existential crisis. She's can't help but "wonder" whether she has any right to exist, or if she even does. It gets obnoxious after about three pages, but the payoff is apparently that she can reorder reality by thinking (or wondering) hard enough. She erases the aliens attacking her from existence by simply insisting they don't exist, to the extent all the damage from the battle vanishes, because the two who started the fight never existed to cause the damage in the first place.

Marz only actually brings Powergirl out at the very end of his issue, fitting into the idea of her as a designed weapon who wishes to make her own decisions. None of the people the story follows up to then - the U.S. President, formerly part of a black ops group, the guys from Nightwing, the Chinese government - see her as any thing but a tool to gain advantage. They're all just fighting over who has their finger on the trigger. When she finally arrives, in a design that makes me think of an elaborate doll crossed with NASCAR, they're left standing there gawking as she casually revives the dead and then leaves.

Trials of the Flash, The Joker's Wild, and Tales of the Green Lantern follow-up on the earlier appearances of each character. Green Lantern's is "multiple origins", as she relates three different possible ways (each by a different creative team) she came to exist. Sook seems to channel a lot of Mignola in his story, the characters very angular and sharply defined, while Jeanty's work is very similar to the Dodsons.

Dezago and Pelletier make Trials of the Flash into an extended cartoon, as the Flash's dad spends the entire issue trying increasingly elaborate super-science weapons to capture or kill her, only to have each backfire on him.

So that leaves Night Force and JLA, the former of which heavily leads into the latter, albeit with a lot of stuff about different covert organizations at war with each other. There's Nightwing, but also Meridian, which is like Nightwing but in Europe. Night Force, who think they're fighting Nightwing, but are actually being used by it. And there's a "Dark Circle" which may stand above both, or not. Really feels like something that needed more time to play out. But hey, we find out the USSR is still run by Vampire Josef Stalin. I still think "cryo-frozen, uses a giant mech suit" Stalin from Simonson's FF run is better, but that's pretty cool.

The big ending though is that Stalin's attempts to harvest the souls of three-quarters of the Doom Patrol goes haywire once Night Force shows up and end up combined into some missing puzzle piece monster calling itself the "Ultra-Humanite". Or maybe like a mech whose joints are connected by electric arcs. That rolls into JLA, where the Humanite somehow has armed soldiers surrounding the U.S. capitol building, while he's still busy crushing the Secret Six in two pages somewhere else. And yet another secretive cabal decides they need to kill every superpowered being they can find (except the Ultra-Humanite), and their fuck-ups bring together Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman and the resurrected original Atom.

It doesn't really work, since it's hard to believe they could actually work together. Jurgens dials back Superman's detachment a bit (though he ignores that Millar's story ended with Dent offering his girlfriend the same powers), but this group just doesn't seem likely to mesh. Wonder Woman's off in her own world half the time and Batman's got his big redemption quest. And Atom's only around for as long as Green Lantern's power let him stay that way. And how did Batman get from London to Missouri so quickly? And why the hell not wait to try and kill the other superpowered types after the Ultra-Humanite's dealt with? See if they solve your problems for you, or failing that, at least wear each other out.

Maybe I just liked the Secret Six group more and wanted to see more of them in action.

Off on a Tangent

I'm absolutely sure that is not the case.

Volume 2 of DC's Tangent Comics, collects five of the one-shots from that imprint: The Joker (by Karl Kesel, Matt Haley, Tom Simmons and Chris Eliopoulos), Nightwing (John Ostrander, Jan Duursema, Gloria Vasquez, Dave Lanphear), Secret Six (Chuck Dixon, Tom Grummett, James Sinclair, Ken Lopez), Doom Patrol (Dan Jurgens, Sean Chen, Kevin Conrad, Ray Kryssing, Jason Wright, Dave Lanphear), and The Batman (Dan Jurgens, Klaus Janson, Gregory Wright, Comicraft).

Each one is a different type of story. Secret Six is pretty much a "put the team together" story with a bunch of disparate characters happening to run into each other investigating the same thing. Doom Patrol is your classic time travel story where attempts to change the future only bring it about. Joker is a mystery from the perspective of a cop the Joker seems to have taken an interest in, although the reasons for that seem pretty weak once revealed. But I think we're supposed to take it that the Joker's trying to process some trauma in a less-than-ideal manner. Nightwing is kind of a "shadow war/wheels within wheels" story of people vying for power out of sight of everyone else. And Batman is a monster story and doomed romance thing.

