Booster Gold is going on a date in Gotham and out to impress. Sadly, he's got just $200 to his name and that isn't enough to buy even a rat meat dinner.
Rat meat? Yep, Booster is back home in 25th-century Gotham City and, well, I'll let this terrific splash spread put you in the picture.
What a horrible place. And fascinating. Less enamoured than me are a bunch of visitors with murder in mind.
Can Booster, Justice League member in good standing (sometimes), save the day? Rather than fight the aliens in the here and now, he thinks laterally and decides to go into the past, stop them before they become a threat.
Oops. Just one alien, apparently a decent sort, and Booster's just buggered his 'borrowed' Legion Time Bubble. Can any of the locals help out? As it turns out, yes, and soon Booster is in touch with other time travellers, hoping for a hand to get home.
Oh.
As for what happens next, I'll leave you to find out for yourself. Suffice to say, this special by DC Flintstones writer Mark Russell, penciller Rick Leonardi and inker Scott Hanna may be the most fun this side of Scooby-Doo Team-Up. Every page has great visual and verbal gags, all in service of a classic time travel paradox story. (OK, make that most, I think Luke Cage, in the queue, just wants to go to a concert...) Booster's personality is spot on, he's a bit flighty but thoroughly heroic, while Skeets is in his usual role of flying Alfred, ready to help or prick the ego as appropriate. Truth be told, this is a lot more of a Booster comic than a Flintstones book, there's some satire, but none of the 'existential dread' that defines the current series; the cavepeople are just along for the ride. Still, what we get of Fred, Barney and Wilma is in keeping with the soon-to-end book - they're suitably unimpressed by Booster and his future guy posturing.
It's a bit odd that Booster's knowledge of history extends to recognising a Who concert that ended in tragedy but he doesn't question humans living alongside dinosaurs. Still, it's forgivable in a romp that's this much fun. Favourite moments include the parade of time travellers - especially the magnificent Crabulon - and Booster's impromptu puppet show.
Veteran Leonardi knows how to tell a story with economy and style, while Hanna keeps things nicely defined without overwhelming his partner. I've never seen these two paired but I hope they'll work together again, as I love how they give us a book that's whimsical enough for a comedy and dramatic enough for a superhero adventure. Colouring the book is Steve Buccellato, who keeps things light and bright, while Dave Sharpe's letters are a tribute to nominative determinism.
The cover homage to the classic Flintstones opening is unmistakably the work of Mike and Laura Allred; he drawing, she colouring, me loving. As for the variant, it's Booster creator Dan Jurgens' contribution, with inker Norm Rapmund and colour house Hi-Fi, and it's a delight.
There's more to this book than Booster, Barney and co - a back-up presaging the upcoming Jetsons book is an emotional gut-punch, the perfect complement to the yabba-dabba-doings that precede it. Kudos to writers Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti, artist Pier Brito, colourist Alex Sinclair and letterer Michael Heisler.
I don't know all the Hanna Barbera characters teaming up with DC properties this month - I don't think Space Ghost and Jonny Quest were ever shown in my UK childhood - but on the basis of this special, edited by Marie Javins and Brittany Holzherr, I'm grabbing the lot.
you should try Future Quest it's good DC is going to make an anthology series of after the mini also try the other Hanna Barbara annuals like Adam Strange Future Quest or Space Ghost/ Green Lanter
ReplyDeleteThanks, I did buy all the specials – just not had time to read them as yet.
Deleteokay hoping u post reviews of the space ghost special an the Future Quest annual
DeleteSee what I can do!
DeleteI'm forever astonished that The Flintstones -- a book I hadn't even intended to pick up when I went to the store on the week it was first released -- has become my favorite comic. I'm really going to be sad to see it go in a couple of issues. (Though The Snagglepuss Chronicles will almost certainly help me deal with the loss.)
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Snagglepuss, the Suicide Squad/Banana Splits annual that his story appears as a backup in is every bit as good as the Booster Gold/Flintstones teamup. Tony Bedard has found his sweet spot, writing stuff a little sillier than the usual superhero sturm und drang. (See also the promotional KFC comics DC did, available for free on Comixology; Bedard gives those books so much more personality and fun than those sorts of things usually have.)
I haven't tried the more straight-up adventure teamup annuals, but of the two DC/HB teamups I've read, both have been great fun.
I never got to the Flintstones series despite all the great reviews... this special got me to order the trade, though, and it's coming tomorrow.
DeleteI'm excited to read Snagglepuss, after the preview and, more importantly, your recommendation. I think I've only ever seen him in cameos, maybe in Laff-a-Lympics.
Mart, I haven't been keeping up with DC's line up and given the date this review posted I assumed it was an elaborate April Fool's joke! I thought 'wow, Mart really went the extra mile creating all these fake pages!'
DeleteIf only I were that creative!
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