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We are five issues away from the historic Action Comics #1000, but we couldn’t be further away from that story as Superman and Booster Gold are stuck in the future! This issue further proves this is as much Booster Gold’s story as it is Superman’s.
So what’s it about?
The official summary reads:
“BOOSTER SHOT” part three! Time is broken, and Superman and Booster Gold are in over their heads trying to repair it! Meanwhile, Lois Lane confronts her estranged father–and Sam Lane now stands face to face with his grandson Jon for the first time. As Clark struggles to reconcile the truth of his own father, can Lois Lane do the same?
Why does this matter?
This entire arc is about Superman attempting to figure out if the man who has shadowed him for over a year really is his father. So far time travel has proven to be more trouble than it’s worth and Booster Gold’s own family gets drawn into the fray.
Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?
That is one badass Eradicator.
Dan Jurgens teams up with Brett Booth, focusing on Superman and Booster Gold attempting to avoid an Eradicator and future law enforcement, and get themselves out of dodge. It’s set in Gotham 2462, right around the time Booster Gold stole his time machine. Why they are in this time and place is never explained, but rest assured the drama is at a high level throughout. Superman is also powered back up and he takes charge as far as the leading hero here.
That’s in part because Booster Gold is losing his shit about being in this time and place. His father is still in prison and his mother is also alive. Jurgens has given him the opportunity to communicate with them here and makes this story arc more about parents in general than Superman’s specifically. Lois gets a short page or two here as well furthering the b-plot of her attempting to communicate with her father. It’s this connectivity between fathers that allows the plot to shift so much and remain entertaining.
Booth is a nice choice for this issue and he ramps up the action tenfold. Nothing against Jurgens’ pencils in the previous issues, but Booth manages to show how fast and strong Superman is in successful action scenes. I’ve always been a fan of how Booth uses panels to fan out down a page, which adds a bit of extra energy and movement to a scene and he uses it a few times in this issue. The issue also ends on an epic full page splash that’s beautifully drawn and colored.
Team up!
It can’t be perfect can it?
The b-plot with Lois continues to be underserved and half baked. You can’t blame the creators for their execution because it’s failing more so because the plotting barely gives it a chance to progress and get interesting. It’ll probably factor in later in the arc, but as of right now I don’t care one iota what is happening.
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As a whole, the plot of this arc is a little too zany for its own good. It’s your conventional time travel crazy story utilizing the “falling in and out of time” trope to mix things up as needed. So far it has the father issues tethering the plot together, but it’s barely hanging on.
Is It Good?
This is an entertaining and well-drawn issue, but the plot is starting to fall apart. The issue of fathers is keeping things together, but there seems to be no rules or direction to the time traveling. The heroes drop into situations as the plot requires, making the adventure seem sporadic and unearned. That said, I’m still on board to see where it’s going because it’s clearly playing the long game.
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