Booster Gold
“Reality Lost, Epilogue”
Volume 2, Issue 19, June 2009
Released April 8, 2009
Cover Price: $2.99
Guide Price: $3.00 (as of 2011)
Estimated Issue Sales: 23,201
Writer: Dan Jurgens
Penciller: Dan Jurgens
Inker: Norm Rapmund
Colorist: Hi-Fi Designs
Letterer: Sal Cipriano
Assistant Editor: Harvey Richards
Editor: Michael Siglain
Cover Artists: Dan Jurgens, Norm Rapmund
Heroes: Booster Gold, Rip Hunter
Supporting: Skeets II
Settings: Giza, Egypt, 25th-century B.C.E.; Central City, DCU, USA, 20th-century; Rip Hunter's AZ Lab, DCU, USA , 21st-century; Vanishing Point, DCU, End of Time
Cover Description: Booster Gold, meet Booster Gold.
Brief Synopsis: Booster Gold must return to the present to save Rip Hunter.
Booster Gold's role in this story:
Featured (Booster Gold plays a prominent role)
Costume Worn: MARK I.v2 power-suit
Issue Notes: For the first time: 2 Booster Golds (past and present) and 2 Skeets (past and present) meet!
This story has been reprinted in:
Booster Gold: Reality Lost (2009)
Page 2, panel 5
Rip Hunter provides Starfire with an assist in escaping from the Gordanian Slave-Ship Q'st'r. This panel is nearly identical to the two-page spread of Starfire's escape as seen in 1980's The New Teen Titans, Vol. 1, #1, pages 2-3. (In Booster Gold, Vol. 2, #22, Booster himself will travel to meet Starfire just after she has joined the Teen Titans in The New Teen Titans, Vol. 1, #2.)
Page 4, panel 1
Though the specific time and place are not given (a narrative balloon simply provides the setting as "ancient Egypt," Booster Gold past and Booster Gold present (and Skeets past) discuss their present situation beneath the gaze of the Great Sphinx. This would place them in Giza, Egypt, likely sometime after 2600 BCE.
Page 7, panel 5
Booster expresses that he feels "like a helpless pawn in someone's grand scheme." (Sort of like you were a character in a comic book, huh, Booster?) Clearly, Booster is disgusted and frustrated when confronted with the possibility of the Fatalistic Theory of Time Travel (detailed here) that is common among creatures believing themselves to have a free will.
Page 12, panel 1
Echoing her brother's sentiment, Michelle Carter vows that she "will not be manipulated" and is determined to choose her own fate. Clearly, Michelle is disgusted and frustrated with her life and is embracing the Relativistic Theory of Time Travel (detailed here) which is a common belief among creatures with a free will. Surely both Booster and Michelle can't both be right can they? Or can they? See the Quantum Theory of Time Travel here for more details.
Page 14, panel 3
While lamenting the poor quality of Rex Hunter's Time Sphere, Booster references the Flux Capacitor, which as all fans of Back to the Future know, is what makes time travel possible. (The theatrical release of Back to the Future was July 3, 1985, almost two months earlier than Booster's August 20th, 1985, arrival from the 35th century, and nearly 5 months shy of the 30th anniversary of the invention of the flux capacitor itself on November 5, 1985.)
Page 16, panel 4
In a moment of self-reflection, Booster calls himself "the greatest hero the world will never know," officially spouting his book's new tag line for the first time.
Page 18, panel 1
Booster is rejoined with Skeets (er, the current Skeets, not the past version that accompanied him into the past) who has been deactivated by Michelle. Michelle has never much cared for robots (showing a 25th-century bias against artificial life forms), and has never treated Skeets with much respect.
Page 20, panel 3
A PAIR OF DOCS?: These three panels are nearly identical to the final three panels of Booster Gold, Vol. 2, #4, page 19.
Page 22, panel 4
SCHOOL'S IN: Booster recaps the events of the issue in front of Hunter's cryptic as usual chalkboard.
Boosterrific Review: The word "epilogue" in the title of this story accurately prepares the reader for the story within. All but 3 pages of the issue deal with Booster Gold's heart-to-heart with himself and provide closure for the story arc of the previous 4 issues (or 6 of the previous 8, counting the prologue story in issues 12 and 13). Surprisingly, this issue is more satisfying than the actual conclusion to the story, probably because of the honest emotion expressed by the issue's main characters, siblings Booster Gold and Michelle Carter.
Boosterrific Rating: Boosterrific!
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