Reilly2040's Blog

With all the fuss about Brightest Day, its easy to overlook the fact that DC actually have a second fortnightly series on the go, which is actually a Brightest Day tie-in itself: Justice League – Generation Lost.

When it was announced, I’d been really excited about the project, as it was focused on the old JLI team (or what was left of them).  They’ve long been fan-favourites as those books were filled with great characters and a brilliant sense of humour and dialogue.

However the first two issues I found to be a major disappointment.  Spinning out of Brightest Day, Max Lord performs his biggest mind control experiment ever, wiping all knowledge of his existence from the world.   The only ones left who know who he is are his old team mates from the JLI, Booster Gold, Captain Atom, Fire and Ice who must find some way to expose him.

The main problem with the first couple of issues was that they just seemed too serious.  The sparkle and wit that the team was associated with was gone, and I quickly lost all interest in the series.

However I then heard that things had picked up a bit, and not only that, I discovered that the series was being released every fortnight on the DC Comics iPhone application in line with the paper release.

This was ideal, as it provided a cheaper way to pick up the issues to give the series another chance.  And so I picked up issues 3 and 4.

We’re now up to issue 8, and the amount this series has turned around from those first two issues has been amazing.  The pacing has been great throughout, with the story moving on quickly as the team attempt to track down Maxwell Lord.

There’s been some interesting new elements thrown in as well. Blue Beetle Jamie Reyes joining the team was a bit of a no-brainer. He’s picked up Ted Koord’s legacy, and has worked with the JLI on several occassions. He’s also a character that DC are looking to push heavily, and this series presents an ideal place for him.

However more important was the addition of the new Rocket Red to the team. The Rocket Red who previously worked with the JLI was killed some time ago, and its a spot that’s long sat dormant on the team (although Mary Marvel would often be added as another heavy hitter).

The new Rocket Red has really brought that missing element to the book. Humour. Straight away from his debut issue, that spark that made the JLI so popular arrived with him. Between that and the nice pace of the book, as the team infiltrate Checkmate and we discover Captain Atom knows the true cost of letting Max run unchecked, this book has really clicked into place for me, becoming one I’m really looking forward to every fortnight. All credit to the writer Judd Winnick, its an incredible turn around for me.

I have to mention quickly the digital format, as its something I’ve been vocal about supporting on this blog for a while.   Don’t get me wrong, its absolutely not a replacement for a proper, physical comic book.   However, with me trying to cut back on books as $3.99 slowly becomes a more prominent price for new books, and storage space vanishes in my house, its a great option for picking up those books I might otherwise have skipped, and its great to see DC finally starting to make some headway with the digital stuff, rather than just leaving it to the pirates.

I like being able to log on with my iPod Touch every fortnight and download this book, however its still a bit disappointing to see that Generation Lost seems to be about the only book DC is doing this kind of regular release with. Marvel is still way ahead of them in this game, and I really hope that Generation Lost does well as a digital book, so that DC can be convinced to further support this medium.

This week’s Booster Gold lays on the time travel thickly, which fortunately is the kind of thing I enjoy

Separated from his time sphere, and trapped back during the events of one of the earlier issues in the series, Booster is forced to team up with himself

Desperate to solve the mystery of the dagger which has been at the heart of this story, Booster has found himself back during the events of issue #4 of the current series. The two Boosters team up, with his past self going after Michelle and Skeets (who’ve been captured by Chronos) while current Booster heads back to ancient Egypt to uncover the truth behind the dagger’s origins.

Back in Egypt, Booster discovers the dagger was linked to a ritual involving the Blue Beetle scarab. As a priest tries to use the scarab to revive an evil Pharaoh, Skeets informs Booster that the ritual will leave the scarab drained, preventing any of the future Blue Beetles from existing.   On hearing this, Booster is quick to intervene to stop the priest.

Meanwhile the past Booster has caught up to Chronos and attempts to rescue Michelle. 

There’s quite a few interesting events in this conclusion.   The big one which will have a lot of imapct in the immediate future, is Michelle learning that in the original history, she died.  How she reconciles this knowledge, with Rip rescuing her will be interesting.

The other, which should have longer term impact is the hints regarding the Black Beetle.  Chronos tries to destroy the Blue Beetle scarab to prevent any of the Blue Beetles existing.  Through doing this he believes he’ll prevent the Black Beetle coming into being, as apparently he is responsible for more evil than the Blue Beetles can make up for.   Rip Hunter is also thrown into doubt as well.  Chronos is revealled as Rex Hunter, who claims his current condition is the result of Rip Hunter experimenting on him.   How true this is, we’ll need to see.   I don’t get the impression Rex was lying, however his view of events could well be skewed.

The Black Beetle hints are especially interesting in light of the announcement to a change in the book’s format.  While Booster Gold will be going up to $3.99, they’re also going to be adding extra pages which will contain a Blue Beetle backup story (I’m guessing  the format will be similar to Mystery in Space, Countdown to Adventure and the current Strange Adventures minis).

Depending on the team and direction, it occurs to me that these Blue Beetle backups could be the perfect place to expand on the Black Beetle plotline which has featured in the main series.   Like Mystery in Space, the two plots could eventually run together as well.  There’s also the dangling plot thread of Ted Koord’s resurrection.  This could also be a perfect place for him to turn up.   He could act as a mentor and technical wizard to Jamie.  

I do hope we’ll see some kind of crossover between Booster and Jamie though.  Having them both in the Booster Gold book and not interacting would seem like a missed opportunity.   However, I’m meaing this as an occassional thing.  