The art leans to standard superhero comic style. Grummett and Chen are the artists they've always been, making sure all the visual information is there, easy to interpret and follow. Duursema's the most distinctive, but also the most '90s in look. Lots of busy little lines and questionable proportions and anatomy for the characters. But Nightwing is the least "superhero" of the books, with the backstabbing, manipulation and working in the shadows, so it makes sense to not look like the others.

I've always read that if Klaus Janson is the inker, the art just ends up looking like his. No matter the penciler, Janson's heavy inks overwhelm it and make the look his own. I've read the Wolverine issues Byrne penciler that Janson inked, and I'd tend to agree, it doesn't look much like Byrne's work. Apparently Dan Jurgens is the exception, because The Batman still looks very much like a Jurgens-drawn comic, just with thicker, messier lines than when Norm Rapamund or someone else inks him. I don't know if Janson dialed it back or what.

Since most of the stories are also the first appearance of these versions of the characters, there's a fair amount of exposition or flashbacks. Four pages spent explaining how Batman is a suit of armor controlled by a knight who was tricked into turning against King Arthur by Morgan le Fay, so Merlin condemned him to live trapped within his castle (The House of Secrets) until he atoned. Exactly how he's supposed to do that if he hasn't managed it after several centuries is not outlined, but Merlin's always kind of a shithead, so that tracks. Dude's just pissed le Fay outflanked his withered butt.

Some integrate it into the flow better than others. In Nightwing, Ostrander handles explaining the mysterious magic-using cabal by having one character pass the information along to the President in a dream. With Doom Patrol, since the characters traveled back in time to prevent the Earth exploding, Jurgens just has them explain whatever particular event they're trying to stop as they're trying to stop it.

The re-imagining of the characters and concepts works better for some than others. The Joker as a female vigilante/pest that focuses mainly on mocking or humiliating authority figures isn't bad. Actually, it feels like some of this has been co-opted into Harley Quinn over the last decade (although Harley's got a lot more 4th wall breaking.) Batman as a true dark or disgraced knight, who carries on his mission endlessly because he sees it as the only chance he's got to be free, rather than from a childhood vow to end crime, that can work. Wildcat as a codename for a young lady who transforms into a feral werecat when she speaks her trigger word (Shazam)? Not so much.

All the issues suffer from what seems like a competition between the writers to name-check as many characters or concepts as possible. In Doom Patrol, the teenage daughter of the doctor leading the attempt to change the past says her mother called her "Firehawk" when she was just a kid. It never comes up again, and the young lady demonstrates no fire or bird-themed abilities, so it really feels like just checking a box. Secret Six references a bio-weapon used against Eastern Europe the year before. Codename? Red Tornado. I didn't do an exact count, but I feel like Nightwing wins, especially once the mage "Hex", starts referencing spells called "The Emerald Eye" or "Ring of Oa."

The re-designs vary in how similar they are to their namesakes. Batman's a big red suit of armor, and instead of pointy ears, has a pair of similar-looking (but larger) spines on the shoulders. Still the same emblem, though tilted on its axis. Joker combines bits of Harley Quinn with the Joker, and the poofy-sleeved coat reminds me of some of the Royal Flush Gang.

On the other hand, Hex (real name: Vincent Lord, don't know if that's a reference to something) looks like Constantine crossed with Gambit, and has the same sort of sleazy yet self-assured air you'd expect from a fusion of those two. Plastic Man's a big, shiny, green-faced living polymer that looks kind of like a robot. The look and the name don't fit, but the name does fit his powers and composition, and it was given to him by his government handlers, so I can see them taking a direct, literal approach.

Sunday Splash Page #95

"Bwa-Ha-Ha?" in Booster Gold (vol. 2) #0, by Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz (writers), Dan Jurgens (penciler), Norm Rapmund (finishes), Hi-Fi (colorist), Randy Gentile (letterer)

I think this was the first DC series I bought based on suggestions of others. This or Shadowpact. This is definitely the first due to other bloggers recommending it. And this was the first issue I bought. Then I made a joke based on it being a Zero Hour "tie-in" that led to the story where Calvin got tossed across multiple universes by Overused Kirby Creation. That was almost 12 years ago. Christ.

The series spun out of developments of the weekly 52 series, where Booster had faked his death and then acted as "Supernova" working with Rip Hunter to stop a mutated up Mr. Mind (that was hidden inside Skeets, I think). Booster is back to being Booster, but keeps up his facade of being a goof obsessed with endorsements deals as cover for preserving the timeline.

