Booster Gold #30:Writer: Dan Jurgens. Art: Dan Jurgens & Norm Rapmund.
Last Issue: 8 1/2 out of 10.
This issue opens with the grim scene of Mongul and Cyborg Superman bombarding Coast City with the bombs that would soon go off to eradicate the City. Booster is still torn as to whether he should follow his prime directive and do nothing, since Coast City has to be destroyed to protect the integrity of the time stream or whether he should do everything in his power to thwart Mongul and Cyborg Superman's plot. After coming across a small girl, who would undoubtedly die if nothing was done, as well as some more coercing from fellow time traveler Sondra Crain, Booster decides to attempt to halt the destruction of Coast City, time stream be damned. Skeets tries to change Booster's mind on the matter, but Booster is determined, and as such, he sends Skeets to get the little girl and Sondra out of harms way. Booster then launches an attack on Mongul's ship, but is confronted by Cyborg Superman, who makes quick work of Booster, knocking him out and letting him fall thousands of feet. Before Booster goes splat, he is blasted by a mysterious character, and the force of the blast brings Booster back to his senses, allowing him to land safely. Meanwhile, after shunting Sondra and the girl back to the future, Skeets realizes there were two other unidentified time displaced individuals in Coast City, and he goes off in search of them, finding Booster's sister Michelle, as well as her boyfriend, Drew. Soon thereafter, Booster arrives on the scene and is reunited with Michelle, who asks Booster if he is going to try to prevent the upcoming catastrophe, to which Booster says yes. Skeets alerts Booster that it was too late, and that Mongul had dropped all of his bombs, and that in ninety seconds, Coast City would be nothing more then a large hole in the ground. Booster tells Skeets to take Michelle and her boyfriend to safety, but Skeets informs Booster that Michelle's boyfriend is supposed to die in the ensuing explosion. Booster ignores Skeets, and activates his time platform with the intention of taking his sister and her boyfriend to safety, while he continues to try to halt the imminent destruction of Coast City. Before Michelle and Drew manage to get to the time platform, the mystery man from earlier blasts Booster in the back, knocking him onto the platform, while simultaneously knocking Drew off. Michelle, Booster and Skeets return to the future, while Coast City and Drew meet their predetermined fate. Upon arriving back at Rip Hunter's time lab, Michelle mourns her dead boyfriend, and Booster flies off, needing some time to clear his head. This issue concludes with the mystery man from Coast City arriving in the time lab to inform Rip that everything turned out the way it had to. The mystery man takes off his hat and reveals... Booster Gold!?! Or at least an older version of Booster. The two discuss events in time, and ultimately old Booster decides to head back into the time stream where he can continue to work on whatever he was working on.
This was an awesome comic! What a brilliant job Dan did capturing the terrible decision Booster was left to deal with here. Allow 7 million people to die, as was supposed to happen, or do the heroic thing and try to change the way things in Coast City turned out. I was glad to see Booster try to do the heroic thing, even though we all knew he was doomed to fail. The part where Sondra pulls the young girl out of her destroyed car and confronts Booster with her, asking him if he could honestly live with himself if he allowed her to die was priceless. The reveal at the end with old Booster was interesting, only in that it shows that no matter what Booster may be feeling now, in the long run he'll still be working with Rip well into his old age. I was debating whether or not to give this comic a perfect score, but after thinking about it, and recalling the great dialogue and story, the decision became pretty easy.
Score: 10 out of 10.
Man was this a powerful scene!Supergirl #51: Writer: Sterling Gates. Pencils: Jamal Igle.
Last Issue: 8 out of 10.
This issue opens with Supergirl and Mon-El trying to destroy as many of Brainiac's evil robots as they can, before the robots manage to kill any more Kryptonians. While Mon and SG are fighting off hordes of robots, Superboy and the OLD Legion are trying to free themselves from Gen. Zod's military men, since Zod had branded them all terrorists. The OLD Legion's telepath, Tellus, informs Mon of what was happening, as well as alerting him to the fact that Superman had already fallen to Brainiac aboard Brainiac's spacecraft. Mon tells SG what he'd just learned, which confuses her, since she was under the impression that Zod was going to work with the OLD Legion. Mon then tells SG that he was going to try to rescue Supes from Brainiac's clutches, and that she needs to continue helping her people against the Brainiac robots, even though she wants to assist in the rescue of Supes. SG ultimately agrees to remain behind, and Mon flies up towards Brainiac's ship to see what he could do against the evil tyrant. Meanwhile, Superboy and Starman have managed to defeat the Kryptonian military officers they were confronted with(really?!?), but are soon attacked by a few more soldiers, as well as SG's mother, the acting head of New Krypton, Alura. Back in the streets of New Krypton, SG continues to battle until she hears her mother's voice demanding to be unhanded. SG flies to her mother's side, where she finds Superboy about to punch Alura in the face. Needless to say SG doesn't take kindly to that, and she nearly knocks SB into orbit. While SG tries to find out from her mother what the hell was going on, a small army of Brainiac's robots descend into the room and proceed to attack the two women. The robots hit them with a powerful blast of red sunlight, which de-powers them, before moving in for the kill. Before the robots can murder the two women, they are saved by SB, who uses his tactile telekinesis to dismantle the robots. SG helps her mother make nice with SB, and upon hearing from SB that the OLD Legion was only there to help the trapped bottle cities on Brainiac's ship, Alura decides to go against Zod's command and sends out a message that SB and the OLD Legion were not to be obstructed by any Kryptonian. Zod hears this and gets angry, but keeps his cool, declaring that he'd deal with Alura soon enough. This issue ends with SG, SB and the now free OLD Legion heading skyward to launch their own attack on Brainiac's ship.
I though this was a good enough comic. It furthered the Last Stand of New Krypton story, while planting some seeds of discontent between Alura, the head of New Krypton and Zod, the head of New Krypton's military. I'm starting to get the feeling that Zod is going to take Alura out in order to gain her job, and with it, complete control over New Krypton's political system. With Superman, Supergirl and all the rest of Supes allies about to board Brainiac's ship, Alura is ripe to be picked off by Zod, if that is his plan. Besides that, I liked SG and SB, I enjoyed Mon-El's parts, but I'm still annoyed by the fact that the OLD Legion is getting any page time here, but what can ya do. The next part is in Superman #698, and as soon as I get my hands on it, I'll be reading and reviewing it.
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Ah Superboy... How do you get yourself in these situations...Superman/Batman #70: Writer: Joe Casey. Pencils: Ardian Syaf.
Last Issue: 7 out of 10.
Once again, this story takes place just after the DC event, “Our Worlds at War” from a few years back. Batman and Superman decide to trick the Durlan who was hellbent on killing Superman by sending him a secret message that revealed the location of Supes Fortress of Solitude to him. The Durlan decides to send his henchman, NRG-X to the Fortress to kill Supes, and Supes meets him there, finally able to really tear into NRG-X since they were no longer fighting in a populated area. Meanwhile, the Duran discovers the location of a half destroyed Durlan ship hear the moon, and heads there to see what sorts of weapons he could use against the Man of Steel. However, unbeknownst to the Durlan, Batman was also aware of the ship, and this issue ends with Batman making his way towards the Durlan's crippled ship in his... Bat-spaceship I guess.
Eh, this was an OK issue, but it wasn't really anything I'll remember. Once again, I think my lack of knowledge on the, “Our World at War” storyline hurt my enjoyment of this comic, but it was readable, it had Supes and Bats in it, and it had a pretty decent battle between Supes and NRG-X, so what more can I say?
Score: 6 out of 10.
Huh, who knew Supes was such a back fighter...
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