And so at last we reach the end of Booster Gold Volume 1. It is, without a doubt, the ugliest of all 25 original issues.

Robert Campanella's inks are not a good fit for Dan Jurgens' pencils, and even most of Jurgens' layouts are subpar. Either this issue was rushed through editorial to fit the aggressive Millennium publishing schedule, or all the visual artists involved were in a hurry to move on to greener pastures. Maybe both.

(In my opinion, this issue is the only one in volume one that I think looks definitively superior in the often careless recolored digital reprints over the original newsprint publication.)

It's really a shame about the art, because the Dan Jurgens' script deserves better. It hits all the right notes as it forces Booster to face the down-side of publicity (in an American fast food restaurant) with a Communist providing outside perspective.

It also cleverly draws in the Justice League characters Booster is closest to while setting our hero up for a triumphant come-back in the future. Both of those latter elements factor into my favorite page of Booster Gold #25 (especially Beetle's lecture in panel 2):

Yeah! What Beetle said!

That's what I like so much about Booster Gold. His path meanders, but he always gets to the right place in the end.

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San Diego Comic Con officially starts tomorrow, so now is the time for me to remind everyone that I really, really want one of these:

Well, not one of those 10, exactly. Those are Dan Jurgens', and he deserves them. Heck, if you ask me, he deserves all of them. All 1000.

That's right, according to DCComics.com, that convention exclusive "Silver Screen Edition" of 1985's debut Booster Gold #1 is limited to 1,000 copies sold for $15.00 each. Those numbers seem awfully low to me, especially considering that subtracting Jurgens' 10, there can't be more than 990 available to rabid Booster Gold fans (like me!).

Since it's very, very unlikely — some might say "impossible" — that I'll find my way to San Diego with a convention admission badge, I'll stay here by my computer with an eye on eBay until one of these shows up.

Maybe, if I get lucky, Dan will decide to sell off one of his.

UPDATE 2023-07-20: Yep, as of 4PM EDT Thursday, there are 2 of them already up on eBay, each with an asking price over $100 (including shipping). That sure seems like a lot of money for a comic I already own several of in other formats. On the other hand, can you even buy a stick of gum for $100 anymore? Maybe I'll ask Santa for one for Christmas....

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No sooner was my local network restored than I got an email from Joe Carlo, who pointed me towards some big Booster Gold news coming to San Diego Comic Con this July.

To quote from the official press release at DC.com:

DC announced today their highly anticipated return to Comic-Con International: San Diego (SDCC) with a new DC Booth on the convention show floor from Wednesday, July 19, through Sunday, July 23. ...

On sale in DC's all-new booth will be a wide variety of comic books, graphic novels, and new merchandise from DC and DC Shop. While supplies last, DC will be selling limited printings of Superman "Big Blue" Edition, Silver Screen Editions of Batman #655, Booster Gold #1, Authority #1 and Supergirl Woman of Tomorrow #1....

The press release includes images of the "Silver Screen Convention Exclusive Variant Cover" editions of Authority, Batman, and Supergirl, which have monochromatic black and white cover-images repeated on the front and back of the issue. So we can expect that's what the (not pictured) Booster Gold will look like, whether they're referring to Volume 1 or Volume 2.

So, is anyone going to San Diego who can get their hands on one of those for me?

Thanks for the alert, Joe.

UPDATE: As Marty has pointed out in the comments, Dan Jurgens has tweeted what the book will look like.

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Just about any way you slice it, the back half of Booster Gold Volume 1 is a downer for our hero. And them comes Millennium to take what's left of our hero's fortune, family, and reputation. What a bummer.

The big reveal of Booster Gold #24 is that the Manhunter who betrays Booster is the same "friend" who betrayed Booster before. If this seems unsatisfying to the reader, rest assured that it was also unsatisfying to the issue's creator (as I detailed in my 2015 post "The True Story of Booster Gold: 30 Years of Character Development").

But just because the story is ultimately unsatisfying doesn't mean that the comic doesn't have its moments. Lots of them, in fact. Big, dumb deathtraps are always fun, and Ty Templeton's inks make everything better.

Crushing walls are a pretty old-school trap. I'm glad Booster got a chance to play the classics on his way out.

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Booster Gold #23 is the last adventure of Booster's first volume untainted by editorially-mandated connections to the mega-crossover Millennium event. In hindsight, that makes this comedic exchange between Superman and Booster Gold from page 19 even more poignant.

Pay particular attention to how the content of individual panels flows down and across the page as the scene gradually transitions from the victorious heroes on the top of the building who shrink down to a worm's eye view the giant head of villainous mastermind Lex Luthor at page bottom. The use of a Dutch angle perspective at the page bottom even leads the reader's eye back up the page to reinforce Luthor's contrast with smiling Superman! What a nice finishing touch.

Dan Jurgens' greatest artistic strength has always been laying out dynamic action scenes that enhance a story's narrative flow, and that's perfectly on display here.

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