Friday, October 22, 2010
In Support of the Supporting Cast
Question: What differentiates the writing of Giffen and DeMatteis on Justice League International in 1990 and Booster Gold in 2010? Answer: Cast size.
In a recent poll here at Boosterrific.com, a majority of respondents agreed that they preferred Booster Gold as a member in an ensemble cast. This trend continues as reviews of Justice League: Generation Lost and Time Masters: Vanishing Point remain enthusiastic regarding team interaction and creative storytelling. Contrast this with recent reviews of Booster Gold here at Boosterrific, which contain words like "frustrating," "sidetracked," and "disappointing."
Almost every theme (except perhaps that of "stolen virginity") recently explored in recent pages of Booster Gold was seen in Giffen/DeMatteis' earlier, much celebrated work. The only major difference was that these bizarre misadventures were not always happening to the same character. Batman was dedicated to the task at hand, Blue Beetle was hatching madcap schemes, Flash was concerned with sex, and Mister Miracle was lost in space. These days all of those things are happening at once to Booster Gold, and it's frustrating.
There are several potential solutions to the current unease that seems to be growing among the series established readers. But it is no coincidence that the complaints have grown louder since the supporting cast of Booster Gold -- Rip Hunter, Daniel and Rose, Michelle Carter, and even Rani -- have disappeared in favor of unnamed Darkstars and alien pirates. Certainly once a rapport has been established between the audience and the characters, it's a disservice to let them fall by the wayside.
A strong supporting cast is essential to the survival of any series, and Booster Gold is no exception. Hopefully Booster Gold's friends and family will return soon to provide the series with that which it most needs: support.
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Thursday, October 21, 2010
Booster Gold Versus Tweedledum and Tweedledee
Sales numbers are in for September, and the decline on Booster Gold isn't as bad as word of mouth might have you believe. The graph below is only for the Giffen/DeMatteis issues to date, and the slope of decline is pretty similar to what was seen with Jurgens at the helm. It will be interesting to see what the future holds following the nearly universal distaste for Booster Gold #37.
As much as I'd rather not encourage anyone to stop buying Booster Gold, those of you who hate the antics of Giffen and DeMatteis need to stop buying until they are replaced. That is the kind of message that DC cannot ignore (and the sort of free-market advice that Booster Gold would appreciate).
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Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Dressed for Failure
We're reliving the glorious 1990s today as Booster Gold makes yet another internet list: The 16 Worst 90s Superhero Redesigns at popcrunch.com. I'm not saying that I agree with everything on that list -- I kind of enjoyed electric Superman -- but Booster's mechanical armor? Yeah, that was bad. (It was, of course, supposed to be bad. But not in the same self-referential way that Azrael/Batman was supposed to be bad.)
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Tuesday, October 19, 2010
L'eggo my Lego!
Despite the explosion of Lego out of the toybox and into the collectible market, the Danish toy giant hasn't gotten around to giving us DC minifigs outside of the Batman mythos just yet. Thankfully, customlegominifigs.com has your Booster Gold needs covered with their custom decal sheet for DC heroes. You can buy the sheets through their eBay store and assemble your own blocky Justice League. Sorry, but you'll have to build your own Skeets.
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Monday, October 18, 2010
Batman: the Blue and the Gold
Ah, Cartoon Network, you mess with my head again. Friday night's episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold was advance teased as an episode featuring the Birds of Prey. But what actually aired was "The Menace of the Madniks," a Booster Gold episode in which Booster and Batman argue over which hero is really Ted Kord's best friend. This Boosterrific episode was scheduled to air next week, giving me some time to warn Booster Gold fans about it. Curse you, Cartoon Network, and your unreliable scheduling!
"The Menace of the Madniks" is a bit of a continuity nightmare, really. The episode re-writes Ted's death as a heroic self-sacrifice to stop a missile, merges aspects of Blue Beetle I and II, and renames Steve Ditko's chaotic Madmen the "Madniks," probably to avoid any confusion with the more familiar Madman comic character by Mike Allred. The biggest flaw in the episode is that it whitewashes the legacy of the Blue Beetle by portraying Ted Kord as a saint, ignoring the hijinks that made the character so popular in the 80s & 90s.
Despite these changes, it's a very fun episode. (Are there any Brave and the Bold episodes that aren't?) I highly recommend it.
Comments (4) | Add a Comment | Tags: blue beetle brave and the bold cartoon network
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