A comiXologist recommends:
Convergence: Booster Gold #2
by: Harris Smith
Some superheroes are inspirational. Superman, Wonder Woman, Thor- these are all characters who are larger than life, whom we could never be, but whom we can hold up as examples of the apex of heroism. Other superheroes, meanwhile, are cathartic. We can a part of ourselves in them, no matter how out of bounds their reactions to a dangerous world might be. The hyper-vigilance of Batman or the unbridled rage of the Punisher- these are characters who may not enact our exact fantasies of finding empowerment in an overwhelming world, but who, as mortals who tussle with gods, give us as readers a vicarious experience, an implicit promise of, “You could do this, too.”
These two groups represent the bulk of superhero characters, but often even more interesting than either are the fringe cases, and few fringe cases have stood the test of time and developed more naturally than Booster Gold. Created by Dan Jurgens and introduced in the mid-80’s, canonized in Keith Giffen and J.M DeMatteis’ Justice League, Booster was, for much of his career, a character who was neither inspiration nor cathartic, but rather something of a fraud, a disgraced athlete from the future who brought advanced technology back to the present to cash-in on the superhero game for profit.
In some respects, this makes Booster one of the most easily identifiable superheroes. If Superman and Wonder Woman are the heroes we dream we could be, Booster Gold is the hero we probably would be, perhaps already even are: flawed, fallible, misunderstood. He’s tormented less by dark inner demons than by shame and ego, wanting to be more but often falling short of expectations.
In recent years, Gold has been given the opportunity to become a real hero by traveling through time to right the wrongs of the past, the one caveat being that no one can know what kind of hero he’s become. Convergence: Booster Gold continues this thread. Issue 2 reunited him with the back-from-the-dead (sort of) Blue Beetle, Booster’s best friend from their Justice League days, in moments that are both joyous and bittersweet and that reveal the real humanity that can be captured by these larger-than-life characters when they are given the chance to do more than just punch a giant monster (not that there’s anything wrong with that), dealing instead with meaty, universal experiences. Dan Jurgens, who also wrote this series, deserves a great deal of credit for shaping Booster through decades of growth and change, making him a better hero, but not so much better that we don’t still see a little bit of ourselves in him.
[Check out Convergence: Booster Gold #2 on comiXology]
Harris Smith is a Brooklyn-based comics and media professional. In addition to his role as a Senior Production Coordinator at comiXology, he edits several comics anthologies, including Jeans and Felony Comics, under the banner of Negative Pleasure Publications. He’s also the host of the weekly radio show Neagtive Pleasure on Newtown Radio.
This week’s Convergence Sale features Superman, The JLA, Teen Titans, Hawkman, Kamandi, Wonder Woman and more!
A comiXologist recommends:
Convergence: The Question #2
by: Harris Smith
Who, or what, is the Question? This faceless, enigmatic detective has been poking around the edges of the comics world since the mid-60’s. Created by Steve Ditko for Charlton Comics, the Question was originally Vic Sage, an investigative reporter and proponent of Ditko’s own objectivist philosophies. In the 80’s, DC acquired Charlton’s superhero line. Originally, the characters were intended to be the protagonists of Watchmen, but ultimately, they were absorbed into the mainstream DC Universe, with Watchmen’s Rorschach serving as a Question analogue. Of the Charlton Sentinels, Blue Beetle became a member of the JLI. Nightshade traveled with the Suicide Squad. Captain Atom, another Ditko creation, joined Justice League Europe. The Question, meanwhile, got a character-redefining run at the hands of Denny O’Neil and Denys Cowan. The objectivism was jettisoned in favor of Eastern mysticism, martial arts and a more Zen-like philosophy.
O’Neil’s take became the character’s defining thrust up until DC’s 52 miniseries, in which Vic Sage passed the Question mantle onto GCPD detective Renee Montoya, one of the main characters in Gotham Central. In a handful of miniseries and Detective Comics backup stories, writer Greg Rucka fashioned this new iteration of the Question in a noir-inflected milieu while still retaining some of the mystical elements of O’Neil’s vision.
