Blue Beetle

Cover Description: Blue Beetle stands over a defeated Booster Gold.

Brief Synopsis: Booster Gold and Blue Beetle battle it out in New York City.

Issue Summary: Booster Gold appears with Thaddeus Miller on Newstime A.M. with Connie Burnett to offer his aid to Blue Beetle. But Booster isn't the only person in New York City looking for Blue Beetle. Brenda and Paco have also come to the city in search of their missing friend Jaime, unaware that he is the Beetle. Elsewhere, Mr. Bones of the Department of Extranormal Operations is also searching for Beetle.

Interested in finding a mentor, Blue Beetle travels to Liberty Island to meet Booster Gold. As thanks for his trouble, Blue Beetle is attacked by Booster, who claims that Beetle is the vanguard for an attack by the Reach. Combat ensues.

As Blue and Gold fight through Manhattan, Brenda and Paco miss Jaime's grandmother and are captured by D.E.O. agents.

Booster Gold eventually proves the superior combatant and defeats Beetle. Before Booster can deliver the finishing blow he is confronted with a crowd led by Beetle's aunt. Unable to dissuade the crowd, Booster retreats, promising to meet Beetle the next day to finish their "conversation." This looks like a win for Beetle, who is entirely unaware that the DEO has accidentally revived his nemesis, the Blood Beetle. Reveal Potential Spoilers

Booster Gold's role in this story:
Featured (Booster Gold plays a prominent role)

Costume Worn: MARK XIII power-suit

Issue Notes: Events in this story take place before Justice League International Annual, Volume 3, #1.

Story Notes: Booster Gold has appeared in well over 600 comic book stories, and this is the first one to be titled "All That Glitters." This phrase is a common misquote of "All that glisters is not gold," a line from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. ("All That Glisters" was used as the title of Action Comics #594.)

Page 1, panel 5
MEET THE PRESS: Host Connie Burnett introduces Booster Gold to the audience of her talk show, Newstime A.M. with Connie Burnett, as Michael Carter. Prior to Flashpoint, Booster Gold's legal name as recognized by the United States government was actually "Booster Gold." For years, his birth name "Micheal Jon Carter," was a secret known only to his close friends.

Page 2, panel 1
PRODUCT PLACEMENT: Booster takes the opportunity of appearing on a live television show to promote his products, "Booster's Best fair trade coffee" and "Booster-Blast energy drink."

Page 3, panel 4
Booster Gold's talk-show counter-point is Thaddeus Miller, super hero opponent and founder of the Superfail website. At the conclusion of the previous issue, Booster Gold had burst into Miller's office to offer his services. Is Connie Burnett aware that her guests are colluding against Blue Beetle?

Page 5, panel 1
EXTRA, EXTRA: Jaime Reyes is at a newsstand reading a copy of the New York Pest with a picture of Booster Gold on the cover. (Television appearances, product placements, newspaper headlines, all in one issue? Is this a Blue Beetle comic or a Booster Gold comic?) Hanging on the wall behind Jaime in this panel is the cover to Justice League International, Volume 3, #1. Note that it is not the cover as published, but the solicited cover with a mysterious woman in black in place of Godiva.

Page 5, panel 4
Jaime sends Booster Gold a text from a Moondollar Coffee cafe. Was the Sundoller Coffee chain another victim of the events of Flashpoint?

Page 6, panel 3
Believe it or not, despite both characters debuting in 1985, Booster Gold and Mister Bones have never exchanged dialogue on panel in a comic book.

Page 7, panel 4
Meeting Booster Gold for the "first" time at the Statue of Liberty, Blue Beetle makes a joke about gambling on football. While it the public knows Booster Gold's real name, apparently his sordid past is still a secret.

Page 8, panel 1
In the time before Flashpoint, Booster Gold was responsible for introducing Jaime Reyes to the power of the scarab. Now Booster is out to stop Jaime from using the scarab. What a difference a Flashpoint makes.

Page 14, panel 2
Loosely translated, Jaime shouts," Virgin of Guadalupe! Why does no one believe me?" The Virgin of Guadalupe, an apparition of the Virgin Mary as she appeared to Mexican peasants in the sixteenth century, is a holy icon to Mexican Catholics.

Page 14, panel 3
"Not in this lifetime." Obviously, this is a reference to the fact that Booster's best friend was once Ted Kord, the second Blue Beetle. As mentioned earlier, this Blue Beetle and Booster Gold had a mentor/protege relationship prior to Flashpoint.

Page 15, panel 3
FASHION ALERT: Is Booster planning on killing Blue Beetle with his Booster Shot? Booster was all smiles when his opponents were killed in Justice League International #11. Is Booster so bloodthirsty in the DCnU? (And where is his Flight Ring, usually worn on his right hand? It seems to have disappeared in this issue, along with the dimple on his headband.)

Page 15, panel 4
POWER DOWN: This is the first time that Booster Gold has been defeated by a walker cane. Sigh. For the record, "dejalo, gringo" roughly translates from Spanish into, "leave him be, American."

Page 16, panel 4
SPOILER WARNING!: Booster's attacker is none other than Jaime Reyes' grandmother Conchi. While Booster is held at bay with a cane, Blue Beetle is asked, "hey mate, need help?" Reveal

Page 17, panel 4
SPOILER WARNING!: Recognizing that he has lost the advantage against the crowd, Booster tells Blue Beetle to meet him tomorrow in Prospect Park, a public park in Brooklyn. A narrative balloon indicates that this will be continued in Justice League International Annual, Volume 3, #1. Reveal