Booster Gold #40 discussion

Boosterrific · **Posted:** January 9th, 2011, 7:53 pm

This board is for discussion of Booster Gold #40, scheduled for release January 12, 2011.

Mr. Chaos · **Joined:** January 10th, 2011, 11:36 pm **Posts:** 105

Preview is up.

http://www.newsarama.com/php/multimedia/album_view.php?gid=2893&page=6

Spoilers for the preview:

The nazi doctor from the General Glory oneshot is back, having been thrown forward in time to 10 years for the current DC present. He has a glowing green head.

Erin is sure to not like the next part...a team of computer hackers managed to hack Rip's comupters. However, i have a theory on this, which I will state in a moment.

From the files they get, they, and us, learn that Booster is probably 35 years old, but do to time travel they have no way of knowing. Assuming Booster arrived in the past when he was 23 (he was busted for gambling his senior year, if I am correct) that means he has been in the game for 12 years. That sounds a too long/old for me...I've always assumed Booster was nearing 30 but hadn't hit it yet, having been in the game for about 7 years.

If you consider that Dick Grayson was already Nightwing when Booster arrived on the scene (Dick and Michael are, I believe, almost the same age. Dick was in college when he became Nightwing, so Booster would be about 2-4 years older) then that means that Dick is between 29-34 years old. If anything, Dick is closer to 29, making Booster closer to 30 than 35.

End age rant.

The nazis also state that Booster was motivated by greed to gamble on his games, which is false as far as I remember (he did it a tad out of greed, but mostly because his mother was sick and the family needed the money). They also state he failed at covering up the crime...also incorrect, as we know that the final time he was caught was when he had to LOSE a game, the first time he had done so, to save his father. Not exactly his fault...but I guess...

Now, for my theory on the hacking...we know Rip is super smart. He built the friggin' time sphere. Personally, I think all the files the nazis got were set up by Rip in case someone did try to hack in, to make Booster look like a boob. They focus only on the negative, hiding the positive, so they see Booster as Rip wants him seen.

rex raygun · **Joined:** January 10th, 2011, 9:48 pm **Posts:** 1

You beat me to the punch. I just saw this up on Newsarama!

I agree with your assessment of Rip's anti-hacking protocols. The dude is so far ahead of everyone else!

Rex!

Erin · **Joined:** January 10th, 2011, 6:58 pm **Posts:** 307

Mr. Chaos wrote:

Erin is sure to not like the next part...a team of computer hackers managed to hack Rip's comupters. However, i have a theory on this, which I will state in a moment.

You know me so well. :lol:

That's a major pet peeve that more than one writer has done on this title that bugs me and I'd like to see it be addressed. I'm willing to see how this happens before I get annoyed since the plot seems to work around this thread. Although I am still a little confused how Rani of all people could enter Rips' computers. Maybe Rip allowed it for the sake of the timeline? Back to the current issue though--why would Rip even need that information? The only people he allows to read it are family and none of them need Boosters' backstory or age. :?:

I like your theory though.

About the other nitpick I have. WARNING for extremely geeky rant
The age thing does not work for me. I'm not sure why their aging up Max and now Booster. Especially since DC still refuses to get Bruce Wayne out of his 30s. Booster was supposed to be 20 in the first series--arguably 19 since Winick placed the scandal months before Boosters' birthday. According to Winicks' Red Hood series Jason Todd was gone for five years. Jason died when Bruce was in the JLI (I believe his U.N. status is mentioned in Death in the Family.) Based on that I'd say he was closer to 25-26. (Last I heard Dick Grayson was 26 though I can't recall if that was OYL.) It's unclear because of his time jumping but it also fits closer to what Jurgens implied during the Day of Death arc.

Cyborg makes a comment on Boosters' age by comparing him to Donna Troy. I doubt Cyborg meant that Donna looks like she's 30 when he said Booster looked a little older than her at a time she was 19 going on 20. If he's older than that why would Jurgens even make the allusion that he's still kinda young? If he's 35...Michelle can't even tell that her twin brother aged that much? Aging up through time travel? I just can't believe Booster is obsessed with Ted to the point he's "in denial" for years on end. You'd also think he'd be further along with becoming a Time Master if that was what happened.

Mr. Chaos · **Joined:** January 10th, 2011, 11:36 pm **Posts:** 105

Well, I only have a single complaint about this issue:

Skeets' apparent New Origin. First off, he is in his new model design, instead of the classic football design. Second, we know for a fact in Booster Gold #0 that Skeets was active in the museum, not in a display.

The only saving grace is Agent 66 stating that the files were corrupt and that they can't be sure of their facts.

Erin · **Joined:** January 10th, 2011, 6:58 pm **Posts:** 307

I found the whole thing overly confusing.

I'm still not sure if the errors in this issue were done on purpose or not. While the minon admitted to not knowing things like how Booster got Skeets the tone wasn't what I'd expect from these writers. It wasn't told in a joke like fashion with an over the top telling. The section where Booster has most of his uniform put together and goes after Skeets I could see as 66 making up since he admits he couldn't get all the information. But the janitor bit? No, 66 makes it a point to try to avoid telling it leading me to believe it was an actual mistake. Booster was a watchman not a janitor.

Booster and Skeets actually did think far ahead enough to steal a credit card in the first series, the joke being that he thought that was how you pay for everything. And the thing I'm dreading the most--the explanation for how they expect Booster to go to jail when he has a death sentence on his head. There were other things but I'm going to see if this reads better the second time.

Mr. Chaos · **Joined:** January 10th, 2011, 11:36 pm **Posts:** 105

Ah, the janitor thing doesn't bug me, as it seems to flip flop alot. I remember several times when Booster was a janitor in other universes (the Legion of Superheroes Cartoon, for example)

Erin · **Joined:** January 10th, 2011, 6:58 pm **Posts:** 307

Maybe so but his origins has been told at least 3 times in this volume. Can you imagine a new fan reading this and getting confused? I can understand them having a human watchman along with a robot, but why would they have a human janitor when a robot would be quicker?

Boosterrific · **Posted:** January 13th, 2011, 8:44 pm

Guess I'm glad that I put that spoiler code in. My LCS hasn't gotten this book yet because of lingering winter weather, and I am so, so jealous of you people.

tiggerpete · **Posted:** January 13th, 2011, 11:20 pm

I can understand why most of what was said and done in this issue was said and done, but the only thing that confused me was the end

why did Rip arrest Booster? Booster is Rip's dad, and he has the death penalty in the future, and since we see future Booster from time to time, its safe to say that either Booster escapes, he is pardoned due to his heroics, or with all of the continuity shifts since the 80's (Zero Hour, Infinite Crisis, 52, Final Crisis) maybe the 25th century is different somehow than it was in 1986. maybe the "trial of the centuries" will lead into Flashpoint? I dunno, I'm confused, but I'll be back next week to see how Booster gets out of this (not "whether" or "if", as Rip definitely wouldn't put his existence on the line unless he knew it would turn out ok)

Here's a thought, maybe Booster is going to stand trial right after he had left in the first place making it make sense of why no time cops have gone after him since Vol. 1, since if Booster stood trial 1 year after stealing the time sphere in 2486, and was found innocent due to all of his heroism (maybe pull Batman out of the past as a character witness) then there would be no reason to send more time cops after him in the last 25 years, its possible Rip knew this had to happen and decided that now was the best time as it gets Booster out of the way so Rip could clean up the Nazi hacker thing on his own without Booster being in danger.

Forum rules

Booster Gold #40 discussion

Who is online