Review: Blue Beetle #24

Omigodthiswassogood.

Also this week I got Justice Society of America #13, which was rather enjoyable. I particularly like the penciller on this book. Rock on, Fernando Pasarin. Your expressions make me a happy HAC.

Also got the Blue Beetle Reach for the Stars TPB. It was fun. And went from issue 13-19, which is bigger than I thought it would be, but also means that the unexpected guest issue isn't going to mess with the next trade, so I'm OK with that.

I did not get Teen Titans #56 and, in fact, did not even bother to flip through it in the shop, and I don't particularly feel like regretting it, either.

So, how about that Blue Beetle #24, eh?

Cover: Ohmigod, that speech bubble they added to the cover. I screamed silently in my comic shop when I saw it. The last time I did that was-- OK, the last time I did that was when they added a speech bubble to Booster Gold #6. BUT STILL.

Pg. 1: Yay, survival for the Reyeses and company!

Pg. 2: Yay, Traci 13! Yay, cookies!

Pg. 3: Hehehe, Beetle-mobile.

And lookit how miffed Brenda is on this page. So very miffed.

Pg. 5: Unpunchableium. Kehehehe.

Pg. 6: Jaime speaking Scarab Speak! It's like a full circle of awesome from the Scarab speaking English last issue!

Oh, and the translation: "Code A1Beta." and then "Stun."

Don't need no stinking powers indeed. <3 Ted would be so very damn proud, Jaime.

Pg. 7: Pants, then spaceship. Good prioritizing, Jaime.

Scarab Speak translation: "thanks."

Pg. 8: I <3 this outfit.

Pg. 9: OK, so Brenda's obviously calling La Dama here, but who's Paco on the phone with? The Posse, maybe? but that seems awfully quick.... Although I suppose they'd mobilize more quickly than La Dama's forces, anyway....



A coincidence? I think not.

Pg. 10: Peacemaker's on his feet again! \o/ And he's got the Posse with him! \o/

Pg. 11: Scarab Speak translation: "You have no idea what I can do." Negotiator's D:/o_o face after that is awesome.

Pg. 14: La Dama! The Diviner! Mr. Reyes! *General flailing of love and awesome*

Pg. 17: The code just seems to be gibberish to me.

Pg. 18: Jaime's gleeful "I knew they were alive!" makes me happy. Mortal danger? Guards with guns that want to kill him? Bah! His family's still breathing!

Pg. 19: Mrs. Reyes and Brenda <3

Pg. 20: Oh noes!

Also, please note Mrs. Reyes with a gun there. So awesome.

But also oh noes!

Pg. 21: I'm interested in knowing what the code is for. And it interests me that Jaime's surprised the ship can't crack it.

I love the defiance here. Ted would be so very damn proud and then some. <3

Pg. 22: Khaji Da! That's the phrase Dan used to activate the Scarab, of course. I have no goddamn idea what it's giong to do in this context. I can't wait to find out. Way cruel cliffhanger.

Also, next issue features a JLI reunion, too! Booster appearing in Blue Beetle yesplz.

Review: Booster Gold #0

Well, this took forver.

The also-rans of the weeks:

Atomic Robo #5: I actually remembered the sucker this week! \o/ Amusing, but felt mostly like set-up for next issue. It happens.

Green Lantern Corps #21: I thought Boodikka has returned to Bellatrix before.... I seem to recall seeing scans of her visiting her mother on Mother's Day. That aside, I am interested in where this story's going. I am somewhat disappointed that it seems to expect one to be following the other Green Lantern book, considering that I'm only picking up GLC.

Wonder Woman #17: I do believe that I will continue to buy this book. I wouldn't say I'm ZOMGSUPEREXCITED about it, but it doesn't repulse me like Teen Titans did, so it stays.

Brave & the Bold #10: Y'know what's odd about this book? I honestly can't remember what's going on in it between issues. I'll open the book and be like, "Oh, right, last issue ended on that cliffhanger, didn't it?" and then "Oh, right, there's that Mephisto thing going on," and then "Oh, right, that team-up happened." I can't recall this happening with any of the other books I read, it's just Brave and the Bold where I keep going, "Oh, right, stuff is actually happening in this book." It's really a good book while I'm actually reading it, so I keep buying it, but it just doesn't stick once it's out of my hands.

Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps War Vol. 1 HC: I concur with the rest of the blogosphere that this event is rawkin'.

And now, the main course, Booster Gold #0:

Cover: Does not have as much Zero Hour trade dress as I would've though. Also, the image itself is slightly off-center and that bothers me.

Pg. 1: Interesting how Future Beetle doesn't quite seem to be pointing at Ted specifically. Although I'm pretty sure there's no "supposed to be dead" in Booster's life (recently).

Also, noticeable and considerable height difference yeesssssss.

Pg. 2: "Of course, I just broke the same rules I'm supposed to be enforcing," amuses me greatly, considering that Booster got his superhero career started by stealing from a museum he was employed as a security guard in.

While Max was very directly involved in Booster's League membership (and there is a certain argument to be made for making the League seem ineffective with that...), Ted was a member of the Giffen League from the very start, while I think it took almost a year for Max to really become an accepted part of the team.

Pg. 3: "Leaving my future to be eaten away by the spawn of Mr. Mind." Ooooooo, a hint of another panel of the preview page at the end of the first issue!

Dan and Ted's successive "What?"s amuse me. So much I made a LiveJournal icon out of it:


Scarab Speak Translation: "Ted, take the wheel." Which, of course, makes no sense in context.

Pg. 4: Oh hai Zero Hour!

Daaaaaaan, Jaime doesn't quite qualify as a grown man yet!

Pg. 5: Oh, wait 'til Ted hears that Booster was drunk when he rear-ended Barry, too.

Scarab Speak Translation: "Ted, take the wheel." And it actually makes sense here! And seems to be Future Beetle's Scarab speaking, which is interesting.

Pg. 6: Booster confirms that he's over 30. And, of course, he was 19 when he started, so he's been at the superhero thing for over a decade. Of course, considering how long it's probably been since CoIE for the rest of canon, a few of those years were probably spent in the future between the end of the OMAC Project mini and when Booster reappeared in Infinite Crisis. I really would like to know what happened in those years....

Scarab Speak Translation: "My Scar ab's goin g nuts." I really like how they formatted the line breaks there to show the wigging out.

Pg. 7: Hal Jordan was a good guy again by the time I started reading comics. Is hurting Parallax as big a deal as I think it is?

Booster and Hank Hall have met before. In Booster's first series, actually. Issue #17. They did not get along. Things do not seem to have improved. (Which is really no wonder, considering how Booster left Hawk at the end of that story....)

"I lost some special to me. But Parallax says he'll bring him back." Substitute "Future Beetle" for "Parallax." Smirk knowingly. And worry.

Pg. 8: Scarab Speak Translation: "Or me." Hee.

I love how "already destroyed 64th century" = "annihilate the 25th soon enough." That's not nearly 4,000 years or anything. Quick, Shane somebody who's actually read Zero Hour! How long was it between Impulse's disappearance and Booster's? And between Booster's disappearance and when the present was in very immediate danger? Because if that was like bang-bang-bang, then I'll reverse my "haha, what?" reaction to that. But otherwise....

Pg. 9: I rather like how the 25th century is still "home" for Booster, despite everything.

Pg. 10: So, it seems that Jonar lost his eye to pay for a debt. Not terribly exciting, but certainly gruesome.

"Do you really think you're strong enough to deal with that kind of guilt?" Jonar Carter. Still an asshole!

Booster tracked Jonar down, did he? Iiiiiiinteresting. Mostly, of course, because if Booster tracked Jonar down, then Jonar didn't track Booster down to demand monies of him, which is fractionally less bastardliness than I would've expected.

Honestly, though, this page can pretty much be accurately summarized by just "Jonar Carter is an asshole and Booster's not a particularly bright kid. (Though he is a particularly pretty one.)"

Pg. 11: I love how Michelle is totally more important than anything Booster's done as Booster Gold.

Michelle's supposed to be blond like Booster! Curse you, Hi-Fi! At least the red hair isn't totally out of left field, considering that Mrs. Carter was a redhead, but still. I get the feeling that somebody or multiple somebodies have gotten the two Goldstars mixed up, since Trixie (who actually was a redhead) is sadly overlooked here. But I guess she's kind of obscure.... Not that Michelle isn't, of course, but Michelle's easier to bring back than Trixie would be, of course. Which is really sad when you consider that Michelle's the dead one of the two.

