Dan Jurgens, creator of Booster Gold (the character) and writer/artist on Booster Gold (the comic) joined Comic Related and Blog@Newsarama for a chat on the most recent issue, released yesterday.  For the complete GOLD EXCHANGE column, see it tomorrow at http://www.comicrelated.com.

Blog@: So, the big question: Will we eventually see how Booster & Michelle got out of their predicament at the end of Chuck Dixon’s arc, or is there some kind of anomaly that’s caused us picking up in a totally different place?

Dan Jurgens: I don’t know if that’s so much a predicament they were in as one final thing to take care of. I believe there was enough there to let us know that they were able to solve it on their own.

Blog@: …The Mona Lisa? So you’re certainly keeping up the Quantum Leap vibe from Geoff & Jeff’s run. Can you walk us through what you’re planning on keeping versus what you’re going to be shooting for, in terms of tone?

DJ: I think the general tone that was established during the first 12 issues works well and is worth keeping. Booster Gold will always have a bit of lightness to it, in a fun way, that will always be a part of the story.

I’ve always felt that time travel stories, in general, are too often weighted down by the Enormous Circumstances inflicted on the characters. Adding a bit of levity is appropriate. Let’s face it… traveling through time would be fraught with danger as well as fun.

Blog@: (And apparently everyone during the Italian Renaissance spoke English?)

DJ: Anyone who has a Legion flight ring could have a universal translator, could they not?

Blog@: …Well played. I feel like Booster’s enthusiasm toward the action figures scheme is really indicative of a certain change in attitude for him from what we’ve seen since the end of 52. What’s the motivation behind returning him to his commercial roots?

DJ: Remember that Booster had and will maintain the facade of a lightweight hero. While Batman will know otherwise, most heroes and the general public will think of him as a publicity-thinking hound who’s interested in his own agenda. To them, Booster is an opportunist.

Blog@: As a point of order, do you think a Time Sphere Action Figure would be a problem for Booster’s current mission and his need to be anonymous?

DJ: Not at all! Who’s to say the existence of a toy would mean such a thing actually exists?

Blog@: It’s interesting—I remember reading 52 and when Ralph said, “Why didn’t you tell me?” thinking that Booster wasn’t the kind of guy who would have known in advance about Sue. Now, he’s traveled back in time and been asked a direct question. Was it your intent to kind of give that moment in Booster’s history a little shuffle?

DJ: Yes. The way I’ve always played Booster and Skeets is that they might know the general broadstrokes of history’s major events. For example, they’d know of any World War, alien invasion or natural disaster that took numerous lives.

Something like Sue Dibny’s death would have been more vague to them. It was natural of Ralph to assume Booster might have known, but not necessarily accurate.

Blog@: This is a PACKED story—while there are some nice splash pages, it’s got a whole bunch of pages that are five, seven panels on a page. The end result is a rather frantic pacing. By the end of this four-issue arc, it looks like you could have told as much actual story as in the six issues of 52 Pick-Up or Blue & Gold. Is that intentional, or just a byproduct of being a somewhat older writer? Geoff does come from a generation of writers who are used to “writing for the trade.”

DJ: I think it’s much more a product of me wanting to get a lot of stuff on the menu so my diners would know what they’re in for. When a book changes hands that way I’ve always felt the new writer should probably get a little more “on stage” than typical. It helps readers get the feeling that new scribe has a handle on the characters as well as an idea of where he/she wants to take the book.

Blog@: Is there any kind of hidden message to be had from the error message on Skeets and the Time Sphere when they’re retreating from Leonardo?

DJ: No.

Blog@: How did Booster not consider that there might be a “defense mechanism” that Rip Hunter’s lab has to kick itself out of time or into the distant past if there’s a threat? Rip has it himself.

DJ: We’ve probably played a bit too fast and loose with some of those concepts. You’ll see some aspects of the time sphere and lab get clarified as we move forward. Rip’s status will get a bit of the same treatment. Is he really a master of time or a scientist who’s still exploring the nature of time?

Blog@: Why does Booster zap Ralph AFTER Ralph has started to deduce that he’s a “future friend?” It seemed as though his time of being unreasonable had ended.

DJ: I think of it more as a slight sting to get him off attack mode and onto the more urgent problem at hand. One of those, “Will you listen already?” moments.

Blog@: Just a thought: If you were Ralph, and you’d seen that purple-and-white costume and how silly it looked, would you still wear it? This guy just has a legacy of shabby clothes!

DJ: Good point! But there were a lot of bad costumes floating around comics at that particular time! It’s like a single bad designer took over and went nuts!

Blog@: True. Let’s not think too much about Black Canary…! So, Is the shadowy intruder with the knife the SAME shadowy intruder from earlier in the series? Having no identifying marks except for the general outline, it begs the question if he’s the one who cleaned Daniel’s clock and stole the Supernova costume.

DJ: No. That was Booster’s father. This, however, is the same shadowy intruder we saw in the museum at the end of Booster Gold #12, page 21.

Blog@: Aww. And here I had a bunch of friends, fans and readers hoping and thinking that might be Ted Kord! So here’s another issue–Between this guy and the Chronos Twins, it seems like way too many badguys are getting an idea of Booster’s schtick. Is the secrecy of his game going to be less of a concern in your run?

DJ: Stay tuned.

Blog@: Will we see Daniel anytime soon? I’m guessing Rip has some kind of plan by now, but now that we have Michelle & Skeets, Booster, and Rip & Daniel all stranded at different points in the broken timeline, I’m hoping that all the stops will be pulled out during this arc!

DJ: Between this arc and the next I think we’ll satisfy your curiosity. This first one will center more on Booster, Skeets and Michelle, who really hasn’t received a lot of character definition so far.

But we haven’t forgotten Booster’s favorite intellectually-challenged ancestor!

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 5:06 pm and is filed under News & Views. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.