Blue Beetle

Cover Description: Booster Gold is one of many DC characters accompanying Blue Beetle.

Brief Synopsis: Booster Gold recruits Jaime Reyes in a time travel adventure to rescue Ted Kord.

Issue Summary: Booster Gold and Skeets pull Jaime Reyes directly from the battlefield to enlist him in a rescue mission. While experimenting with a Time Sphere, Ted Kord was accidently splintered through time. Booster needs Jaime's scarab to provide temporal anchors to restore Kord.

With the help of Booster and Skeets, Jamie travels through time to visit the 1980s Justice League International New York Embassy, 30th-century Metropolis of the Legion of Super-Heroes, and (through the intervention of Khaji-da) his mother in 2010s El Paso.

After activating all the anchors, Jaime is kidnapped by Lobo, who is operating under the instructions of Jonni DC, continuity cop. Jonni is mad that Blue Beetle's origin story has been garbled by endless reboots. Of course, this isn't Jaime's fault, and she lets him go with a warning.

Jaime returns to the present to encounter a recovered Ted Kord. Kord warns Jaime that he and Khaji have even bigger troubles looming in their future. Jaime doesn't understand, but Booster Gold ends the conversation by sending Jaime back home. Reveal Potential Spoilers

Booster Gold's role in this story:
Featured (Booster Gold plays a prominent role)

Costume Worn: MARK I.v2 power-suit

Issue Notes: This issue is also available in Spanish.

Story Notes: The story is dedicated "with love" to Keith Giffen, who played a role in creating many of the characters and locations that Jaime encounters within.

Page 1, panel 2
As hinted by the end of the previous issue, Booster Gold and Skeets have pulled Jamie Reyes (created by Keith Giffen) directly from the battlefield for a mission of their own.

Page 2, panel 4
As explained by Booster, it has taken "months" for Ted Kord to recover from his beating at the hands of Blood Scarab (in Blue Beetle #1). To keep himself busy, Ted was tinkering with a Time Sphere and was accidentally "chopped up in the time stream." Booster needs Jaime, and specifically his alien scarab Khaji Da, to create temporal anchors that will help them restore Kord to a single body.

Page 3, panel 1
Jaime's first stop is at the Justice League International Embassy in New York City. Given that Black Canary is storming out the front door, this probably takes place sometime prior to Justice League International #19 (written by Keith Giffen), when she resigned from the team by telephone. The New York League Embassy Building was destroyed in Justice League International, Volume 2, #65.

Page 3, panel 5
Jaime is being spied on by Ambush Bug (created by Keith Giffen).

Page 6, panel 1
POWER UP: When the aforementioned Justice League International #19 was published in 1988, Maxwell Lord (created by Keith Giffen) couldn't read minds. He first gained telepathic abilities after the events of 1989's Justice League International #23. In 2017, after many years of changes to the history of the DC Universe, it was revealed that Lord had powers since birth in Justice League Volume 3, #12.

Page 7, panel 1
The second anchor point is in Metropolis in the year 2995, during what appears to be the events of 1992's Legion of Super-Heroes Volume 4, #26 (written by Keith Giffen). That issues depicts the Dominator agent B.I.O.N. fighting Laurel Gand, but the fight seen here is much bigger, involving several other Legionnaires, including Reflex, Kent Shakespeare, and Celeste Rockfish.

Page 9, panel 6
Although Booster and company are unaware of it, the Time Sphere is being surreptitiously followed by Green Lantern G'Nort (created by Keith Giffen).

Page 10, panel 2
Khadji Da has hacked Skeets to deliver Jaime to an alternate third anchor point in El Paso, Texas, sometime after the events of 2006's Blue Beetle #3 (written by Keith Giffen). The hack appears to be benign, merely allowing Jaime to visit with his mother.

Page 11, panel 6
Now Jaime is being spied on by Heckler (created by Keith Giffen).

Page 14, panel 3
Before Booster can activate the anchor points, the Time Sphere is attacked by Lobo (created by Keith Giffen). Booster Gold is knocked unconscious, and Jaime is kidnapped...

Page 16, panel 4
...under the orders of Jonni DC (created by Keith Giffen)...

Page 18, panel 1
...only to be returned to Booster after Ted Kord has been recovered. After Ted and Jaime have had a heart-to-heart talk, Booster will return Jaime to his proper time and place.