Blog@Newsarama: DC seems to have spoiled the mystery villain in solicitations, though I won’t here. That said, what’s this guy’s beef with Chronos?
Dan Jurgens: I don’t know that I’d say he has a specific beef with Chronos. He came to get the knife and Chronos happened to be there. Let’s just say he doesn’t approve of Chronos’ agenda. Not to mention his choice in clothing.
Blog@: How early in the writing process for this series did someone say, “At some point, Booster has to team up with himself!”?
DJ: It is kind of a natural, isn’t it?
Don’t worry though. We won’t be going to the well on this one too often.
Blog@: We reusing all that dialogue a nice break from scripting, or was looking it all up more trouble than it was worth?
DJ: You’re right. It isn’t any kind of time saver. However, it was important to lock this into a very specific moment in time and replicating those specific scenes is the best way to do it.
Blog@: And did the positions that Wally and Booster took the same as in the original issues? How much reference did you have to do?
DJ: Not much. I still remember drawing Booster Gold #4 quite well, after all.
Blog@: “Origins and Omens” made you lose some page count here to make room–was that hard, forcing so much into a smaller space? How much lead time did you have?
DJ: I had already written a 22 page script for the story when it was decided to do “Origins and Omens”. So, yeah, there was some shifting around and general reorganization that had to happen and a couple of scenes were pushed into issue 18.
When the writer also happens to be drawing the story it’s pretty easy to shift gears mid-stream without losing a beat.
Blog@: Barry seems…well…cooler than he’s been depicted in the recent past. Is this more in line with how DC wants to depict him now that he’s alive again?
DJ: It’s simply my take on him. I never found it necessary to depict him as totally nerdy. Besides, “Central City CSI” has kind of a nice ring to it, wouldn’t you say?
Blog@: Actually, for some time now I’ve kind of secretly thought that if Barry were to come back, a Gotham Central-like title set in Central City might be a good way to differentiate him from Wally!…All those jokes about Chronos’ costume, and nothing at all about the collar? Is this just a case of Booster understanding that he’s kinda People Who Live in Glass Houses here?
DJ: The collar is the least of the offenses. The palette and striped pants are so incredibly bad that the collar fits into the category of a minor offense.
Blog@: So, Booster caused Barry to be at the chemicals…but would he have been there anyway if not for the Booster/Supernova battle outside? I wasn’t clear on whether this was totally Booster’s doing, like other events have been in the past.
DJ: This can cause one of those time travel types of headaches, but yes, Booster’s presence was required to get Barry back to the lab.
Blog@: Is the villain breaking time a little bit by stealing the same knife over and over? It strikes me like when Gog was going back in time and killing Superman over and over again in The Kingdom.
DJ: No. The reason for taking the knife over and over again will be made very clear next issue. Believe it or not, there’s a grand scheme at work here!
Blog@: On that note–why three copies of the same knife? Why not 12?
DJ: Because three is what he needs! Again, next issue will clarify all that!
Blog@: I haven’t read Barry’s origin story in a long while; did we ever see what case he had been working on that night, prior to this?
DJ: Just working off Showcase #4, no.
Blog@: What are the chances that the Scarab Dan Garrett found in an Egyptian crypt shares something with the Ancient Egyptian Time Knife?
DJ: Why, that would be really something, wouldn’t it?
Blog@: So what’s the mystery villain need at the end of time?
DJ: Sorry, Russ. Once again, we’re moving into “next issue” territory.
Blog@: That’s a setting you’ve visited before; what’s the chance that our energy-based friend is going to run into Doomsday, having been hurled there to die, or Hal Jordan, dressed as Parallax and breaking stuff?
DJ: While I can’t tell you what WILL be in the next couple of stories, I can tell you what WON’T be. Doomsday and Hal Jordan are NOT in the next issue.
Blog@: “Your presence has repercussions you can’t understand.” Will we see that come to fruition within “Reality Lost” or not?
DJ: Think of it more as developing condition of time travel. Booster is still quite new at this and not at all the time master Rip is.
Blog@: Booster’s subterfuge relies pretty heavily on Barry not letting anyone die–not even someone he thinks is a badguy.
DJ: True. It’s reasonable to assume Barry is the kind of guy who would works to preserve life.
Blog@: I feel like Kevin Maguire would be kinda jealous of that “I’m gonna hurl” panel!
DJ: Thanks! That was a lot of fun. I’d like to do more of it.
