Letters to Booster Gold #3

While there was more happening in this entry than perhaps seemed to be happening in the previous, I'm not feeling that I've gotten any further in the story. This seemed to be just a sequence of vignettes with little point, but with time travel stories like this one, it can be tough to be sure. With the kind of story being laid out, and the way you're building it, it's clear a final weighing in on the individual parts as well as the story as a whole will have to wait until the end.

Booster was well-defined, but the other two seemed less so. Even the little moment with Beetle at the end provided Ted more personality than I felt in Waverider and Walker. on the other hand, that's fine by me, I love me my Ted Kord! I was left unfulfilled, left wanting a tighter entry in this story, so this issue didn't really make a strong impression, but there's definitely enough well-offered mystery to keep my hanging in and see how it all comes together.

Take care
Don

I can see why you might feel that way, but a few things were established... some of them that will not come into play for quite a few issues. I'm a big believer in grand scale stories and sometimes things that seem minute now could become a big thing in the future.

Every single stop they made in this issue was actually either important for a reason or will have ramifications down the line. In some cases it might take some time (heh... time... funny...) to see how, but it all will. Promise



Waverider and Walker are both kind of purposely being left a little bit... vague... for now, although both will more fleshed out as time goes by. Sorry the issue left you unfillied again... hopefully you'll find something that is more satisfying as some of the mysteries begin to get solved! Thanks for hanging in there.

You know, part of the reason I say stuff like "This installment of a story left me unfulfilled. I'm sure there's more, but this particular entry didn't do it for me" (and then try to give more specific reasons if possible), is not so that I can be told to wait and see, that the writer has "big plans that are being seeded down the line", and that I can't see the big things at the moment because they're too small for me to notice.

I do it to point out that even when a writer is trying to obscure the big plot, and build something slowly in the background, the writer needs to put something in the foreground that fools the reader into feeling they've read something of significance. IT's like a magician's sleight of hand, in prose form. There needs to be something up front to distract the observer/reader while you lay out the secrets in the background.

Excellent examples from the comics includes the post-Zero Hour Legion of Super-Heroes, and they're whole first two years. Two completely different mysteries are running, in the background, building and building over the course of two books at the time, and each pays off huge, one after the other and you sit htere and go "Wow! That's been in there the whole time?" Of course, Watchmen does it excellently well. THe first year of Animal Man does this well too. (those compliments coming from someone who DOESN'T believe Moore and Morrison are second comings to boot). I daresay that my own Mightiest Mortals year one (which can be read in one sitting at UDCU, or monthly over at DC3) does this effectively, as well.

I also realize I'm likely in the singular when saying that the story isn't that strong to date yet, but the hints of its potential are in there. But those are my views, and a writer can't tell a reader "wait...wait, it's coming...really, it's coming...you'll see". Writers have to give readers something up front, even if the big stuff is being kept for down the road. A tricky, most difficult row to hoe, but very much worth it when it's done.

But then, I did say, clearly this is a story that needs to be "done in one" I think. The pieces are at one level, but if you can achieve your aims at the end of the story, then as a whole prose work, it may well reach a higher level. So we'll just have to wait and see.

Take care
Don

I liked seeing the Question, if only for one scene. That's the lovely thing about time travel: dead folks can appear in your story! ;D

Good stuff, though I was kind of expecting more resolution by this issue. Guess this means I have to keep reading!