Also it means I have to update my Proud Carter Tradition icon again:


Oh, while I'm at it, hey, lookit, Booster's football uniform is red again. Exciting.

Pg. 12: Ah, Michelle, I am so happy that you are so capable of seeing through Jonar's bull. Not that Booster would ever listen to such a thing, of course. But it's nice that one of you is capable of reason. Also makes me feel much less worried about Jonar's "you and your sister always thought too much of me" from issue 4. Funny how one simple page can assuage my Jonar-rezzing-Shel desires fears.

Tangential thought: Why is the locker room so empty save Carters?

Bawwwwww, Booster's crippling need for love and attention.

"A few months after I went back in time, Michelle followed me" is such a drastic understatement. I mean, of course they couldn't summarize that whole arc down to anything even closely resembling reasonable, but still. It would be hilarious to see 'em try. (I think the shortest I can summarize it is something like, "Booster's power source for his suit ran out, and also he got the tar beaten out of him and ended up terminally ill, so he went back to the 25th century, and the cops caught him, because stealing a time machine is a crazy heinous crime [the punishment is execution without trial, even! Booster compares it to setting off a nuclear bomb in a church.], but then Shel breaks him off death row and returns to the present with him, 'cuz like hell she can stay in the future after that."[And, yes, that link is completely gratuitous, but I love that panel, so bah!]) I would've at least liked it if they mentioned that Booster made a return trip to the future and Michelle ended up coming back with him, instead of making it sound like Michelle made the trip independently.

Pg. 13: I don't think Michelle ever actually called herself Goldstar. I'm not sure anybody ever called Michelle Goldstar in-canon. I mean, Goldstar was the name associated with the costume, of course, but it's not like Shel ever actually did any heroing. It's explicitly stated in canon that she stole (and funny how that part isn't mentioned....) the costume because she wanted to fly. Of course, I can excuse this because it's not like she ever told Booster that, and I can easily believe that Booster is not as good at sussing out Shel's motivations as she is at his.

Booster, 5 minutes does not really a big brother make, while I'm at it.

"It wasn't your fault she died." Actually, Ted, it kind of was. I realize that Booster has probably never explained what actually happened to you, but Shel was not actually murdered like you thought in C2IC; she died at the uncaring hands of electrocution via falling rubble. And what caused the structural damage that resulted in the falling rubble? Yeah, that'd be a guy by the name of Booster Gold. So Booster's part in the death of Michelle is roughly equal to Ted's part in the death of Dan. So unless you've gotten over your massive guilt complex, Ted, (and maybe you have, considering the general lack of Freaking Out that's been done so far, actually,) I'm not sure you should really be telling Booster not to feel guilty about it.

I adore that Ted places Michelle before himself here. Because it is Right and Good and feels like delicious, delicious Validation.

Explicit statement that Friends and Family > Career and Respect makes me happy.

And check out that grin in that last panel. Booster has a Plan. A Plan that involves saving his sister. Yesssssss.

Pg. 14: Look, it's the Space Museum! Check out Booster's Legion Flight Ring in the foreground there and the forcefield belt in the back.

Also, be sure to check out the expression on Dan's face. He's so totally gawking. Jaime probably is, too, but it's less obvious. And Future Beetle's just like B|.

Hi-Fi, I do not think that the guy tackling young Booster on that screen should be wearing the same color football uniform that he is.

While I'm at it, why is this game being broadcast to an empty museum?

I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with Dan Garrett calling Booster "Michael".

I'm curious as to how they managed to get this far without setting off any alarms already.

Pg. 15: Lookit, it's a Batarang and Adam Strange's helmet!

Man, that's a lotta robots. Which is new. I'm none too familiar with the Space Museum's original stories, but I don't think it's ever had robots other than Skeets in the context of Booster. And none of these other robots look like Skeets, which is even more weird.

"And I don't want to hear any more complaints from you about our protocol. Shoot to kill, Skeets, you're scrap." I still haven't figured out if the Leader 'Bot is telling Skeets not to kill people or if he's telling him to kill people. Very big difference, that.

I like the expressions in the 4th panel. A lot. They are quite perfect.

Pg. 16: "Which one?" Hee. (Although, c'mon, Ted, why are you even bothering to ask; what could you do against a horde of robots like that?)

It amuses me that the other robots turn into regular OMAC's, while Skeets just turns into an OMAC'd Skeets. That makes perfect sense!

OK, starting from regular Booster and working outwards, we've got the original costume (complete with cape!), the life support suit from Extreme Justice, the Conglomerate outfit (<3), and 3 versions that I don't think are actually from anything. Pretty sure I'd remember seeing a Booster with that many stars on his costume. So gaudy.

Besides the Jaime-esque costume, all of the alterna-Teds seem to be just made up.

Of course, if I'd been in charge of this, I probably would've included the Booster from this (admittedly fairly obscure and probably with good reason) comic and the literal Blue Beetle Ted who recently appeared in Countdown: Arena.

Pg. 17: "This is so awesome." QFT.

"We can't remember this? But that's not fair." Also QFT. Although I do agree with Dan regarding the necessity of it, and it does explain why Jaime is not showing any signs of having met Ted over in his own book.

"Just try to remember to go easy on me that first year of school, okay?" "Never." I <3 you, Dan. <3

Ted and Jaime bonding yay.

Pg. 18: "Your blind, unflinching determination is as inspiring as it is fortuitous, Michael." It's also probably kind of unhealthy and definitely makes him easy to manipulate.

Pg. 19: "In fact, everyone looks ridiculous with a mustache." As a fan of facial hair, I will fight you, Ted!

Rip's not that bad, is he, Booster? Just has a stick up his time-traveling butt, does he?



That just can't be healthy.

Oh noes, the chalkboard is clean! And, uhh, broken to bits. That too.

What is with all the using Michael in this issue? He goes by Booster. He calls himself Booster. Other people call him Booster. All to the point where if he is going by Michael or Mike, it's usually to protect somebody else's secret identity (since he lacks one of his own), and when somebody has to introduce him as Michael/Mike in that situation, they usually pause before they say it, because it's something they have to work to recall, even if it's Booster himself doing the introducing. Booster got the moniker of Booster Gold by automatically answering Booster when asked for his name by the President and not getting the chance to fully correct it in time. That's how thoroughly Booster goes by Booster instead of Michael. Could we please not throw it around like we would Clark Kent or Bruce Wayne or something? Kthnx.

Pp. 20-21: OHSHI-

Pg. 22: Yes, Booster, Zero Hour. That's why there are OMAC's all over the place. That makes perfect sense. B| Booster, sweetie, I love you, and I understand that you really don't want this to be exactly what Rip was warning you about, but seriously. Could you at least try for a scapegoat that makes sense?

So, this is going to end well, yes?

So, stuff rocks right now.

Booster Gold #0 is swiftly approaching. JSA #12 was pretty damn nifty, as was Teen Titans Year 1 #2. I read and enjoyed the first trade of Iron Fist, but really need to get around to reading up on Iron Fist's history to achieve the deeper appreciation for things that I like to have. Editor Jann Jones is a crocheter. And check out what's #1 on Bully's top 50 end of the year countdown!

The April Solicits

Are over here, of course.

Teen Titans #58: It always amuses me when somebody with a pretty skintight outfit gets held up by their shirt.

Booster Gold #8: Provides yet another example of the Incredibly Stretchy Costume, although at least Ted doesn't have chain mail being stretched there.

Also, I totally love it whenever Booster fights Superman. It's very meta.

I am curious to see who's on this all-new, all-different Freedom Fighters team.

Supernova teaming up with an evil Beetle? So very much want. Had not thought of that sort of thing myself, but, in retrospect, probably should've.

Also, it totally makes me want a team-up with Supernova and Ted's Uncle Jarvis. It would be traumatizing great.

Batman #676 and Superman #675: I find it interesting how these two issues are solicited right next to each other and both figure floaty cape action.

All-Star Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder #10: Isn't "better half" usually used in reference to one's wife/girlfriend?

Detective Comics #843: Zatanna's showing up again? How odd. Also, I am vaguely curious as to the origin of the new Ventriloquist.

Action Comics #864: Is it just me, or is that cover reminiscent of the end of IC #1, where Earth-2 Superman busts out of the crystal place?

Green Lantern Corps #23: I swear I've seen that cover somewhere before.... Am I just crazy, or what?

Countdown to Final Crisis Vol. 1 TP: Already? I could've sworn they waited longer than this to solicit the first 52 trade, but I could just be crazy.

Tiny Titans #3: Penguins tied to rockets with helmets with umbrellas on them yes.

