I've always viewed Booster Gold as a uniquely American character. He is an American football player who chases his dream of celebrity and wealth by stealing and lying, believing that his intentions are justification enough for his boorish behavior. That's an unflattering description, but many both inside and outside the United States might suggest that it is a true mirror of modern American culture.
Following DC's recent declaration that Booster Gold is no longer American, I began to wonder if the character of Booster Gold could even be translated into foreign cultures. Could Michael Jon Carter be a hero anywhere outside the USA? Would other cultures respect him or despise him?
To investigate these questions, I've asked international citizens to provide a little perspective on how their culture might view Booster Gold. In future posts, I'll run their essays.
Booster-philes from Canada, Germany, and Switzerland are already working on explaining how Booster Gold relates to their cultural mores and philosophies. If you are living in a country other than the USA, and you would be interested in sharing how Booster Gold may relate to your culture, please send me an email at webmaster at Boosterrific.com. Together, let's truly take Booster Gold international.
Sean posted on Mar. 27, 2012 at 9:21 PM Sounds very interesting. Great idea!
Grimmy posted on Mar. 28, 2012 at 11:24 AM I've always viewed Booster as more of a Fun House mirror of modern American culture. A bit of a parody on how a man from the 25th century might view our (comparatively) primitive world. <br /><br />Imagine what we would think of the world if we were transported back to the 16th century. Our expectations versus the reality of that society. That might explain why Booster's plans rarely go as well as he expects.
deusex2 posted on Mar. 30, 2012 at 1:12 PM Booster Gold is american?! I thought he was Israeli all this time! ^_^
The following blog post has been brought to you by the Super Friends of DC Comics fan blogging: Shag of Firestorm fan site FirestormFan.com pointed out this weekend that Lia of Flash fan site SpeedForce.org posted a video last week from Cartoon Network's Mad that features Booster Gold. (Sometimes tracking Booster Gold, like life, is all about who you know.)
That song sounds to me like something you might hear on TMZ. That's probably fitting for a song including a part by the celebrity-seeking Booster Gold.
For the record, that video, posted to YouTube by Vitouliss, was broadcast in the MAD episode "Al Pacino and the Chipmunks / That's What Super Friends Are For" that originally aired February 27, 2012.
Morgenstern posted on Mar. 26, 2012 at 10:11 AM Nice find, and while I myself hope that we will one day see an actual Booster Gold musical..I hope it is better than this (albeit funny)song.
Grimmy posted on Mar. 26, 2012 at 12:08 PM ROFLMAO
Eyz posted on Mar. 27, 2012 at 4:47 AM This was actually pretty fun! :D<br /><br />Loved seeing the Flash family, the JLI, and many others get some spotlight in there!<br /><br />Since Warner Bros' been recycling some DC-related MAD segments in DC Nation (the new Cartoon Network cartoon block), I'm guessing this will air again some time soon.
I found this some time ago at supermannerd.tumblr.com and have been looking for a reason to post it. Today, I decided I was done waiting.
I don't know who made this or why. I just know that it's damn awesome.
UPDATE 05/09/12: DustinWildcard dropped by the comments section to take credit for this work, "DC Comics Minimalist Posters." You can find more of his work at his DeviantArt.com page (under the alias Dustin Von Doom) or his tumblr blog, Comics! Comics! Comics!. Great work, Dustin.
Eyz posted on Mar. 24, 2012 at 12:28 PM This is pretty fantastic!<br />Loving to see Ted and Booster next to each other!<br />Such iconic recognisable logos/shirt designs! :D
Royal posted on Mar. 26, 2012 at 9:52 AM I don't recognize all of the costumes. <br />Can Anyone name them all?