Johns and Katz seemed to have some fun with the book in the early going, despite the supposed importance of what Booster was doing. I know one of the issues prior to this one Booster teams up with Jonah Hex and ends up wasted. Skeets gets a new design, and Booster gets stuck playing the straight man a lot. 'If I had a dollar. . .' 'You'd spend it.' 

Then Booster decided to save Ted Kord from Max Lord, no matter the consequences (which Rip Hunter tried to demonstrate to him by having Booster fail repeatedly to save Barbara Gordon from her injury at the Joker's hands in The Killing Joke). That didn't end happily, although it did lead to a brief Justice League International reunion.

Although I don't think Barbara ever got to have a chat with Booster about that whole thing. Unless someone handled it after I dropped the book, or in Birds of Prey.

Johns and Katz left after that story concluded. Chuck Dixon wrote a two-parter that involved Booster dressing up as both Killer Moth and I think Adam West Batman at the same time (plus his sister Michelle dressing as Batgirl). After that, Dan Jurgens became writer/artist of the book and started some storyline related to the Blue Beetle scarab. I don't remember how that played out because I dropped the book before it ended. For some reason, even when Jurgens' plots sound like they would interest me, the result always leaves me cold.

What I Bought 7/2/2015 - Part 1

Remember how I said 10 books over 4 weeks was pretty sorry? Now it’s 5 books over 3 weeks. Months with 5 Wednesdays are frequently disappointing.

Batman Beyond #2, by Dan Jurgens (writer), Bernard Chang (artist), Marcelo Maiolo (colors), Dave Sharpe (letters) – I can’t think of much to say about this cover. I feel like Batman should be trying to stop the cyborgs shooting at people rather than fleeing? Inque should maybe get her hip back out of sight, because it might ruin her element of surprise?

Max and Barbara try to keep Tim alive while cyborgs gather all the new arrivals for “processing”, which is to say Brother Eye pumps them full of drugs and scopes out everything they know, leaving them grinning, mindless husks. Lovely. Max gets caught, and before Babs and Tim can escape, Eye has their faces from Max’s memory, and his chief overseer at this place is Terry’s old foe, Inque. Tim’s first attempt to fight one of Terry’s rogues doesn’t go so well, because apparently he left his brain back in the past. If water proved to be a weakness of hers in the past, it stands to reason she’d be prepared for you to use it. Maybe he should have used Mad Stan as a warm-up? He gets captured, Barbara gets captured, and a shadowy figure on the Moon Eye is using for a host body demands they be processed.

I feel like Brother Eye must have moved the Moon closer to Earth for the picture on that first page. Both bodies seem too large for our vantage point. Either the Moon should be smaller, if we’re close to Earth, or vice versa. Maybe I’m wrong, or maybe Brother Eye really did hook the Moon up with an independent propulsion system. Darkseid has one for his world, Ego was forcibly given one, it’s all the rage with planetary-level threats. Chang and Maiolo are still using the panels with a blank red background, and the figures either in all black and white. They even stepped up usage, since there are about 15 panels in this issue like that. I still like it, it’s a very cool visual effect, the panels really grab the eye, but I worry they might be overusing it. There was a nice bit on page 8, at the bottom, where as Max is being interrogated, over three consecutive panels, the view keeps zooming in, and the colors shift from the more normal scheme in the first one, to the red-heavy style in the third, with the second in-between, heavily orange, but still with other distinct colors. I guess to symbolize her resistance being worn down, and the third panel being the point where she (and Tim and Babs by extension) are sunk, because the best lie she could manage didn’t take. I will say, I don’t understand why they tried to play Inque up as this shadowy, unseen figure for half the issue, considering she’s right there on the cover. It wasn’t exactly a surprise when she attacked Tim and Barbara. Catwoman would have been a surprise. Inque just on the cover as a ruse, to throw the reader off.

I’m still not sure this is going to be what I was looking for. The potential is there – I would have been fine with Tim gradually working his way towards a Big Bad he discovers is causing a lot of misery, just not immediately, I guess. Also a little concerned about Max now. Not really excited for Jurgens to take a weedwhacker to Terry’s old supporting cast just because Tim’s in there now, so hopefully this isn’t the start of some trend. Maybe she can bounce back from it?

Harley Quinn and Power Girl #1, by Amanda Conner, Justin Gray, and Jimmy Palmiotti (writers), Stephane Roux (artist), Paul Mounts (colorist), John J. Hill (letterer) – Harley’s hairstyle is just bizarre, even for her. It’s like a Marge Simpson split in two.

