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The Cover
Ok, I'll be honest, I'm not a big fan of this cover. Don't get me wrong - in terms of artistry, I think it is fairly well done. So what's wrong with it? Well, first, Booster doesn't even LOOK like Booster. He looks somewhat deformed, or perhaps like something out of Dragon Ball Z. His hair is pointing up strangely and his face is shaped totally wrong. Fire and Ice look a little off as well. Actually, Fire's costume is completely incorrectly drawn. Her top does NOT have a plunging neckline like that - don't believe me? Go ahead and look at the rest of the book!
Ice's outfit is a little wrong, too. This is more nitpickey, but the white area that comes up her legs shouldn't end by her crotch, it should go up towards her halter top further. Also, aren't her lips usually blue?
However, Captain Atom looks pretty sweet, and Max Lord looks rather devious. Obviously the cover is centered around him (given that this is his return and all) and for the most part they did a good job getting that across. Still, a lot of him is obscured by Captain Atom. I think that if the characters were drawn a little more correctly, this would be a pretty solid cover. Luckily, the cover doesn't hold a candle to the rest of this book.
The Story In General...
I liked the story. The plot was great, and I especially enjoyed the quote on the end splash page: "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he doesn't exist." The ending REALLY left me wanting more. I'm getting ahead of myself, though... Let's step back.
The Booster material really worked; it was true to the character and enjoyable all around. As for the rest, it was clear to me that Fire, Ice, and Captain Atom were doing... something. The whats and the whys of their actions were, to me, totally unclear. Compared to Booster, their material felt a little rushed. Now I'll never complain about a big spotlight on our futuristic hero, but for the grand military scale of the others' operation, I have no idea what they were setting out to accomplish. In hindsight, it was clearly some sort of underground Max Lord hideout. I just think it was poorly explained.
So anyway, in the midst of this, Booster is thinking through the Max Lord situation. I loved his determination whilst considering the information despite Skeets' Debbie-Downer role. "...but BATMAN already..." "but didn't BATMAN..." He drew his own conclusion based upon his own knowledge of Max Lord. I will always root for a situation where Booster acts in a way that his fellow supers wouldn't expect him to. This all set up my favorite scene - the JLI Embassy.
Max blindsides Booster, Booster manages to call the JLI (pretty slick of them to still carry those - nostalgia or a little bit of caring for one another?), and they arrive just in time for Max's psychic explosion.
Now from a realism standpoint, I have no idea how Max lost all that blood and still managed to look so dapper and in control on the last page. I know that he had one or two IV bags of blood hooked up, but that really seemed like a lot.
Anyway, for whatever reason (by accident or by design?), the JLI members present are the only ones who remember that Max ever existed. Until Superman said "Who's Max Lord?" I didn't understand the significance of Fire's conversation about Operation Land Lord.
Finally, we end with a great quote, the one I began the article with - and it was quite appropriate. We all know that Maxwell is evil. He killed Ted Kord. He hacked Brother Eye and bent it to its will, creating the OMACs - his personal secret army specially designed for combating Metas. Equate him with the devil? Sure, why not? Now he can operate in secrecy, pulling strings, moving pieces all over the board.
As Superman said, "He's the only one who ever got close to defeating us all."
Wow. This going to be a great book. A LOT happened here in what really felt like a short amount of time, and this truly sucked me in. I can't wait to see how this plays out.
What was good:
- Good plot, great cliffhanger ending that left me wanting more.
- Great story for Booster Gold. Even though he got his butt kicked (can't blame him - what kind of coward attacks someone in the back?), he outsmarted Batman and Skeets and found out exactly where Maxwell was. Potentially, if he hadn't, he and the other three wouldn't have been immune... depending on the reason that they were immune, of course.
- I liked Captain Atom's little heroic move with the bomb even if I thought the scene setting it up was a little unclear. He didn't have much to do after exploding though.
- Nice villainous plot by Maxwell - amplifying his psychic power to make EVERYONE on the planet forget that he exists. Crazy.
- Booster's desire to get more active than he was allowed to be in the search for Max is just another sign of how far he has come. While much of this is likely motivated by his desire to avenge Ted, the inner fire is great to see continued even though good ol' Dan Jurgens isn't writing anymore.
- Did you ever think that we'd have THREE TITLES at one time where Booster had a starring or solid co-starring role? It's amazing! I hope it translates into book sales for the main title. I really enjoyed both that I've read thus far as well.
What was "Ehhhh...":
- This wasn't something I hated, but man, Power Girl is a BITCH.
- The cover. I just didn't like it.
- How many ways and places will we have Booster's power suit deactivated just to complicate things for him? It's almost too convenient a plot device. "Hmm, how can we make sure that Max can hit him?" "OOO! EMP Device!" This is in the same week where Booster, in his solo title, was stuck on Daxam due to suit damage.
- What was Max Lord doing hiding a bomb in the middle of the Saudi desert? Maybe I'll have to re-read that part, but I truly don't get the point. Was there once a lab or something of his out there?
What questions I have - feel free to respond to these in the comments:
- Were the four from the JLI ALLOWED to remember, or was it an accident? If it was planned, is he going to toy with them? Does he disrespect him that much? Or is this massive dramatic irony - we know that they're still looking, but he won't? Seems awfully careless of him.
- What is Max Lord planning? This is obviously what we'll find out in the future.
- Does anyone believe for a minute that he is truly haunted by shooting Blue Beetle? I didn't.
- Time will tell, but I wonder how much we'll see this quartet truly working together and how much we'll see them completely at odds.
- Is Dr. Fate (his artifact was revealed at the end of this BG #32) going to play a role in Time Masters, Booster Gold, JL:GL, or some combination of the two?
Wrapping It Up:
In the future, I hope to be able to begin some theories about what we'll have happen. They'll all be wrong, but it'll be fun to talk about. Right now, I'd like to let the story play out for another issue or two and go from there.
Have a Boosterrific day!
I love reading Booster in multiple books a month. :D
ReplyDeleteWith the bomb? Max lead the group to a fake location, likely making them believe the energy signal was his power. The general online theory is that the energy from the bomb Max left for Cap to find helped him use his powers on a greater scale.
Yes I do believe Max regrets shooting Ted. Why? Well for one Giffin is co-writing this and he helped co-create Maxs' character. This is the most depth he's shown in years and Winicks' stated that they plan on exploring how the group used to be friends with him. I think it's a more interesting angle than him being a straight up villain.
I'm not sure how much they can humanize Max while keeping him the main villain of this series - unless we're going to see a massive twist that involves him saving the day in the end, that there was some purpose for it all. Whether Max truly regretted shooting Ted or not... he did it, and it was done to further his goal at the time, and that goal would not have allowed for nice things to happen to those with superpowers.
ReplyDeleteI don't know; it's something to think about.
Thanks for reading!