Booster Gold
“Vicious Cycle, Part One”
Volume 2, Issue 11, October 2008
Released August 13, 2008
Cover Price: $2.99
Guide Price: $3.00 (as of 2011)
Estimated Issue Sales: 32,882
Writer: Chuck Dixon
Penciller: Dan Jurgens
Inker: Norm Rapmund
Colorist: Hi-Fi Designs
Letterer: Nick J. Napolitano
Assistant Editor: Harvey Richards
Editor: Michael Siglain
Cover Artists: Dan Jurgens, Brian (Hi-Fi) Miller, Norm Rapmund
Heroes: Batman, Booster Gold, Nightwing II, Rip Hunter
Villains: Blockbuster I, Clayface II, Killer Croc, Killer Moth, Wiley Dalbert
Supporting: Alfred Pennyworth, Commissioner Gordon, Michelle Carter, Skeets II
Settings: Gotham City, DCU, USA, 20th-century; Gotham City, DCU, USA, 21st-century
Cover Description: As Booster Gold fires his wrist mounted energy rays into the sky, Batman and Robin can be seen reflected in his golden gauntlets.
Brief Synopsis: The new Time Masters confront a time anomaly resulting in a world without Batman.
Booster Gold's role in this story:
Featured (Booster Gold plays a prominent role)
Costume Worn: MARK I.v2 power-suit
This story has been reprinted in:
Booster Gold: The Complete 2007 Series Book One (2024)
Booster Gold: Reality Lost (2009)
Page 6, panel 1
Booster Gold, Rip Hunter, and Skeets II are inside Hunter's Time Sphere with their newest companion, Booster's twin sister, Michelle. Booster's expresses his disbelief that Michelle is actually present, despite the two previously spending time together since her return (as seen in Booster Gold, Vol. 2, #1,000,000).
Page 6, panel 4
Traveling through the timestream to view the damage caused by a recent chronal anomaly, the Time Sphere passes images of Barbara Gordon at two different points in her personal chronology, both as Batgirl I and as Oracle.
Page 7, panel 3
Booster's quip, "someplace quiet without dinosaurs or Nazis" is a bit of an inside joke, referencing the recurring teasers seen in the final page of Booster Gold, Vol.2, #1 and #1,000,000 and his recent battles with Per Degaton.
Page 8, panel 2
As the Time Sphere hovers overhead of an alternate Gotham City which has lost its Batman, Booster oversees Clayface II, Blockbuster I, Killer Croc, and an alternate Detective Sergeant Jim Gordon.
Page 10, panel 3
In order to correct the errant timestream, Booster travels to the past to encounter another of Batman's foes, Killer Moth. Booster (and others) identify Moth as Drury Walker, so these events should take place some time after Drury dropped his public masquerade as wealthy socialite Cameron Van Cleer.
Page 11, panel 2
FASHION ALERT: For the second time in as many issues, Skeets accessorizes, donning translucent wings as part of a disguise as one of Killer Moth's henchmen.
Page 12, panel 1
A PAIR OF DOCS?: Batman and Robin I (Dick Grayson) arrive just in time to prevent Killer Moth's robbery of the Gotham Museum of Antiquities. They are unaware that Killer Moth is actually Booster in disguise, and are no doubt quite shocked when Booster-as-Moth does something that Moth himself never managed: beat the Batman. (Though Booster did have the advantage of super strength and energy rays.) This is the second time in his career that Booster Gold has gone undercover as a supervillain. Note that Skeets has gone undercover as a member of the Moth's gang by donning moth wings.
Page 13, panel 3
After Skeets prevents Batgirl from interfering, Moth's excited henchmen discuss Killer Moth's victory. They slyly reference the sound effects ("Bam!", "Zap!") from the 1966 Batman television show.
Page 13, panel 6
With the robbery completed as scheduled, Booster meets Wiley Dalbert, the time-traveling villain masterminding the entire robbery scheme and apparently the cause of the temporal trouble.
Page 14, panel 5
As Hunter explains Dalbert's crimes and motivations to Booster, the Time Sphere passes Batman's previous encounter with Dalbert. Also present in the time scene are Martian Manhunter and Batman's pyromaniacal foe Firebug. Not-so-coincidentally, Dalbert previously plagued Batman in stories written by Chuck Dixon, the very same author of this issue.
Page 17, panel 3
Booster's actions have failed to correct the damage to the timestream. Once again, Gotham City is without the protection of the Batman. Instead, a revamped Killer Moth "owns the streets." Moth is seen descending from his moth ship, in a pose very similar to one that Blue Beetle II would have used.
Page 20, panel 3
In a second attempt to correct time, the Time Masters return to the Batcave, earlier in the same day as the robbery at the Gotham Museum of Antiquities. Booster expresses awe at Hunter's ability to find the Batcave. Since Booster already knows the location and entrance to the Batcave (he was here as recently as the previous issue), he is presumably expressing surprise at Hunter's knowledge.
Page 20, panel 4
While marveling at the marketing opportunities the Batcave presents, Booster motions towards the Batmobile, Batcycle, and Batboat as seen in the 1966 Batman television show. Overhead hangs the Batwing airplane as seen in the 1989 Batman movie. All have been marketed as toys with much success.
Page 21, panel 2
Rounding out Booster's recent adversarial meetings with Batman and his allies, Booster finds himself facing the dangerous end of Alfred Pennyworth's over/under double-barreled shotgun. Rather surprisingly, this is Booster's first encounter with Alfred, and it's an unpleasant one.
Boosterrific Review: The now familiar art team of Jurgens and Rapmund maintain their continuity of style, making the transition between writers as smooth as possible. Taking advantage of the opportunity, fill-in writer Chuck Dixon, long associated with writing for the Batman family of titles, investigates the minor character of Killer Moth. After Booster Gold's interaction with Batman in the previous issue, Dixon's use of Moth, an anti-Batman, as a foil for Booster Gold is a clever and refreshing juxtaposition of characters and motivation. What does not work so well is the inclusion of Michelle Carter, whose presence feels like something of an afterthought. Dixon should not be overly chastised for this fault, however, as Michelle has never been allowed to develop into her own character and her sudden reincarnation does not seem to carry anymore weight with the readers than it seems it has for Booster.
Boosterrific Rating: Worth Its Weight In Gold.
Average Fan Rating: (1 vote)
A funny issue with some nice action scenes. Boosterrific is spot on with his comments about Michelle. Nobody seems to have any idea of what to do with her.
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