With Batman dead—ahem, that is, with the OTHER Batman dead, you know, the new one, the one who wasn’t dead already, not that the old one is ACTUALLY dead but nobody knows that and…anyway, with Batman dead—Booster Gold was charged this month with the unenviable task of traveling back in time and facing off against Slade “Terminator” Wilson, stepping into the pages of Teen Titans #2 by Marv Wolfman and George Perez.
With Rip, Supernova and Goldstar out of the action at this point, it’s Booster and Skeets, on their own against The Black Beetle and his mysterious, time-mastering benefactor who, like (the bad) Supernova and Rex Hunter before him, hides in the literal shadows and cultivates an air of menace.
As usual, writer/artist Dan Jurgens joined us for a little creator commentary on the issue.
Blog@Newsarama: Manoman—you can’t seem to keep the mysteries down to a minimum in this book, eh? We’ve gone from secret puppetmaster to secret puppetmaster pretty much since the Supernova mystery in 52, and we get another one here, all the while knowing that this arc will finally resolve the OTHER lingering mystery of the Black Beetle. What gives?
Dan Jurgens: They’re all pieces of the puzzle, which will finish up with the answer to, “Who is the Black Beetle?” We’ve seen him working with others previously. It’s reasonable to assume he has more than one compadre. Of course, it could also be a question as to who is really the puppet and who’s the puppet master.
BLOG@: And that said, how long before the BIG mystery is worked out—what happened to Ted after “Blue & Gold?”
DJ: That’s a bit down the road. But that doesn’t mean we won’t be dropping bits and pieces that will set that up.
BLOG@: You know, it’s funny—my first thought was to ask “If Dick was killed, do you really think Bruce would have recruited Jason?” Obviously that’s kind of a silly question considering that when Jason was killed it didn’t really slow the “young sidekick” business down much. But seriously—a guy like Batman wouldn’t admit after one death that some costume tweaks, additional protection and stuff was a good idea? At least a cowl/helmet, which could protect from, I dunno, crowbars or something?
DJ: It’s a reasonable aspect of a different timeline to consider, I suppose. In truth, however, Batman has always taken people under his wing. The idea of Robin didn’t end with Jason Todd’s brutal death, after all. Even The Outsiders could have been an extension of his work with Robin.
And I’ll be totally honest: The artist in me was really struck by the visual image of two Robin costumes in the memorial tubes. Would’ve made a great cover but also would be giving too much away.
BLOG@: Is this initial villain scene happening at Vanishing Point or somewhere else? With the snow, and the badguy in the suit, I have to wonder about Max Lord and a castle up in the mountains…but then you have those robots that look a lot like the Kryptonian fortress robots from your Superman run. Any guidance here?
DJ: It’s on DC earth, the present. Definitely not Vanishing Point.
BLOG@: All the Vanishing Point stuff has me wondering: When might we see some more from the Linear Men? I know that the last time I asked you had an idea but it wasn’t fully developed yet or you didn’t know where to slot it in.
DJ: We’ve talked about that as I have a very strong attachment to the Linear Men. But it’s a story that’s waiting to be told along with Waverider’s. We can only deal with so many mysteries at a time!
BLOG@: “Booster Gold, Night Watchman” may be a status kill, but isn’t it really just a return to form? This seems like it could be a Tiny Titans-style “early adventures of” concept for Michael and Skeets!
DJ: Perhaps. It was meant to be a fun tip of the hat to the past while acknowledging that he’s moved way beyond that, and has no thought of returning. Booster has a healthy ego, after all, and would regard such a term as an insult!
BLOG@: Is it just me, or is Black Beetle really shortsighted? He doesn’t think of SKEETS? I mean, he’s been involved in EVERY story Black Beetle has!…Unless of course we find out Black Beetle is someone else, but still: how do you forget Skeets when you’re “dampening” powers?
DJ: If you go back and look at the original Titans story, and I tried to indicate this through the dialogue of the scene, the power dampeners belonged to Deathstroke. At that particular point of the story, he wants the action to move ahead to Gar’s pool in order to cultivate the time change he wanted.
DJ: I had suggested they reprint Teen Titans #2 as a backup instead of running the Blue Beetle that month but it didn’t fly, so you’ll have to go look it up!
BLOG@: Between Vic’s father and Changeling’s adoptive dad, it seems like parents are playing a big part in this story—and of course Bruce being Dick’s father, his death really was the impetus for all of it. Do you think that’s part of why being a Titan was so much less of a fatal condition back in the Wolfman days?
DJ: I think it’s more of an indication that Marv, George and Len did a great job of building a cast of characters we cared about, complete with their families.
BLOG@: Does this story give Raven a serious power upgrade by implication? I mean, the notion that what she created here wasn’t just an illusion but a whole new universe…!
DJ: No. To be clear, Raven did not create a new universe. She created the vision– a doorway of sorts– that allowed that new timeline to emerge. Think of it like the smallest of holes in a dam. The Black Beetle decided to exploit that, causing the dam to burst.
