NO. Not even slightly awesome, you monster.

The above image was released late last week as part of the preview for this week's Batman #45. While I'm always reluctant to pre-judge a story before I've read it, I have to say that in all the years I've been tracking Booster Gold appearances, nothing has disappointed me more than what I've seen from this issue so far.

Before you read any further, know that I'm about to rant about what could be considered spoilers.

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Still here? As we knew from last week's released previews, this story opens with Tony Daniel's drawing of Hal Jordan blowing out his brains with his ring. Very violently. Very graphically. Even putting aside the moral issues of suicide, that's not the sort of thing I want to see in my DC Comics.

But now we have the dialog that goes along with those pictures, and Jordan's death is nothing nearly so disgusting as the words coming out of Booster Gold's mouth in reaction.

Watching a man shoot himself in the head IS NOT AWESOME. Not a little bit. Not kind of. Never.

At no point in the published history of Booster Gold has the character ever expressed such an ugly sentiment. The character is a hero, yes a hero who has made many foolhardy decisions over the years, but never has he willfully allowed harm to come to someone else or glorified such violence or death in any way. To see those words coming out of the mouth of Michael Jon Carter literally turns my stomach.

It only makes matters worse knowing that this sort of shocking vulgarity isn't in a standalone Elseworlds book, but in Batman, DC's best selling ongoing title. I haven't purchased an issue of Batman in years, but I cringe at the thought that some parent might buy this to introduce Booster Gold to their kid. (As if shooting violence wasn't commonplace enough in schoolyards in 2018.)

If I sound like a sanctimonious prude, maybe I am. Maybe I'm overreacting because it's my hero espousing something I'd expect to hear from an ISIS recruit. But what would fans of Batman or Superman think if their idols said such things? In the DC Universe, Booster is a celebrity. In the real world, if a Kardashian reacted this way, how would their fans respond? I doubt there'd be much applause.

To be fair to issue writer Tom King, I haven't read the full story, and perhaps this is a trick. Maybe that's not Booster at all, but someone wearing his skin. Maybe it's an alternate evil timeline with a Booster Gold too immature or psychologically damaged to understand the callousness of his words. Maybe this takes place inside a simulation, and Booster's comment is a clumsy response to a well-crafted high-definition computer generated hologram. Maybe the Cosmic Cube has turned my hero into a Nazi. Weirder things have happened in comics. Still, I find it revolting that any DC Comics character should be implied to think such thoughts, much less give them voice.

Batman #45 gets the benefit of my doubt. But even if King and Daniel find some way to redeem the story, I doubt I'll be recommending anyone buy it. Personally, I don't think anyone needs a comic in their collection that shows Green Lantern's brains falling out of his skull while someone else laughs at it.

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