Every family has its bad seeds. While many might suggest that Booster Gold is the problem child in his own family, the real black sheep of the Carter clan is actually Booster's father, the good-for nothing Jon Carter.

In the very first telling of Booster's origin (by Skeets to Superman in Booster Gold Volume 1 #6), Booster's father is mentioned only in passing. Booster later confirms his father's absence from his 25th-century life while relating the story to his friends in Booster Gold Volume 1 #13: "You see, my old man was a compulsive gambler. He lost everything we had a couple of times over and finally took off when I was four."

Booster led everyone to believe that his father wasn't particularly important in his life after the year 2446 other than for setting the example on how gambling can destroy families (thus making young Booster's turn to gambling even more tragic).

The truth is actually much worse.

Booster Gold Volume 2 #44

As it turns out, before Jon "Jonar" Carter* abandoned his family, he was actually quite abusive to his wife, to the point where Mrs. Carter required hospitalization on multiple occasions (Action Comics #995). It is no surprise that after he left, his mother swore off relationships, declaring that she was "fine without a man!" in Secret Origins #35.

Despite this history of abuse, young Michael Jon "Booster" Carter always craved the approval of his absentee father. After achieving early success as a quarterback at Gotham University, Booster sought his father out. But approval was not forthcoming.

Instead, Mr. Carter manipulated his son into a deepening spiral of illegal activity for his own personal gain.

Booster Gold Volume 2 #0

Despite the warnings of his twin sister, Michelle, Booster was unwilling or unable to extract himself from this bad situation. In 2462, he was caught, expelled, and ostracized, leading him to exercise more of his trademark questionable judgement by stealing a time machine and running away into the past.

Rather than stand by his son, Mr. Carter turned state's evidence against his former gambling associates, even going so far as trying to sell out his own son (as Booster would only discover many years later after a time travel accident in the aforementioned Action Comics #995).

Rather than serve out a ten-year prison term for his own bad behavior, Mr. Carter jumped at the chance to join Black Beetle and Mister Mind in their time-manipulating scheme to seek revenge on Booster and Rip Hunter, who had prevented Mister Mind from taking over reality in 52. Despite the fact that Mr. Carter was little more than a small-time crook, the supervillains needed his Carter family DNA to access the powers of the of the Supernova costume created by Hunter.

It was while masquerading as Supernova that father and son would once again cross paths in Booster Gold Volume 2 #2 before the mask came off in Booster Gold Volume 2 #4.

Once the truth was revealed, Booster cut off his father's own ear to excise the Venusian worm in his brain and free him from the villains' control (Booster Gold Volume 2 #10). Shortly afterwards, Ted Kord sacrificed himself to correct an unstable alternate timeline. Mr. Carter hasn't been seen since.

Understandably, Booster has been in no hurry to re-establish a connection.

Action Comics #995

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

* In four decades of Booster Gold comics, the elder Mr. Carter is identified by name only once: as "Jon" in 2008's Booster Gold Volume 2 #10. In a response to the 2010 Boosterrific.com post "Dan Jurgens on the Creation of Booster Gold," Booster booster Erin of exploringthetimelab.blogspot.com pointed out that Geoff Johns writing as Skeets in an article on the Newsarama website (presumably in 2008) explained "'Jon' is a 25th century shortening for Jonar which means 'he who tried and failed.'" I have never been able to track down the original article, and the name "Jonar" has never appeared in print in an official DC publication. But I believe Erin and a significant portion of the fanbase seems to accept this as a fact, so Boosterrific.com has adopted "Jonar" as a convenient shorthand to differentiate father and son who share the name "Jon."

Other People in Booster Gold's Neighborhood:

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Not so long ago, Erin of Exploring the Time Lab was ruminating on some older comics she wanted to read. Included in her list was Blasters Special #1, which just happens to have been released 29 years ago today.

Art by James Fry, Robert Campanella, Carl Gafford

The Blasters were a space-faring group of super heroes spinning out of the Invasion! event. (I always think of them as a second-rate Omega Men.) Their biggest claim to fame was the inclusion of cast-off JLA mascot Snapper Carr, who had gained the ability to teleport by snapping his fingers. Snapper's inclusion in the Blasters was short lived (as were the Blasters themselves: their entire career was limited to Invasion, this one shot, and a couple of issues of Valor). Snapper would eventually move on to support the DC One Million-incarnation of Hourman in his own title.

