My two favorite muppets as my two favorite heroes, as sketched by illustrator Neil R King, aka BoldFacedComics on DeviantArt.com.

For the record, that's Waldorf wearing Booster's gold and Statler in Beetle blue. Those two old grumps have never dressed better.

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It is a cliche in superhero comic books that characters die and then get better. The trope was well established by the time Superman's funeral ignited the general public's imagination, but ever since 1992, you simply aren't a real super hero until you've returned from "the other side" at least once.

Booster Gold joined that not-so-elusive club on this day in 1994 between the panels of Justice League Task Force #13.

At the time, the Justice League had been fractured into three groups with incompatible philosophies about what constituted "justice." Wonder Woman's "international" faction was most in line with the historic methods of the team as the strong arm of traditional, established political authorities. Martian Manhunter's task force was also aligned with the United Nations, though it preferred less direct means of diffusing problems. Captain Atom, on the other hand, championed more unconventional and forceful means of "extreme" justice, fighting fire with fire, so to speak.

These internal differences were exacerbated by the threat of the alien Overmaster, who had returned to Earth (after a previous encounter with the Justice League a decade earlier) in order to eradicate humanity. He had the power to do it, too. The dysfunctional Justice Leagues America, International, and Task Force have to put aside their differences to stop him. The crossover event, titled "Judgement Day," reads better than many of DC's official "Crisis"s.

Usually, comic book deaths are used as a cheap trick to ramp up the stakes, tug at the heartstrings, or inflate the threat posed by the bad guy. Booster was lucky. He died in a good story that respected established characterization. Specifically, his death was a side-effect of his overconfidence that history couldn't ever be changed, a misunderstanding with tragic consequences.

Of course, that wouldn't mean much unless Booster recovered to learn from his mistake. Spoiler alert: he did.

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At long last, all / most / almost all of our questions will / could / should be answered into today's Heroes in Crisis #8!

io9.com has the issue preview, which seems to imply that.... No. I won't spoil it.

Buy this issue and make Skeets happy! (*Somebody* needs to be happy.)

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Great minds think alike. No sooner had I finished writing Friday's bio on Dirk Davis than I clicked over to Ross Pearsall's delightful Super-Team Family Presents... blog and found that he's also got Booster Gold's agent on his creative mind.

Mojo is an X-Men villain from another universe who, like Booster Gold, debuted in the mid-1980s as a commentary on American celebrity culture. In Mojo's case, he's a parody of a television network executive whose only desire is to get great ratings at any cost. In other words, he's a natural foe for popularity-obsessed a Booster Gold!

Great job, Ross.

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The life of any comic book hero would be a lonely one if not for the many characters who have made up their supporting cast. Just as Superman has Lois Lane and Batman has Alfred, Booster Gold has also shared his adventures with quite a few people over the years. Today we look at one of those, Dirk Davis.

As seen in Booster Gold Volume 1, #9 (1986), Dirk Davis was covering a presidential visit to Metropolis as a member of the press when he got his first glimpse of Booster Gold in action. Davis knew then and there that Booster could be worth a fortune.

According to Davis in Booster Gold #2, Booster would seek him out to be his agent, presumably because of Davis' experience managing the careers of larger-than-life professional wrestlers. Within just a few months, Davis had made Booster's Goldstar, Incorporated a marketing empire, with lucrative contracts promoting Flakies breakfast cereal, Brysler Motors, Blaze Comics, and Dusk Cologne. He took steps to create a super suit for a sidekick for Booster Gold. He even attempted to get Booster his own Hollywood movie.

Unfortunately for Dirk, not all press is good press. His close association with a genuine super hero led to some unwanted attention when the 1000 kidnapped his daughter, Sarah, in an attempt to lure Booster Gold into a trap (Booster Gold #7). Things got worse when the 1000 also kidnapped Goldstar, Inc. secretary, Trixie Collins (Booster Gold #10), and forced him to turn over the access codes to the Goldstar computer mainframe (Booster Gold #11).

Booster eventually managed to defeat the 1000, but at great personal cost. The only way to repair his power suit and his health was to travel back to the future. Davis used the time while Booster was away to reorganize Goldstar, Inc. into Booster Gold International (B.G.I.) with the intention of building a multi-national corporate conglomeration the likes of LexCorp (Booster Gold #16). Booster gave Dirk a promotion from agent to C.E.O. This would prove to be a mistake.

When Earth became ground zero in the war between the Oans and Manhunters during the "Millennium" event, a Manhunter agent stole all B.G.I. assets in an effort to force Booster to joining their side (Booster Gold #24). That Manhunter agent was Dirk Davis.

The Manhunters lost "Millennium," and it would be years before Booster eventually confronted Davis over his betrayal in Extreme Justice #6 (1995). By then, Davis had lost the entire fortune on a series of terrible investments. So Booster seized control of Davis' corporation, Lightspeed Entertainment, and had Davis thrown out of the building.

Davis swore that Booster hadn't "seen the last of" him, but like so many of Davis' promises, it proved to be so much hot air.

To read creator Dan Jurgens' take on Dirk's journey from confidant to villain, click here to read my post from May 29, 2015.

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