One of the Booster Golds currently running around Telos (the planet, not the entity) has come face to face with his long lost friend Blue Beetle. Will the happy reunion last?
CONVERGENCE: BOOSTER GOLD #2
Writer: Dan Jurgens
Artist: Alvaro Martinez Bueno
Inker: Raul Fernandez
Colorist: Chris Sotomayor
Editor: Marie Javins
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Previously in Booster Gold: The pre-Flashpoint Booster Gold has met the New 52 Booster Gold, and because of stored up chronal energy Booster Gold has bounced around from domed city to domed city until he came face to face with Blue Beetle.
THE BLUE AND THE GOLD
It isn’t quite the same seeing an older Booster Gold and younger Blue Beetle together again, and it certainly is awkward for Ted Kord, who wants to know what is going on. Fortunately, Jurgens doesn’t spend pages and pages telling us what has gone on before, instead we get right to the fighty-fighty as the Legion of Super-Heroes attack! Yup, Superboy and the Legion start to attack Booster (but not THAT Booster Gold), Rip Hunter, and Booster’s sister Michelle over in the 30th Century domed city. One time stunt later, and the LSH are out of the picture and readers are back to the Blue and Gold where Booster reveals that he’s dying from too much chronal radiation. The entire Legion bit seems a bit out of place in the sequence of things (if it is even needed at all), but it seems like a logical cutaway so Blue Beetle can get Booster Gold to Kord Industries. It almost seems like a distraction to keep the reader from wondering where the laughs and ribbing they remember from these two has gone.
As the issue progresses we get to see Booster go from young man to beyond old. It is rather sad to see the two friends reunited, only to have Booster reach the end of his life before Rip, MIchelle and Booster show back up.
Confused yet? Don’t worry, it’s about to get a lot stranger.
The heroes think they can save Booster by putting him in the chronal chamber located at the Vanishing Point headquarters. Interestingly, it seems that the time travelers can leave the Telos planet (while others can not) and travel whenever and wherever they like.
But still, that’s not the strangest part.
When old Booster Gold enters the chamber he reemerges as….
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MAJOR SPOILERS ALERT!
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WAVERIDER! BOOSTER GOLD IS TURNED INTO WAVERIDER!
But like the multiple Booster Golds that have appeared in this series, this isn’t THAT Waverider (Matthew Ryder), but rather an all-new, all-different Waverider.
The heroes then go to save everyone in the pages of Convergence #8… because, you know… major event tie-in needs to happen.
As far as the main spine book tie-ins go, Convergence: Booster Gold has the biggest connection to the main event. While Convergence #8 can be read without knowing what has happened to Waverider, it does make his appearance and powers make a bit more sense (if such a thing is even possible in this “event” series).
F’ ART CONTINUTY
If you did read Convergence #8, you may be wondering why Waverider in that issue did not wear the same costume as the new Waverider did in this issue. That’s a good question, isn’t it? Whoever was in charge of continuity checking these kinds of things really failed in visual continuity department. The continuity failing continues during the big fight between the LSH and the time travelers, as it could have only happened when the dome went down (that’s how the LSH would have gotten their powers back), yet the dome is still up throughout the issue.
One the plus side, the art in this issue is really well done, and I don’t have any complaints about the visuals outside of the breaking of continuity from one book to another. If push came to shove, I would look to this book to define the look of Bosoter Waverider in the rest of the books, and look to Convergence for the timeline sequences in the tie-in books.
BOTTOM LINE: WHERE DOES THIS FIT EXACTLY?
If the first issue happened before the domes went down and Deimos did all his kill the time travelers schtick, then why did this issue jump between before domes are down and the end of the Convergence event? Did Booster’s time in the chronal stream take longer than it should have? Did it take that long to travel from Vanishing Point to the plains of Telos? The short answer is of course “DUH, TIME TRAVEL!” but the longer answer seems to be a bit more complicated. From the story telling side, this issue works fine. The Waverider reveal is cool, relationships are going to change going forward, especially for Rip and his aunt Michelle. Now that we know the multiverse is back, I’m very curious to see what happens to the Linear Men. The art is really well done, even if someone wasn’t paying attention to continuity.
Though you can read this issue whenever you want, I think Convergence: Booster Gold #2 flows better if it is read before Convergence #8. Take this issue for what it is, but don’t try to read too much into it – that way lies madness.
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