Super Friends #2: The smiles on the cover disturb me. It's sooo.... I dunno. totally bizarre.

Review: Blue Beetle #23

Yeah, I ended up never reviewing #22. So I'll do that right now, real shortlike: It rocked.

I bought 4 books today:

Atomic Robo #4- Needs to stop coming out on Booster Gold weeks so I can actually remember to buy it. Also it was good.

Wonder Woman #16- Did not totally rawk my socks off, but doesn't fill me with boundless rage, either. Hrm. Also, didn't she, like, just come back to life? And is showing up in multiple comics? (But I'd rather not get into that headache....) So I'm having a bit of trouble caring/worrying.

Teen Titans #55- Is probably going to be the last issue of Teen Titans I pick up. I started getting this book for Jaime, and I don't really approve of how McKeever is writing Jaime. Also there is just something about Tim and Cassie that makes me want to stab people in the face and never stop, so I figure it's for the best if I just drop it.

I will admit that I did chuckle at Rose dismissing Jaime's talk of the Reach as just joking, though.

And, of course Blue Beetle #23, which was soooooo goooooooood.

Pg. 1: "Yaaaaaay me." Hee. Oh, Jaime. <3

WWTKD? Oh, Jaime. <3

Hahahahaha, the books on the bookshelf. 5 and 2 and then 2 and 3. I don't know who's responsible for that, but <3 <3 <3 for them.

Pg. 2: C2IC Parallel #2 (#1 being the Beetley star, of course): The massive Conspiracy the Justice League wouldn't believe.

I rather like Jaime's description of the average Teen Titans meeting.

Pg. 3: Any plan in which Paco does not get to help is a sucky plan. Of course.

It is impressive to be an uptight control freak at 8.

Pg. 4: I am interested by the social system slightly exposited by the Negotiator and Dawur here.

Also I bet the ruling caste is totally scary and I hope they show up sometime.

Part of me wants to play around with the Calculus in the first panel. The other part wants to beat that part into a bloody pulp for even suggesting it. And then I get sad because I look at it and realize that I don't really remember much Calculus.

Pg. 5: Thousand-year rule? Haven't the Reach been around for a good deal longer than that?

C2IC Parallel #3: The bad guys closely monitoring the hero's every move! (Yeah, that's pretty standard fare, but still.)

Pg. 6: Oh, Jaime, you're so wonderfully responsible. And again with the incredible 8-year-olds! Also, <3 Jaime's parents. As always.

Pg. 7: Om nom nom themes.

<3 last panel.

Pg. 8: I like how Jaime had different narration-thought-boxes when he's in costume.

I just.... Oh, Jaime. <3

Pg. 10: I love that Ted managed to get 3 entire chapters worth of notes on time travel out of vague hints from Booster. And that he appears to have also noted Booster's jokes and lists of boob-slang.

Nebulae is the correct plural of nebula, but I guess that could change in the 400-some years between now and then.

Also, I am surprised that those notes are at all comprehensible, considering how often the rules of time travel as relate to Booster Gold keep contradicting themselves.

Should Booster Gold-related time travel craziness count as C2IC Parallel #4? I think it might be stretching it a bit....

Pg. 11: Delightful, delightful time travel craziness.

Pg. 12: Hahahaha, Jaime's so confused. <3

Pg. 14: Yes, the dialogue monologue here matches up with on page 11.

Pg. 15: Invisible-fied!

\m/ triangulation. Clever!

I oddly <3 the expression on the Negotiator's face in that 2nd-to-last panel. It's so "Bwuuaaaahh!"

Pg. 16: I audibly gasped at the Scarab speaking English. Truly one of the most awesome things I have ever seen in a comic book. <3 It's just pure Fuck. Yes.

Pg. 18: Oh, Negotiator, you sneaky bastard.

Pg. 19: D:

C2IC Parallel #4/5: Lightning-bolt-esque energy from space machine destroying Beetle's home with friends/family inside. D:

(I, uhhhh, checked, and the sound effect does not match up perfectly with C2IC, at least. It's just "CA-KOOOM" in C2IC, as opposed to the "WHAKA-KHOOOM" here.)

Pg. 20: Poor Jaime. :(

Pg. 21: Shouldn't that have, like, killed Jaime? Or at least rendered him extremely unconscious?

The Negotiator really is a Magnificent Bastard.

Pg. 22: Man, now that is a helluva last page.

And maybe by next month I'll have figured out how many C2IC Parallels the cover of next issue will count for!

No Habla Espanol. And That's Okay.

Boo, solicitations have to wait until tomorrow. Booooooo. At least we've got a sneak preview at Jaime's solicit.

BLUE BEETLE #26
Written by Jai Nitz
Art by Mike Norton & Trevor Scott
Cover by Zach Howard
A special extra-sized Spanish-language issue, with the English script as bonus material! Blue Beetle takes Traci 13 to his family reunion, and having your girlfriend meet your family can be tough, especially when she's the only guest who doesn't speak Spanish! To make matters worse, two people have uncovered Jaime's secret identity — and one of them is the Parasite!
On sale April 30 • 40 pg, FC, $3.50 US

Ah, the rumored all-Spanish issue. I, personally, think it's a nifty idea. And I know pretty much no Spanish whatsoever. (I took Latin as my 2nd 3rd language in high school, because I have some sort of aversion to things that are actually useful, obviously. That's why I'm planning on being an English major!) But I think that's the whole idea, of course. We're not supposed to know what's going on any more than Traci is.

And Traci gets to meet the Reyeses! Want!

One wonders who the other person who discovers Jaime's identity is. Also what the Parasite has to do with anything....

So, basically, I am all for this. Bring it on, DC!

I'm Just Saying, I Wouldn't Be Surprised If I Ended Up Blogging Only Once a Month

Once a month being, of course, when the new issue of Booster Gold comes out. >.> I also bought the Flash, but I don't think I will continue to do so. It's an alright book, but it's failed to grab me in the 4 issues I gave it.

Did Wonder Woman come out this week? DC's site says yes, but it wasn't at my LCS, and I know how the DC site is frequently full of crap. But it never hurts to double-check.

Anyway, Booster Gold!

Cover: Is incredibly terrifying. Especially with the added speech bubble.

Pg. 1: I get the feeling that Future Beetle has no business reminding me of Uncle Sam. I mean, he's just waaaaay too convenient. He's got to be up to something.

Pg. 2: See, Rip agrees with me! Although I wouldn't say that Skeets needs Booster right now more than ever. Skeets has been neglected before plenty. Booster kept him in a box for years for crying out loud! (Skeets kept himself amused by playing with the Internet. Oh, Skeets.) And I'd say that Skeets needed Booster a lot more when, saaaay, he got eaten by a certain Venusian mindworm during 52?

Also, I love the body language of the Beetles in the 1st panel. Namely, that Dan and Future Beetle are both standing all ramrod straight and Jaime isn't. It's a nice detail.

Pg. 3: Future Beetle speaks incredibly... academically. Yes. He uses many big words when a few small ones will do.

Jaime's dialogue hints that the Beetle Brigade came to pick up Booster at his suggestion. I find this interesting.

So, Skeets, who is the other guy? I choose to believe he's referring to when the Joker beat Booster senseless using Skeets as a prop. Because that makes the other guy Booster and that's hilarious.

Skeets is woobieful.

"What are you going to do to stop me?" <3 <3 <3

Pg. 4: olol Beatles.

"I'm going to bring my friend back or I'm going to die trying." Oh, Booster.

Pg. 5: The wormholes shown are Jason Todd and Red Robin, which I hear tell is where Countdown is headed; Ralph Dibny, Batman, and Sherlock Holmes, which is, I believe, the 50th anniversary issue of Detective Comics (I vaguely recall seeing an ad for it in Booster's original series); and the Jack Knight Starman with a guy whose name I can't remember, but I saw him in JLA: The Nail and I think he's a Kirby character, but I'm not sure....

Thought: There's clearly no room for privacy in that time sphere, and Booster's changed costumes. I mean, Booster wouldn't have a problem with that, of course, but still. Awkward!

Also his wounds have disappeared and changing clothes doesn't work that way!

"These colors are giving me a serious headache." Hee. Oh, Jaime. <3

Ted is something of a study in contradictions. Part of the reason I like him.

Booster 'n' history lessons and the like will never fail to vaguely amuse me.

Pg. 6-7: Kehe, Action Heroes is a nickname for Charlton heroes, although I'm not entirely sure where the nickname itself originated, come to think of it.

