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Showing posts 1 - 2 of 2 matching: identity crisis

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

This Day in History: Murder Most Foul

My how time flies. The first issue of Identity Crisis, the event series that brutally raped and murdered one Justice Leaguer as a cheap excuse to get the rest of the "Satellite Era" Leaguers to fight amongst themselves and destroy years of friendship and camaraderie, was published eleven years ago today.

Thankfully, Booster Gold had almost nothing to do with the series, but our hero did have the good manners to accompany pal Blue Beetle to Sue Dibny's funeral.

Identity Crisis would set the tone of the DCU for years to come. This story drove Batman to create Brother Eye, who played a critical role in the death of Blue Beetle, and I'd be perfectly happy to pretend it was never published.

We still miss you, Sue.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: identity crisis sue dibny

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Be a Booster Booster: Boycott Event Series

Readers love 'em, as evidenced by the fact that they sell like wildfire. But event books -- those mega summer crossovers -- have treated Booster Gold very poorly.

Booster lost his wealth and his title to Millennium. He temporarily ceased to exist in Zero Hour. Identity Crisis -- admittedly a downer for everyone in the DCU thanks to the the inferiority-complex driven rapist super villain and the ethically challenged heroes as a glorified red herring -- killed his relationship with Firehawk. Infinite Crisis went a step further and killed his best friend. And now Flashpoint has him failing at his job and losing his second title.

Those don't even include losing his powers to "Death of Superman" or his sidekick to evil in 52, both of which are more media stunts than event-driven mini-series. (If "Death of Superman" were done today, there would be 14 tie-in mini-series.) Booster should probably count his blessings that his involvement in Underworld Unleashed and Final Crisis was so limited.

Do good things ever happen to anyone in event series? Because good things certainly don't happen to Booster Gold.

Comments (6) | Add a Comment | Tags: 52 dccomics.com flashpoint identity crisis infinite crisis millennium zero hour

Kevin posted on Aug. 18, 2011 at 12:00 PM
Infinite Crisis brought about 52, otherwise known as the start of Booster's glory days (with Skeets returning to live) and the creation of his Vol. 2. Blackest Night, allowed Booster to put the ghosts of Ted to rest at long last. Flashpoint did not see him fail (how can you say he failed when you haven't even seen the final issue yet?) and also leads to him being the leader of the Justice League International, which puts him squarely as a near A-Level hero now.

Besides, all events cause badness for the heroes...if they were all about roses and happiness, then they wouldn't be interesting, would they?

Boosterrific [Official Comment] posted on Aug. 18, 2011 at 1:49 PM
Ah, Kevin, the sunshine to my rain cloud. I absolutely agree that all roses and happiness stories wouldn't be interesting, but how about an occasional roses and happiness story?

I loved 52, and we don't get to 52 without DC trying to further cash in on INFINITE CRISIS. INFINITE CRISIS was itself a very entertaining story with a lot of positives for a lot of characters. But don't forget that it killed Ted Kord to make Max Lord "Evil." Booster's role in the story was merely to involve the new Blue Beetle, himself a Deus Ex Machina device: new character debuts with exactly the power needed to defeat the machine that Batman can't beat! Argue anything else you want to about it, but in terms of character development: the key element for Booster Gold in INFINITE CRISIS is that it killed his best friend.

I will agree that it's fair to say that I don't know the ultimate outcome of FLASHPOINT, but DC hasn't exactly been subtle about the fact that it will mark a turning point in DC Universe history. How can he be a success in maintaining history when history will be changed at the end of the series? Is your argument that Booster was supposed to participate in FLASHPOINT and time was supposed to change around him? From that fatalistic point of view, Booster was doomed to fail, but still he failed.

I like the sound of Booster Gold called an A-Level hero, but I don't believe it for a second. A team with Guy Gardner, Fire, Ice, Rocket Red, Godiva, August General and Vixen is not a squad of A-listers, which is probably a good thing. I think you'll find that a team of B's is a far, far better read because the characters can be challenged and developed in ways that A-level characters cannot. But I refuse to get excited about a book where Booster is a 1/8 of a team after the cancellation of a title where Booster was featured in 100% of the adventures. Replace Booster in your argument with Batman, a popular character shoe-horned into JLI in a blatant attempt to cash-in on his rampant popularity. If DC had just cancelled BATMAN to put the character on JUSTICE LEAGUE, would a Batman fan be excited about that?

Kevin posted on Aug. 18, 2011 at 3:40 PM
No, but Booster didn't have Batman's popularity, did he? Let's be honest...the numbers for Booster's book SUCKED by the end. It was going to get canceled. But instead of shunting Booster off like they did in the 90s, they are making him the leader of a Justice League team. A book that has been one of the top ten books DC has been soliting each month. For Booster this is a GIANT step up, better than merely having a self-titled series that sold low. You also forget that it is being written by the man that created Booster.

But of course, if you've already made up you mind to hate something before even reading it, that wouldn't really matter, would it?

Boosterrific [Official Comment] posted on Aug. 18, 2011 at 4:50 PM
First, yes, Booster's book was selling poorly, but not because I wasn't buying it. I never said I wasn't looking forward to JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL. I merely said that I was disappointed by the cancellation of BOOSTER GOLD. If you loved chocolate ice cream but discovered that the only available ice cream parlor didn't carry chocolate ice cream, would you be excited that you had to settle for Neapolitan ice cream to get your chocolate fix? You are asking me to be excited by a diluted form of something I enjoyed. I'll take it, I have no choice. However, that doesn't lessen my disappointment.

Second, no, I have not forgotten that Jurgens will be writing the book, but that doesn't give me cause for excitement. With all due respect to Dan Jurgens, his work on team books has never impressed me. His work on JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA in 1992 focused on inter-squad squabbles and battles with aliens at the expense of realistic characterization. TEEN TITANS in 1996 was a weaker effort, attempting to give voice to the angst of super-powered teens in the eXtreme 1990s and instead creating a team of cardboard stereotypes. Like everyone else, Dan Jurgens has strengths; I do not consider writing team books to be among them.

Jesse posted on Aug. 18, 2011 at 5:17 PM
For the record it was not an event that had Booster losing his arm.

Boosterrific [Official Comment] posted on Aug. 18, 2011 at 6:46 PM
True, that major crossover was more "Death of Superman" than INFINITE CRISIS. It also resulted in Booster permanently requiring a life supporting suit.

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