Convergence: Booster Gold

Hey Legionnaires! It’s your pal, the Kord Kid, back again to cover “Convergence: Booster Gold”. Why? Well for starters, it features Superboy and the Legion…but it also has a healthy pinch of Blue Beetle thrown in for good measure, so who better to bring it to you than me? Well to be fair, it’s really being brought to you by Dan Jurgens (writer), Alvaro Martinez (penciller) and Raul Fernandez (inker). I’m just here to provide the witty recap and commentary.

Gotham City, 2462, a thief dodging security guards and systems runs through a high tech facility, briefcase in hand. When the guards take a few shots at him he warns they may hit the “SKS”, which is apparently in the case. The guards stand down as the man makes his way to a lab. He’s got one hour to deliver the SKS, and needs a ride…so he steals a Time Bubble. The man is destined to become the Booster Gold of the New 52 universe. We’ll call him B-52, it’ll make things easier to keep track of as we continue. B-52 wakes up his neck attached to some kind of cable, to the sound of gunfire. Now in full Booster Gold costuming, he finds himself face to face with time traveler Rip Hunter and B-52’s own robot sidekick Skeets. 

Rip is actually there looking for another Booster (we’ll call him BG-Prime)… the one that is Rip’s father! Before they can find him though, they need to escape. Escape from where you ask? Why a dungeon in Castle Deimos in the world of Skartaris, of course! 

No sooner are they outside though then B-52 reveals that Deimos is looking for the “Vanishing Point”…and that he told him where to find it to protect Michelle Carter, aka Goldstar (the other Booster’s sister). Apparently Deimos had threatened to kill her when BG-Prime refused to give up his secrets. That means time to head back into the castle and rescue BG-Prime and Goldstar. They stumble on a room full of containment cells, each housing a different time traveler from across the Multiverse…from Monarch to Per Degaton, Extant to Hourman, and more.

Upon freeing BG-Prime though we learn he’s dying from some sort of chronal energy poisoning. These time seizures are what caused him to bounce around the timestream and multiverse back in “Future’s End: Booster Gold”. And with that, BG-Prime blinks out of time again, leaving everyone else to fight Deimos and his army of lizard men! A few pages later and they’ve tracked BG-Prime’s chronal signature to a domed city housing a 31^st century Metropolis…and Superboy and the Legion! 

While Rip, Goldstar and B-52 scuffle with Superboy, Brainiac-5, Shadowlass, Invisible Kid, Sun Boy, Ultra Boy and Colossal Boy, BG-Prime blinks out again…and finds himself reunited with an old friend, Blue Beetle!

It’s a happy, but difficult reunion. BG-Prime knows what the future holds for his friend, knows what Max Lord will eventually do, but seeing his best friend alive is nearly overwhelming. Beetle for his part is more concerned with why Booster looks, well, older and why his costume doesn’t have a collar like it used to.  That is until BG-Prime flinches in pain from the chronal sickness. Then it’s Blue and Gold to the end, with Beetle determined to help his friend. 

Meanwhile, in the 31^st century Goldstar realizes that her brother, BG-Prime, has vanished. Rip and B-52 are too busy with “cosplay Superman and friends” though to do anything about it. 

As the Legion surround the time travelers, demanding answers like why B-52 is wearing a Legion flight ring, Rip activates a device that allows them to hop 45 minutes into the future so they can get back to tracking BG-Prime. 

Back at Kord Industries (no, not my other blog) Blue Beetle runs some tests on his friend. He has plenty of questions about the future, but BG-Prime can’t tell him he’s going to die, only that he’ll have to “experience your life as it unfolds.” 

As Booster begins aging more rapidly, the friends reminisce about the good times. B-52, Rip and Goldstar are soon on the scene, and along with Blue Beetle, are all determined to save BG-Prime! The finally settle on the only possibility…taking him to the Vanishing Point. 

They figure by placing him directly into the chronal field at the Vanishing Point (the literal of end of time in the DCU) his body will merge with the energy there and be revitalized. Instead, he’s transformed…into the new Waverider! 

Waverider quickly goes into action, restoring everyone to their proper place in time and space before heading off to the final battle of Convergence!

Wow! That was the only “Convergence” mini I’ve read that a) didn’t involve Telos, Brainiac’s living planet, (or at least didn't have the alien announcing that heroes had to fight), and b) included more than two worlds from the Multiverse. Now to be fair, I am a little behind and still have about half the “Convergence” minis to read, but based on what I have read this was different, refreshing.  More than that, it combined my love of Booster Gold, Blue Beetle…and the Legion! There was a lot going on here, kinda made me wish it was longer that two issues but I really had fun with the dual adventures of BG-Prime/Blue Beetle and B-52/Legion. Booster and the Legion...I wonder if there's something else I can read that combines those two?