In Justice League International #16, a crack team goes undercover on a mission of international espionage.

Maybe "crack team" is a bit of an overstatement, especially when Booster Gold and Blue Beetle are involved.

Page 6 is chock full of references to classic movies in television. Peter Lupus was a bodybuilder and actor in the original Mission: Impossible television series. And Beetle has assumed the identity of George Bailey, famous worldwide as the protagonist character from the classic film It's a Wonderful Life.

Interestingly, Beetle looks less like Wonderful Life actor Jimmy Stewart and more like silent film comedy star Harold Lloyd. I don't think this is an accident.

This often-silly issue explicitly namechecks the comedy duo of Bud Abbot and Lou Costello, and unless I am very wrong, that's Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel (in a fez) watching Booster fumble the luggage in the fifth panel of page 6. Those two were experts in mishandling packages, as hilariously recorded in 1932's The Music Box.

Having Beetle dress as the clock-dangling star of 1923's Safety Last! is a nice nod to the silent era of Hal Roach Studios comedies as much as it is to Clark Kent's famous glasses disguise... which Superman's creators Jerry Siegel and Joel Shuster modeled on Harold Lloyd. That's a full circle disguise!

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Despite the fact that Captain Atom spends most of the issue running away from the New Gods' Black Racer on the astral plane, somehow Booster Gold and Black Racer never come face to face in Captain Atom #17.

So instead, I have to settle on page 5 as my favorite page of the issue.

Yes, Booster plays a more important role on page 8 when he identifies a nearby hero who can help the situation (future enemy Brainwave!), but what I like specifically about this page is that it's Booster Gold who carries the wounded Captain Atom to safety.

For one thing, while armored, the good Captain weighs three-quarters of a ton (according to the Captain himself in Justice League: Generation Lost #6), so Booster is the only hero present who could lift him.

More importantly, in years to come, it will be Captain Atom who cradles Booster Gold after the Devastator leaves our hero for dead in Justice League America #89. That's some good symmetry.

Both Booster and Atom joined the DCU at almost the same time following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and both have always represented different, competing aspects of American culture that are just as relevant today as they were in the 1980s. I always like seeing them on panel together.

Still... one of these days, I really would like to get a showdown between Booster Gold and the Black Racer. I also always enjoy seeing Booster Gold cheat Death.

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"Hit or Miss" in Justice League International Annual #2 is half slice-of-life dramedy, half crime farce. It's a little silly, even by Justice League International standards, but I'd rather read Joker stories like this than something where he cuts off his own face or tricks Superman into killing Lois Lane or.... well, almost any modern Joker story.

I'm certainly biased, but I think the highlight of the story is the subplot about Booster Gold and Blue Beetle hustling for new careers.

I admit this page isn't the flashiest, but that "And then, of course, there's all that money," punchline gets me every time.

Honestly, "Repo Man" is a pretty inspired choice for two former capitalist titans fallen on hard times. If they can't have their own fast cars and private jets, they're happy to take them from others. Very heroic, boys.

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A few weeks ago, while discussing my favorite page of Justice League International #14, I said that Steve Leialoha's loose style was a bad match for Keith Giffen's layouts. I've been looking at a lot of Giffen's layout art since his recent passing, and I've changed my mind. I now think the problem with Leialoha's art in JLI #14 and #15 is that Leialoha's finishes are probably too loyal to Giffen's layout style.

In any event, the art in Justice League International #15, while still not up to the standard set by regular series artist Kevin Maguire, is at least more consistent from panel to panel and page to page than the previous issue managed.

Thanks to J.M. DeMatteis's dialogue, there are several pages competing to be my favorite of the issue, including Booster Gold flying into action in page 10, Booster Gold saving the day on page 15, and Batman's punchline on page 22. But since this will always be the first meeting between Blue and Gold and Fire and Ice, page 6 steals the show:

I can't say the four of them really get along any better these days, but they'll always be family.

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If you've ever read Captain Atom #16, you can probably guess my favorite page, but here, I'll save you the trouble of guessing:

Booster Gold busting through trees like a super man! Blue Beetle swooping out of the sky to rescue a buxom damsel from drowning like some kind of dark knight! And in place of a Wonder Woman, we get a Mister Miracle! It's like a Justice League International roll-call.

Can't you just imagine this animated and set to the Superfriends theme with Ted Knight calling out their names? I sure can.

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