I was recently perusing some back issues of Amazing Heroes magazine. I've previously reported on their disparaging review of Booster Gold's debut issue, but I found something else that Booster boosters might find interesting.

That something, as reported in Amazing Heroes #188, 1991, is Andy Mangels' "Backstage" column recap of an unfilmed 1990 Justice League movie script. Read on and you'll see why.

The Justice League of America

January 25, 1990 - James Cappe and David Arnott, teleplay; Jeff Freilich, James Cappe, and David Amott, story.

Planned for a two-hour telefilm, the Justice League script went thru four rewrites before the current plans were scrapped. Magnum Productions was working on the film for Lorimar, and was hampered by the use of so few characters. With Green Lantern, Flash, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman optioned, no references or usage of these characters would be allowed.

The story begins as Lord Industries is excavating an Egyptian cavern in Tibet. Professor David Cambell (and assistant Andy Helfer) uncover a dark helmet which, unbeknownst to them, houses the spirit of the Lord of Chaos. Meanwhile, on "A world a lot like our own ... only different," we meet the Oreo-loving Martian Manhunter stopping a crime and a pushy Booster Gold at Max Lord's museum-wing opening where the aforementioned helmet is about to be stolen. Despite Booster and scientist Ted Kord's "help," the helmet is spirited away. When the newly revived Lord of Chaos kidnaps Cambell and begins creating worldwide havoc, Maxwell Lord uses his friendship with the president to put together a force of vigilantes to protect the U.S.

He recruits the Martian Manhunter and Booster Gold, the actress/models Fire and Ice, Ted Kord's new identity of the Blue Beetle, and the altruistic-to-a-fault super-escape-artist Mr. Miracle and his pal Oberon (over objections from Miracle's wife, Barda). The newly christened Justice League of America soon faces their first trial... interviewing Mrs. Cambell.

Then, at a stop to gas up Blue Beetle's bug, the JLA gets in a fight with the Chaos-maddened Chicago Cubs. Despite Booster's affirmation that they "don't need their powers. It's the Cubs. These guys haven't won in 1100 years," the JLA gets fouled out and lets the Cubs escape.

Next, the League is off to the United Nations, where a terrorist has a bomb strapped to his chest. Fire, Ice, and Mr. Miracle enter the U.N. building while Beetle coordinates from the Bug, Booster protects the crowd outside with his force field, and Manhunter enters from the roof. Once most of the terrorists have been neutralized, Manhunter uses his shapechanging abilities to get Booster Gold close enough to stop the bomb-wearing madman. Police chief Stanley Marvel (wink wink, nudge nudge) begrudgingly thanks the team for their semi-efficient rescue, but the thanks is only short-lived as the Lord of Order reveals himself and escapes.

In Beetle's bug, the JLA searches for Chaos's hideout, where he's stashed the great minds and leaders of the world. They find the hideout in Arizona, but only as all of the nuclear missiles in the world are fired, aimed at each country's enemies, and more than a few allies. As Blue Beetle works on a way to upload a missile deflection system to broadcast from the Earth's communication satellites, the rest of the team forces their way into Chaos's mountain stronghold.

While Booster and Manhunter search for Dr. Cambell, Fire and Ice engage guards and Mr. Miracle defies deadly death traps to find the Chaos helmet ... only to find it's a fake. Eventually, all our heroes face off against Chaos and defeat him, but he has the last laugh; though Beetle's deflected most of the missiles, Chaos transports the JLA into the middle of Times Square, the target for the sole surviving nuclear missile.

There in the midst of New York, the League has a desperate battle with Chaos, finally defeating him once and for all. And although the New Yorkers don't much appreciate the team, the rest of the world does. The JLA is on its way.

Maybe I'm wearying of the comic antics of my once second-favorite super-team, but the Justice League is growing tired. The film keeps the same kind of attitude toward its heroes as the comic (some dialogue seems to have been lifted directly from the comics' pages), a kind of hipper-than-thou slapstick which is less funny than overused. While viewers of the film might find it refreshing and new, readers of the comic will find it's same-old same-old.

Fire and Ice are a little less like Lucy and Ethel, while the Martian Manhunter is somewhat less dispassionate-though just as Oreo-loving. Mr. Miracle is portrayed as a naive goof who is as trusting and philanthropic as an old lady. Barda's revelation of her pregnancy halfway through the script is barely referred to again, although Oberon is as obnoxious as ever. Ditto Maxwell Lord, whose powers are hinted at late in the script.

Blue Beetle is relatively unchanged, and actually has some of the best lines ( especially one where he finds a surprise stress-test for his body armor), but his relationship with Booster Gold is ruined. You see, in this script, Booster Gold is spelled G-u-y G-a-r-d-n-e-r. Booster, a mildly obnoxious and scheming character in the current JLA, here becomes a groping, bragging, swaggering jerk whose recklessness and attitude are more a hindrance to the team than a help. Apparently, without the use of the real Guy Gardner, the scripters felt they had to have one supremely obnoxious putz in the group, and Booster was available.

