Week Fifty-Two
Phenomenal. Absolutely phenomenal. I don’t think I’ve had this much fun reading a comic book in years. The end of 52. And, yet, the beginning of so much else. Way back in Week Seven, I went on and on about how much potential Booster Gold has as a hero, and, well, this issue, all of that potential finally comes to fruition, in one of the most exciting, action-packed weeks of the entire series of “52.” I’ll tell you what. We’ll get back to the reviewing part. To start with, though, let’s hit up a recap.
Last we saw Booster Gold and Rip Hunter, they were running out of Professor T.O. Morrow’s laboratory to escape Mister Mind, with Rip saying they were going, “back to where it all started.” This week opens with them, well, exactly there. Week One of Fifty-Two. The big explanation is given for a multiverse still existing, with 52 worlds comprising said multiverse (the Cliff’s Notes version is that it stayed around after the Crisis when Alex Luthor was horsing off with reality–hey, it beats somebody punching a wall of existence, at least). The two time travelers are then joined by a third–Danny, er, Gold, Booster’s ancestor who showed up back in Week Nineteen. He’s dressed up in the Supernova uniform. Mister Mind is chasing the trio, barfing up Phantom Zone, and eating entire histories of worlds. What an ass.
Booster goes through a moment of doubt, where he questions why Rip chose him out of all the possible heroes who could’ve helped save the day (my guess is that it had something to do with Skeets and that one time when Booster broke into Rip’s lab, but, hey, who am I to say anything?). Anyway, this is what I’m talking about when I’m talking about Booster living up to his potential. Booster goes time-diving to retrieve the Blue Beetle’s scarab, which effectively explains how Ted Kord never had it, to use as a power source; meanwhile, Rip goes time-diving to retrieve some suspendium from Doctor Sivana’s laboratory. The plan? Put Mister Mind back inside of Skeets and seal him shut with suspendium. It works, and Booster tosses Skeets through time, having Danny “go long” for the catch, at which point, the modern-day Carter ancestor spikes the golden football back in week one, where Doc Sivana finds Mister Mind and imprisons him in a glass case.
The multiverse is saved, thanks to Supernova, Rip Hunter, and Booster Gold.
Elsewhere, John Henry Irons and Natasha talk about something unimportant, Ralph and Sue Dibny (in ghost form) happen upon a mystery, the world continues its search for Teth Adam, and the new Question wraps up the series by asking Kate Kane aka Batwoman a question: “Are you ready?”
Absolutely phenomenal. This is the wrap-up I was hoping for back when I started reading this baby, and I’m just completely thrilled with it. There are just so many subtle nods to other moments throughout the series and throughout DC’s history that it makes me giddy just reading through each page. And the moment between Ted Kord and Booster Gold…well, let’s just say it’s quite touching.
Everything about this issue worked for me, and it’s a perfect ending to one hell of a series. I’d be interested in hearing what all of you thought of it, though, so, please, leave some comments and start a discussion.
It’s been a fun ride, folks. I’m glad you were able to join me for it.
See ya for the Countdown.
I loved it. What a fantastic finale. Booster Gold being a hero, a reunion between Booster and Ted, Black Adam wearing crocodile-skin boots…so many little touches to make a big story that much better. Awesome.
I see that the Wildstorm universe is now officially part of the multiverse. I’m curious about the restoration of Earth-5, Earth-10 and Earth-2…since those characters were enveloped into New Earth back in the first crisis, does that mean there are now exact duplicates of those people? (Like is Earth-2 now just like New Earth only without the JLA?) Or are they essentially continuations of the realities that ceased to exist in 1986?
You didn’t even mention the TWO double-page splashes that were incredible. This issue was close to perfect. The only thing that hindered it at all was the lingering effects of DiDio’s secret leaking, and I was able to push that mostly from mind.
As for the multiverse, I suppose the idea here is that all 52 earths were exactly similar, and Mr. Mind’s tampering altered all of them in different ways, so it’s just coincidence of a metaphysical kind (aka editorial fixing) that they ended up as Wildstorm, Earth-5, Earth-10, etc. I’m curious as to how this will be treated in future books, but it sets up a lot of cool possibilities. Consider me no longer a multiverse hater.
You’re right, I didn’t mention those double-page splashes. They were incredible, though, and worth mentioning.
OR THE CROCODILE-SKIN BOOTS.
I actually didn’t catch that on first read. It’s awesome, though.
THOSE WERE COOL, TOO. JESUS, WHY DON’T I JUST MAKE A LIST OF ALL THE COOL THINGS FROM EVERY PANEL?
Okay. Then maybe your 52 recaps would start to get interesting again like your early ones were!
LOW BLOW!
Well at least we’ve finally reached a point where we know this week’s 52 recap will be better than next week’s!
Are you going to do a weekly Countdown recap?
More like re-CRAP!
Just for clarification purposes, I actually look forward to reading the 52 recaps, and I had not detected any loss of quality.
Great, great finale. Everything I could have hoped for. The return of good Skeets, the reunion of Ralph and Sue Dibny, the restoration of all the cool universes…There’s really nothing to say thast hasn’t already been said. I like that there was a nod to Booster’s football-playing past…was that the special skill Rip was talking about?
“The multiverse is saved, thanks to Supernova, Rip Hunter, and Booster Gold.”
and Skeets. I love that silly little droid.