The Montoya Question disappeared with the advent of DC’s New 52, leaving, perhaps appropriately, a lot of questions unanswered. Fortunately, with the dawn of DC’s Convergence and the return of many of their classics, pre-New 52 characters, she’s back and, better yet, once again being written by Rucka. Back is the hardboiled crime aesthetic, back is the conflicted relationship with Montoya’s former lover Batwoman, back is the even more conflicted relationship between Montoya and her family, back is everything that made this character great.
Though Convergence: The Question is only a two issue miniseries, concluding this week, it holds a lot of promise for what DC has in store post-Convergence. Though there’s no ongoing Question series in the first round of new DC books, debuting in June, her return to existence is a promising suggestion that we will soon be seeing many favorite characters make their return. The only question now is when are we going to see more of the Question?
[Check out Convergence: The Question #2 on comiXology]
Harris Smith is a Brooklyn-based comics and media professional. In addition to his role as a Senior Production Coordinator at comiXology, he edits several comics anthologies, including Jeans and Felony Comics, under the banner of Negative Pleasure Publications. He’s also the host of the weekly radio show Neagtive Pleasure on Newtown Radio.
A comiXologist recommends:
Convergence: Crime Syndicate #1
by: Dane Cypel
The Crime Syndicate is more interesting than the Justice League. This sentiment may draw some criticism, but ever since Morrison and Quitely’s JLA Earth 2, the stories of Ultraman, Owlman, Superwoman, Power Ring and Johnny Quick have always interested me more. Recently they returned in the Forever Evil event, and now they are back once again, but in a different, more Silver Age, form.
Convergence: Crime Syndicate #1 takes the classic team- the one from Justice League of America, Volume 1, Number 29, from 1964. In more than one instance, this story is a throwback to the character’s original form, which shows more so in the art than the actual story. It channels the Crime Syndicate seen in Crisis on Infinite Earths - even though they are technically not the same characters from JLA Earth 2, they are just as fun to read.
Convergence, like Marvel’s upcoming Secret Wars, takes characters from different universes and pits them against one and other in epic combat. In Crime Syndicate, the CSA face the Justice League and The Rogue Hunters. The League within is from DC One Million - future variants of the core JLA heroes. The Hunters, on the other hand, are a group similar to the Silver Age Flash’s Rogues Gallery- featuring a female Captain Boomerang, Captain Cold, The Top, Weather Wizard and Mirror Master. I never expected for these three groups to ever share a title, but Convergence allows these types of eccentric mash-ups to occur.
Convergence: Crime Syndicate #1 is a part of a larger whole and it shows. As it stands currently, more needs to be seen though it has my attention. I want to see how Owlman takes on Batman, or if Power Ring will outsmart Aquaman. On top of that, the Crime Syndicate is an evil Justice League- how is that NOT interesting? Try this out, because, at the very least it will be entertaining.
[Check out Convergence: Crime Syndicate on comiXology]
Dane Cypel is a digital editor at comiXology and freelance illustrator based in Manhattan.
Man oh mannnn, if you’ve never read Alan Moore’s run on Swamp Thing, you need to do that now! You can get a taste of the first handful of issues as part of our Convergence Week 3 Sale happening all week!
A comiXologist Recommends:
Jonah Chuang recommends
Convergence: Green Lantern/Parallax #1
If you first started reading comics in the 90s like me, then chances are you already have this comic on your pull list. If not, please read on: During the Emerald Twilight storyline, which came at the heels of Death of Superman, Greatest Green Lantern of All Time, Hal Jordan goes nuts and kills a bunch of his Lantern allies, then murders his bosses, the Guardians of the Universe, destroys the Central Power Battery, and becomes Parallax, an all-powerful being who goes on to rewrite the continuity of the whole DC Universe. The lone surviving Guardian escapes and gives the last ring to Kyle Rayner who then takes up the mantle and becomes the last Green Lantern. If you grew up in this era, Kyle wasn’t just GL, he was THE Green Lantern, but he forever lived in the shadow of Hal Jordan: Greatest and Worst GL Of all time. It was a fascinating time to be a comics fan.
