Although it's been a few weeks since the last installment in my ongoing series of posts covering my favorite pages from forty years of Booster Gold comics, you may recall that in my last post, Booster Gold and the Justice League were struggling against Eclipso's summer-long "Darkness Within" storyline in the pages of L.E.G.I.O.N. '92 Annual #3.

As it happens, the next issue in that storyline was released on August 18, 1992. However, it wasn't the only issue released that day to feature Booster Gold. So I'm going to take a break from Eclipso's darkness and instead flip through the much more lighthearted pages of Justice League America #67. Especially because everyone is showing so much skin.

If you judged this book only by its cover (or even by its story's title: "Transitions, Transmissions, and Transactions"), you'd expect a story borrowing heavily from the sci-fi horror movie Alien or, given the JLI's reputation as an action/comedy, its sequel Aliens. And, yes, it does indeed lean into some body horror (for laughs!), and it does eventually overtly evoke H.R. Giger's famous biomechanical Xenomorph designs.

The comparison's don't end there. Like much of Giger's work, it also leans into the erotic. The opening page is full-on cheesecake as Fire, a former swimsuit model, poses for a lingerie calendar. As much as I like it, that's not my favorite page.

That comes when Fire finds out who she's posing for:

Hmm. We thought that Darkseid was behind Booster's recent troubles, but maybe its been Fire this whole time.

As I said, there's a lot of skin in this issue. Ice chastises Fire's life decisions without any apparent recognition that her own costume leaves very little to the realm of modesty. Booster Gold takes his top off. Beetle takes his top off. Then Wally West takes their pants off. And, of course, Power Girl has a boob window.

Yeah, it's wild. Certainly not what you would expect in an issue where both the main plot and the primary subplot are concerned with contracts and rights, specifically whether one being can own another or another's whole planet. Or even the visual representation of another person without their consent. Hypocrisy or irony? You be the judge.

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Ok, that was a nice break. Let's see if I can remember how to do this blogging thing....

Once upon a time, a malignant force was corrupting the heroes of the world and turning them against one another. And that malignant force's name was Darkseid Perpetua Telos Brainiac Wally West *ahem* Eclipso in the 1992 event "Eclipso: The Darkness Within" that ran through DC's once-a-year annuals.

By L.E.G.I.O.N. '92 Annual #3, the heroes of the DC had a pretty good idea of how much trouble they were in, as Eclipso had already taken direct control of some of the Earth's most powerful heroes, including Starman, Green Lantern, and Superman. It was time for some outside help, which is why Vril Dox, ancestor of Brainiac, hero of the Invasion!, and leader of an interplanetary corporation of problem solvers, has come to Earth with his motley crew.

Unfortunately for everyone, even the supremely intelligent Dox isn't quite prepared for just how devious Eclipso can be, and soon the incredibly powerful Lobo and Lady Quark are rampaging through New York City.

But don't worry, everybody! The Justice League International is on the scene...

(That's! A! Lot! Of! Exclamation! Points!)

...to fight the wrong guy. Oops. But given the JLI's history with Lobo, it's completely understandable. Even when he's unEclipsed, you should never trust Lobo.

Picking this one page to be my favorite of the issue was very difficult. I like Barry Kitson's script and Mike McKone's pencils throughout (even under a whole squadron of inkers), but I chose page 51 because it kicks off a great four-page sequence in which Ice demonstrates her powers (page 52), Booster rashly flying into action against Lady Quark (53), and full-frontal Fire trying her best to save Booster's life (54). If nothing else, "Eclipso: The Darkness Within" really showcases how well Booster, Fire, and Ice work together as the heart of the JLI. Go team!

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Over 3000 different keywords/phrases have been used over the years here on the Boosterrific! Blog, some obviously more often than others. Some of them are recurring categories, perhaps first and foremost among them being "solicitations" and "new releases," which alert Booster boosters to upcoming and new Booster Gold appearances in comic books.

Select few recurring items over the years have earned their own banner images. Click on any of the following banners to see their associated posts.

And one more for a series that should have a banner but doesn't...

Thanks for reading!

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There are people who frequent this site who do not care for Dan Jurgens' Justice League run. A recent commenter complained that the run is "essentially either an unimaginative retread of past stories or a vehicle for his absolute hero worship of Superman." I have to admit, that's not inaccurate.

Everyone can like what they like, of course, but I will point out that during his run, Jurgens was aware enough of exactly this criticism that his Justice League America #66 is 22 pages of team infighting while former Leaguers complain about how rotten everything has gotten. And then they worship Superman.

In light of the "things were better back in my day" theme of the issue, I particularly like this page that hints that when no one is looking, the Blue and Gold team aren't quite the pair of doofuses they play on TV.

Speaking only for myself, I think this issue is pretty good. But then, I tend to enjoy Superman hero worship, so I'm the target audience. You do you.

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I cannot tell a lie: it was really hard for me to pick my favorite page in Justice League Quarterly #8. Booster appears in two of four stories in the issue, but they both have their problems.

The second, "Yesterday's News" is written by accomplished Bronze Age Superman writer Elliot S! Maggin, but it looks like a new artist tryout piece with exceptionally amateurish results. Booster plays only an ancillary role. If I had to pick a favorite among its pages, I'd choose the last. That page has real structural problems, but at least it means the story is over.

Fortunately, the first story, "Double Trouble," gives me plenty of pages to choose from. Too many, in fact, but mostly because not one of them is perfect. I don't know if the problem is Mark Waid's script or Rod Whigham's art, but the pacing irritates me. Instead of having each page complete a single idea or scene, punchlines and consequences often require the turn of a page, disrupting the flow. (I assume the goal of this approach was to allow the page turn to build suspense, but the art and dialogue just aren't tight enough to make that work here.)

Which is not to say that it's not an enjoyable story. In fact, I quite like how Waid works the pre-Crisis Crime Syndicate into the post-Crisis DCU. Waid successfully evokes the satirical tone of the corporate environment that Giffen and DeMatteis established around the Justice League International era while adding an additional layer of Battle of the Network Stars meets American Gladiators. It's superhero fun in the classic Brave and the Bold tradition.

But since I cannot tell a lie, honestly, the reason that I picked page 11 is because of the signs in the crowd in panel 2. Specifically, this sign:

Yeah. I've been to a lot of stadiums. We definitely need more of *that* sign in the world.

Honorable mention goes to page 4, with its series of panels straight out of Hero Hotline of D-list heroes interviewing for membership in the Conglomerate. Specifically this guy:

Quality stuff.

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