I want to say that Ted fought the Madmen in his first appearance, but I'm not at all sure that's right. Pretty sure they were in the Ditko Charlton days, though. Which, uhhh, they'd pretty much have to be, I guess, with the hourglass-goggles and being before CoIE.

CoIE being the "In any Crisis." panel, of course. [Aside: I really should read CoIE one of these days....]

The backwards-S layout is even more awkward here than it was in the 1st issue with Booster's 5-second life story. And, of course, while Booster's went a little something like, "I'm a failure, I suck, Ted's great, I still suck, but I'm trying to get better. For Ted.", Ted's is more like, "Ted's great, Ted's great, Ted's great, Ted's dead." Oh, Booster. Therapy.

The switch from Charlton to DC not only goes from the hourglass goggles to the round goggles (which make more sense), but it also changes the head bit of the beetle design on his chest. And also improves it, imo.

The Scarab temp-rezzing Dan and trying to kill Ted with him is still in continuity, is it? I would muchly like to see that explored at some point, be it here or in Blue Beetle.

Does ripping off the layout of the cover to A New Beginning ever get old? Honest question. It's not a straight lift here, with Max replacing Dr. Light and Oberon, Batman moving over to occupy Black Canary's and J'onn's spot, and Booster in Batman's vacated spot. Also there was considerably less smiling on the original.

Ted, mind you, did not fare particularly well against Despero or Doomsday, but he tried, poor boy. (Also, lawls, Booster's long hair. And Bloodwynd, being J'onn in disguise, really shouldn't be so close to that fire there....)

So, if Canary and Ted are right behind Babs there, then who is she talking to?

It amuses me that Jurgens can't seem to decide which direction Ted's antennae go. Not that anybody can, of course.

Pg. 8: Man, I know on an intellectual level that Dan's an archaeologist and I believe he even had a doctorate (I seem to recall reading Ted referring to him as "Doc Garrett", though I can't say where I saw it), but when I think "Dan" I think "punching", not "quoting Emerson."

...I'm not sure Booster's actually done so much of the being sincere and thinking aloud thing with Ted. I mean, probably moreso than he's done with others, but honesty is not one of Booster's particular strengths. He's been described as talking a great deal, but saying very little, which I think is incredibly accurate. I mean, he tells Guy in issue 2 that he never told Ted about his dad, remember?

Scarab Speak Translation: "I only did it to impress a girl." I like to imagine it's said in a mocking tone.

Pg. 9: I've no comment on this page but <3

Pg. 10: The Conglomerate! Once upon a time, Booster was in the JLI. And then he got fed up with nobody giving him any respect, so he quit, and formed his own team. The Conglomerate. I <3 the Conglomerate. Booster as a competent leader yesplz. Also, reminds me that I have yet to review JLQ #1. Aheh. >.>

While Danny is indeed more of a strawberry blond in this issue and Booster's been pretty consistently sandy throughout the series, Danny's hair has previously shared its palette with Booster. The question is whether or not the difference will continue to exist....

Danny being two inches shorter than Booster makes him anywhere from 6 feet to 6 feet 3 inches, I think. Booster is tall. Two inches seems like a pretty precise measurement to be able to tell, though....

It amuses me that she didn't see fit to mention that Danny and Booster have completely different haircuts.

Hahahaha, Golden Age Booster, hahahahaha.

Putting on acts, eh? Oh, Rose, you Carter(-to-be).

The eye Rose is removing a contact from in the 2nd-to-last panel is not the one that is contact-less in the last panel. Goddammit, Hi-Fi.

I wonder if anybody besides me remembers that Danny is also a contact-wearer.

"Now what do we do?" The answer?

Pg. 11: HAWT HAWT MAKE-OUTS AND EVENTUAL BABY-MAKING. Getting interrupted by super-devious Rip!

Danny and Rose have switched positions on the couch. This bothers me.

So much love for Rip here. Apparently the answer to "What are you going to do to stop me?" is "Recruit your ancestors!" This will probably not end well. But it had damn well better be ancestors. Can't imagine why else Rip would bring both costumes otherwise. And Rose should totally be Supernova IV. Because it would make for the fastest moving legacy ever. How many Starmen have there been so far? I need to know what number we have to beat. :P

Carter family's heroic legacy? Really? I always figured that Carters were, by nature, more likely to fall on the other side of the law. Considering that the Carters-by-birth we know are Booster, who's a wanted man several times over in his home time period, and if the cops ever catch him, he gets to get executed sans trial, very lovely (unless that's been retconned, but I certainly hope not.); Michelle, who busted a guy off of death row (note the aforementioned "executed sans trial") and stole the Goldstar costume, even though Booster probably would've given it to her if she asked, he being a giant push-over like that; Jonar, who is, of course, a supervillian, to say nothing of the back-stabbing that Booster mentioned or his gambling problems; and Danny, who, admittedly, doesn't seem to be all that bad of a guy (at least comparatively), but, well, somebody's who reaction to getting an extremely powerful supersuit is "play Madden without bathroom breaks" is probably not entirely there to begin with. So I'm not sure where Rip's getting this "heroic legacy" stuff from. I mean, Booster's a straight-up hero, but Danny and Shel have so far just gotten in on technicalities, and Jonar's straight-up evil.

Pg. 12: I'd try to figure out if 16 months is accurate to what we've been given before, but I've honestly just given up on making sense out of the timestamps in this book.

"I wasn't exactly in the best place" is some pretty drastic understatement. At the time of Countdown to Infinite Crisis, Booster was apparently flat broke and homeless.

The files are pretty directly cribbed from C2IC, it seems. Straight down to that "intransigent" error in Booster's file that drives me nutters. (And that Shel's middle initial is A. It's just so random.)

It's so odd to see this scene without Ted's narration boxes. Mostly because it amuses me that Ted refers to Michelle as Booster's "murdered sister", because that makes it pretty clear that Booster never actually told Ted the circumstances of her death. Michelle wasn't murdered at all. It was, at best, a tragic accident, and, at worst, totally Booster's 'n' Skeets's fault. But I wouldn't call it a murder.

Pg. 13: Y'know, I was worried that this would end up changing C2IC a bit, and I don't mean because of the time-travel. But, no, all the dialogue on this page is lifted straight from C2IC, straight down to the italics. I <3 it. I mean, there's some skipping of stuff, but it's understandable, given space limitations and such.

"We never liked Max. Not really." is a total lie, though. They might not have always gotten along perfectly with Max, but they certainly seemed to like him well enough.

"But we were never bad guys." Booster, sweetie, do I need to remind you of your impressive criminal record? I mean, OK, Booster's not a straight-up bad guy or anything, but he does fall kinda low on the moral ladder....

Pg. 14: And nobody knows the danger of ego like Booster Gold.

Sooooooooo much woobie. <3

Dan's smirk here? Best.

Pg. 15: Nice ass, Ted.[/shallow]

Man, I really hope that something gets done with hospitalized Booster.... Mostly because I greatly <3 hospitalized Booster.

I love that Ted is visibly shorter than Booster and Dan here. Yes.

"Brother Eye fried that bozo Booster" is close to a line from C2IC, but not identical. (Max calls Brother I "Brother One" in C2IC, there's a bit in the middle, and "that bozo Booster" gets "flash-fried" instead of regular fried.)

Pg. 16: Scarab Speak Translation: "They tried to kill Blue Beetle. Let's break their skulls." Which is interesting, since the Scarab and Ted never seemed to be on any sort of good terms. Probably just the principle of the matter, though.

Max has not technically said yet that he made the League ineffectual on purpose. Whoopsie!

I'd also like to point out that the JLI was plenty effective when they had people to fight, it just didn't happen very often. But the joke amuses me anyway.

And Ted and Booster are fighting people together and bantering and, darnnit, that just makes me happy.

Pg. 17: Man, Dan and Sasha really are totally flirting here.

Future Beetle has zappy powers. Good for him.

Jaime, your timing for questions is terrible.

Max's OMAC activation code is same as in C2IC, except that instead of "Blue Beetle recipient" it's "intruder recipients", which is nice.

The dude who turned into an OMAC in C2IC was blond, though.

Pg. 18: Dan to the rescue!

The OMAC successfully broke Ted's arm in C2IC, of course.

Pg. 19: Max is supposed to already have given his "you or Batman, but I was betting on you" spiel, but I guess he could be repeating himself here for effect.

I'm not sure that Max's powers can be used to shut somebody's brain down, but OK.

I am sad that "Join or die time, is that it?" got cut.