Convergence: Green Lantern/Parallax is so interesting because it puts us right back in middle of that action. In this story, Brainiac’s Convergence domes cut the Lanterns off from the source of their power. Hal, powerless and crippled by the horror of what he’d done as Parallax, is forced to face the consequences of his actions, when suddenly the dome is dropped and Hal’s power returns. The two GLs are forced to fight for the survival of their world against otherworldly invaders, but in this world Kyle is relatively new and inexperienced, leaving Parallax to pick up will Hal crack under the pressure and blow his second chance at redemption? Read to find out!
[Read Convergence: Green Lantern/Parallax #1 on comiXology]
Jonah Chuang is a Production Coordinator Assistant at comiXology. Emerald Twilight is his favorite GL story.
A comiXologist Recommends:
Jen Keith recommends
Convergence: Superboy #1
It’s
a bird! It’s a plane! It’s…don’t EVER call him Superboy. The
Metropolis Kid dons the leather jacket and fade haircut once more,
bringing the full force of his ‘90s flare with him in this first of
two Convergence:
Superboy
issues.
I have been waiting for this book since
Convergence was announced: for the Superboy that believes he’s (let
me break out some proper '90s lingo here) all that and a bag of chips
just because he’s the clone of Superman who was da bomb until he
bounced (AKA was killed by Doomsday). This is a Superboy before he
ever meets Superman – a Superboy with the desire to prove himself a
worthy successor without knowing what that responsibility truly
entails.
Here
is where we get the great premise made possible through Convergence’s
colliding
universes.
This inexperienced teen meets a Superman unlike any other: the
Superman from Kingdom
Come.
A Superman who, in his universe, is disturbed by a new generation of
heroes throwing their powers around first and not asking or caring
about morality later. This is a Superman in the middle of a war
between metahumans when he has all but forsaken his humanity. This is
a Superman meeting the young, reckless embodiment of
that idea wearing
his ’S’ shield and holding the balance of his universe in his
hands.
Fabian
Nicieza,
no stranger to DC’s teen heroes, writes a vulnerable yet eager to
please Kon-El. The narration by Dubbilex, the Kid’s
telepathic Cadmus chaperone,
is an endearing touch, and there are more special guests from the
Kingdom
Come
universe to keep the audience on their
toes. Penciler Karl
Moline and
inker Jose
Marzan Jr provide a realistic and energetic appeal that reminds me of the older
Superboy comics without punching the reader in the face with a 90s
aesthetic. All of this is wrapped up in a gorgeous cover by Babs Tarr
of which I desperately need a poster. Needless to say, I am chomping
at the bit for the second issue to this storyline.
If
you’ve had enough of Pogs and Go-gurt and are looking for a different
Superboy, I highly recommend the
Superboy:
Boy of Steel story arc.
If
you’re like me and keep a '90s Superboy action figure on your desk,
then don’t
mess with the S and don’t miss this two-parter!
[Read Convergence: Superboy #1 on comiXology]
Jen
Keith is a Digital Editor at comiXology, comic artist, music addict,
and would like to point out that Superboy’s fashion sense is,
amazingly enough, in vogue again.
The stories behind the biggest even in DC history are 50% off now through 4/20!
Now’s your chance to fill in any gaps you have in your backstory knowledge. This week’s comics feature Aquaman, Batman, Catwoman, Superman, and more!
Convergence: Nightwing/Oracle #1
Writer: gailsimone
Artist: Jan Duursema
STARRING HEROES FROM THE PRE-FLASHPOINT DCU! Just as they’ve finally been reunited, the romance between Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon is sentenced to execution by Flashpoint Hawkman and Hawkwoman!
Now’s the time to fill in any gaps in your comic knowledge in advance of Convergence Week 1! Pick up stories starring Batgirl, The Atom, Green Lantern, and more for just 99¢ all week on comiXology.