The entirety of this mini-series already took place between two panels in Harley’s ongoing series, but we hadn’t gotten to see what happened. Now we do, and the answer is, they wound up back in the pre-Flashpoint DCU, ran into some creepy Yoda-guy with a pet Hydra (I feel like these are jokes about Star Wars and Marvel both being under Disney’s umbrella now, but I could be wrong), then stumbled across one of Vartox’s headships. The ship, once it realizes one of the heroines is Power Girl, is only too eager to take them back to his homeworld, which has fallen under the boot of some uptight jerk named Oreth Odeox. Upon arriving at Valeron, they’re immediately shot down, then nearly charged with being prostitutes, until Harley “accidentally” blows the guy’s head off with something she took from not-Yoda’s weapon cache. About that time, Vartox’ chief science guy shows up, we get some discussion of how this is definitely the universe where Peej helped Vartox save his planet, then more of Oreth’s goons show up.

It’s all entirely goofy, but that’s fine. I’m not sure whether it’s Roux inking his own work, or if it’s Paul Mounts colors, but I really like Roux’s work more now than I have in the past. When I’d see it on Birds of Prey, there was always something about it that threw me off (there’s one cover with Misfit and Black Alice on it I’m thinking of in particular). Expressions were exaggerated to a comical extent, but it was trying to look realistic. The overall presentation clashed in my head. Not the case here. Harley’s expressions in particular are fairly exaggerated, as she tends to talk with her entire body, lots of hand gestures and such, but it works really well. Maybe it’s the silly tone of the book, or Harley’s character in general (though Power Girl has some excellent faces as well), but the whole thing just works.

I see why they titled this issue “Extrastellar Exploitations”, given there are more than a couple of panels that provide a pretty decent close-up on Power Girl’s rear end. They still work for conveying relevant information, but they probably didn’t have to be angled that particular way, you know? Or maybe they did, given this book. What the heck, right?

Also, I probably shouldn’t be surprised Vartox had Power Girl androids made, but I am a little bit. I thought he regarded her too highly for her assistance to his people to resort to pale imitations. Though I’m sure whenever Harley and Peej meet one, Vartox will insist it was done as a measure of respect for her.

What I Bought 6/12/2015 - Part 1

I found everything I wanted that’s come out in the last 4 weeks. It’s pretty depressing that 4 weeks adds up to only 10 comics. We’ll get to Secret Wars tie-in stuff in due course, but for now, let’s do some vaguely Bat-related books. Can the DC You win me over?

Batman Beyond #1, by Dan Jurgens (writer), Bernard Chang (artist), Marcelo Maiolo (colors), Dave Sharpe (letters) – On the left side of the cover, who is the guy below Batsy’s fist? With the spit curl? I’m not up on my “DC Apocalyptic Future” characters.

Something I didn’t realize going into this, it’s following up on stuff from Future’s End. It’s Tim Drake in the suit, not Terry McGinnis, and Brother Eye is still a big problem. I wish they’d let Brother Eye drop for awhile.

Drake’s in the Terry’s time, more or less, trying to be Batman. We learn that Gotham has some sort of program that shield it from Brother Eye, so it’s still a relatively OK place to live, by Gotham standards. The rest of the world is presumed to be an apocalyptic hellhole, and Tim goes out to see, only to be attacked by a Superman who’s been turned into one of Eye’s dupes. He fends off the less-than-Superman, but shorts out the suit, leaving his as just Tim. Then he finds some sort of camp where people are being herded in, including Barbara Gordon and Terry’s old friend, Max.

The book isn’t, based on the first issue, quite what I was hoping for. It might turn out to be, but not as this point. I could have done without any connection to Future’s End, and with no Brother Eye, at least not the current version. Kind of sick of that guy. I don’t have a feel for this Tim Drake, either. A lot older, I guess he’d been jaded and given up until recently. Curious if Jurgens will play up the man out of time aspect. Tim mentioned he promised Terry he’d stop Brother Eye, and he feels like he failed, so maybe he’s going to be fixated on that, taking foolish risks.