I find it odd how far Booster's bleeding progressed in these panels, while Max's nosebleed did not progress at all.

Pg. 20: If any of you ever doubted Booster's willingness to literally take a bullet for Ted, do me a favor and go smack yourself, because seriously.

And then Ted flips out and beats the crap out of Max. Mmm-mmm, catharsis.

Pg. 21: But Booster's OK! \o/ Which is kind of weird, because you'd think that having somebody shutting your brain down would cause some sort of permanent damage....

I find it odd that it took all 3 Beetles to shut down the OMAC, considering that Jaime had a pretty good advantage over them by his lonesome in IC.

Scarab Speak Translation: "There's more security detail on the way. A lot more."

OK, Future Beetle is way wrong here. Max's files don't get sent to Batman, Alex Luthor deletes them. (Max blames Ted and later Batman, but it's irrelevant.) Batman finds out about the OMAC Project when Sasha sends Ted's brain-meat-covered goggles to him, which is obviously not going to happen now. And Max isn't going to just forget what happened, of course. Future Beetle, you have screwed things up.

Pg. 22: Booster's so giddy. It's adorable.

I think that Future Beetle knows too much. :/ But his smile reads as sincere to me, and that's throwing me off. (Possibly because he's not actually smiling much, even.) It's weird.

I really want to see that explanation on-screen, man. The past X # of years of Booster's life since Ted died, as told by Booster himself? Yes, please. Ted would be totally freaked by Booster's extreme hero-worship of him, assuming Booster actually let that bit into the summary. But, as previously noted, Booster does lie by omission pretty much all the time.

Tune in next month for Booster Gold #0, in which I pick apart Booster's origin! It will be great!

Way Late Review: Booster Gold #5

Why, yes, I did bring my full run of Booster Gold clear across the country with me, what of it?

Cover: Anyway, this cover terrifies me and has terrified me since I first saw the solicits. Terrified with good reason, too.

Pg. 1: Everybody loves a kick to the face! Except the kickee. Unless, y'know, they're into that. Ummmm. Next page!

Pg. 2: Watch and be amazed as the "Babs was retired from being Batgirl before the Joker shot her" is handwaved away!

Pg. 3: Watch and be amazed as Batman pays Babs a genuine, no-catch compliment! Not to her face, though. Of course. But to her dad, which is almost as good!

Pg. 4: Om nom nom chalkboard. Who's Steve?

Pg. 5: Goddammit, Booster, why won't you talk about your dad so I know what's up with that? ...Oh, right, 'cuz you're Booster. That'd do it.

I'd like to point out that Booster just made it incredibly clear that he wants his dad to get ripped apart messily by dinosaurs and eaten. Tell me I'm not the only one who reads that and is seriously perturbed.

And then Rip shows of his collection of torture implements. "None of the good guys in this book are actually good people" is practically the running theme of this page.

Pg. 6: "I can't fail. B|" makes me D:

Pg. 7: Man, those freaks are creepy. And Booster's costume is not as durable as it ought to be. What happened to that hardcore circuitry he had going on in 52 whenever his costume got ripped? (Like his shoulder in Week 15 or when he showed up at the end of Week 50.)

Pg. 8: I am not particularly fond of how Dan Jurgens draws Jaime Reyes. Sad. And I think Jaime's voice is a little off here, but I may just be somewhat super-sensitive to Jaime's voice. Hard to tell.

P.S. Who are you, mysterious other Beetle?

Pg. 9: The Joker looks pretty weird in the 2nd and 3rd panels here, but pretty good in the last one. How odd. That's the thing about Dan Jurgens. Sometimes he's really on and sometimes he's really off, and it can happen in the same panel and that's just weird.

Oh, and the Joker's creepy and Booster's having a helluva time of it, but that goes without saying.

Pg. 10: Getting eliminated from the timestream is particularly nasty.

Pg. 11: Question:



Does it get much more morbid than this?

Also, Ultra-Humanite, Per Degaton, and Despero. Of the 3, Booster has only encountered Despero before, right about the tail end of the Giffen/DeMatteis run on Justice League. Booster was leading the Conglomerate at the time.

Pg. 12: Kehehehe, the conversation in this first panel.

(And if he says that he should've gone and asked Batman for help here, why doesn't he ever do that later?)

Pg. 13: B'awwwwww, Booster begging for more time and crying. D:

Pg. 14: B'awwwwww, Booster being too late. D:

Pg. 15: B'awwwwwww. D:

Pg. 16: D: "Stop laughing at me" D:

Pg. 17: D:

Pg. 18: And of course he needs to try again. D:

Pg. 19: And again and again and again. D: D: D:

Pg. 20: Rip is a lying liarface and a colossal bastard. I mean, I get what he was trying to do, but that's really not the kind of thing you can try to pull with Booster and expect to work because Booster does not give up easily and he's very much more driven by emotion than reason and, all in all, this was just a really bad plan on Rip's part.

And he still insists that he can do it. Oh, Booster. (And, honestly, he's kinda got a point here. I mean, the Joker is unpowered. By all rights, Booster should be able to win in a fight against him.)

Pg. 21: And Booster finally snaps.

Man, I sure hope you read dialogue closely, because that 2nd panel is practically a work of art.

I mean, just read this. Really read it. With all the emphases emphasized and that stop in the middle there. Like somebody is actually saying it, like in a TV show or something.



Isn't it just spot on? <3 <3 <3 to Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz there. <3 <3 <3

(Also, Booster, sweetie, I love you, but, while you're quite right about Rip making you watch that, the "over and over" part was all you, baby.)

I am actually kind of surprised that Booster did not straight-out attempt to murder Rip here, and instead chose to walk away. Ted would be proud. Although I'm sure that if the Beetles hadn't shown up at the end and Rip attempted to apologize again, things would get rather bloody.

I would like to point out that the Beetle Brigade "KRAKKKLLL"s when they time-travel, as opposed to Booster's and Supernova's popping. So we need some snapping in here, basically.

Pg. 22: Who are you, Mystery Beetle? Whooooooooooooo?

Additional Thoughts: I would like to complain that I was seriously gypped in the "secrets" department. The solicit promised that Rip was keeping some sort of nasty secret from Booster, while the next issue tease last issue promised that Rip was going to uncover a nasty secret of Booster's. But was there any nasty secrets in here at all? Nooooooooooooo. Boo, I say. Boo!

So, uh, it's been a month.

Whoops. I did say I could make no promises about actually updating regularly. But now that Christmas is over and I have no deadlines to knit for, we should be good. We'll see how this keeps up. Hopefully, we'll be at least mostly caught up by the time the next issue of Booster Gold comes out, considering that I have yet to blog the last issue of it. (Short version: It totally rocked and breaks my heart in the best way.) But I'm at my parents' house right now, and don't have access to a comic shop out here, so times they are a-difficult.

So, this post is going to have little to no worthwhile content, but, so help me, I feel like pointing out something about Heroclix that bothers me.

Now, I don't play Heroclix, but I have looked at it a bit (mostly because Heroclix figures kept popping up in my regular eBay searches and I just had to know what the heck REV stood for). There are 3 versions of every Heroclix figure: Rookie, Experienced, and Veteran. (And that's what REV stands for: the auction has the complete set.) Unless they're Unique figures, like the Guardians or Jaime Reyes or something. But Unique is irrelevant here, I wanna talk about Rookie, Experienced, and Veteran.

Now, a lot of characters go a long time without changing their costume, or only change it really temporarily or in incredibly minor ways. The Big Three, Green Lanterns, Ted Kord, etc. But then you've got people who change their costumes... not frequently (at least, not since the 90's, lawl), but often enough that the costume they were wearing when they were a rookie is different from the one they were wearing when they were "experienced" is different from the one they were wearing when they're a veteran. (I guess that should be in quotation marks since I'm pretty sure you have to be retired to be a vet....)

I am, of course, specifically referring to Booster Gold. Because his recent Heroclix figure features the 52 costume. For all 3 versions. And Booster in his 52 costume being ranked as a Rookie (with a Justice League affiliation that, I may add, the Veteran rank lacks. How perfect.) makes my brain feel a bit twisty.

I think in my perfect world, Rookie Booster would be in the collared classic costume, of course. Experienced would probably have to be one of the armors. Probably the Flesh Driver armor, if only because it is the least eye-stabby. Possibly you could stretch a bit and make it the off-center star costume. I liked that costume. Veteran would be the 52 costume or the current one. (Dan Jurgens draws it without the stripes on the arm connecting the glove to the shoulder, and, honestly, I rather prefer it that way.)

