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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I make no secret of the fact that I enjoyed Dan Vado's time writing Justice League comics, including Extreme Justice. It's also no secret that I'm not quite such a fan of the art of Vado's frequent collaborator, Marc Campos.

To be fair, I'm a Booster Gold guy, and Campos' time on the character coincided with Booster's infamous football armor. It was not a golden era.

I'm perfectly willing to accept that fans of other characters may have enjoyed Campos' work a little more than I did. In fact, one of them recently sent me an email looking for help tracking Campos down.

Love your site! I was just wondering if you happened to know contact info for Marc Campos?? I have been wanting for years to get a Blue Beetle commission from him!

I'd like to help, but sadly, I have no idea how to reach Mr. Campos. All I know is that back in the day, he worked out of Brazil (and presumably still does).

Can anyone be a hero and point us in the right direction to contact Campos? If so, leave a note in the comments, and I'll be sure to pass it along.

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If you followed the adventures of Booster Gold in the mid-90s, you must be familiar with the work of Dan Vado. Vado was the writer who gave Booster his first suit of bulky 20th-century power armor in Justice League America #80, cut off his arm and killed him (temporarily) in Justice League America #89, then restored what remained of the fortune Dirk Davis had stolen in Extreme Justice #6.

Vado's time writing the character is often overshadowed by the, um, "extreme" art of the era. That's a shame. Vado's writing strongly emphasized the troubles and personalities of the characters in the ensemble cast. Yes, it's all a bit melodramatic, but that was always a component of the International era of the Justice League. Extreme Justice might not have a sterling legacy, but it's really pretty good if you can read it with your eyes closed.

Happy 56th Birthday, Dan Vado. And thank you.

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Over the weekend, ObservationDeck.io9 asked its readers "What's Your Secret Comic Collection Shame?" I mention that post here mainly because the author, Wenchette, credited a Booster Gold fan for the idea. We all know Booster Gold fans have no shame!

Although the mid-90s weren't a good time for anybody.

(Some may feel it's shameful, but I've always been up front about my inexplicable affinity for Extreme Justice. If I have any regrets, it's the comics I traded away long ago. I think I'd like to have all my early 80s Marvel G.I. Joes back now, please.)

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I started the week with one Extreme Justice homage, so I'm going to close the week with another one.

That's Blue and Gold at their 1990s best (worst?) by Ammotu. You can find more work by Ammotu at DeviantArt.com.

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