DC Comics reviews for the week of 5/2/18

Batman #46

If you’ve ever even remotely been a fan of Booster Gold, The Gift storyline going on in Batman is the worst. As a fan of 95% of this Batman run, this is easily my least favorite arc. Writer Tom King just does not have a good handle on Booster Gold and seemingly just needed an idiot to be the catalyst for a time killing arc before the big Batman and Catwoman wedding.

A year has passed since the end of last issue and Booster Gold seemingly has become even more clueless in the interim. His idea to make things right and make Bruce Wayne wake up from The Black Mercy is to arrange a ‘meet cute’ with Selina Kyle. There’s a few references to Ted Kord that suggests King had some familiarity with Booster, but little of his dialogue conveys any understanding of the character. And not too surprisingly, Booster’s attempts to fix things manage to make everything worse.

Tony Daniel’s art looks amazing. It’s really a shame that it’s attached to such a disappointing story. If there’s any redeeming value to this arc it’s solely the art. Hopefully, King stretches this arc out for enough issues to fill out a trade so I can avoid reading this again.

King has some decent concepts here, but he sacrifices all of the great work done over the last decade in making Booster a better character. This would be similar to having Batman smiling and making bad puns in a guest appearance in Superman. Batman fans with no attachment to Booster might appreciate this, but there’s no justice in this portrayal of a B-list hero who deserves a lot better.

Rating:  4 out of 10