BLOG@: Now, to clarify: It’s safe to assume that the bomb that blasted Rip (poor guy, always getting taken out of the action—it’s like Superman in a JLA story!) was planted by our villains, not by Michelle in her anger, right?
DJ: Keeerect!
BLOG@: I’m kind of confused, because I haven’t ever read those old Teen Titans tales—would this be the FIRST meeting between Slade and the Titans?
DJ: Yes, indeed, which is what made this fun.
BLOG@: Grenades and water? I just gotta say, Booster has to get better about using his force field! So what’s next—their deaths screw with time and Booster’s not dead because he never went back to stop it? 
DJ: Um…ah, such a thought will surely make my brain hurt.
July 11th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Good interview as always (glad I’m not the only one who noticed those robots looking a mite Kryptonian), but this jumped out at me:
DJ: “I had suggested they reprint Teen Titans #2 as a backup instead of running the Blue Beetle that month but it didn’t fly, so you’ll have to go look it up!”
I really hope that’s a joke. I’d hate to see Jaime’s stories interrupted for a reprint.
July 12th, 2009 at 2:58 am
heh. I knew somebody would pick up that particular ball and run with it.
This particular interview was done by e-mail, and it’s sometimes hard to convey tone, so I just printed what I was given. There are some follow-up questions that should be going live at Comic Related soon with the bells-and-whistles version of the column, and that will touch on this issue.
July 12th, 2009 at 9:59 am
Well would Teen Titan #2 fit into the 10 pages allotted? Also, if he was serious, would he then want it done withother time crossed stories? Nah..you make your story stong on its own without having to reprint what the readers know ( or so you assume).
If anything they should make the BLUE BEETLE logo bigger on the book.
July 12th, 2009 at 11:33 am
“Dan Jurgens: They’re all pieces of the puzzle, which will finish up with the answer to, “Who is the Black Beetle?””
If we’re going by Blue Beetle, he’s Hector.
July 12th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
@Spike - Dan clarified that he was joking, and also said pretty much what you did above, in the extended version of this interview (going live soon at Comic Related). I think this issue stood just fine on its own, considering that I have never read the issue in question and until Dan mentioned that it was out there to be read, didn’t realize that I’d missed anything (I of course had heard the bare bones of the Ravager story before).
@kamikazi - This is going to come up every month until September, I just know it. There was a plan in place with Geoff, Jeff and Dan to answer “Who is the Black Beetle?” long before it was hinted to be Hector (he is, after all, a character who originated in BG). It’s my understanding that there has been no communication back and forth between the BB and BG creative teams, and that the previously-intended “secret identity” of Black Beetle will remain exactly as it was intended in the pages of Booster Gold. At the same time, the character, or an interation of it, is appearing in the Blue Beetle backups in September in a COMPLETELY UNRELATED STORY of which Jurgens was entirely unaware until the solicitations were released. It seems likely that, time-travel being inherent to this title, we’re going to see a legacy character established almost instantaneously, as Hector is Black Beetle in one book and someone else who has been planned all along is Black Beetle in the other…but it’s alright because Booster’s villain operates outside of time and space anyway and so doesn’t necessarily always have to be sharing the identity with anyone. Besides which, Supernova is both a good guy and a bad guy in this title, so it’s not like we can’t just deal with two people wearing similar clothes.
July 12th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
Here’s a question: What makes the $3.99 price point worth it for Booster Gold fans who just happen to not care a whit about stories featuring Jaime Reyes?
Honestly, I’m not trying to insult the character or people who enjoy reading about him, but I simply do not care for the character, and have dropped Booster Gold because I don’t wish to pay an extra dollar for content I don’t want.
So I think it’s a legitimate question: What makes the new price worth it for people who aren’t going to read the Beetle stories?
Or an even better question: will the current Booster story arc be collected in trade without the Beetle back-ups, and be priced accordingly?
July 12th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
As much as I am enjoying this run by Dan Jurgens (well, way more than anything he has written, at least), there are far too many “issues” he has taken for granted that kind of bug me. For instance, language. He is everywhere and at every point in time without ever changing languages or even some sort of misunderstanding. I’d like to see things going a bit more “real” on occasion.
And I liked Keith Giffen’s fill in a lot. Sounded more real than Dan’s plots.
July 12th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
Wait. I remember reading in Booster Gold #4 that Rip Hunter said he “locked the Linear Men away” to Rex Hunter.
July 12th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Here’s a question: What makes the $3.99 price point worth it for Booster Gold fans who just happen to not care a whit about stories featuring Jaime Reyes?
Honestly, I’m not trying to insult the character or people who enjoy reading about him, but I simply do not care for the character, and have dropped Booster Gold because I don’t wish to pay an extra dollar for content I don’t want.
So I think it’s a legitimate question: What makes the new price worth it for people who aren’t going to read the Beetle stories?
