I’ll say this: Dan DiDio really knows how to upset my afternoon.
Today, in an exclusive interview with CBR, the DC honcho announced that Jaime “Blue Beetle” Reyes will lose his co-feature in Booster Gold and be relocated to another book, but not as a co-feature or as the headliner of his own title. Additionally, DiDio announces that Manhunter will be dropped from Streets of Gotham. That’s a huge disappointment for this Manhunter fan, who has repeatedly written to DC in support of the title and who has bought dozens (literally) of graphic novels to hand out to potential new readers and get them hooked. So, already–not off to a great start…and then he says that there are “creative team changes” imminent for Booster Gold.
Say what?
Dan Jurgens, who created the character and has drawn virtually every solo Booster story ever told, is currently the writer and artist; he participates in a monthly creator commentary here on Blog@, and also at Comic Related, that looks at Booster Gold shortly after publication. The possibility of Dan’s imminent departure hasn’t come up in any of our interviews, or off-topic e-mail conversations; I can say, though, that in order to replace Jurgens, the team would have to be phenomenal for the book to remain afloat.
I don’t think Booster Gold is as marketable a character as DC apparently does; it seems clear to me that the thing that’s kept the character going this long is that Jurgens has connected with the title’s (and the character’s) core fans. That his art keeps a level of consistency in the title that’s rarely, if ever, matched by a book in mainstream publication is an added bonus. For the title to work without Jurgens…I don’t know. It seems like it would have huge potential to feel a lot like when Aaron Sorkin was dropped from The West Wing, and the show deteriorated into mayhem, which they had to bring Sorkin back to attempt to salvage so that it could go out with dignity rather than be canceled after seven seasons as one of TV’s most respected shows.
Certainly I might be overreacting to the announcement–and I’ll of course keep readers posted as information comes into my hands–but the last two times they’ve needed a fill-in penciler, they’ve gone to Patrick Olliffe who, while a perfectly serviceable draftsman, is not right for the title. Rick Remender, whose two-issue fill-in as writer was the undisputed low point of the title’s publishing history, also expressed a desire, during his turn at bat with The Gold Exchange, to return to Booster in a more regular fashion so that he could tell the Chronos-and-Booster story he’d had planned during his time as writer of The All-New Atom. He is, as far as I know, Marvel-exclusive, but just the idea of him as the title’s ongoing writer makes my skin crawl.
December 22nd, 2009 at 1:34 am
I’ve been a Booster fan since the original issue #1. This poor character has been screwed around by DC so much it isn’t funny. They better not cause one of my favorite books to go down the toilet or I may have to start reading nothing but Image comics. I quit all but 1 Marvel book (I still read the Ultimate Avengers)over stupid stuff in the Spiderman books, I’ll do it to DC as well.
Although I don’t mind the wanna-be faux Blue Beetle, or the Blue Scarab as I call him,being removed, they would be best served leaving BG as is. There are so few books anymore that I look forward to reading, they can’t keep f*$%^&g with my favorites. First they kill Ted, cancel Manhunter, cancel Birds of Prey, kill and then cancel Firestorm, turn Captain Atom bad(though he’s now reformed)… the list goes on and on. When will the madness end?
Not that any of my ranting, whining and threats have any meaning to Didio, but it makes me feel better.
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:10 am
I’m with you. They had better wow me with any new creative team, and keep Jurgens involved on some level, if they want me to continue with Booster Gold.
December 22nd, 2009 at 3:45 am
This worries me too but at this point I’m trying to be hopeful that since he hasn’t mentioned being taken off the book that it means that he’s still on it on some level. Though I do admit that “new direction” is usually a phrase that fills me with dread.
I’ve always thought that Booster could have a–well boost in sales if they kept the spotlight on him in big events while they were happening. Which I get from past interviews and the unused Final Crisis panel was in the plans but scrapped for whatever reason.
No idea about Rick Remender, who’s ideas I find interesting just not his execution. At least not in regards to Booster who he wrote as comfortable in his TM role, telling Michelle they’d have to let people die when they hadn’t reached that stage of his development yet. To say nothing about the son reveal.
December 22nd, 2009 at 8:48 am
I’m dropping Streets of Gotham as soon as the Manhunter back-ups end. While I’m sad Jaime is gone from Booster, I’ll stick with the book as long as Jurgens does. After that depends on the creative team.
December 22nd, 2009 at 9:06 am
Remender was pretty good, I thought. And if they’re talking something as drastic as taking Dan off his own character, it’s possibly a last ditch attempt to save a low-selling book.
How about we bear in mind that we don’t actually know anything?
December 22nd, 2009 at 9:52 am
@Martin – “last-ditch efforts” to save low-selling books don’t usually happen hot on the heels of the book’s sales more-than-doubling for two months. The “Blackest Night” issues sold out all over the place and it’s my understanding that DC has some hope that, given the quality and reputation of the title, some of those people will stay aboard for a while.
December 22nd, 2009 at 10:41 am
The bigger figures are great news, Russ, but I think that given your great relationship with Dan you should hang fire, see what he tells you, rather than risk starting a big old internet rumour that could become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
December 22nd, 2009 at 12:29 pm
You thought that Remender’s issues were the worst? Really?
I wasn’t too thrilled with them on the first read, but at that time I was losing interest with the title, fast, after the second Johns arc and then the Dixon issues. On a reread, the Remender and Oliffe issues were one of the highlights of the series for me.
December 22nd, 2009 at 1:07 pm
That’s disappointing. Jurgen’s work on Booster Gold has been really entertaining. His art is strong and the stories have worked well. Kind of a head scratching move.