I daresay some people will not be happy about the price hike, but I definitely applaud the way DC are trying to only do it in cases where they’re actually adding extra pages to the comic.

So, with the upcoming Battle of the Cowl solicits, and in particular the Oracle mini-series, cancelling of Birds of Prey, and DC dodging the question of who’ll be Batgirl after Battle for the Cowl, its led to a lot of speculation that Barbara will be regaining the use of her legs, and reclaiming the Batgirl identity from Cassandra.

Now, while I’m not keen on this potential development (after all, it could be one big misdirection), I got to thinking about the character of Oracle.   

I’ve always been a big fan of the character, and especially the idea of Oracle.  The idea of a character who’s a central knowledge base for DC’s main heroes.  If they’re stuck and need information, then they contact Oracle.   And also as a mythical bane of the non-super villains, striking them through cyberspace.  Its been a great concept and worked really well (and may continue to do so if the Batgirl stuff is misdirection).  Granted, this is partly due to the great use of Barbara in the role, showing her continuing the good fight, but in a new way.

However, I was thinking.  Let’s assume for a moment that the above does come to pass.  Barbara becomes Batgirl once again.  But what about Oracle?  A concept like that is too good to waste.  But its also an opportunity to decouple the identity from the Bat-franchise.

But who could be the new Oracle?  Well, I was thinking (wait for it)…

Ted Koord.

We know Ted’s back from the dead.  Now, granted there’s an element of confusion, with convention hints pointing at him being a Black Lantern, but the events of Booster Gold (and comments by writer Geoff Johns) indicate he’s clearly alive after all the time travel mucking about of the Blue and Gold arc.   However, let’s just assume that regardless of the route, he’s back.

Ted’s good friends with Barbara, and helped her out during the Birds of Prey series.  Countdown to Infinite Crisis put a lot of emphasis on Ted’s detective skills and really brought out that element of his character.  Something that could serve him well as an information broker for the hero community.   Ted also has contacts and friends across the entire community from his days on JLI, so he could provide a broader-ranged Oracle, unlike Barbara who often only showed up in Birds of Prey and the Bat-titles (although Grant Morrison did use her during his JLA run).   By this I’m meaning, Ted’s Oracle wouldn’t necessarily be in a regular book.  Rather a resource other writers could use as and when they wanted.  And finally, Jamie is currently the Blue Beetle, and that’s a great character I don’t think should be torpedoed by Ted’s return.

Of course, the problem with this is that you’re breaking up the Blue and Gold team.   With Booster serving as the DC’s resident time travelling superhero, it wouldn’t really make sense to have them as a permanent team.  Rather, we’d have to settle for Booster dropping in on Ted time-to-time for chats and team-ups.

Ted could also form quite a different Oracle. Whereas Barbara relied heavily on cyber-sleuthing, Ted could be more of a traditional detective when it comes to his information gathering. There’s not a lot of point having an Oracle that’d be a carbon copy of Barbara in the role.

Anyway, that was just a mad idea I had. It’ll be interesting to see what happens during Battle for the Cowl to Barbara and the Batgirl and Oracle identities, but with DC’s move to focus on the more recognisable interpretations of characters, then I think Barbara becoming Batgirl again is going to happen.

Of course, with that being my mad theory for who could be a new Oracle, the next question would be what would happen to Cassandra if she’s not Batgirl anymore.

The big win of the week for me though was Blue Beetle. I’d picked up the first few issues of Keith Giffen’s run, but I didn’t really get into it. However the JLI-reunion promised on the title suckered me and I picked up issues 23 and 24 as well to get a better feel for the story.

What an absolutely cracking title. I’d only read 3 issues of this storyline (which has been built up to throughout the run) yet I was still reading it with a huge grin on my face. Jamie’s plan to stop the Reach’s invasion plans was really well presented and there was a big “coming of age” feel here with him risking everything to stop the invasion.

As a GL fan though, Guy Gardner was just the icing on the cake:

“My brother calls you the crazy one.”

“That’s right, baby girl. I’m the crazy one.”

“We’re dead.”

Classic Guy.

I really need to get the trades of Rogers’ run on this book.

I’ll talk about GL #29 in another post, but the last DC comic of the week I got was the Booster Gold Showcase. I’ve really been enjoying reading his early stories, as I largely only knew the character from JLI. Dan Jurgen’s stuff is brilliant. Its interesting to read the mystery that was applied to the character in the beginning, with his stories launching with him already established, and only later issues revealing that he was from the future. Jurgens does a great job of presenting a hero that’s only out for number one, raking in the money from merchandising from his public status as a superhero. Its a great take, especially since most DC heroes were about the greater good, so its interesting to have a more self-interested hero. And its a testiment to that direction how well the character’s lasted, enjoying more of a spotlight thanks to 52 and his own re-launched title. Its also interesting reading the two-parter where he teams up with Rip Hunter to return to the 25th century, since it nicely serves as a pre-cursor to Booster’s current storylines. With Geoff Johns leaving the title, and Jess Katz rumoured to be leaving, there’s a lot worse things could happen than Dan Jurgens taking over the writing. Although the current rumours have John Rogers (from Blue Beetle, above) relaunching the book as Blue and Gold. Something which, given my glowing review of Blue Beetle, you’ll understand me being excited about the prospect.

The only other title, which I won’t really go into too much, is Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic. Usually this is one of my favourite reads when it comes out, but to be honest, the much-hyped Vector crossover hasn’t really been working for me. I’m missing the regular cast and storylines (although Griff’s on good form), and the art’s not been great. Frankly I’ll be glad once the crossover’s done, and I may skip the Legacy issues (the only other SW title I buy).