Booster Gold

ARTISTS

Writers: Geoff Johns, Jeff Katz
Penciller: Dan Jurgens
Inker: Norm Rapmund
Colorist: Hi-Fi Designs
Letterer: Nick J. Napolitano
Editor: Michael Siglain
Cover Artists: Dan Jurgens, Brian (Hi-Fi) Miller, Norm Rapmund

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CHARACTERS & SETTINGS

heroes: Anthro, Blue Beetle II, Booster Gold, Green Arrow I, Hawkman I, Pantha, Sasha Bordeaux, Superman, Wild Dog
villain: OMAC unit
supportinges: Checkmate, Maxwell Lord

Settings: 21st-century Alps Mountains, Switzerland; 21st-century New York, NY, USA; 21st-century Paris, France

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ISSUE SUMMARY

Cover Description: Booster Gold and Blue Beetle II struggle against Superman.

Brief Synopsis: Booster Gold and Blue Beetle II find themselves trapped in an alternate present facing the dire consequences of their actions.

Costume Worn: MARK I.v2 power-suit

Issue Notes: According to the cover, this issue was published the same week as Countdown #3.

This story has been reprinted in the following issue:
Booster Gold: Blue and Gold (2008)

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ISSUE ANNOTATIONS

Page 1, panel 1
ALTERNATE REALITY: As Booster Gold recaps the events of recent issues of the Booster Gold series, he mentions a Simpsons episode as a means of explaining the complicated changes in reality resulting from his recent actions. That episode is "Treehouse of Horror V," and the segment in reference is "Time and Punishment."

Page 2, panel 1
Booster Gold, Blue Beetle II, Green Arrow, and Hawkman I travel through the "Empire of the Dead," the Denfert-Rochereau Ossuary of Paris, France. Because Paris' limited land had become so valuable, the remains of millions of corpses in the city's overcrowded cemetaries were relocated to the catacombs of the Denfert-Rochereau Ossuary in the late 18th century.

Page 4, panel 1
Booster and Beetle are introduced to the other members of Green Arrow and Hawkman's Freedom Fighters: Anthro, Pantha, and Wild Dog.

Page 6, panel 1
The AA-52 (an abbreviation of Arme Automatique Transformable Modèle 1952) that Wild Dog gives Booster is a mass-produced French machine gun developed in 1952. The gun is no longer in production but is still in use by the French military.

Page 7, panel 3
Prior to Green Arrow's explaination, Pantha's origin had been something of a mystery. Although the events taking place are presented in an alternate timeline, Booster has had previous interactions with Pantha, indicating that Maxwell Lord's role in the creation of Pantha and the Wildabeest Society is much deeper than has previously been explored.

Page 13, panel 2
BORROWING THE CAR: Booster comments on a headache. Booster is feeling the repercussions of the Ultra-humanite's destruction of the Time Sphere that he had left at Hunter's laboratory. The destruction of this stolen Time Sphere (the theft of which Booster had previously compared with "borrowing a car") is significant, as it is crucial to Booster Gold's origin; without this Time Sphere, Michael Jon Carter cannot travel back through time to assume the identity of Booster Gold.

Page 14, panel 1
Superman, under the control of Max Lord, destroys the Bug and captures Anthro. Anthro, "the first boy on Earth," was the first Cro-Magnon man and is considered the common ancestor of all humans in the DC Universe. In this issue he wears a jacket emblazoned with his name in the style worn by JSA leader Mr. Terrific. This is a reference to what seemed an offhand lament by Antrho in Booster Gold, Volume 2, #2 (noted by Morgenstern).

Page 16, panel 5
Booster and Beetle team-up do defeat Sasha Bordeaux, the Checkmate Black King's Knight. In this alternate timeline, Bordeaus is presumably never invected with the OMAC virus and remains with the Checkmate organization.

Page 18, panel 3
SPOILER WARNING!: Pantha can't catch a break. In Booster and Beetle's native timeline, she is killed in battle with Superboy-Prime during the Infinite Crisis. Here, in a world where Infinite Crisis never happened, she is killed by a Max Lord-controlled Wild Dog. Reveal

Page 20, panel 1
Booster rescues Beetle from Max Lord by carrying him into the Checkmate Armory filled with weapons seized from fallen heroes. Pictured are Starman's Cosmic Rod, three Green Lantern Power Rings, and Blue Devil's Trident of Lucifer.

Page 20, panel 5
SPOILER WARNING!: Booster and Beetle escape from Superman thanks to the assistance of a Mother Box, the sentient computer of the New Gods. Beetle assumes that this Mother Box must have belonged to Mister Miracle or his wife, Big Barda, though Miracle's Mother Box is woven into his costume and Mother Boxes have been known to self-destruct following the demise of their bonded master. Reveal

Page 22, panel 1
The image of the Justice League International that Booster refers to is canonically inaccurate. Green Flame and Ice Maiden actually joined the League following Justice League International #14 while Black Canary was out of action due to events in Green Arrow: Longbow Hunters. Canary would officially resign from the League in Justice League International #19 without having met either Green Flame or Ice (by then renamed Fire and Ice).

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ISSUE REVIEW

Boosterrific Review: In Booster Gold, Vol. 1, #21, published in 1987, Booster's creator Dan Jurgens wrote, "Personally, I think that you have to have one terrific story to stretch it out over five issues. And it seems to me that many of the times I’ve seen five and six-part stories, they suffer from a case of excessive padding." Over 20 years later, that exact sentiment could be applied to this issue. As wonderful as it is to see Booster Gold reunited and adventuring with Blue Beetle, this issue still feels like filler in an unnecessarily long story arc. As a result, this comic earns only a lukewarm recommendation.

Boosterrific Rating:

• Currently 3.0/5 Stars.

Average Fan Rating:

• Currently 3.5/5 Stars.

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