December 22nd, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Martin, it’s not starting a rumor when the information comes from Dan DiDio. That said, I’ve spoken with Jurgens and he says…absolutely nothing on the record. Sorry, folks. Soon, I hope!
December 22nd, 2009 at 5:02 pm
I’m with you completely. Creatively this book is really coming together and hitting a stride.
The loss of Dan Jurgens AND Jaime pretty much guarantees a cancellation at my LCS. I cancelled after Remender’s awful issues, and I’ll do it again.
Ditto for Streets of Gotham. I want to conclude Dini’s Hush arc that carried over from Detective and I love the art, but I’m primarily reading right now for the Manhunter backup.
I wish we could hear what spurned the changes. Were the backups an albatross to the main feature’s sales?
December 22nd, 2009 at 5:04 pm
Also, not to raise the alarms, but Doom Patrol was solicited without a Metal Men backup!
December 22nd, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Yeah. the same CBR interview where DiDio talked about this, he also discusses the disappearance of basically every backup we know. Some titles (the lower-selling ones), like BOOSTER GOLD, DOOM PATROL and GREEN ARROW, will revert to $2.99 and just be single stories again. Certain other books will get new backups. The Flash family appears hardest-hit, losing both the Wally West backup feature AND the Kid Flash monthly in the shuffle.
December 22nd, 2009 at 8:13 pm
@Russ I know Dan DiDio mentioned creative team changes but that could mean Dan Jurgens is no longer writing AND pencilling, not off the book. It ain’t my fault I don’t know enough to get annoyed, like some
December 22nd, 2009 at 8:34 pm
I’m just pissed that the Blue Beetle co-feature is gone. That’s a HUGE disappointment.
As for Booster Gold’s creative team, I agree with Martin, it could be that Jurgens will still be on the book, just not doing double duty on writing and pencils.
December 22nd, 2009 at 9:16 pm
I was hugely relieved when I read that the awful Blue Beetle back-up was finally getting taken out, and almost as good, that the title was going back to $2.99.
But I was immediately quite concerned when I heard that there was a creative shake-up. I hope that Jurgens will still be involved as either the writer or artist and that whoever else is brought in can maintain the high quality that I have come to expect (from the lead feature).
December 22nd, 2009 at 10:46 pm
I actually am not as frustrated as many of you are with the loss of the BB backup. Frankly I always thought second-features for mid-selling or low-selling books were a dicey proposition. Adding an extra buck to a title that was selling somewhere in the vicinity of 50k at $2.99 seemed like a pretty bad idea, unless the backup brought in a TON of extra readers, which didn’t seem to be the case. I’ll miss Jaime in a starring feature, but would be just as happy if he were starring as a backup in Teen Titans or some other title that’s less likely to shed readers for the extra buck.
December 23rd, 2009 at 12:44 am
I’ve always liked having back-up features. I just think there should be specific books, like Adventure or a new Showcase, that features 2 characters that can’t support their own books. Otherwise backups should be handled like the recent ones(Captain Atom, Blue Beetle) where they simply lead to a tie in with the main character and then end.
December 23rd, 2009 at 9:18 am
Aaron Sorkin never went back to THE WEST WING. There was talk of him returning for the last few episodes, but he never did.
December 23rd, 2009 at 9:54 am
@Ian – That actually makes me feel better about the last few episodes.
December 27th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Why do I think if Dan does leave we find out it was because he is going to big book he wants to do the only way was to sadly leave Booster? Much like Dan Slott leaving She-Hulk for Spider-Man. That would be only reason I think Jurgens would leave unless health reasons or something. I think the real reason will never find out is the book got to good for it’s brichs. That is the real reason why Blue Beatle got the back up so to drive up and price and drive sales down. Then once that didn’t work well enough take Fake Beatle out and change creative teams and directions away from what fans like. That will do. Of course I could be just creating a conspiracy out of nothing but I don’t trust DC and things like this just makes me wonder if I could ever again as long Dido in charge of DC. Sorry to any fellow fans on this that offended by this but something but stink at DC for a while man.
December 27th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
The only creative team I would entertain as a replacement would be Morrison and Quitely.
December 27th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
I wouldn’t mind if Jurgen continued writing and the artist who does the blue beetle back up feature did the Booster section proper. His stuff rocks.
December 27th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
I had an issue with (Blue Beetle artist) Mike Norton’s work in the last few issues of Booster: namely, he couldn’t remember to put a Black Lantern ring on Black Lantern Blue Beetle. That said, he’s a very capable draftsman and wouldn’t be a terrible candidate to replace Dan. If you look back to his work on “The All-New Atom,” he used to be a guy whose style was much closer to Dan’s, more photorealistic and less cartoony and iconic than it is now. If he could wind back just a LITTLE bit, I think he could find a nice balance for Booster.
December 27th, 2009 at 11:46 pm
Am I the only one that, when I heard the news, thought “Huh…maybe Geoff or Katz is returning?”
Geoff sure does seem to like Booster…and he left the book mainly to focus on Blackest Night, Superman, Flash Rebirth and Adventure Comics…now 2 of those four are ending…I get the feeling that we are going to see Geoff return to the mix.
Of course…considering Booster discovered the multiverse…and Morrison has his Multiverse book coming out…
December 28th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Maybe, just maybe, the creative changes might reflect Booster place in DCU. I mean, this idea of him correcting the past kind of stifles after a while. I don’t see any reason for Dan leaving because the book has found a very decent level of sales with him, which is a rare situation with any book after Johns leaves.