Despite my criticisms, the Justice League of America script in this form would be a tremendous hit in this age of Married with Children, Roseanne, Cheers, and similar sitcoms. It's sarcastic enough, the characters are neanderthal enough, the women are pretty enough, and the script fairly screams for a laugh track. A dark JLA a la Flash, Superboy, or Batman woμldn't work at all, so the writers have taken the correct measures to find their hit.

Late-breaking news finds a DC source relating that the show may not be as dead as previously thought. In today's Hollywood, comics are again being perceived as a hot item, and DC's characters being on the forefront of that list. Now it's up to the Blue and Gold guys to fight it out with the Justice League guys to see who gets which rights first.

If you're especially immersed in Justice League lore, you may know that the Justice League did finally in 1997 get a made-for-television movie. It was loosely based on the late-era International League, with featured roles for "B.B. DaCosta" Fire and "Tori Olafsdotter" Ice. It was incredibly bad with worse special effects, and Booster Gold thankfully played no part.

Thirty-two years later, Booster still hasn't appeared in a live-action movie. Hopefully when he does, he'll be recognizable as the Corporate Crusader we all know and love.

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DC Comics has released January 2024 solicitations, and as has become the recent trend, Booster Gold is not mentioned anywhere. And for that matter, neither is Blue Beetle or Fire or Ice. It looks like they're taking the month off to make more room for Beast World tie-ins, much as Lazarus Planet pushed books off shelves last year.

The good news in the solicitations is the advanced announcement of Justice League International Omnibus Volume 3, which will wrap up the Giffen/DeMatteis era. It'll even include the Blue and Gold (mis)adventures seen in JLA 80-Page Giant #1, Formerly Known as the Justice League, and the 2011 DC Retroactive: JLA - The '90s. Not a bad haul for Booster boosters of a certain era.

Even better, the book will have all new cover art by Kevin Maguire. Maguire worked Booster Gold into the new art for both Omnibus 1 and Omnibus 2, so here's hoping the third (and final) time is also charming.

(It might be worth mentioning that as I type this, the first Omnibus is currently 34% off at Amazon.com. Just in case you're still looking for that perfect Christmas gift for someone who needs more "Bwah-Ha-Ha" in their life.)

You can read the exact details about this third Omnibus, currently scheduled for a February 20 release, in the official solicitations at AIPTComics.com

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As you can see from the preview at AIPTComics.com, Booster Gold and his Justice League International pals are definitely in this week's Blue Beetle #2 to support their oft-injured friend, Ted Kord.

You don't need me to tell you that buying this issue will make Skeets happy.

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Some people take Labor Day off, but not me, not when I've got to tell you about Booster Gold coming to your Local Comic Shop this week!

As you can see in the issue preview at AIPTComics.com, Booster gets a cameo appearance on the very first page of Blue Beetle #1!

I'm pretty sure that's a "Bwah-Ha-Ha" being cut off by the narrative box in that panel.

And if one panel isn't enough homage to Kevin Maguire's famous Justice League #1 cover, remember that there's also a 1:25 Justice League #1-inspired variant cover to this week's Fire and Ice: Welcome to Smallville drawn by... Kevin Maguire:

(For the record, neither Booster Gold nor Fire nor Ice appear on the original cover to Justice League #1, which wouldn't be re-titled Justice League International until issue #7. Booster joined the team in issue #4, and Fire and Ice joined in Justice League International #14. All three are on the updated roster cover of Justice League International #24, which was the very first book to homage the cover to issue #1. It is no coincidence that Issues #1 and #24 also bookend artist Maguire's run on the series.)

Buy one or both of those issues and make Skeets happy!

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Just last week, my chronological collection of favorite pages touched on Justice League International #11. That book was published on November 10, 1987. The following week, Booster appears (mutely) in exactly two panels of the frame story on page 2 of Blue Beetle #22. Two weeks after that, he is in just one panel of a previous issue recap in Action Comics #598. A week later, Booster is depicted in five panels across the 22 pages of Justice League International #12 — three of those in flashbacks!

Which finally brings us to Justice League International #13... which has Booster in exactly 6 panels. Why am I giving you a favorite page from this book and not those others? Although he is rarely seen or heard, Booster's role here is larger than a simple drop-in, drop-out cameo. He's present with his Justice League teammates as the action rises steadily towards the adventure's climax that will play out in Suicide Squad #13, and Booster has a more sizeable part in that melee. So even though Booster's role in Justice League International #13 is limited, it's not insignificant.

But it's not significant enough to make my favorite page.

That's page 8, and it really illustrates what I like best about Keith Giffen's very stylized art (ably aided by Al Gordon's confident inks and Gene D'Angelo's strong color) comprised almost entirely of close-ups and heavy shadows. Maybe Watchmen made me a sucker for the rigid 9-panel layout, but I especially love how Giffen uses it to create three horizontal triptychs — Rule of Three raised to the third power! — to ratchet up both the comedy and the drama. Very well done.

Tune in next time to finally see a Booster Gold panel in Suicide Squad #13!

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