Blog@: On that note–will you be penciling the Giffen-written issue of Booster Gold [number 20, announced at the New York Comic Con]?
DJ: I certainly hope to. Keith put together a great script.
Blog@: So you’ve mentioned the Titans story to me before in conversation…but can you give readers an idea of where all the elements on that last page fall? And can we take from Booster’s reaction that the readers will recognize the man behind the Black Beetle mask?
DJ: As the shot implies, this is definitely going to deal with the very early days of the Titans.
Blog@: “I can always talk to Bats.” –Apparently Booster isn’t a big Grant Morrison reader?
DJ: This story started somewhat before Batman’s death.
Blog@: This month’s cover seems very general–what went into deciding to have a less plot-intensive image?
DJ: Mike Siglain and I talked about the idea of doing poster-like covers from time to time. I think it’s a great way to show off the main characters.
Blog@: So…speaking of Morrison…two Boosters in the same place splinters time, but they can use 1,000 Supermen from all over the Multiverse in Final Crisis?
DJ: Sounds like Rip Hunter should pay a tutorial visit!
Blog@: So our villain is trying to live down his “years of insignificance?” He sounds like a great foil for Booster!
DJ: Yeah, he is. He has a great desire to be significant.
Blog@: So how did this knife become the MacGuffin, anyway? For the Dalbert story, it seemed organic to Chuck…but how did the collaboration take shape? Did you tell him what the item was going to be?
DJ: Not quite sure what you mean by organic, but we told Chuck from the start it was going to play a crucial role.
Blog@: Doesn’t it also seem like Dalbert’s overall DCU status/impact is substantially increased by this story?
DJ: Potentially, yes.
Blog@: No mention by Booster, by the way, of having just seen Chronos. Want to put the Remender arc in perspective? Has it “happened” yet at this point?
DJ: I think that was covered when Chronos says, “You KNOW me?” Booster clearly does, which implies a meeting, right?
Blog@: Have we ever seen Barry Allen draw a gun on someone before??
DJ: Not that I can recall. That’s a good quesiton.
Blog@: I love the fact that Scar spends a whole backup on Booster just to reaffirm that he won’t be part of “Blackest Night.” Do you know how broad that will be? How many books will be involved in the story?
DJ: Sorry, can’t answer that, but I know what Booster’s involvement is and I’m not talking!
Blog@: What are the odds that Chronos inadvertently hijacked a shipment with the Time Knife, as opposed to the whole thing being manipulated? This is some Keyser Soze stuff going on!
DJ: I think the real magic here is that Chronos was totally ready to overlook the knife in favor of old clocks. In the beginning he wasn’t a time traveler, just someone who used good timing to plan his crimes. That kind of places him in a particular class of non-heavyweight villain.
February 12th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
Chronos was played perfectly here – the gimmicky clock-obsessed geek with the wristwatch that shot the hands at you, and the master of time he’s become in recent years.
I’d be quite keen to know how much of this story came from Dixon and Remender’s fill-ins, or was it the other way around – Jurgens asking them to hit a couple of points that he’d need for his story. It certainly makes you feel bad for the folks who skipped those issues!
February 12th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
Great to see you for a few minutes at the New York Comic Con this weekend, Vinnie!
BOOSTER GOLD is a book that’s pretty planned out; I’m 99% sure that it originated with Dan and flowed from there (although Remender’s take on Chronos is a natural extension from his run on THE ALL-NEW ATOM).
Not only does he touch briefly on it above, but Dan does discuss this a little bit in the video interview I did with him at the NYCC, located at http://www.comicrelated.com/display.php?item=750&story=Talking%20with%20Dan%20Jurgens
February 13th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
“Blog@: So…speaking of Morrison…two Boosters in the same place splinters time, but they can use 1,000 Supermen from all over the Multiverse in Final Crisis?”
Eh, that’s not really the same thing though is it? the Supermen will all from different universes, arguably VERSIONS of a person, but at heart not the same person. It’d be like the difference between Kal El and Kal L showing up together and Kal El going back last Tuesday to literally talk to himself.
February 14th, 2009 at 2:45 am
Jed, I agree with you (and I think so does Dan), and knew that as I was writing it…but also knew it would be more fun to pick on some of the more absurd elements of functioning in a Multiverse. So I elected to ignore my good sense and instead see whether Dan would play along a little. He did!