On Monday, I expressed my sincere apprehensions about what I was seeing in previews for Batman #45, released on Wednesday. Now that I've had the issue and read it multiple times, I am relieved to say that my worst fears weren't realized. Writer Tom King's version of Booster Gold isn't a monster. He's just an idiot.
It's easy to see what King was trying to do with the issue. Clearly influenced by the best deconstructionist superhero tales of Alan Moore and Frank Miller, he seeks to show us A) how the world is worse off without a Batman, and more importantly, B) how Batman isn't the same sort of hero as Superman. This comparison is overt, as Moore's "For The Man Who Has Everything..." from the 1985 Superman Annual #11 is specifically mentioned as Booster's motivation. (Is it mere coincidence that the issue was released the same day as Action Comics #1000?) Unfortunately, the clumsy execution of King's plan leaves a lot to be desired.
The biggest problem here is that while King's inspiration for the story might have been high art, his template for Booster Gold was a Saturday morning cartoon, specifically Diedrich Bader's performance in Justice League Action where the character has been stripped down into a two-dimensional jester. Sadly, what works in an 11 minute cartoon for kids doesn't translate into the traditional DC Universe, especially not in the heavy story King is attempting here. Booster's irresponsible attitude about a world gone mad — a world he created! — isn't fun. It's downright villainous.
Poor characterization isn't limited to Booster Gold. Frankly, Booster and Skeets are the only characters in the story given anything resembling depth. One-note Dick Grayson murders heroes. Jason Todd sells weapons. Bruce Wayne is a selfish fop. These aren't characters; they're paper dolls. Why? How? It doesn't matter. Like the graphic violence, characterization exist herein only for shock value. King explains nothing.
In a story celebrating comic book continuity and superhero motivation, there's no need for Booster be so irritatingly incompetent. With a little more effort, King could use Booster to accomplish all of the goals necessary to drive the plot without ignoring years of character development. And if Booster wouldn't work for where the story needs to go, there are plenty of other established characters in the DC Universe who King could have used to achieve the same ends without libeling Booster Gold's character. Anyone who has read Superman Annual #11 should be able to come up with a few. (Chronos, Per Degaton, Professor Zoom, Time Trapper, Doctor Destiny, and Bat-Mite come to mind off the top of my head.) Back in the day, writers were even known to create new characters when they needed them for specific tasks.
I applaud King's intentions. I would always prefer for a writer to aim high and miss than not try at all. But in this case, in light of his clear misunderstanding about who Booster Gold is in the DCU and his disinterest in exploring the characters he is working with, the best I can say about Batman #45 is "it could have been worse." I'm not particularly eager for the follow up.
| | Tags: batman tom king
Shawn posted on Apr. 20, 2018 at 10:47 AM
Though I'm not as critical about Batman 45 as you, I get your displeasure with the issue. It's hard to see Booster act like an idiot when there has been so much character development before. This was the original synopsis for the issue: “THE TRAVELERS” part one! Booster Gold has come to Gotham City, and he’s enlisting Batman and Catwoman to go on a time-traveling mission to rescue…Booster Gold! It seems a younger Booster Gold has gone back in time to kidnap an even younger version of himself, and to rescue his own past, Booster must pursue both of his previous incarnations through Batman’s history to find out what is going on. While the issue turned out nothing like what they previewed, I'm hoping issue#46 and 47 do and we'll be dealing with an older more mature Booster trying to correct a younger idiot Booster's mistakes. But we'll see. Sidenote In another of King's comics this week a Booster Gold fan club T-shirt was worn by Scott Free in Mister Miracle #8.
Herb posted on Apr. 20, 2018 at 12:40 PM
So now Skeets has a time machine? Man, if there’s anything that’s inconsistant with how writers handle Booster is how he travels through time. I’m surprised there isn’t any documentation writers can look up when they decide to use him
ariel_justel posted on Apr. 20, 2018 at 1:04 PM
I'm dissapointed. When I knew King was going to write Booster I felt instantly worried. I don't understand all the fuss about King's writting... it's just meh to me.
Anyway, I was worried but Dan Jurgens told me he was confident that King was going to write a good Booster because they had been talking about Booster.
I can only hope that King has a nice surprise for Booster's fans in future issues. Otherwise, this will be a complete let down.
ariel_justel posted on Apr. 20, 2018 at 1:12 PM
One more thing that troubles me: in a recent interview, Tony Daniel said: I didn’t have much experience with Booster Gold. I learned about him after getting the first script. ".
I mean, you're a comic book artist for years at DC and you don't know Booster Gold? There was a time when you had to have "minimum education and knolwedge of the comics medium" in order to work in comics.
I don't think Booster is that much of an obscure character . First post-crisis new hero, new hero paradigm, two comic book series, main protagonist of the first DC's weekly series, appareances in JLU, Justice League Action, Smallville, and so on.
Greg posted on Apr. 20, 2018 at 1:31 PM
I absolutely agree with Shawn. This is a younger, more self centered Booster but he was never heartless. From Dan's original series and all through JLI he would never handle witnessing a death like that. In JLI 25 he and Beetle were so distraught over Caitiff's death/suicide that they did not claim the reward and here he just flies away from Hal's body? I don't think so.
shan posted on Apr. 20, 2018 at 9:08 PM
agree with all the previous comments. booster was just plain out of character in this issue. I was cringing the entire time. booster is sometimes an idiot but he has always had a big heart (which is what drew me to his character in the first place-- he might not be super smart but he gives everything 110% which I can appreciate), something king obviously hasn't bothered to read about. this whole issue just screams of a half-assed idea that a) has been done a million times in DC comics... seriously how many times has someone 'saved' batman's parents only to have the entire world go to shit, and b) should have been done with someone besides booster if he wanted to just write an nonempathetic, irresponsible moron. Booster and Ted have always been the big bleeding hearts of JLI and to read this issue it's just.. incredibly disrespectful to both Dan and Booster's years of incredible character development. very disappointed.
shan posted on Apr. 20, 2018 at 9:11 PM
oh and did I mention the dumb amount of super basic booster info that they managed to get wrong?? booster has now apparently programmed skeets himself? skeets can time travel? it's like when artists get character eye colors wrong; just pure laziness.
Diego Segovia posted on Apr. 22, 2018 at 10:02 PM
Booster seems like he's a bit immature in this issue. Maybe he IS a younger version of Booster from the comics. But like Shan said, the amount of bullshit information they gave about Booster Gold just shows that they don't care about the character and he's just using him to further along the plot of this weird alternate timeline.
Erin posted on Apr. 23, 2018 at 6:41 PM
If King talked to Jurgens why doesn't he seem to know how time travel and the characters work? Was there a miscommunication? Solid time is supposed to be hard to mold and breaking it is supposed to cause bad things for the timeline. But Booster just decided to do it ?
I've seen it said that King writes for the tumblr crowd with those versions of characters and I tend to agree.
