Review:
By this point in Booster history, Dan Jurgens, creator of Booster Gold, has hit his full creative stride and brought the character to his highest pinnacle of fame and visibility.
This TPB collects issues #26-31 of the ongoing Booster Gold (2007) series, surpassing the length of his original late-80s series which was cancelled after issue #25. Then by the end of the issues collected here, Booster would debut as team leader in the new Justice League: Generation Lost series, with a third (Time Masters: Vanishing Point) set to begin just a couple months later. That made three concurrent Booster Gold series - truly his glory days!
This flagship series continues to give us ever more compelling stories. The first two collected chapters tie into the DC Universe crossover event Blackest Night. In Booster's case he must face off against the reanimated and black ring-powered Ted Kord, aka the Blue Beetle. But his former best bud is not here for a party and a bwa-ha-ha good time, he is here to kill and maim. It leads to an emotional head-trip for our hero as he must struggle against confusion and revulsion at seeing his long-lost friend in this walking-dead state.
The visuals and concepts are occasionally gruesome. But Jurgens uses a clever framing device to great effect, with Booster Gold's self-flagellation at failing to properly eulogize Ted at Blue Beetle's funeral.
The final four chapters are the title tale The Tomorrow Memory. Booster's sister Michelle is back! She had disappeared, you may recall, to a where and when unknown upon discovering at Vanishing Point that she should have been dead already. It turns out that she jumped into the past and has wound up in Coast City just before it is destroyed by Cyborg Superman and Mongul. In the meantime, she has found a boyfriend. But she remembers enough of her history lessons to realize what is coming. If only she could convince others of the danger!
Booster is overjoyed, of course, to find her again; but he also knows what is about to happen to the seven million people and is faced with the impossibly weighty questions of what it means to be a hero versus the mission to protect the time stream.
In the end (spoiler alert) the boyfriend dies, Michelle is saved from certain death again, and a mystery man with a close tie to Rip and Booster helps out at the last minute.
The Epilogue that closes this book is a beautiful and moving cap to a fine collection. All of the frustrations and confusions and paradoxes have built up and Booster craves the emotional release of thumping some bad guys. But when an innocent bystander is hurt by his actions, he withdraws to watch - without intervening - an earth-shaping disaster. Rip Hunter comes along to help his partner, offering a small but positive change they can make. Then he watches with pride as Booster goes on to make a much bigger positive change in his broken relationship with his sister. It is a beautiful story with action, character development and touches of family, love, loneliness and duty.
The art throughout the collection is covered by some of Jurgens' trademarks. With classic heroic poses and full-page splashes, lots of good old-fashioned superhero fun but with remarkable emotional range.
Description:
After fighting Black Lantern and former Blue Beetle Ted Kord, Booster Gold finds himself lost in time, struggling to save his sister Goldstar from imminent death. However, when Booster Gold rescues his sister from the timestream - he soon realizes that the sister he saved is not the same girl he remembers.
Collects: Booster Gold #26-31
Authors: Dan Jurgens
Artists: Dan Jurgens, Norm Rapmund
Published By: DC Comics
Published When: Dec 7, 2010
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN: 978-1401229184
Pages: 160 pages
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