Bernard Chang’s work is solid, his Batman has an angularity that reminds me of the cartoon, which is never a bad thing. He – or Marcelo Maiolo –does this one thing where, in certain panels, the background vanishes, replaced with a solid color. Something very bright, orange or red. Any figures are uncolored, white, but outlined in red. Except for Tim, when he’s in the suit, and he becomes solid black. They use it three times during the opening scuffle with the Jokerz, then a couple more times after that. Once when Tim talks to Nora and Matt, the other when Techno-Superman first attacks him. It’s a real attention-getter, but I’m not sure what it signifies, other than Tim being exposed to something new. He learned about the Jokerz, about the Veil program, about New York being annihilated, Superman being an enemy, and Nora told him he’s their only hope (something Tim isn’t comfortable with). Be curious to see if the art team keeps that up in subsequent issues.

All-Star Section Eight #1, by Garth Ennis (writer), John McCrea (artist), John Kalisz (colorist), Pat Brosseau (letterer) – I can only assume Six-Pack thinks he’s having a team up with Comet, the Super-Horse. At least, that’s what I hope he thinks is happening.

DC has come calling, and in truest tradition of serialized fiction, the hero’s happy ending must be undone so he can resume publication. So it is that Sixpack, having become a renowned art critic after saving the earth from other-dimensional horrors, accidentally drinks a rye and coke, and reverts back to his alcoholic alter ego, convinced he must put his team back together to save the world from some huge threat (or something to that effect, the whole art critic thing may have been a hallucination). Except the whole team died against the aforementioned other-worldly horrors. After dismissing every other hero that came out of Bloodlines (the same event that gave us Tommy Monaghan, and as a result, Six-Pack), he manages to pull together some other schlubs, plus Baytor. Which gives him seven guys, and look there’s Batman. But he’s too busy arguing with a cop over a parking ticket he got while he was trying to hit up an ATM. I get what he’s saying about those fees for using a different bank’s machine, though. Whatever is threatening the world is clearly already affecting Batman, because he keeps looking like he’s being drawn in other styles, like Neal Adams or Kelley Jones. Gasp, what can it mean? Then Batman drives off, pissed about the ticket, and with no time for Six-Pack.

Not quite what I was expecting, which is both good and bad. I was worried this would be one of Ennis’ more ugly, mean-spirited jaunts into the cape comic stuff, but it doesn’t seem like it. It also doesn’t appear he’s going to be sweating too much on this one, if the “You people” joke is any indication. So OK, this probably won’t be a classic like Hitman, or his Punisher run. Assuming we actually get to see Section Eight try to do something in subsequent issues, it should still be funny, at least (simply making a new Dogwelder, seemingly just like the old one, but African-American, was a cute joke, if also a little depressing). That would be just fine. I’m actually really excited to see Baytor fight crime, given he’s the lord of criminal insanity, that should be an impressive disaster.

McCrea’s work has more of a sketchy, rough look to it than it did in the original Hitman stuff. Which is fine, because it makes Sixpack look like a real train wreck, with the stubble, the snot, the persist piss on his trousers, the red-rimmed eyes. I had food poisoning once, and looked in the bathroom mirror right after I pulled my head out of the toilet at 5 a.m. I still didn’t look half as bad as Sixpack does. And Bueno Excellente looks even more creepy and disturbing, which I didn’t really need, but what the hell. I’m in for at least another month. Place your bets now as to whether Baytor is going to accidentally dissolve Hal Jordan’s hand next month, so Hal can have lots of angst and turn back into Parallax (only until the end of the issue, naturally)!

Thinking About Glowy Rainbow Time Person

By which I mean the mystery villain* in Booster Gold. There are certain things we know. They can open time portals apparently at will. They are on a quest to gain something they think they deserve. They were actively angered by Booster asking what their game was. So this is something they're entirely serious about. Or they just have no sense of humor. Whatever the source of their abilities, it enables them to travel around in the Time Stream unprotected, something that isn't generally advised**.

Whatever they're trying, it involves that knife somehow. Booster thought that the knife was taking him away from World War 1 at the end of #16, but could it have been our mystery guest? Rainbow Mystery Villain was the reason Michelle and Skeets couldn't get a lock on Booster, so either he(she?***) opened and closed the portal, or they are connected to the time stream in such a way that they can sense and manipulate time portals occurring through other means more rapidly than Rip Hunter's systems can. I'm inclined to go with the first option, since why would the knife be pulling Booster through time, when it showed no such abilities prior to now?

Either way, the knife is important. It's less clear whether Booster and Company are. It sounds as though they are now, but that may be a matter of the villain changing gears as the need arises. For whatever reason, the The Walking Chronal Crayon Box is trying to get Booster to bring the knife to them, rather than seeking it out themselves, as they did previously.