[Completely unrelated tangent: I used to really not at all like the blue gloves, y'know. Like, really hated 'em. But they've grown on me. Probably because Dan Jurgens actually draws Booster's Legion Flight Ring, and the blue makes it pop as opposed to the gold, where it blended right in. I can only hope that this means artists that draw Booster in the future remember to put the ring in now that it's more obvious that it's there. They probably won't and I'll probably whine about it, but I can hope, right?]

I mean, I understand why the keep one mold for all 3, that's just common sense, but it still gives me a minor case of the brain-twist. Nothing important, but, hey, it's something to blog about!

I Already Did My Productive Thing for the Day

I finished knitting a Weighted Companion Cube. I do not have the oomph necessary left after that to go through Teen Titans. So instead I shall post what I spent my weekend doing.



(Can you recognize the first pair now, Shane?)

and



(This is 13th of a set, for the record.)

Review: Blue Beetle #21

So, guest writer fill-in issue. All-in-all, it wasn't that bad. Felt pretty dense to me, actually, but maybe that's because of how decompressed my usual comics fare is. I dunno. But I got the feeling I got a hell of a lot of comic for my 3 bucks this issue.

I like the cover. Simple, but it tells you all you need to know.

The shade of blue changing in the narration-boxes kinda throws me off. Do they usually do that?

I'm sure that "Las Tunas" does not actually translate to "The Tunas" (as in the fish), but that won't stop me from snickering at the idea.

"I've never come any closer to war than Mr. Robles' 7th grade Phys Ed..." While the joke amuses me, I somehow doubt that 7th grade P.E. was more strenuous than the last 20 issues of this book. Just a thought.

Query: If this is Las Tunas Federal Correctional Facility, then why do the shirts of the inmates read "TDC"? What's that stand for?

I'm not going to bother translating the Scarab Speak on this issue since it's all cribbed from previous issues and therefore makes absolutely no sense in context. Strangely enough, I'm pretty sure we have our regular letterer, and I would think that the Scarab Speak would be their responsibility, so I'm not sure why this is, but, oh, well. C'est la vie.

"I don't even wanna know what the Reach used "Population Suppression" for..." My guess is suppressing the populace, Jaime. ;D

Jaime, you are a superhero: nothing is ever just easy. Ever.

OK, dude's sitting in an electric chair, got a noose around the neck, and a big honkin' needle in each arm. The Spectre: Can Not Count.

Also, I'd like to be the billionth person in the world to point out how absolutely ridiculous the Spectre's outfit really is. God really has the most twisted sense of humor.

It's not like you could really kill the Spectre anyway, Jaime.

Jaime, why are you asking so many stupid questions today? "Systems lock" would probably mean that your systems (well, the Scarab's, at least) are, y'know, locked. Exciting!

I am strangely fond of the Spectre's yelling face in the first panel here.

Luis. Wow. Talk about somebody who hasn't been mentioned since the first trade! And remember that this issue will presumably be collected in the 4th trade. So I guess I might as well remind you that he used to work for Jaime's dad and is the reason Mr. Reyes is walking around with a cane these days. Funtimes.

"Dude!!" indeed, Paco. Because, seriously, dude. Wrath of God is big news.

Am I a horrible person for laughing at "you didn't mean gringo when you called him 'all white'"?

OK, temporary pause for commenting on an ad here. My issue has an ad for some "Dino Squad" faux-anime-looking TV show or whatever. The explanatory blurb includes the glorious hyphenated monstrosity "mutant-raptor-scientist." Isn't that just special?

Jaime hasn't told his parents about Traci yet? Oh, teenagers. (Granted, I did the exact same thing, but, uhhhhh.... Heh. Oh, teenagers.)

Yay, Peacemaker's well-being!

At least I never outright lied to my parents about my boyfriend, Jaime! I just put off telling them about him until it was strictly necessary!

Also I suspect that Mr. Reyes did not fall for that ruse at all. The Reyes parents are clever folk, man.

Viva la editor's boxes!

Also, I adore Jaime's parents. Just in general. If only my parents were even a quarter as awesome.

I don't think the number of limbs there matches up correctly, but I don't think I want to think about it too hard, either.

Kehehehe, pimp school. Oh, Paco.

"They can smell fear!" Oh, Paco.

Paco's Spanish grade. Oh, Paco.

Traci's very pretty here.

I don't think Sodom and Gomorrah were stepped on, but I get what you're getting at, Traci.

If Spectre's punishing those who manage to dodge Man's vengeance, then why is he picking off guys in prison in Texas of all places? I mean, yeah, of course, gotta happen for the plot, but seriously.

...Actually, wait, I remember that Spectre said that 3 murders meant 3 death penalties, but then Paco said that the guy was in for only 2 counts of Murder One. Smooooooooth, Mr. Peniston.

...Oh, Lordy, what a terrible last name to have.[/tangent]

"Sweet and corny. You're like a good breakfast cereal." Hee! :D

I've got no witty commentary for Jaime's conversation with Luis, sorry.

...So, after I complain about the "Oh Dios Mio!" on the Teen Titans cover, here's a "Dios Mio." in Jaime's book itself. *Smacks forehead* C'est la vie.

Man, I bet the Spectre's breath absolutely reeks.

Let's all take a moment to appreciate the distinction between "evil" and "weak."

Oh, Jaime, don't you realize that once you fall into the hero business you can't ever get out? Especially if your codename's the Blue Beetle?

So, basically, the Scarab is extremely scary and everybody in the DCU should be thankful that Jaime exists.

I'd like to note that Jaime's room looks pretty damn clean to me.

Jaime's family struck me as devout enough to go to church every Sunday, but *shrugs*.

And, once again, Jaime's parents = adoration. True Fact.

Oh, Hey, Did You Hear That Blue Beetle's HISPANIC?!

I groaned at the Teen Titans cover. That speech bubble was completely unnecessary and somewhat painful, even. I mean, seriously. I don't think Jaime's ever been shown to curse in Spanish at all. I can remember a few "damn"s from him, but other than that.... And who says "Oh Dios Mio!" anyway? I mean, I'll admit that I don't know many Spanish speakers, but that just doesn't sound right to me at all. (Is it even grammatically correct? I don't know, man, I took Latin in High School.) I was thinking about it after I bought it and I actually remembered it as "Madre de Dios!" or something like that that would translate to "Mother of God!" instead of "Oh my God!" 'Cuz somehow that makes more sense to me. I dunno. *Waves hand vaguely* Catholicism.

Which led me to realize that the current roster of the Teen Titans + Jaime currently consists of, if I've got this right, 2 Catholics, 2 aliens, 2 atheists/agnostics/lapsed whatevers/doesn't really give enough of a damn about religion to self-categorize (I can only assume that Tim and Rose are non-religious since neither strikes me as religious), and 1 Greek. (What do you call somebody who worships the Greek pantheon, anyway?) I'm not sure what I'm getting at here, but that certainly looks like an interesting set-up. Really, though, I'll I'm getting from it is the mental image of Tim planning some Titans thing and asking if Sunday morning's OK for everybody else and Jaime and Eddie both being like, "Can't. Mass." (Possibly followed up by M'gann asking if Sunday is somehow denser than other days, because I can never resist a good corny science joke.)

The discovery that Eddie and Jaime share a religion has only served to further my determination that they should be the best of friends. Red and Blue, guys! Who's with me?

Ummm, right. Comics I bought this week:
Teen Titans #53
Blue Beetle #21

So, that's 2 instances of Jaime, neither of which was written by John Rogers. How distinctly unusual.

I enjoyed both, though there were things that seemed slightly off about Jaime's portrayal in both of them. Meh.

Normally, I would promptly launch into a long, involved rant about Blue Beetle here, but I just experienced a sudden rush of "Oh, God, must finish Christmas knitting! D:", so, ummmm, laterz. I may end up blogging over the weekend to make up for slacking so much during the week. We shall see.

But I'd just like to note that the Scarab Speak in Blue Beetle is, uhhhh, well, let's not say "untranslatable" but rather, it was directly cribbed from previous issues. The first bit of Scarab Speak translates to "Sinestro". Needless to say, I was very confused.

But to round out this Jaime-licious post, I'll just link to this. Jaime Reyes is keepin' the peace down in El Paso, folks.

Flash/Waid-fest!

Well, I've had something of a busy holiday (which is why I haven't posted since Monday, aheh), so I'mma keep this short 'n' sweet, 'K?

This week was Flash-o-licious. Or Waid-o-licious. Or both. I got Brave & the Bold and Flash.

