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, Nurse Devlin.

Not all supporting characters are created equally. Some are far more important than others, but even the smallest has a role to play in the adventures of a superhero. Take, for example, Nurse Devlin of Metropolis General Hospital, first met in Booster Gold #13 (1987).

At the end of his previous adventure, Booster had been left battered and broken by the 1000. Because he lacked immunity to 20th-century diseases, he was nearly at death's door. Nurse Deslin helped repair our hero's body. She was also instrumental in improving his soul.

She took advantage of Booster's weakness to read him the riot act about how his selfish behavior disguised as altruism wasn't heroic.

Booster had heard the same countless times before — from no less a moral authority than Superman among others (see Booster Gold #6). This time, he listened. Near-death experiences will do that to you.

The change wasn't immediate. Booster first had to travel to the future and confront his own death squad (in events perhaps unintentionally echoing Charles Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol) before he accepted the need to begin modifying his behavior. Growth is never easy, even for super heroes.

After returning to the present in Booster Gold #15, Booster turned over a new leaf, beginning with an anonymous donation to the Metropolis Food Shelter. (It's no accident that Booster's goodwill tour began with a donation to Nurse Devlin's charity. This suggests that wounded pride motivated him as much as a true desire to be a better person, but hey, every hero has got to start somewhere.)

Interested in meeting other "People in his Neighborhood"? Get to know Trixie Collins, Daniel Carter, Jack Soo, Rani, Dirk Davis, Skeets, Mackenzie Garrison, Rip Hunter, and Michelle Carter.

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I retweeted this sweet Blue and Gold fan art when I saw it earlier this week, but I don't want those of you not on Twitter to miss out.

Drawn by Michel Fiffe, it was shared by @HebenonPodcast. So much motion. I love it.

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What makes a hero super? The super powers! From awesome strength to zero-to-sixty speed, great superpowers are the most useful tricks in every famous costumed crime-fighter's tool kit. Michael Jon Carter knew this, and that's why he started his career with energy blasting Booster Shots.

At the outset of his super-heroic career, Booster Gold knew he would need offensive weapons to defeat the forces of evil. That is why, given his choice of many amazing inventions housed in the Space Museum, he selected wrist-mounted Energy Blasters.

In Booster Gold #6 (1986), Skeets tells Superman that they stole "gloves and control bands that were once worn by an alien menace." The true identity of this "alien menace" has never been clarified in any of Booster's published adventures, but Superman may have a clue. The technology may be alien, but it was crafted into powerful gauntlets by none other than Superman's oldest foe, Lex Luthor!

Lex has been wearing specially tailored suits to fight Superman since Superman #282 (1974). His purple and green suits soon became his trademark. Super genius that he is, Lex kept his suit's tool belt stocked with to whatever inventions he would need for the specific crime he was committing. Those tools included such classics as jet boots, robot controls, finger-mounted gravity casters, age-regressing omega barriers, age-restoring pills, and, of course, enough pockets for forty cakes.

However, none of that was enough to defeat The Man of Steel, so in Action Comics #544 (1983), Luthor fled Earth for the planet Lexor, named in his honor. (For an explanation of how an entire planet could consider a creep like Lex Luthor a hero, see "The Showdown Between Luthor and Superman!" in 1963's Superman #164.) Lexor had once been home to a race of advanced scientists, and Luthor adapted their technology into a "warsuit" that would allow him to defeat Superman once and for all. Or so he hoped.

The new power suit was indeed a considerable upgrade over what came before. Its energy gauntlets were so strong, they could destroy space-going vessels with a single blast. Alas, it was not powerful enough to make Luthor Superman's equal. It was, however, powerful enough to accidentally destroy Lexor (and Luthor's wife and child along with it). With great power can come great regrets.

Superman vowed to destroy the warsuit once and for all in Superman Annual #12 (published in 1986 but set in pre-Crisis, Silver Age continuity). How it survived to make its way from the 20th century to the 25th-century Space Museum will likely always remain a mystery, but we don't have to wonder whether they were the one and the same thanks to the original pencils from Booster Gold #6 included in the superb collection Booster Gold: the Big Fall.

Since returning to the 20th century, Booster Gold has integrated the power gauntlets into his crime-fighting arsenal. Renaming them "Booster Shots," he has used them as his primary weapon in his eternal quest to rid the multiverse of those who would destroy it. If there were any left, the citizens of Lexor would be proud.

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A "fictionalized" Booster Gold showed up at the end of Harley Quinn #66 in part to satisfy the title's obligatory "Year of the Villain" crossover event.

The next month, in Harley Quinn #67, faux Booster returned as justification for a trip through the DC Universe's never-ending series of "Crisis" events. (Was this the same "fictionalized" Booster seen in the previous issue, or a different interpretation? It's impossible to tell, so assume whatever you like.)

Finally, this March, it looks like the "real" Harley and Booster will finally cross paths for the first time since Heroes in Crisis.

Per the issue solicitation at Newsarama.com:

HARLEY QUINN #71
written by SAM HUMPHRIES
art by SAMI BASRI
cover by RILEY ROSSMO
Harley thought a little trip to Los Angeles would help her cope with grief, but grief followed her all the way to the West Coast. When a new friend of hers dies, she knows in her heart there is foul play at work. She'll have to put down her mallet and pick up a magnifying glass to prove her friend was murdered. And will Booster Gold help her investigation or only hinder it?
ON SALE March 4, 2020 · $3.99 US

Attention DC: you had me at Skeets on the cover.

Thanks to Rob Snow for alerting me to this coming event.

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On the subject of Justice League #37, I think I've decided that our mystery hero is supposed to be Animal Man. It looks like most of you agree with me.

Last week's poll question: Does Booster Gold appear in JUSTICE LEAGUE 37? (40 votes)

I think it's weird that the Justice League has spent the last year fighting a war to save the multiverse as we know it, and the DC Universe's greatest continuity cop, Booster Gold, has been relegated to a one-panel appearance. *shrug*

What does Scott Snyder have against Booster Gold?

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