Then there's the question of all those time portals that opened and damaged Booster's suit. Was it a random occurence? Is it the Unknown Guest's doing? Is it the knife's doing? The fact they started with Enemy Ace was attacking Booster, and ceased shortly after they'd damaged his suit suggests to me villainous intent. But it required multiple portals to tag Booster, so if um, Seriously Determined Person is responsible, why didn't he score a hit on the first try? That, combined with the fact they didn't simply go to World War 1 and retrieve the knife themselves leads me to infer that there are limits to their power. Is that what they're hoping to correct? I guess you'll know later this week, and hopefully I'll know by early next week.

* Actually, I think DC's solicits for upcoming issues may have spilled the beans as to the villain's identity, but I don't want to spoil it for the souls who don't read the solicits.

** If you remember Booster Gold #0, Evil Beetle said if the time sphere was cracked, Ted Kord would be killed because there would be nothing to protect him from the chronal energies. A scarab, or a force field can do the trick, though.

*** I know the outline looks like a guy, but you never know. Could be a time-traveler trick.

Booster May Need A Refresher From Time Master School

I was rereading Booster Gold #16, and I notice Booster, right before he shoots down Enemy Ace, thinking to himself, 'Rip says I'm not supposed to interject myself into history. But Rip isn't here. No matter the risk, it can't be wrong to save a life. Ever.'

First thing, it's a fine ideal, truly befitting a hero. However, I thought Booster had already seen the danger in such a principle when one is a Time Master. He saved Ted Kord, and it nearly caused the destruction of the Earth. Dozens of other lives were lost as a result. Booster did not actually take those lives, but saving Ted unfortunately triggered a chain reaction Booster was unable to undo. I think Booster clearly understands there can be consequences of such a policy, because he says 'no matter the risk'.

I suppose it's an essential dilemma superheroes face. If you save this person, you can't save that person*. How do you decide which to save? One of the things I picked up on Saturday's excursion was the Gang War story arc on Amazing Spider-Man #284-288. I intend to talk more about it later**, but what's relevant for this is Spider-Man keeps getting involved in the gang war, whether he's trying to prevent the rival factions from killing each other, or trying to stop the Punisher from doing it. And at times, he questions what the heck he's doing that for. As Castle points out, while Spider-Man is busy stopping Frank from killing a bunch of mobsters with a bazooka, there are innocent people out there he could be protecting, so what's he doing here?

Perhaps it comes down to what you're willing to risk. Saving so-and-so could have dire repercussions in the future, but can the hero live with themselves in the present if they do nothing for fear of said repercussions?

Mostly, I just found it interesting that Booster's overall attitude doesn't seemed to have been affected by the disaster that was trying to save Ted.

* This is assuming the two people are in sufficiently disparate locations that you cannot, in fact save both.

** probably focusing on some of the problems I had with it that detracted from my enjoyment.

Yeah, Funny Thing About December

The weather is lousy. To wit: we had ice on the roads this morning, thus I did not brave the 40-minute drive to the comic store. I actually kind of enjoy walking in snow and ice, but driving is something I avoid unless absolutely necessary. Honestly, if I could walk everywhere I needed to go, I would enjoy winter a lot more, but 'tis not to be. So, reviews tomorrow, I think.

In the meantime, I figured I might try and determine what it was I felt was lacking from last week's Booster Gold. It was a nice issue, but something seemed to be lacking, and after a bit of deliberation, I'm pointing the finger at Skeets. That's right, j'accuse, little gold dude!

One of the things I'd grown fond of with the title was Skeets' tendency to make clever and amusing remarks. You know, he'd smack Sinestro in the noggin while proclaiming 'No man escapes me!', or finish Booster's 'If I had a dollar' with 'You'd spend it.' It made him a little Spider-Man, a little Alfred with the biting wit. This issue, he seemed more in the role of Rip Hunter to be honest. The straight man, who has to ride on herd on the goofy Booster* and Michelle, struggling to keep them on task. Skeets being on task isn't unusual, but not taking the opportunity to needle Booster doesn't seem quite right somehow.

It's not a terrible thing. The issue was still nice enough, and if they get Rip back in the mix, perhaps Skeets can loosen up a bit, but that's the best explanation I could come up with.

* Someone, I believe in the comments of Chris Sims' review post from last week, mentioned they felt Booster had taken a dramatic step backwards, character development wise. I wasn't sure about that initially, but that sudden monologue about licencing various Booster-related action figures seemed a bit out of place. The traveling to Renaissance Italy for authentic Italian cuisine I could buy, but that action figure thing did seem more old Booster.