Justice League America

Cover Description: Despero dives to the ground, scattering the Justice League, including (clockwise from top right) Booster Gold, Mister Miracle, Ice, Martian Manhunter, and Guy Gardner.

Brief Synopsis: Despero returns to Earth to hunt down and kill the Justice League.

Booster Gold's role in this story:
Cameo (Booster Gold makes a minor appearance)

Costume Worn: MARK I power-suit

Issue Notes: Even though Booster is among the members of the Justice League seen flying from Despero's impact on the cover, he is not actually a member of the team in this issue. This issue's ties to Leagues past is fitting, for if the numbering had continued from the previous Justice League of America title, this would have been issue #300.

Story Notes: It could be argued that this story has no title, as it definitely has no title page. The word "Spy" appears as the headline at the top of the first page, so it has been used as the story title.

This story has been reprinted in:
Justice League International Omnibus (2020)

Page 4, panel 1
EXTRA, EXTRA: In a paparazzi photograph appearing in Spy magazine, Booster Gold is shown disposing of filled Glee brand trash bags at the New York Embassy of the Justice League by using his force field. Since the star is clearly visible on the back of his costume, the picture must be taken since the events of Justice League America #34. Spy was the title of a magazine published semi-regularly from 1986 to 1998, and the mock article contained in this issue includes a parody of a regular Spy column, "Separated at Birth." The actual May 1990 issue of Spy magazine was devoted to Washington, D.C.

Page 5, panel 2
The article in Spy magazine reveals that the United States Internal Revenue Service, the IRS, considers "Booster Gold" to be Booster's real name. This will come to no surprise to those who have read about Booster's troubles with the IRS in early issues of the series Booster Gold, Vol. 1. The article goes on to claim that Booster would have won the Publisher's Warehouse sweepstakes should he have returned his entry in time. The Publisher's Warehouse is based on the Publisher's Clearing House, an American direct marketing company who has been sued multiple times for overzealous and fraudulent marketing of its sweepstakes program.

Page 11, panel 5
A Sunco station in New York shows the price of unleaded gasoline at 91.9¢ per gallon. By the end of the year, America's involvement in the Persian Gulf War would drive gas prices well over a dollar, to a national average of $1.36 per gallon.

Page 12, panel 1
Continuing the theme of restaurant puns from the previous issue, Booster Gold is dining with Maxi-Man in the Eta Bita Pie Greek Restaurant in New York City. The restaurant's name is a pun mixing the Greek alphabet with the phrase "eat a bit of pie." This is the first face-to-face meeting between Booster and Maxi-Man, who Booster is recruiting for a new superhero team. (In Mister Miracle, Vol. 2, #9, Booster Gold is shown to have rescued a woman as Maxi-Man looked on, but there is no clear evidence that the two heroes actually met. In fact Henry Hayes had not yet adopted the Maxi-Man moniker at that time.)

Page 12, panel 4
After dining with a respectful Maxi-Man, Booster encounters a secretary who is charmed by his good looks. After years of disrespect from fellow Justice Leaguers, Booster is beginning to earn a little respect not afforded him since he headlined his own series.

Page 15, panel 3
The book that Gypsy is bringing home from school is Figure Drawing: For All Its Worth by Andrew Loomis, a well-respected guide for drawing the human figure that is commonly referred to by comic book artists.

Page 20, panel 1
A sign directs travelers to Rahway State Prison in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. The Sylvester Stallone movie Lock Up was filmed at the prison in 1989.