Iris and Jai are really growing on me, it turns out. I seem to like super-spawn in general, it seems. I have no objections to Damien over in Batman or Chris Kent over in Superman (although I suppose that Chris doesn't exactly count as super-spawn). But I was kind of iffy-feeling about Iris and Jai until this week. I like 'em.

But I can't shake the horrible feeling that one of them (probably Jai) is somehow dooooooooooomed. Sad.

Anyway, both comics were enjoyable. I'm inclined to say that I enjoyed BatB more than I did Flash, but that might be because BatB was a more self-contained story.

Also, the ending was a delicious gut-punch of my favorite sort. >:3

It probably doesn't help that I read BatB before I read Flash, so throughout most of Flash, I was trying to apply the ending of BatB. I think I've decided on Iris, but I've been wrong in that past. It's entirely possible that Kingdom Come is influencing my thoughts.

It's all probably irrelevant anyway, but it's interesting to think about.

The Flash back-up was fluffy and fun and I absolutely love the art on it to pieces. Also oodles. It's just really pretty. And it's unique and distinctive without looking out of place in comics like Ross's or Acuna's art does sometimes.

And I enjoyed the story there, too, of course.

I hear there was a vaguely Ted-like Dan Garrett Blue Beetle in the Gotham by Gaslight Countdown Special or whatever its actual title is, so I intend to give that a look-see the next time I swing by my LCS.

...Yeah, this is my version of "short 'n' sweet." Kinda pathetic, hunh?

Booster Gold and Blue Beetle Related Solicits

Solicits make for easy blogging! :D Especially when I drag it out over two days. I'm getting good at this!

Going down the list in order, we first hit Jaime in Teen Titans. So much for his membership being a temp thing, I guess. :/ Not that this is really a bad thing, granted, but contrary to my expectations. Also, this cover is kind of boring. And the text of the solicit doesn't capture my attention. I'll buy it, but that's 'cuz I'm a sucker for Jaime, not because I'm excited for it. Ah, the life of a comics fan.

None of this is a problem for the next issue on our list, Booster Gold #0! A Zero Hour tie-in issue. A Zero Hour tie-in issue. Just the kind of beautiful madness I love about this book.

The full solicit:
An issue over ten years in the making! An official ZERO HOUR crossover kicks off the second time-traveling story arc of "the greatest hero the world will never know" with "Blue and Gold," Part 1! Witness the secret origin of Booster Gold as he journeys through the time line, lost, in an attempt to return home...with a good friend in tow. But there's an evil out there waiting for him; one of the greatest villains of the DC Universe: Hal Jordan, a.k.a. Parallax!
On sale February 13 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

So, the 2nd arc is titled "Blue and Gold". I... hmmmm. Honestly, I've been mulling over this solicit in my head since I first saw it yesterday and I still don't know what to think of it all. Obviously, something's gone wrong, considering that Booster's lost in time, the question is "What?" (And also, probably, "So, what does this mean for Ted?") The two most likely things I've thought up is either that something bad has happened to Rip, or something bad has happened to Skeets. (If memory serves, Rip specifies that he needs Booster and Skeets together to be able to yoink them out of the time stream if he needs to.) Then again, we do have Skeets on the cover, so.... Hmmmmm. I don't know. I honestly just don't know. This is distinctly unusual.

But, hey, origins! Always fun! Maybe they'll explain what's up with Jonar. And I'm always all for the 25th century. It's an interesting place. I wonder why they say "a good friend in tow" instead of specifically mentioning Ted.... And, hey, Hal Jordan Parallax! Funtimes!

And, boy, howdy, that cover.



Man, even I can't name all the Beetles pictured. That's definitely something. I know the one with Cyclops-esque goggles is a Dan, although I'm fairly certain that his goggles ought to be red. I want to say the one with the Scarab design on his forehead is a Dan, too. We've got Ditko Ted with the hourglass-shaped goggles to the left of the Scarab, and modern Ted to the right of it, followed by Jaime. The one after Jaime is niggling at the back of my brain, but I can't place it. Then there's KC Ted, and I don't recognize that last one at all.

Honestly, I'm quite perturbed by how much this solicit just absolutely stumps me. I mean, I'm not saying I should be able to predict what will happen in the book just going by the solicit (goodness knows I've honestly been pretty consistently wrong about it all [and what it's actually been has always been better than my ideas, anywho]), but I usually have ideas, or something that makes me go "*Points!* *Flails wildly!*", but here, I just.... It's like I read the individual words and they make sense, but the blurb as a whole just fails to parse correctly. I keep looking at this and getting the sinking feeling that I'm just missing something that'll pull it all together into greatness.

I hate feeling like I'm missing something. :/

Aaaaaaaannyyyyywaaaaaaayyyyy....

What's next? Ah, Blue Beetle #24.



Lost in space! The Reach brings its Scarab home — and Jaime Reyes is about to die far from his, while knowing that his family and allies will be next. His salvation lies deep within the Blue Beetle legacy; it’ll take a hero’s efforts to find it. Don’t miss the shocking ending to this issue!
On sale February 27• 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

Oh, so here's where my monthly dose of "OH MY SHIT" went!

Because OH MY SHIT. I'm not the only one who looks at that and sees a bucketful of Countdown to Infinite Crisis parallels, am I? Terrifying, terrifying C2IC parallels.

...

Delicious.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaant.

I could go over this solicit phrase by phrase, but really, I'm sure all I'd say would end up being "Scary! (That is to say, awesome!)" or "Hellz yeah!", so I'll spare you the effort and move on.

Booster's inclusion in the Man of Steel TPB amuses me, although Skeets is absolutely, positively, entirely, completely the wrong colors on that cover, WTF? Skeets 1.0 was gold with a red visor. Skeets 2.0 and Skeets 2.1 are both gold with blue. Why is Skeets silver?

Showcase Presents Booster Gold! \o/ I do hope we get super-shiny all new art for the cover. I mean, it's not like I won't be buying it anyway, if only for the convenience of having it all in one easily accessible volume for reference purposes, but I would like to get new art out of the deal. Especially since I'm not entirely fond of the cover to #25, which is the image attached to this solicit. Something about the bend of Booster's spine makes me feel nyyyyyyyyyeeeeehhh-y. (I think it might just be the "oh, hai, boobies and butt crammed into one shot!" pose, but it's from the front and on a guy, and that makes it even more mystifying than usual.) Also his hair is totally parted on the wrong side of his head there and that's totally important.

SHOWCASE PRESENTS: BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS VOL. 1 TP
[...]
Reoffered to coincide with SHOWCASE PRESENTS: BOOSTER GOLD VOl. 1...

...Query: Sense. How does this make any?! I mean, what?! Why not just come clean and go "Reoffered! Because we felt like it! :D" That would at least be justifiable!

OK, so that's all the Booster Gold and Blue Beetle that I saw. Tune in tomorrow for the entire rest of the solicits! Same HAC time (that is to say, whenever I get around to it), same HAC channel URL!

I'm Not Sure If Jonar is More or Less Disturbing Than Jonah Hex.

I have kind of a weird thing for tracing family trees.



I think this might make me the third person ever to draw Booster's mom. And that's terrible.

2nd person to draw his dad, probably, too, but considering that his dad's only been around since, y'know, Wednesday as opposed to 20 years ago, that's a good deal more understandable.

Imagedump!

Gimme a week and this'll be on in my LJ icons list where it belongs. Because it's a bit too spoilery as of yet. But I've been waiting to add Supernova III to this icon since the first issue. It's so nice to finally be able to.



This is simply the best piece of Photoshoppery ever. I defy anyone to convince me otherwise.



I finally managed to get a picture of my Blue Beetle yarn. Chexcellent.

Review: Booster Gold #4

What I bought this week:
Booster Gold #4
Wonder Woman #14
All-Star Superman #9

Wonder Woman was hmmm. I'm not sold, but I'll probably finish this arc out, at least, and then we'll see where we stand.

ASS was great stuff, but that's par for the course there.

Which brings us to Booster. Get comfy, guys, we'll be here for a while.

I am amused by Booster's towel and coffee. So nice that the drunk thing didn't get dropped between issues. I hate it when things get dropped between issues.

"That whiskey saved Superman." Best excuse for drunkenness ever Y/Y?

As an aside, I hate possessive plurals. How on Earth do you even say "Flashes'"? It's so awkward.

Also, eye color arrrrrrrrrgh.

I kind of get the feeling I'm missing a reference of some sort with the title of this chapter. Hmmm.

Time Spheres are pretty dangerous.