Here’s the thing: The price was going to go up. DC decided to add content for the price raise. If you drop the book, then they will stop the issues and no more TP
I’m buying the book because I love Blue Beetle AND Booster Gold.
You don’t have to pick up the book for the Blue beetle, but you should pick it up because you like booster gold.
July 12th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
I’m curious if Wally got taken out by a grenade originally like is shown in this issue. The idea of a grenade taking out the second fastest guy on the planet is hard to wrap my head around…
July 13th, 2009 at 12:55 am
Loving this book.
I hope Dan never leaves and I continue to get my Booster & Beetle fix for a long time to come.
July 13th, 2009 at 4:16 am
“So I think it’s a legitimate question: What makes the new price worth it for people who aren’t going to read the Beetle stories?”
It’s not. They cut out two pages of story, bringing it to 20 pages per month and increased the price by $1.00. If you are someone who likes both then it’s great, but if not, and you are only following one or the other then you are definitely getting less for your money’s worth then most other DCU titles.
Paul Levitz specifically told the NY Times earlier this year that prices on the 32-page books absolutely won’t go up at least through the end of the year, so anyone who states otherwise is either uninformed or should provide a link to a quote in which Levitz contradicts himself/changes his mind.
It would be great to hear what Jurgens thinks of this direction, though it wouldn’t make sense for him to be honest if he doesn’t care for it as honesty is what led to McDuffie’s firing. And I have no idea on that point, he may love the combo, I’m just saying IF he doesn’t like it then honesty is not the best policy.
July 13th, 2009 at 7:37 am
Lukecash says:
“Here’s a question: What makes the $3.99 price point worth it for Booster Gold fans who just happen to not care a whit about stories featuring Jaime Reyes?”
So what you are saying..if they raised Booster Gold to 3.99 but did NOT have Blue Beetle as a backup then you would not think Booster Gold was worth it. Booster Gold is only worth 2.99 to you.
July 13th, 2009 at 9:37 am
Ricardo Amaral Says:
“For instance, language. He is everywhere and at every point in time without ever changing languages or even some sort of misunderstanding.”
Doesn’t his Legion flight ring automatically translate for him? I think they do that, but I could be wrong.
July 13th, 2009 at 11:00 am
I’m wondering if Jurgens will move away from DCU Earth time jaunts and maybe try to expand Booster into the cosmic scene. I’m just curious because Booster Gold’s stance to Magog in Brave and the Bold was one of those AWESOME comic book moments that need to happen more often for Booster (IMO).
July 13th, 2009 at 11:01 am
ack–incomplete segue…
clarification:
I would think cosmic jaunts in time and space would add for more epic hero moments for Booster.
July 13th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
“Spike Says:
So what you are saying..if they raised Booster Gold to 3.99 but did NOT have Blue Beetle as a backup then you would not think Booster Gold was worth it. Booster Gold is only worth 2.99 to you.”
Actually, it’s more like 20-22 pages of story is only worth 2.99 to me. It’s not Booster Gold specifically, it’s comics as a whole–I don’t support the $3.99 price point in general, but most especially not when the content is (in my opinion) not worth the price.
July 13th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Ricardo: While Griffin addressed a lot of the timeframe in 1952 Jurgens has in smaller ways over the book. In the Enemy Ace issue a soldier tested Booster to see if he was American with baseball. Booster, not having thoroughly researched the area assumed it was Babe Ruth who wouldn’t be the best until a couple years later, and the truth was pointed out to him. With language, Booster has a universal translator, it came with the flight ring. Skeets is upgraded by Rip, and though its’ never been mentioned in the old Time Master series Rip had a device that worked like a U.T.
As for the $3.99, I tried to get into Jaimes’ adventures. I like the character well enough by the stories never have clicked for me no matter who is writing it. But I love Booster far too much to drop this book. I’d personally would love to see more of Rose and Daniel and other present events for Booster to work with. With the Linear Men I’d like to see it addressed what’s up with Lena Luthor, if she’s still in canon, and what their plans for her were.
July 14th, 2009 at 7:33 am
A smattering here (and I’ll be passing some of these thoughts/comments/questions onto Dan next month, so stay tuned):
@Pennyforth: It is my understanding that the second features will all have their own trades and that, for example, “Booster Gold: Day of Death” as a trade paperback, will NOT feature Jaime.
@Jude and Erin: Yes, Rip has locked away the Linear Men, presumably including Lena (although who knows), for reasons as yet unknown. That’s a story I know Dan wants to tell and the problem seems just to be timing since there’s always something more current-continuity relevant that pops into his head first.
@Brian: I certainly don’t remember the specific issue myself, but for the sake of story convenience, things like “Flash gets hit with a grenade” tend to happen frequently enough that I only really pick on them if they’re meant to last. Clearly the Titans can’t stay dead and Booster will somehow stop all of this, so I kinda consider the grenade sequence a proxy for the two pages of fighting we would have seen if the book hadn’t been shortened for the backups.