The Good
Booster Gold is back! I don't know what it is about this character, but if he's in a comic book, I'm going to pick it up. As soon as I found out Dan Jurgens was writing this, I got even more excited. His work on the pre-52 BOOSTER GOLD series has this swell place in my heart. Here, however, Booster Gold is a bit more serious and less fun, which is fine. It's unexpected, but at the same time, is a fresh look on the character and how he fits into the New 52.
What is wonderful about this issue is that it matters. Many times, these Futures End books give us a glimpse into what we could expect these characters to end up like. In FUTURES END: BOOSTER GOLD, the events and ideas presented here lead to something bigger and something even more complex. The events that take place here will be leading into FUTURES END and the upcoming WORLDS END, the newest weekly series. I love that this brings all that together and more than anything, I love that this gives fans something to be excited about for this upcoming new weekly.
While I tend to despise multiple artists on a book, it makes sense for this issue. Right off the bat, the book opens up with Moritat, which is a nice connection between this book and ALL-STAR WESTERN, where we last saw Booster. There are six artists on this book but because the issue jumps between worlds, it really does work. I also really liked seeing Jurgens do some art on this issue as well. Booster combined with Jurgens makes me feel right at home.
I spent a lot of time just looking around the panels for things I recognized, which was a good and bad part of this book. I LOVED seeing Ted Kord very briefly in action, but more than anything, I got strangely excited for Kamandi. I had a feeling we'd be seeing him because of the cover and while it was brief, there's a lot of small moments in this issue that will put smiles on long-time DC readers' faces.
The Bad
Yep, this issue is a solid pile of confusing, but in a sense, that's the point. However, the overall idea of what this book is trying to say doesn't really become clear until the final pages. Most of the time, this issue becomes "look who is in the background" for the reader. It's a middle-ground moment, but it's shades more exciting that a lot of these Futures End month books.
The Verdict
It's great to see Booster Gold back in action! There were a few times where the overall issue was a tad confusing, but it's a character travelling across multiple dimensions, so it's bound to be a bit out there. Dan Jurgens needs to be writing and maybe even drawing a Booster Gold on-going, as long as it's as fun as this little adventure was. There's a ton of the FUTURES END books to choose from, but this was one of my favorites.