Comic Related - The Gold Exchange

The Gold Exchange: Booster Gold #12

Booster Gold artist (and incoming writer) Dan Jurgens got last week's Booster Gold #12 on the stands, and it's a cliffhanger ending that will have to wait three months for a payoff (since there's a two-issue fill-in arc starting next month by Rick Remender and Pat Oliffe before character creator Jurgens takes over as the full time writer. Booster Gold #13 will be the first issue of a Booster Gold comic ever drawn by a creator other than Jurgens, who sat down with us to talk about the current, Chuck Dixon-penned arc that's wrapping up and the future of the title.

ComicRelated: First off, was it always planned to go this way that Chuck would take care of the Wiley Dalbert part of the plot and then Dan would take over when it became a Ralph story?

Dan Jurgens: Chuck first came up with the idea of using Wiley Dalbert. We were laying plans to use Ralph in the next story and asked Chuck to work him in to the end of his two-parter.

CR: Between this story and Geoff's 52 story wherein Booster steals the Scarab and interacts with Ted right after the first Crisis, it seems that by the time all is said and done, our time-traveling heroes will have met just about everyone in the JLI, years before it's formed. Any plans to see Black Canary in her stylin' '80s duds in the title anytime soon? How about Oberon?

DJ: Nothing planned. Canary's '80s duds never worked for me. The hair, the headband ... I shudder at the very thought of it.

Oberon, on the other hand, would always be a great deal of fun.

CR: Dan, between this first splash page and the Brainiac 5 panel that's been used in two consecutive teasers, it's clear that you're getting to draw relatively more T-rexes here than in any title you've drawn in years. I know you once said that Aquaman should be a visually-fascinating book because of the coolness of the undersea world. Same thing with other weird creatures?

DJ: Yes. I've always thought an Aquaman book should, at the very least, be a strong visual book. There are so many elements to play with that should simply be a lot of fun.

Going back to my early days on Warlord sort of taught me that dinosaurs will usually put an artist in the win column. The are flat-out fun to draw.

CR: From a graphic-storytelling point-of-view, I guess this one's a Dan question, too: two issues in a row here, we've seen no blood on Rip after he was apparently shot. Was this just a choice to keep the book PG or are his injuries simply not that serious?

DJ: When the book was originally colored there was blood. Because it wasn't dealt with thematically in the follow-up issue it was decided to remove the blood from #11.

CR: Another Rip question: as long as Booster and Skeets are together, he can "recall" them from wherever they are in time and bring them to the sphere. At this point, will that include Michelle or are they more or less stuck for the moment unless Rip wants to leave her unsupervised?

DJ: I think it could include Michelle but I also think it's fairly limited in scope. As you said, they have to be together but I don't think there's an automatic "recall' that works from wherever they want whenever they want. Time travel ain't that easy.

CR: I was just referencing a line in 52 Pick-Up, that suggested Rip had that ability these days with the “software upgrade” he gave to Skeets and Booster’s costume.

DJ: Yeah, and I think it works to a point. It becomes too much of a easy way out, which is going to be dealt with in my first issues.

CR: On that same notewhat are the properties of Michelle's Goldstar uniform? Is it more like Booster's costume now, or does it still work on magnetism and all that?

DJ: Michelle's costume is essentially the same as it was in the original series, as that's where she was pulled from, just before she died.

CR: Alright. So does Rose still have the “extra” Booster (or Booster-looking) uniform that Rip had when he came to tell Daniel and Rose that the family legacy started right freaking now?

CR: Gordon seems pretty easily taken in by the wrong-haired Batgirl and the strangely-dressed man in the Batmobile. Is this just because it got emotional when Barbara got involved?

DJ: I'm not sure I agree that he was "taken-in". He reacted to what he saw and acted but "taken-in" implies he was duped and I can't quite agree with that.

CR: And am I to assume that when we all come back to this story in three months, that Gordon is going to have an issue with Batman that Booster will have to fix?

DJ: No... I wouldn't think so.

CR: Booster's got a thing for collars, huh? The Elvis jumpsuit is a look for him.

DJ: It was a logical costume to find at a costume shop. Plus, there's something about it that absolutely fits the character.

CR: So the Dalbert story was specifically harkening back to Chuck's Detective two-parter. Is there anything you're jumping off with Ralph Dibny and this ancient knife, or is that a new story entirely?

DJ: Ralph's story will be a new one. If anything, in terms of Booster's emotions, it will play off the conflict they had in 52. Ralph came to resent Booster and that has weighed on his mind ever since.

CR: Is this another example of "We should try not to think too hard about it," or will the past be changed yet again as a result of Booster socking himself? Did everything play out as it did last issue anyway, or will the event of Rip's shooting have been changed?

DJ: There have been many "try not to think about it too hard" moments in the series. Why start now?

CR: It looks to me as though the knife is still there; was Dalbert supposed to take it, or is it being left there for Ralph by some kind of design?

DJ: The knife will become a crucial element in future issues.

CR: Michelle is still holding onto Booster's costume when she says (of the Batmobile) "Our costumes are still in there!" Am I missing something?

DJ: That exemplifies one of those "oops" moments we all have. We should have put a black bar over her comment as that would have fixed everything!

CR: I know for my money, as they sped off in the ’60’s-style, open-top Batmobile, Bruce was telling Dick that he was the goddamned Batman.