Morgenstern posted on Mar. 26, 2012 at 11:59 AM Superman, Batman, Flash, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Hawkman<br /><br />Green Lantern, Sinestro Lantern, Red Lantern, Orange Lantern, Blue Lantern, Black Lantern<br /><br />Red Tornado, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Deadman, Green Arrow, Star Sapphire<br /><br />Flash (Garrik), The Atom, Captain Marvel, Firestorm, Robin, Captain Cold<br /><br />Reverse Flash, ???, Black Adam, ???, Fate, Captain Atom<br /><br />Nightwing, Animal Man, Black lighting, Mirracle Man, ???, Liberty bell<br /><br />Still three missing and not sure if I got the others all corect.
Boosterrific [Official Comment] posted on Mar. 26, 2012 at 3:04 PM That's pretty good, M. A couple of corrections: Row 2, Column 5 is a White Lantern costume not a Black Lantern; Row 5, Column 2 is Parallax; Row 5, Column 4 is the Anti-Monitor; Row 6, Column 4 is Mister Miracle (Miracle Man is the American alias of the British Marvel Man, a character whose ownership has been in legal limbo for nearly 2 decades); Row 6, Column 5 is Citizen Steel.
And while we're at it, let's give Doctor Fate (Row 5, Column 5) credit for his advanced degree in Order. The name Fate alone specifically references his edgy, 1990s incarnation, and his costume, such as it was, was decidedly less spiffy.
DustinWildcard posted on May. 9, 2012 at 4:38 PM <a href='http://comicscomicscomics.tumblr.com/'>http://comicscomicscomics.tumblr.com/</a><br />I'm just now finding this on your website so late but I am the creator of all of these and would like to get credit back to where I posted them if you dont mind! I posted my tumbler where they were originally posted also this site found them and gave me credit <a href='http://firestormfan.com/2012/05/09/dustin-von-doom/'>http://firestormfan.com/2012/05/09/dustin-von-doom/</a> Thanks!
Boosterrific [Official Comment] posted on May. 9, 2012 at 7:44 PM Nope, I don't mind one bit. I'm all too happy to give credit to the creator of such a fine work.
Fingers crossed that DC never decides to kill Booster Gold (again). If they do, at least they should know what we expect: a happy ending.
Last week's poll question: What is the most plausible demise of Booster Gold? (41 votes)
Is it any coincidence that voters selected "sneak attack" as the least favorite option when it is the option that has "killed" Booster the most often in the comics? Hmm.
On a semi-related subject, I'm really beginning to worry about Skeets. Why can't we get the little guy on panel already? This is an oversight that must be corrected. I need Skeets in the DCnU!
Grimmy posted on Mar. 22, 2012 at 10:33 AM I still think he's working offscreen to get Booster back to the DCoU. <br /><br />ie DC's escape mechanism if the relaunch sales go south.
Eyz posted on Mar. 22, 2012 at 12:33 PM Heck, we're barely getting any background characters-screentime as it is. Just heroes and villains, ducking it out, non-stop action....<br /><br />Sigh....<br /><br />I'll go with Grimmy option above, working on a way to get Booster and the whole DCU back on track.
Xylob posted on Mar. 22, 2012 at 1:29 PM Perhaps they're still working on a cool "New 52" design for him?
Nowen posted on Mar. 23, 2012 at 9:53 PM Grimmy that's not a terrible idea.
Shortly after being ambushed by Devastator in 1994's Justice League America #89, Booster Gold was pronounced dead in Justice League Task Force #13. A decade later in 52 Week 15, Booster Gold was killed (again!) following a jealous struggle with Supernova. It seems that no supervillain wants Booster Gold dead as much as Mark Waid, the author of both comic books.
Waid made up for his transgressions by writing for Booster a rousing call to action. Booster delivered the following speech to the Justice League at the foot of Mount Everest in Justice League Task Force #14 (seen at left).
It's fourth and goal... and the fate of the world rests on this drive.
There's five and a half miles of mountain between us and the end of the world...
...so I'd suggest we get a move on.
While that's no "Saint Crispin's Day" speech, it is pretty good for a comic book. It's also not the only thing for which Booster Gold fans have to thank Mark Waid. Waid was the editor of Secret Origins #35, and wrote the informative article "Secrets Behind the Origins" detailing Booster Gold's unused pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths origin (where he stole not from the Space Museum but the Superman Museum!).
