The All- New Booster Gold #5 (DC – Johns / Katz) – from DC – “52 Pick-Up” continues! Booster Gold has been tasked with preventing the origins of the world’s greatest heroes from unraveling. Next up is his greatest challenge yet: preventing one of the most horrific wrongs that’s ever befallen a hero in the DC Universe. Leaping into the pages of BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE, Booster attempts to stop a tragedy that he discovers never should’ve happened — the Joker shooting and paralyzing Barbara Gordon, Batgirl. Plus, what dark secret is Rip Hunter keeping from Booster? I keep thinking that this premise and this series, even by issue #5, might start to get a little old or tired… but not yet. Booster Gold, in classic Geoff Johns style, keeps bringing us into familiar territory and really making us look around and see new sights. A dark side of Rip raises his head, the true masterminds behind Booster’s dad taking the Supernova costume show their face, and Booster gets his butt handed to him dozens of time by the Joker. There are a few revelations about the timestream in the DCU that are written into this issue, like there are events placed in time that cannot be undone, simply have their details changed (like Barbara getting shot). The art is so well done, that it simply is part of the story not interrupting the narration at all… all the way down to the very intriguing last panel… can’t wait to see the return of the Blue and Gold! I have to admit, this series has went well over what my initial expectations were for this book… but leave it to a master like Geoff Johns to take a lame character like Booster and turn him into one of the best series of the year.
Grade: A
