One of the casualties of the 1992 "Death of Superman" story, other than Superman, was Booster Gold's original costume. Destroyed by Doomsday, Booster's power-suit was soon replaced by a series of ungainly, lesser armors which became mandatory when Booster lost his arm in a battle with Devastator.

Booster was understandably bummed by the tech downgrade. You would be too, if you had to wear this:

Words by Ivan Velez Jr., Art by Rio, Branch, Burton, Leigh, and Loughridge

(Imagine being forced to use an iPhone 2 now that you're used to your iPhone 8. *shudder*)

Fortunately for our hero, his best pal, Ted Kord, worked diligently at developing better and better suits of armor. The best armor Ted would ever devise debuted on this day in 1995 in the pages of Extreme Justice #10:

Kord's "Mark X" armor was based on a pre-existing alien technology stolen by the Wonder Twins. When Ted reverse-engineered it for Booster's use, he incorporated Skeets' AI for its onboard operating system.

Though the suit made its first appearance in Extreme Justice #10, Booster wouldn't actually put it on until after his arm was replaced with cybernetics courtesy of the villainous Monarch in Extreme Justice #14. (It's a long story.) He also wouldn't wear it for very long. It was destroyed a year later.

And I think we're all okay with that.

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Start your week with this triple shot of fun Booster Gold and Skeets fan art:

UberAwesone

SFX92

FADE-FADE-FADE

Click any of the above images to see them larger in their native habitat, DeviantArt.com.

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The fourth issue of DC's self-promotional magazine, DC Nation, was released this week. A six-page article by Andrew Marino titled "The Sanctuary Files" is devoted to revealing "real-life" psychoanalyst John Foster Elliott's profiles of key characters of the upcoming Heroes in Crisis mini-series. Naturally, Booster Gold was included.

PSYCHOTHERAPY ASSESSMENT: Michael suffers from generalized anxiety, the "poser" syndrome, mainly because he is...just that. He has little respect for the law or the rights of others and believes that he is entitled to act because the end justifies the means. Yet he still has compassion for others and seeks to redeem himself, primarily through shortcuts that often fail. Michael needs to work on his morality, respecting the rights of others and accepting his limitations. Like most narcissists, he operates on double standards and is truly afraid of genuine intimacy.

NOTES: Axis I ICD F411 Sociopathic and narcissistic traits

I'm no expert on psychology like Mr. Elliott, so I had to look up the last bit of his assessment notes. As defined by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, "Axis I" is the classification for almost all psychological diagnostic categories of mental disorders. "ICD" is shorthand for the World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases system, in which "F411" identifies "Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)."

According to the National Institute of Mental Health website:

"People with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) display excessive anxiety or worry, most days for at least 6 months, about a number of things such as personal health, work, social interactions, and everyday routine life circumstances. The fear and anxiety can cause significant problems in areas of their life, such as social interactions, school, and work."

Symptoms for at least six months? Wow. Tom King has really f'd up our hero.

Booster Gold has certainly always exhibited sociopathic and narcissistic traits — that's what we love best about him! — but in recent years he had matured beyond his early days as a "poser." I guess DC's "Rebirth" is about taking everyone back to their roots, but I sure hope that doesn't mean we're going to have to rehash Millennium again. Or Extreme Justice.

You can read Elliott's diagnosis of other heroes, including how damaged Superman really is, in DC Nation #4 for free on Comixology.com. And, of course, you can find Heroes in Crisis #1 for sale in your Local Comic Shop on September 26.

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Our hero made the cover to today's Injustice 2 #33! Some people say Booster is all talk, but it takes a real hero to fight a giant alien starfish with your bare hands.

"The battle against Starro comes to a tragic conclusion," teases the issue's solicitation text. That sounds ominous for our hero, especially since we know that Blue Beetle survives the encounter to appear in the series' namesake video game. *gulp!* Good luck, Booster!

Buy this issue and make Skeets happy.

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On this day in 2003, DC Comics began publication of JLA-Z, a Who's Who-inspired excuse for a pin-up anthology of Justice League characters. Booster Gold and Blue Beetle were judged so important to the history of the JLA that they appeared in the very first issue!

(It probably didn't hurt that their codenames both begin with the second letter of the alphabet.)

Art by Kevin Maguire, Joe Rubinstein, Tom McCraw.

On a related note, BleedingCool.com reports from Fan Expo Canada that Ted Kord might be rejoining the Justice League in some capacity in the near future. The sooner the better, if you ask me.

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