Rayboy's Review: Booster Gold #44 (DC Comics)

Booster Gold #44 welcomes original writer/artist Dan Jurgens and finishing artist Norm Rapmund back to the series after a years absence with the first part of a tale called “Turbulence” that ties into DC’s summer event, Flashpoint. Supposedly, Booster Gold is the only actual ongoing DC Universe title that will be part of this major event, which will be told through a variety of standalone mini-series and specials.

After discovering that Rip Hunter’s lab appears to have been abandoned for decades, and with both Rip and Michelle Carter missing, Booster and Skeets arrive in Coast City seeking the aid of Green Lantern. They are immediately attacked by military forces who believe that Booster is at the head of an impending Atlantean assault force. Somehow the entire multi-verse has been eradicated and the timeline that Booster finds himself in has been reset by an unknown party for unknown reasons and he isn’t recognized by the authorities. If that wasn’t enough of a worry for Booster and Skeet’s, they soon come under attack by the one foe that Michael Jon Carter would never in a million years wish to battle … particularly solo. Doomsday!

Jurgens recent limited series, Time Masters, had paired Booster and Rip Hunter with guest stars Superman and Green Lantern as part of the crossover “The Search for Batman”, but that aspect was quickly sidelined for an inter-dimensional romp with old Bronze Age characters Starfire and Claw, before all-too neatly tacking on a brief  Batman moment to close out the six issue series. Batman primarily went and came in other corners of the DCU, and ultimately the whole thing felt like a real waste of time.

Thankfully, Jurgens & Rapmund are back at home in the very place they need to be to produce some fun comics. I enjoyed their previous Booster Gold work and this chapter of Flashpoint bodes well for their welcome return to this title. Recommended!