Pretty, Fizzy Paradise

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Saturday, March 20, 2010

This Month's Booster Gold

There were a lot of good comics this week, but can I say, the one I actually enjoyed best (besides Kyle vs. refrigerator, SNERK) was Booster Gold.

Mostly because, as much as I love the "Luke, I am your father" type character reveals, I always get a little nervous that said reveals will never happen. Like in Earth: Final Conflict, where, despite building up to it for three years, Ronald Sandoval NEVER finds out that his best adversary is his kid. (Thank you, transparent attempt to change the show into something completely different! Grr.) The reveal is the best part!

And comics are even worse when it comes to changing creative teams. Normally I consider the ever changing/ever flowing comics continuity a good thing, but dropped plot threads are a natural consequence.

This issue didn't have the reveal, but it promised a reveal WILL happen. Booster Gold won't die without knowing the truth. Or at least if he does, he'll be back. Close enough.

I'm really really curious about the mother, naturally. But I'm reassured that at some point little Booster Gold will learn exactly who's training him and that's good enough. :-)

For now. :-)

10 Comments:

  • At March 21, 2010 4:37 PM, Blogger Maddy said…

    Haven't read this month's issue yet, but I'm pretty sure Rip's other parent is Ted Kord.

     
  • At March 21, 2010 6:10 PM, Blogger kalinara said…

    Eek. Sorry for the spoiler.

    I would go for that (and Rip's other parent WAS clearly red-haired and a lot smarter than Booster. :-P)

    If it IS Ted though, he's undergone quite a few changes since last we saw him, since (SPOILER) refers to Rip's mother as "her". :-)

     
  • At March 21, 2010 8:29 PM, Blogger SallyP said…

    It WAS a nice moment in Booster Gold. As much as I enjoy Giffen and Dematteis, I must admit that I'm going to miss Dan Jergens. He's done a pretty stellar job with Booster.

     
  • At March 26, 2010 4:59 AM, Blogger Mario McKellop said…

    Oh my god, someone else who watched Earth: Final Conflict. I can't believe it.

     
  • At March 26, 2010 12:58 PM, Blogger kalinara said…

    I have a lot of obscure loves. That show was great.

    Until the last season anyway. Bah.

     
  • At March 26, 2010 2:04 PM, Blogger Mario McKellop said…

    It was. I was still think it never quite recovered from Boone dying in season.

    Or have three different protagonists over five seasons.

     
  • At March 27, 2010 11:14 AM, Blogger kalinara said…

    Eh, I much preferred Liam as a main character. Boone wasn't a bad guy, but he utterly lacked any sort of presence. When I'd look back on season 1, I'd remember what everyone else did BUT him.

    Seasons 2-4 was where the show really found its stride, IMO. Suddenly the visual effects really took a leap forward (for example, look at the change in make-up/ship design for the Taelons even from the Joining - last episode of season 1, and First of its Kind - first episode of season 2. They looked a lot more like the typical "grey" design in season 1, in season 2 on they really started playing up the androgyny/sparkly/energy-ness.). It also made the Taelons much less black and white, IMO. The writing was less crisp than season 1, and occasionally went very comic booky, but it also had more moments of beauty and genius.

    I would have been okay with them killing off Liam (there was precedent after all), though I wanted a better resolution to the Sandoval plot first. What the show couldn't survive, IMO, was the loss of the Taelons.

     
  • At March 27, 2010 5:04 PM, Blogger Mario McKellop said…

    To each their own. Thinking back though, all my favorite moments from Season 1 weren't Boone centric. In fact, my favorite episode of the series was "Sandoval's Run" so I'm totally with on being disappointed with his lack of character resolution. I guess I felt that Boone had a more clearly defined motivation for his actions, while Liam always seemed kind shallow character wise.

    I agree that the effects got a lot more refined but I thought Zo'or became such a straight ahead villain; it removed a lot of the Taelon's ambiguity.

    I always wondered what happened with Season 5 that made the Producers change the direction of the show so much. The Atavus were terrible, silly antagonists.

    And now after discussing the show with you, I want to watch it again.

     
  • At March 28, 2010 3:38 PM, Blogger kalinara said…

    I agree and disagree about the straight ahead villainy. Zo'or was certainly less subtle in later seasons (he was high enough in position he didn't need to be, and he was never subtle in Season 1 either), but the later seasons really made Da'an a lot more complex of a character. Granted, the first season played lip service occasionally to how he had Boone's wife killed, but otherwise, Da'an was pretty transparently the "one nice Taelon". It wasn't until the Season 2 finale that we got to really understand the lengths he'd go to protect himself and his race. At the same time, the paternal relationship with Liam (counterbalanced with the one with Zo'or) never let him go too far the other way either. But the dilemma became a lot more complicated then. And then of course, there was the introduction of the Jaridians as the homicidal victims.

    And even Zo'or had moments of...humanization, in the later seasons. Like in the episode with the shuttlecraft crash, or the Cloister episode.

    I won't argue that the writing was better in Season 1 (it was), but the ideas were better in 2-4. And Liam, confused loyalties/motives and all, was a huge part of that.

    Boone had his great moments, but really, he never had as much invested in Taelon survival. He liked Da'an, sure, and Doors was a dick, but his loyalties were never going to be compromised. (Rather akin to Marquette's position in season 2-3.) If it came down to a choice between helping humanity or the Taelons, humanity would win every time.

    But Liam made things a lot less black and white. With a human main character, the hardcore xenophobic survivalist elements of the Liberation/Resistance were never quite as obvious or distressing. Even when he was made "leader" there were always factions and renegades making things more complicated. And of course, you have the relationship with Da'an. Being a child (and one whose memories are conveniently constructed from characters with no real experience of the Liberation except as enemies) and you're offered the choice of who to trust: kindly Da'an or the guy who's said in your presence that he'd happily see you and your mom dead, who do you trust?

    Boone knows better than to trust either of them, really, but through Liam's (usually misplaced) trust, both Da'an and Doors get moments of grace that wouldn't have been even conceivable in Season 1. When they're not screwing him over. :-P

    A key to understanding Liam's arcs though isn't to just watch the writing (though it can be subtly important) but to watch the acting. His actor never gets enough credit, in my opinion, for playing a character that's essentially impossible on character but making all the nuance work. (But I will forever point to the scene at the very end of First of its Kind, with Beckett and Sandoval to anyone who doesn't believe me. The man is subtly brilliant.)

    And for all the occasionally cartoonish writing, there are some amazing gems. Like Siobhan Beckett's death episode which somehow manages to turn a clip show into subtle greatness. Or Lili's mindfuck by the Jaridians. Or the episodes with the Skrill Queen or Sandoval's illness.

    I like season 1 a lot too, (esp. Sandoval's run), but it tends to feel like an extended prologue to me. Though I do sometimes wonder how much more awesome it might have been if both Boone AND Liam got to be main characters of season 2-4.

    That could have been really awesome.

    At least we can both agree that season five sucks though. :-P

     
  • At March 28, 2010 3:41 PM, Blogger kalinara said…

    You should totally drop me a line on AIM sometime though. I NEVER get to talk E:FC with people!

     

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