By Cat Wyatt

Issue number 47 of Batman brings about the end to the Gift plotline (AKA the Booster Gold plot). While it was interesting, I have to say that I won’t be sad to see it go. Time to get on to bigger and better things! (Here’s hoping the wedding they’ve been building up to is both). Still, I was curious to see how they’d resolve the conundrum Booster created…

This issue starts with adorable little Skeets being repaired. I knew he was doomed to get damaged back in the beginning (if for no other reason than because I found him/it to be utterly adorable), but it sure is nice to have him back…here’s hoping it actually lasts.

The sad part of this story is who is repairing Skeets… I’ll give you a hint... it isn’t Booster. Bruce Wayne has spent his fortune getting little Skeets up and running again. He must have figured out that it has a time travel device inside (which is actually a somewhat impressive deduction, since Booster wasn’t exactly talking clearly). I can see how somebody like Bruce would become obsessed with a time travel device, especially considering how he lost his parents just a year ago…this is not a man that’s known for his strong coping mechanisms.

There’s one hitch with Bruce’s plans…Skeets will only take commands from Booster Gold, which means that Bruce has to drag him out of the shitty hole…er…sorry, prison, that he stuck him in. While Booster wasn’t directly responsible for the deaths that occurred a year ago, it’d be impossible to say he didn’t have a hand in what happened (at the very least he can be accused of not thinking his plans through and bringing Selena Kyle to Wayne mansion).

Despite spending the last year in pretty deplorable conditions, Booster is still…well…himself. He’s as chipper and optimistic as ever, which either says a lot about his ability to cope with bad situations…or very little about his intelligence (I’m going with the former, just to be nice).

Needless to say Booster is pretty ecstatic to see Skeets safe and sound, even if the situation they’re in is less than idea, granted I don’t think Boosters eternal optimism would allow him to do anything else.

In case the situation wasn’t painfully obvious, I’ll lay it out: Bruce wants Booster to order Skeets to take him back to right before his parents were killed. A pretty understandable request, if we ignore the fact that it was done at gunpoint.

Here’s where things get a bit crazy. Bruce’s specific wording (at Booster’s slight urging) is ‘take me to ten minutes before my parents were killed.’ Now naturally he assumed the event he’s referring to is the only event. When in truth there are actually two events Skeets could choose from. He could go to the moment one year ago…or he could go to the one that Booster had mistakenly undone, all of those years ago.

I think we all know which one Skeets chose. Now, Bruce is a pretty smart man, so I’m sure he figured out what was going on pretty quickly (certainly faster than most people would, at the very least). Unfortunately this trick did result in Skeets demise (the shot had been intended for Booster, but sweet little Skeets took the hit). Now that they’re in the right timeline, all Booster has to do is keep Bruce from interfering with the events that must follow.

Normally I’d say that Booster wouldn’t stand a chance here, but we have to consider that this Bruce Wayne never had all the training that our beloved version had. He doesn’t have the strength, the reflexes, or the ability, that Batman has. So while Booster gets pretty roughed up, there was very little doubt in my mind that he’d win (and in this case by win I mean merely that he’d keep Bruce busy long enough for the events in the alley to unfold).

The plot ends with Booster revealing everything that happened to Bruce and Selena (the ones in the correct timeline, that is). I am happy that they added this little bit to the end, as otherwise it’d feel like there was literally no permanent impact to this plot. As it is it really feels like there wasn’t much done. The main point of the story was to tell us the sacrifice Bruce Wayne has to make; that the city can’t be safe and happy while Bruce is also happy. It’s a little heavy handed, if I may say so.

While I found this plot interesting and entertaining, it honestly felt more like filler to me than anything. It’s like they were stalling for time while they built up hype for the wedding (not that I blame them for building hype – I actually can both see and understand what they’re trying to do here).

Score: 3/5

Batman #47
DC Comics