Superman: Action Comics, Volume 5: Booster Shot By Dan Jurgens
Satisfying but flawed finale to Jurgen's solid Superman run.
World: The art is mostly solid, I like the colors and the framing but I have always had issues with Booth's character's 'dead eyes' and they still have them. I love the world building for this arc, it's the end of Jurgens run so we have all the pieces that he's created since Rebirth used here and add to that General Lane and we have all the pieces for a wonderful story. Then there's Booster which make it even more awesome.
Story: I love Booster Gold and with this arc having him back it made me so happy. Jurgen's Booster run was solid but sometimes uneven and this story has all the best and not so best parts of Booster...meaning time travel. It's a bit all over the place and the rules are not consistent which irks me for time travel stories but in terms of emotions and story it is satisfying. It is a fun story, it's a bit draggy and pacey but it is a satisfying story with a lot of good emotional beats. Booster Gold is the best, I miss him and his story and his role in the DCU and having him back just put a smile on my face (when will he have a series again?!). I really also liked the side story with Lois and Lane, she's been amazing since Rebirth and this continues that trend..except. The end, which I did not like as she needed rescuing which I did not want cause she should have been able to take care of herself, but for the story I understand why...but I am not happy with that part. This hopeful Superman is great, and it was exactly what was missing from the New52, Rebirth, if nothing else changes, has made Superman great again and Jurgen's run as been solid in showing the world exactly what Superman is and why he's important and relevant today. Once final part with Hank was great, solidifying how Superman is timeless and that even old concepts can change for a new generation.
Characters: Superman is a bit off this arc, he should know better about time travel, but as we know for the sake of the story he needed to be inconsistent and wow was he ever inconsistent until the end. Other than that he's been solid and a rock and symbol of what he's suppose to be. Booster, he's awesome, there was a lot of info dumping and reintroduction of him to readers again which I've read so many times my eyeballs are tired of reading about he's the greatest hero no one knows, but man do I miss him. Not much of an arc for him but he was great to play off Supes and the banter with Skeets is always great. Then there is Lois who has been a rockstar since Rebirth and this continues, she's strong and complex and she's just the best. Her end was not deserved but oh well. The villains for this arc were solid, not much depth but they needed to be powerful and that's what they were.
A wonderful arc that had some janky pacing issues and time travel wet cement rule that took a bit away from the solid story. A wonderful end to Jurgen's run. Thank you Mr. Jurgens. I wonder what Bendis is going to do now?
Onward to the next book!
*read individual issues* 9781401275280 Let down. Dan Jurgens had been giving life into his action comics since the start. Getting better and better. However, this final volume was a BIG let down.
This is just a what if story really. What if Superman can stop the destruction of his home? Like this hasn't been done a million times before? And Booster Gold is a fun character at times but having him for every issue, and Dan not writing him in my favorite way, this was a let down.
Good: The art was pretty solid and the very very ending was sweet.
Bad: Everything else was a bore, we knew there were no stakes, and nothing feels epic like the previous volumes.
Overall a let down in a BIG way. I still recommend Dan's Action Comics run but this is a weak part of it. A 1.5-2 out of 5. 9781401275280 Booster is always a treat in small doses, but the interpretations of all the other main characters are a bit off, even including the big man himself, who betrays the very essence of TRUTH, Justice and the American Way when he lies to Lex Luthor in the parting panel, for no explicable reason other than spite. 9781401275280 A weak finish to what has been a very good run for Dan Jurgens. Up to this point had been some of his best writing in years, but this is a clunker. Superman acts consistently out of character haphazardly bumbling around in other time periods, leaving Booster gold to clean up the timeline. These different time periods were confusing, they reference things that are no longer canon after the new 52 relaunch like the Earth / New Krypton war.
In the B story, Lois is now some kind of ninja. He dad is captured and she goes to rescue him before he's executed. Her dad who actually is special forces couldn't escape, but she can sneak into a hostile country and a prison to break him out. It's beyond dumb. All in all the writing was very poor. It's almost like you could tell Jurgens was pissed about getting booted off Action Comics before he could write issue 1,000. 9781401275280 [Read as single issues]
Look! Up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Booster Gold, because if Dan Jurgens can get him into a comic, you can be damn well sure he will. But Booster may be Superman’s only hope when Clark travels back to the death of Krypton to try and discover if Mister Oz really is his time-displaced father Jor-El, threatening the entire timestream in the process. And in the present, Lois takes on an undercover assignment to rescue her father, General Lane, from captivity – but she didn’t count on Jon hitching a ride with her…
I’ve missed Booster Gold. He’s had such a tumultous history since the New 52 hit, so it’s nice to see him back in mainstream comics again, and under the pen of his creator nonetheless (although I’m pretty sure if anyone at DC ever even mentions Booster Dan Jurgens just appears out of nowhere with a big grin on his face). His role in this arc is similar to his old ongoing series – he’s trying to protect the timeline, and manages to screw it all up. His banter with Superman is pretty great, although seeing Superman being the irresponsible one takes a second to get used to; considering what he’s been through lately though, it makes perfect sense.
