The Blue and Gold Battle
This cover's got an excellent idea, and the pencils are certainly great; but there's something significantly off about the colors and it puts a big damper on the image.
YES! THIS IS THE BLUE BEETLE I FELL IN LOVE WITH! After a wishy-washy start to the New York storyline, Blue Beetle has FINALLY hit its stride again. 'Reuniting' the Blue and Gold was not a gimmick, Booster Gold was the absolute perfect choice for this issue. It's disappointing that part of the storyline is continued in the Justice League International Annual (Which I was already getting, but I'm sure plenty of people aren't willing), but there's just so many ways that this works great.
For starters, Tony Bedard writes an EXCELLENT Booster Gold. At first he does a great job with the comedy, appearing to be writing a Pre-52 era Booster, but then he shows his serious side, the one more akin to his second ongoing. He knows what he's doing, and he knows exactly how to use his chauvinistic persona to his tactical advantage.
This also sets off some excellent character moments for Jaime that remind me why I draw comparisons between this and Milestone series'. It's a tiny leak of his spanish heritage that causes a major shift in his battle with Booster Gold, demonstrating a heartwarming sense of cultural unity. But before that happened, we saw such deep characterization, Blue Beetle's just been hammered with mistrust and antagonism for his extensive stretch of extremely bad luck on the public image front. And Booster Gold gave him this thin ray of golden hope, and betrayed him. You can really feel how much it stung when Blue Beetle launches into a betrayed fury, declaring that out of everyone he's fought, he hates Booster the most. Booster who is a superhero, while Blue Beetle's mostly fought unapologetic criminals. But that's exactly why the betrayal hurt him so much.
The artwork by Ig Guara is..... just so awesome. The fight scenes are great and all the sci-fi technology is sleek and round in the right ways.
And also there's some developments with Paco, Brenda, and Director Bones.
In Conclusion: 5/5
Once again, this series has taken a massive range of plotlines, and used them to make an amazingly streamlined story. Everything has its proper importance as plots flow in and out of the story, and every page is a new delight. Between Ig Guara's AWESOME artwork, Director Bones and his awesome.... everything, Booster Gold's awesome characterization, and the deep intense moments for Jaime.... Blue Beetle's gotten back to it's groove.