Today's entry of "Booster Gold International" is brought to you by Switzerland's own Eyz, better known as the artist behind heroes-comix.blogspot.com and G33k Life:

Switzerland isn't quite well known for its superheroes. Besides "real" figures like William Tell and a couple of other national legends. Would a Swiss Booster Gold be that different from its American counterpart?

First to put things into perspective, a bit of cultural background. The "Helvetic Confederation" is divided into three distinct regional parts. There's a bigger German-speaking region which is closer to Germany in terms of mentality and culture, a French-speaking region with a rich mix of people and ethnicities and finally a smaller Italian-speaking region full of old Swiss traditions. Well, I'm from the Romandy personally, aka the French Swiss part so I'll talk from that point of view.

Switzerland doesn't have a lot of superheroes around, but we have our share of classic comic book figures thanks to a comic culture shared with France and Belgium. But could we have a superhero like Booster around nevertheless?

Actually, I'd say yes! To be precise, Booster Gold could be one of those rare American superheroes that would just as easily be "translated" over here.

In terms of attitude, people and government, Switzerland is in fact closer to the United States than most of its European neighbors. To stereotype, yes we're totally corporate capitalist and strongly competitive here as well. I'm using these clichés to point out a Swiss Booster Gold from his early Dan Jurgens run would be totally relatable to people! The same could be said for the modern secret protector of history Time Master-Booster. Who wouldn't dream to be this unknown force of good, even without getting any appraise to help out others? (I'm appealing to what people here aspire, I mean Red Cross, United Nations? we got those in Geneva for a reason!)

Regarding Booster Gold's shiny looks, logo, design, etc.? He wouldn't need to wear traditional Red and White colors on his costume, or have changes to look like a stereotypical Helvetian from an old parody. I mean, he isn't actually wearing an USA flag to begin with, right?

To summarize: Booster Gold could work as an actual Swiss superhero! (why don't we have any of those already?) Could we at least start by having actual reprints of his series translated here? Booster would be a hit so easily with old and young readers alike!

Thank you for that perspective, Eyz. If I haven't covered your country yet, drop me an email at webmaster at Boosterrific.com so you can tell us how Booster Gold relates to your culture.

Comments (1) | Add a Comment | Tags: blogspot.com eyz guest posts