Is Wally restraining Booster from attempting to more or less rip "Rex"'s face off here? I'm not entirely sure.

The question is, is it OK to push Lex into an oncoming train now? Because man, oh man, would I love to see some repercussions from New Year's in 52. Because just thinking about the look on Boosternova's face in that one scene sends shivers up my spine.

Being the greatest by virtue of being the only is not really a good thing, "Rex".

Getting deleted from time hurts, apparently. Although I'd suppose it would.

Supernova is a dick.

Supernova's robot is also a dick. But Skeets is adorable.

Danny got dressed between issues. );

Oh, Rose, I love you to pieces. And am somewhat mystified that you're going to end up with a goober like Danny.

"And we had a moment, I swear." Can we legitimately call this a Jocasta complex? Does such a thing even exist?

"I'll can only tell you" *Winces*

Question: Since when does Booster keep spare costumes? Since when is it even possibly for Booster to have spare costumes?

Oh, Danny, Danny, Danny, that was not very wise of you. Also, your hair is way shorter than Booster's anyway. I dig the cocked eyebrow, though.

Is that The Giant Mummy That Was Not Dead?!

...Is that Jaime?!

History is crazily specific about this lightning storm, apparently.

"And I shall brag to all my robot friends." seems to be our required ridiculous moment of the issue. (Compare to Rip's "Friends don't let friends drive drunk!" last issue and Sinestro's mustache twirl in issue 2.)

As an aside, I love the word "fisticuffs." I also kinda love how Rip's attack doesn't really look like he's applying any of those martial arts or fighting techniques he was just bragging about.

Booster's dad (If this interview is to be believed, his name is Jonar, for the record.) looks incredibly creepy and not at all like how I'd expected him to look. Mostly because I was under the impression that Booster got the vast majority of his looks from his father's side. (Mostly because he doesn't resemble his mother very much.) The huge scar down the side of his face and blank eye certainly don't help matters any. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeek. D:

What also doesn't help is that there's this weird red mark on my copy that goes right over Jonar's face.



Stuff. Of. Nightmares!

Bonnie was, if my memory serves, Rip's girlfriend back in the day. Rex is a bastard.

I am relieved to see that relation to Booster is still a requirement for the Supernova suit. It was mentioned in Week 52 when Daniel showed up, and then wasn't mentioned at all in the first 3 issues and I was almost worried about it. I guess mentioning it again would've made it too obvious?

"Or be the hero my son couldn't." Jonar Carter. Asshole.

One wonders what the last time Booster refers to was.

"Without guidance, you'll always be a failure. You'll always be a disappointment." Jonar Carter. Asshole.

"Tell me something I don't know." Booster Gold. Woobie.

Skeets is the littlest Big Damn Hero ever.

Jonar bringing up Shel and blaming Booster for it. Asshole.

And Booster actually tearing up at that. Woobie.

I really cannot wait to find out the full story here, y'know. I don't have patience, darnnit!

The fact that the Supernova mask keeps disappearing and then reappearing in Booster's hand bothers me.

I like Booster categorizing his dad as a bad guy. Finally! Booster shows evidence of actually having a spine when it comes to his relatives!

Look at Booster's posing on this page and try and tell me it's not unsettlingly Luthoresque.

As an aside, I really love how Booster tends to refer to Skeets in human terms. He says "awake" here, instead of something like "online" that would be more applicable. Even back in Countdown to Infinite Crisis, you've got "kidnapped" and "murdered" instead of "stolen" and "destroyed."

Gawd, Booster's in such a bad mood here. Am I a horrible person for loving it? At least he's focusing it towards a goal.

But man, Rip, you picked the absolute worst person for a time cop.

I kinda totally love Babs/Ted. So I am pleased by this ending.

But horrified by the thought of Booster vs. Joker. No possible way for that to end well.

Linkspam!

How the Bitch Stole Comics-- Feel that holiday spirit! :D

Shopped into awesome Death of the New Gods-- By the same guy who brought us the 'shopped Civil War awesomeness!

Not comics, but this knit Weighted Companion Cube is just totally awesomesauce, isn't it? I've already bought the yarn to knit one myself. That will promptly be given away as a Christmas gift. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if I had the yarn for 2.

Dear Self: This is a Comics Blog, Not a Knitting Blog.

Business the 1st: I apologize for the lack of post yesterday. I was busy trying to get my Blue Beetle yarn in my hands. It was insane. But at least I have the yarn now! I'm thinking I'm gonna knit these suckers. The design might describe the lace pattern as leaf-like, but I look at that and see scarab wings. Hopefully it will not look horrible in black and blue.

Business the 2nd: Went to LCS today, ended up getting both trades of GLC and no Wonder Woman. GLC was good. I'm totally digging how the cast is all huge 'n' everything. I kinda want to learn everything there is to know about all the members. This could not end badly at all.

Seriously, though, like, there's this chick in the 2nd trade, and her name isn't even mentioned, but one of her hands is a ring construct, and I think that's totally cool. Who is that? What happened? Was it as utterly badass as I am imagining?

Something I noticed, however, is that some plot threads seem to get dropped and then picked up again a couple of issues later, which I'm sure I would kinda find utterly maddening if I was reading it monthly. But maybe I wouldn't. I don't know. I do intend to start picking up GLC once the Sinestro War is over, and then picking up the Sinestro war in trade, so we'll see if this stitch-slipping trend continues.

...Actually, I really like that, the comparison of writing to knitting. That is totally a great metaphor. There are all sorts of different needles and yarn out there, just like there's all sorts of different media, and certain needles and yarn are better for certain types of projects than others are, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you can't knit that certain type of project with a different sort of needles and yarn or write that certain type of story with a different medium. It just takes more effort and consideration to make it work just the right way. Sometimes you have to pass over a stitch/story thread for a row so you can do something better with it in the next, and sometimes you got to knit a couple of stitches together to shape the fabric just right, and sometimes you have to add stitches, and sometimes to have to bind them off and end them. And sometimes you have to sew some different knit pieces together, or write a crossover. And if you don't do all that in the right way at the right time, the whole thing ends up looking stupid. And if you don't do any of it at all, then what you end up with is a garter stitch rectangle, be it a dishcloth or a scarf or what-have-you, and while there's not really anything necessarily wrong with those, they are incredibly boring to knit (although useful as a learning tool when one is first starting), and, well, if one starts a hobby to be entertained, be it knitting or reading comics or watching a certain TV show or whatever, one does not want to indulge in that hobby if it's boring. Because if it's boring, then it's not a hobby anymore: it's a chore. And nobody likes chores. (Because if they like them, then it's a hobby!)

...I've had knitting on the mind a lot lately. I'm sorry.

Business the 3rd: Y'know what I realized while I was at work today?





And it only took about 18 years!

...

I'm sorry. I really can't be held responsible for the things my brain throws at me. (Seriously, just ask Shobha. She knows exactly what I'm talking about. And I'd say I'm very sorry for that, but I'm really not. :P Sharing is therapeutic!)

Well, This is Strange

This is the first Wednesday since I moved out to California (back in mid-August, mind you) that I didn't visit Comics Factory, my LCS. I worked all day today (from 10 to 7) and went in the opposite direction for lunch, since I craved sushi, and, well, there wasn't anything on the list of things available today that I found interesting. (Except for the 2nd trade of Green Lantern Corps, but that's going to have to wait until I get the 1st trade of Green Lantern Corps, now isn't it?)

I suppose it was a statistical inevitability, really. I'm only picking up a handful of books, after all, and there's only so many things I want in trade. But it still feels weird.

Of course, this also raises the question of what I'll buy when I go to the shop tomorrow or whenever. Besides Booster Gold, that is. That hardly counts any more.

I kinda want to see if there are any trades of Rucka's Wonder Woman there, to prep for Gail's coming to the book next week. Bluefall over on scans_daily has been pimping it like whoa with scans, and I do so very much love the Rucka-penned OMAC Project, which has a Panels in Which Booster Appears:Panels Which Make HAC Go "Oh, Booster ♥" ratio rivaled only by the current series. (Although I may be cheating a bit by including Countdown to Infinite Crisis in with the OMAC Project, since I have it in trade, making them a cohesive unit to me. I have, on occasion, just sat and stared at the hospital scene in C2IC, no lie. The concentration of pure woobie in those three pages is absolutely epic. And I am all about the woobie.)

On the other hand, I do, as previously mentioned, need the first trade of GLC....

Nothing's stopping me from investing in both, of course, and, knowing me, that's probably what I'll end up doing. But pondering the situation gives me something to yak about!