I.M.O. Review: Booster Gold #21 (DC Comics) By Eddie R

Holy unofficial time travel crossovers Batman!

For a couple of weeks now I have been asking myself the following question: If Booster Gold knows Batman’s dead, why can’t he just go back in time and stop it? I mean is Bruce, and in fact the whole Batman Family, THAT much of a keystone in the DCU?? If you remove one, or try to alter something attached to them, the whole universe falls apart? Well after reading the beginning of this four part “Day of Death” story arc, it looks like we are going to find this out, and many more answers to some of the burning questions surrounding the “death” of The Batman.

Booster Gold#21 opens with a 3- page action sequence of Rip Hunter trying to break into Vanishing Point. Once inside, Rip is confronted by a voice, telling him he is basically a fraud, and will be found out very soon. Apparently this villain has been trying to discover Dr. Hunter’s true identity, but since Rip has hidden it so well, the only way this villain can go after him is via people who know his secret. One of those people is Booster. The other is Batman.




Summoning Booster to the Time lab, Rip makes Booster realize how the pictures Batman had of him trying to save Barbara Gordon from The Joker, which are still in the Batcave, pose a very big security threat. Therefore, Booster must go and get those pictures back in order to protect the mission.

Once at the Batcave, it doesn’t take long for Booster to break in and try to steal the photos back, but this only puts him face to face with the new inheritor of the Cowl: Dick Grayson, whom Booster guesses his secret identity in about 30 seconds. As Booster explains to Dick why he is in the cave, out of nowhere appears the mystery villain, who manages to alter the time line just enough so Booster will have to travel back into the past, and save the mantle of the Bat. So the adventure begins........

Well it seemed this week in the DCU was all about Dick Grayson, and him taking up his role as the new Batman. I have to say, depending on which writer and artist got their hands on Mr. Grayson wearing the cowl, some of this week’s bat offerings were either a joy to read or a chore. And I am glad mine turned out to be the first of the two.

8.5/10

Eddie R
Review Co-Editor