So far as Booster Gold is concerned, his brief cameo in Blasters Special is limited entirely to the two-page spread pictured above. Of special note is the fact that this is the only time to date Booster has appeared on-panel with lesser known DC Comics heroes Brother Power the Geek or Shade the Changing Man. Oddly, Booster Gold wouldn't appear on panel with any of the Blasters until 2007, when he finally crossed paths with Snapper Carr at the wedding of Green Arrow and Black Canary.

There you go, Erin. Now you know what you've been missing.

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Booster Gold may not be in comic shops right now, but you'll still find him if you look in the right places. Here's what I've seen around the web in the past few days:

• Dan Jurgens is okay with Nathan Fillion (or "probably ten other guys who I'd certainly give a big thumbs-up to") playing a live-action Booster Gold. With a character as great as Booster Gold, I figure even George Clooney couldn't ruin him.
• Speaking of Jurgens, he recently told a fan on Twitter (Booster booster CDN) that "of course" he knows who Rip Hunter's mom is. The trick will be getting him an opportunity to tell us.
• Steve Lam of BamSmackPow.com thinks he has proof that television's Rip Hunter is still Booster Gold's son. If that turns out to be true it would mean that we've already met Booster Gold's grandson!
• Speaking of Legends of Tomorrow, Erin of Exploring the Time Lab revealed that her comic book reading, LoT-watching sister had no idea that Rip Hunter is Booster Gold's son. (Spoilers!) That got me wondering whether most fans of the show would think more or less of Rip Hunter if they knew who his father was. Booster doesn't exactly have a sterling reputation with the casual comic-reading public. (That's what makes his secret identity as The Greatest Hero You've Never Heard Of work.)

What have you heard about Booster Gold lately?

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Grab your test sheets and a red pen; it's time to grade your answers to last week's really hard Booster Gold quiz.

1. Daniel Carter was the fifth-best Term-Life Salesman at Evergreen Insurance. Fifth. Out of six. (52 Week 19, 2006)


2. According to Checkmate, Michelle's middle initial is "A". (Countdown to Infinite Crisis #1, 2005)


3. Jonar Carter walked out on his family when his twins, Michael and Michelle, were 4 years old. (Booster Gold #6, 1986)


4. Building a casino on KooeyKooeyKooey was all Blue Beetle's idea. (Justice League America #33, 1989)


5. The resurrected Max Lord didn't bother to run a smear campaign on Booster Gold because "Booster's life needs no discrediting." (Justice League Generation Lost #2, 2010)


6. As he told Rip Hunter, even Booster Gold knows not to tug on Superman's cape. (Time Masters #2, 1990)


7. Future policeman Broderick found it appalling that 20th-century Americans eat meat, burn fossil fuels, waste fresh water on things like cleaning clothes, bicker over world politics, and freely possess firearms. (Booster Gold #18, 1987)


8. Dirk Davis' daughter was Sarah. (Booster Gold #12, 1986)


9. Superman thought Supernova was "on the level," as an experienced and well-intentioned hero. (He was right, of course.) (52 Week 10, 2006)


10. As a reward for defeating the Royal Flush gang, Batman gave Booster Gold a smile (and membership in the Justice League). (Justice League #4, 1987)

How many did you get right? I told you it was hard. If you knew the answer to even half of those questions, give yourself a Goldstar!

(Thanks again to Erin for letting me repost her quiz.)

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In honor of Booster Gold's 30th anniversary, Erin of Exploring the Time Lab has compiled this insanely hard Booster Gold quiz. How many questions can you answer without digging through your long boxes?

1. What was Daniel Carters' job and how good at it was he?


2. Booster's twin, Michelle, never got a middle name like her brother, but she did get an initial. What was it?


3. What age were twins Michael and Michelle Carter when their dad left them?


4. Whose idea was it to set up a casino on KooeyKooeyKooey?


5. When Max Lord returned from the dead why didn't he make Booster look bad like the rest of his teammates?


6. When Rip Hunter was looking for superheroes to help him with his time travel project, Booster told him not to piss someone off. Who was it?


7. Name three things that future policeman Broderick found strange/wasteful when he followed Booster Carter back in time.


8. What was Dirk Davis' daughters' name?


9. What did Superman think of Supernova?


10. What did Batman do to let Booster know he did well against the Royal Flush gang?

I'll give you the answers when I get back from my vacation in two weeks. Enjoy! (Special thanks to Erin for letting me repost her quiz.)

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