Late last week, Collected Editions posted a review of the collected Showcase Presents: Booster Gold. I run a Booster Gold website, but even I was surprised by the thoughtful insight that the author, CEB, gleaned from the source material. Take a peek at the quality of the following excerpt, a small fraction of the total review:

Jurgens's Booster Gold reflects the materialism of the 1980s, and the certain innocence that went with it. Booster arrives in 1986 with a flashy costume and an expectation to make money, and it never occurs to him that achieving such might not be so simple. Though Booster performs feats of strength, little of what he achieves is actually his doing, but rather that of Dirk and other handlers. As is the case throughout the book, here too Booster is gambling -- on his own potential for success -- possibly without even knowing that he's doing so. It's no coincidence that in the story, President Reagan is one of Booster's biggest supporters, as the government encouragement of consumer spending at the time would no doubt pass muster with Booster. I would not go so far as to say that Jurgens specifically compares Reaganomics to gambling here, but we do see Booster lose his fortune twice shortly before the stock-market crash of the late 1980s.

There's plenty more where that came from, including a particularly delightful investigation of the relationship between Booster and Broderick from Booster Gold #18. Maybe if this article had been published before the turn of the DCnU, we would have encouraged a writer to have Broderick return!

If you like reading about Booster Gold -- and who doesn't? -- the entire review itself is highly recommended reading. You can find the review, and many other insightful reviews, online at collectededitions.blogspot.com.

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