Hoo boy. As long-time readers of this blog (and my real friends) know, Blue Beetle/Ted Kord was my favorite hero in the DCU. I started reading during Invasion and was sucked into the fun and adventure in the JLI series. The main draw to that title was the friendship between Blue Beetle and Booster Gold. They were heroes like I would want to be. Having fun, doing the right thing, but still making time to be stupid and chase girls. So needless to say, when Ted Kord got his brains blown out, I was upset. In the aftermath, I felt like things skipped too far ahead and we never got the hero's funeral that is such an important part of comic deaths. Well here we are, years later, and Dan Jurgens finally delivers a great funeral.Booster's anguish is portrayed perfectly, and the quick close-ups of the funeral attendees were a great touch. I also love that the ever loquacious Booster was unable to summon the strength to say anything at his best friend's funeral. Having current Booster watch the sad even again, then vow to be a better hero for his fallen friend was a masterful touch. Just when Booster makes that promise to himself, Ted comes back as a Black Lantern to twist the knife. The pacing in this is quite interesting. Supernova, Blue Beetle III/Jaime Reyes, and Skeets actually take on Ted first. I would have thought they'd do a tad better than they do, since Ted has no powers, but it is always nice seeing these dead characters get their due. But bringing in Booster for the upsetting cliffhanger is just a wonderful setup by Jurgens.
The art is great throughout. Mike Norton handles the Jaime Reyes sequences, which in this issue are incorporated into the main story. It makes sense and Norton's work fits with Jurgens' pencils seamlessly. The design for Ted's Black Lantern uniform looks fantastic too.
Surely this story is evidence that all these dead characters still have something to contribute. Can I hope that we'll see Ted, J'onn, and even more folks back in action after Blackest Night? Doing anything else would be cruel!
Excellent
1 comment:
It was a rather good issue, bar the strange comment about Diana's soft side being seldom seen. I do get a bit sick of Booster and Beetle being treated like conjoined twins - it got really tiresome in the JL books, but here it worked for the story.
I loved that TO Morrow remembered the Rip used to be a blond!
Post a Comment