Thanks, Mark Waid. Boosterrific.com wishes you a Happy Birthday!
Morgenstern posted on Mar. 21, 2012 at 10:10 AM The art doesn't even look that bad on this one pic..for Extreme Justice. I mean it is till far from good, but much better than what else I saw of that title.<br /><br />Also..uh speaking as someone who is not from the Colonies, that speech would have left me rather confused than roused, at least the first part. Than again..at least Aquaman was not singing.
Grimmy posted on Mar. 21, 2012 at 11:07 AM Happy birthday Mark, thank you for not putting Booster in "Kingdom Come".
Boosterrific [Official Comment] posted on Mar. 21, 2012 at 2:58 PM Morgenstern: That image is from JUSTICE LEAGUE TASK FORCE #14 and is by Sal Velluto and Jeff Albrecht. Their art is pretty good, mainly because they have some knowledge of how to lay out panels. The art by Marc Campos is much worse in the regular JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA title and would be even worse in EXTREME JUSTICE, which wouldn't start its run for about 6 more months later.
Grimmy: Booster is mentioned but not seen in KINGDOM COME #1 as the manager of Planet Krypton. We finally meet him in that role in KINGDOM COME THE KINGDOM: PLANET KRYPTON #1. Both of those books, obviously, were written by Mark Waid.
Grimmy posted on Mar. 21, 2012 at 3:49 PM Boosterrific, you mean "The Kingdom" #1? Same Earth22 universe, different series. Sorry, my OCD is kicking in today.<br />My "thank you" was sincere, the 4 issue "Kingdom Come" series is too dark a place for Booster IMHO. I should correct myself tho, that series was Alex Ross's baby and Mark Waid was teamed with him due to his strong familiarity with the history of DC superheroes.<br />I haven't read any of "The Kingdom" books.
Boosterrific [Official Comment] posted on Mar. 21, 2012 at 5:20 PM Oops. Yes, I had the name wrong. I knew better. Can I blame a typo?
If you really want to get into a discussion about sharing credit for KINGDOM COME, you have to mention Alan Moore. KC was clearly based on the unpublished Alan Moore proposal TWILIGHT OF THE SUPERHEROES. (Those unfamiliar can find a basic summary of that story on Wikipedia.) Yes, it is the art of Alex Ross that really made KINGDOM COME a smash hit, but the story shares too many elements with TWILIGHT to for me to comfortably give sole credit to Ross and Waid. (I don't mean to suggest that DC didn't have the right to rework the proposal. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't: I'm in no position to adjudicate that decision. However, if we can't mention WATCHMEN without giving credit to the Charlton characters as it seems everyone has to do all the time now, it seems that KINGDOM COME shouldn't be discussed without crediting the TWILIGHT proposal.)
Grimmy posted on Mar. 21, 2012 at 6:23 PM Yep I completely agree, sorry I forgot the TWILIGHT connection. Can I blame old age?<br /><br />I was referring to the KINGDOM COME Wiki entry to refresh my memory on that series development. And YES Alan Moore is GREAT. I especially enjoyed his ABC books.
Russ Burlingame posted on Mar. 22, 2012 at 4:36 PM You know, there's someone ELSE with a Booster Gold connection who had a birthday yesterday, too...!
Boosterrific [Official Comment] posted on Mar. 22, 2012 at 10:56 PM Happy belated birthday, Russ! When it's your 50th birthday, I'll run a spotlight column on you!
The Irredeemable Shag posted on Mar. 26, 2012 at 11:19 PM Happy Belated Birthday to Mark Waid! He's phenomenal! His Flash run is still my favorite of the speedsters series.<br /><br />So let me get this right... Booster was killed by one of the Overmaster's henchmen? Overmaster?!?? Seriously? The guy Justice League Detroit beat? That's like losing to some guy that was defeated by the Inferior Five.<br /><br />Next you'll tell me Booster was killed by someone pathetic like Giganta. Oh wait...<br /><br />The Irredeemable Shag
