There's nothing comic book superhero fans love to debate more than the relative power levels of their favorite heroes. So how does Booster Gold compare? Let us count the ways.

Flight
Booster Gold's Flight Ring is 30th-century technology that gives its wearer flight capabilities constrained only by the wearer's willpower and physical ability to withstand the physical hardships of flight within its current environment. The exact limits to the acceleration and maneuvering of Booster's ring, formerly the personal ring of its inventor, Brainiac 5, have never been definitively established, but Booster has used the ring to keep up with spaceships and Superman.

Super Strength
Booster Gold's costume was created from a "special fabric/microfiber power suit" liberated from the 25th-century Space Museum. Modeled on the suit once invented by Lex Luthor to fight Superman, the suit gives him enhanced strength enough to lift several tons (though not quite at Superman's level).

Energy Bolts
Booster's wrist-mounted "Booster Shots," are a repurposed Space Museum exhibit that generate a ranged energy beam that can be fine-tuned mild enough to stun a human or strong enough to shatter stone.

Enhanced Vision
Another piece of Space Museum equipment, Booster's goggles give him microscopic, macroscopic, and infrared vision on demand.

Force Field
Arguably the greatest of Booster's powers, his force field is truly impenetrable, having originally been created by the villain Brainiac and used to stymie Superman on many occasions. The force field generator is in a belt concealed under Booster's power suit, and although the field it generates surrounds Booster just above his skin by default, the field can be enlarged, shrunk, become semi-permeable, or be projected remotely via emitters in Booster's gloves. Though the field is generally used to repel matter, it can also be repolarized to absorb and redirect matter, a trick Booster calls the "Mass Dispersal Force." The only demonstrated weakness of the force field is that it runs on the same batteries with a limited charge that also power the suit and Booster Shots.

Wrist Communicators
Booster's gloves are chock full of useful tools, so it's easy to overlook that they also include audio-visual devices that passively monitor ambient network traffic and enable dedicated two-way communication with his sidekick robot, Skeets. They also allow convenient livestreaming access to social media sites.

Time Travel
As an ally of Rip Hunter, Booster Gold's power-suit has been wired with remote access to Hunter's time-travelling Time Sphere and Time Platform. So long as he is within range of the relay embedded in Skeets, Booster can teleport himself and Skeets to a Time Sphere located at any point in spacetime

In addition to all the above, it's always worth remembering that should our hero be caught without any of his very impressive technology, he is still an Olympic-level athlete with demonstrated outside-the-box problem solving skills.

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Today, DC releases the final issue of Justice League: The Atom Project, featuring, as the title suggests, The Atom. And The Atom. (And Captain Atom.)

I don't expect Booster Gold will be in that. (Because, well, he's busy being chained to a wall somewhere. Or some when. (The DC Multiverse is complicated.))

But Booster Gold did make a surprise guest appearance in The Atom's last self-titled comic series 17 years ago today in The All New Atom #24!

Oops. Sorry. My mistake. Booster was NOT in The All New Atom #24 in 2008.

Let no one speak of this again.

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Stop me if you've heard this one, Booster boosters: a young man with good intentions, feeling frustrated about not getting credit for his accomplishments, adopts an outlandishly over-the-top artificial personality (and a "borrowed" suit) and leverages savvy media performances into a public brand that rewards him with fame and fortune.

Sound familiar? Over the weekend, I watched the recent HBO documentary of Pee-Wee Herman, Pee-wee as Himself, and it turns out that Pee Wee and Booster Gold have a lot in common beyond just being associated with breakthrough appearances in the mid-1980s.

The man behind the makeup, Paul Reubens moved across the country to California in search of fame and fortune, which, despite his artistic talent, continually eluded him. He eventually made the conscious decision to hide behind the "Pee-Wee" persona in a calculated attempt to build market recognition. Reubens borrowed a suit to create Pee-Wee's trademark look, then made opportunistic guerilla television appearances to get himself in front of audiences. Though he often played an immature fool, he was also generally interested in spreading a positive message and helping people. Audiences responded, and the character became a big star.

Also like Michael Jon Carter, Reubens relied on a small pool of personal friends, minimized any romantic entanglements in favor of a single life focused on his work, and was prone to making the occasional mistake that would drop the mask and deal irreparable damage to his hard-crafted public persona, thus reinforcing the decision to hide his true self from the public eye.

As the documentary makes clear, Reubens knew he was his own worst enemy. I suspect that our hero may privately share some of those same concerns.

Superman #74, 1992

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It's been a while, but Cort Carpenter has returned to show off the latest commissions in his Booster Gold Sketchbook!

David Hahn and Karl Kesel

Kiara (flxshdoodles)

Patrick Zircher

Looking Boosterrific as always, Cort! Thanks for sharing.

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Argentinian comic book fan Pablo Stadelman, author of three books about comics, Cosa De Fans, Cosa De Fans 2, and Decisiones Heroicas, has now made a documentary movie about comics featuring some names that will be familiar to readers of Booster Gold's adventures!

Quoting from the email Pablo sent me:

The movie name Is "Palabra de comic' (comic word) and it's a personal project that i made myself without any technical and financial help.

For the first time, twelve of the great comic book creators are coming together. Through interviews and examples of their incredible work, these artists reveal their philosophy and the creative processes behind their comic book artworks, from 1940 to the present. This documentary provides insight into the working methods of both iconic publishers, DC Comics and Marvel, while also providing firsthand insight into the details of each of their projects, how they originated, and the impact each had on their careers. Professionals also analyze the evolution of the industry from its beginnings to the present, developing key aspects for the development of the industry. Additionally, this documentary features never-before-seen archival footage from both DC and Marvel, providing insight into how each of the artists and writers involved made it possible to carry out their work. It's a unique opportunity to see artists share their own experiences in the field and how it changed their professional lives. Featuring Bob Rozakis, Jon Bogdanove, Bob Hall, Allen Milgrom, Dan Didio, Val Semeiks, Steve Mitchell, Evan Skolnick, Joseff Rubinstein, Tom DeFalco, Irene Vartanoff and Barbara Randall.

Fans in Argentina should keep an eye out for the movie in select theaters soon.

Keep up the good work, Pablo.

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