The Human Target

Cover Description: A giant Booster Gold eats a bagel entrapping Christopher Chance.

Brief Synopsis: Christopher Chance interviews Booster Gold as part of his investigation into his own murder.

Issue Summary: After a confrontation with Guy Gardner, who is jealous of his relationship with Ice, Christopher Chance attends the grand opening of Booster's Bagels to interview its namesake proprietor for clues into who might have poisoned him. Reveal Potential Spoilers

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

Costume Worn: MARK I.v2 power-suit

Issue Notes: As the conclusion to this series will later make clear, this story takes place on an unidentified alternate Earth (not Earth-1).

Story Notes: The title of this story (and in hindsight, also the title of the two previous chapters) is a reference to Shakespeare's King Lear: "When we are born, we cry that we are come to this great stage of fools." In context, the speaker, the fallen king himself, cynically laments his fate without taking any responsibility for his own actions that led him to his current destitution. Perhaps this is an allusion to Christopher Chance blaming the heroic JLI for his own impending death, not his choice to defend a murdering villain like Lex Luthor.

This story has been reprinted in:
The Human Target Book One (2022)

Page 13, panel 1
ALTERNATE REALITY: Christopher Chance and Ice catch up with Booster Gold at the grand opening of Booster's Bagels, a bagel shop in a strip mall by a nail spa. Booster has a history of endorsing eating establishments, from Planet Krypton in The Kingdom (1998) to Big Belly Burger in 52 (2006).

Page 13, panel 2
FASHION ALERT: When exactly are these events supposed to be taking place? Skeets is in his original, football-shaped shell rarely seen since his rebirth in Infinite Crisis in 2005.

Page 13, panel 3
One fan attending the opening is wearing a Graphitti Designs Booster Gold Symbol T-Shirt released in October 2010. At least this cannot be considered an anachronism. I bought this shirt when it came out, and it is still hanging in my closet.

Page 14, panel 2
POWER DOWN: Technically, Booster's "Booster Shots" are not lasers but energy bolts. Lasers are essentially concentrated beams of light that move at corresponding speed. Energy bolts move much more slowly but deliver more of a punch. Superman's eye-beams are functionally lasers, while Starfire's starbolts are energy bolts like Booster's Booster shots. (Green Lantern's ring can create either lasers or bolts on command.)

Page 16, panel 3
HIS STORY: Booster denies that he tried to kill Luthor "three days ago," but he fails to reveal that he and Lex have history. Luthor's Lexcorp was a business competitor of Booster's BGI corporation in the 1980s, and Luthor was a primary sponsor of the Conglomerate super team led by Booster Gold in the 1990s.

Page 16, panel 4
PRODUCT PLACEMENT: As you might expect from any business Booster is involved with, Booster's Bagels is full of advertisements promoting Booster Gold, including a cardboard cutout, a post featuring the cover of Booster Gold Volume 1 #25, and a sign with the slogan "Give your morning a big BOOSTâ„¢ with our fresh breakfast bagels!" In addition, all employees wear yellow aprons with blue stars.

Page 17, panel 1
It is implied that Booster has harvested the seasonings used by Booster's Bagels by traveling back in time to steal them from ancient civilizations in Babylon (sesame seeds), Sumer (poppy seeds), and China (onions). It's not clear what advantage ancient ingredients provide to a modern bagel shop, but it certainly is a novel approach. Everybody's got to have a gimmick.

Page 18, panel 1
The flashback image of the Justice League International seen in Human Target #1 is hanging on the wall.

Page 28, panel 4
SPOILER WARNING!: Chance tricks Guy Gardner by the creative use of Booster's Legion Flight Ring (stolen during a handshake on page 18). Reveal