The storyline takes a twist for the unexpected when Supes and Booster end up trapped in a Zod-controlled future, which feeds nicely into the Zod story Jurgens told a few volumes ago as well as with what Robert Venditti is up with the character over in Hal Jordan & The Green Lantern Corps. A good old fashioned Kryptonian throwdown makes any comic more fun. This kind of synergy between books (and time periods!) is one of the things I’ve loved so much about DC’s Rebirth initiative; everything seems so connected these days.
The subplot with Jon and Lois is almost as much fun as the main plot; Lois hasn’t had a lot of agency in the Superman comics for a while, but this restores a little of that and shows a) why she’s such a good journalist and b) why she’s such a good mum. Jon wanting to meet his other grandfather and heading straight into danger is perfectly in line with his character after everything he’s been through recently (like his father), and the one-shot issue right at the end of this arc that brings the entire Kent family together with General Lane is one of the most Superman-y comics you’ll read in a while as Clark desperately tries to get along with a man who clearly hates everything about him in a good twist on the old secret identity revelation issue.
Also collected here is a story from Action Comics Special #1, which is the true end of Jurgens’ Action Comics run before Brian Bendis comes in and ruins everyth-I mean, takes over. This is a Lex Luthor story, with Superman nowhere to be seen. It’s a shame that Lex’s heroic development seems to have taken a backseat recently, but it’s nice to see him revisited once more before the final return to villainy over in Justice League.
There’s a variety of artists on these issues, with Dan Jurgens himself pencilling Booster’s first issue while Brett Booth and Will Conrad tackle the rest of the series. Conrad has been in and out of Action Comics for a while now, and Booth seems to be floating after being dislodged from Titans, but they find good homes here with Booth taking the big bombastic action stuff that he does so well during the Zod stuff while Will Conrad tackles the later issues, and the Action Comics Special story.
Dan Jurgens bows out of a hugely entertaining and emotionally powerful Action Comics run with this final arc. Personally I’ve found Action Comics a lot more consistent than the Tomasi & Gleason Superman (which was also great, but a bit scattershot, especially near the end), and this final arc sums up the fun time that Jurgens was clearly having writing it. There’s a reason Jurgens is one of the most prolific Superman writers in history, and his Action Comics run here will no doubt withstand the test of time in the same way that his more iconic stories already do. 9781401275280
This was so disappointing .
Dan Jurgens run in Action comics to this point has been superb and I'd say , his run returned this title back to it's glory, sadly this didn't work for me .
The plot in itself is filled with various plot holes and both Superman and Booster act opposite to how their characters are supposed to act , with Superman not caring about the timelines , to acting all stubborn and insisting on not returning . And don't even get me started on the Lois lane story line that turned her into a ninja .. hang on , I just realized , that storyline turned her into Batwoman , Katherine Kane . Ffs Jurgens
In the end , the story lacked any heart that previous Jurgens story had , part of it is maybe due to lack of Superman's interaction with his son and partly because of how out of character everyone is in this 9781401275280 Booster gold is back and is fixing the timeline because Superman is gonna break it, wait that’s flashes job!!
This is really sad because I really loved the first four trades but this and the oz effect are really bad, I just felt like dan jurgens was under pressure because after this was the debut of Brian micheal Bendis.
Overall boring book 9781401275280 This was an ok volume. Superman acted a little out of character by . Also, since when did Lois Lane become a ninja? She has a military father and knows how to take care of herself doesn't automatically turn her into Jason Bourne.
I also don't like how they.
My favorite part was Booster Gold mentioning the Marvel universe. 9781401275280 Superman and Booster travel to the past of Krypton to see the mysterious origin of Mr Oz and see how he came to being and in the way they run into the ancient Eradicators, go to Gotham of 25th century in connection to Booster and then on Jekuul to fight against a future version of Zod all in order to find what happened to Jor-El? Shenanigans happen and its a time travel story about a son trying to find what happened to his family, planet and its an emotional story and the ending breaks your heart but confirms the previous storyline.
Meanwhile Lois and Jon have to rescue Sam Lane in a foreign country and by the end we get such a grandfather-grandson reunion and its so well earned plus a great moment of Clark uniting the family and finally an evil future version of Luthor vs Superman.
Great volume and great ending to an amazing run and just shows how deep Dan understands this characters and everyone has a great story here and well earned and highlights their quality traits and Superman despite going through such hardships and difficulties persists and shows why he is the greatest hero of all time and the art was amazing throughout the volume! One of the best Superman runs easily! 9781401275280 I LOVED this! Booster is amazing. 9781401275280
Superman and Booster Gold travel back in time to verify the claims that Kal-El’s father somehow survived the destruction of Krypton. What they find, though, is a vastly different world than history has shown. When the time intruders are discovered, Jor-El and General Zod collaborate to capture or destroy them. The Eradicator will chase the pair through time to 25th-century Gotham City and back to Krypton in pursuit of justice. Collecting ACTION COMICS #993-999 and a story from ACTION COMICS SPECIAL #1. Superman: Action Comics, Volume 5: Booster Shot