Justice League America #53 is not a great comic book. Part of the problem is the scenario, the first chapter of the "Breakdowns" storyline, which focuses heavily on a Justice League International grieving over a comatose Max Lord while experiencing a literal existential crisis in the United Nations General Assembly. That's pretty heavy stuff that isn't traditionally the type of crisis that you can solve by putting on brightly colored pajamas and punching something.

Sadly, this issue's artists, Chris Wozniak and Bruce D. Patterson, aren't able to elevate the often maudlin script. Wozniak lacks his predecessors' mastery of realistic and consistent facial expressions that so often made Maguire and Hughes' work so brilliant, and the figures here all look like they were sculpted in Play-Doh. Neither does it help that in such a wordy comic, usual letterer Bob Lappan has been temporarily replaced by Willie Schubert, so even the words don't look right for a JLI title. It's not a particularly pleasant reading experience.

But any comic book with Booster Gold in it is a good book, even if he's only here in a supporting role and even if he doesn't wear his costume.

I choose the above page 10 as my favorite mostly because Booster's inclusion there in the bubble makes it the last time the classic Justice League International team would ride into action together as a United Nations-sanctioned team. Where are they headed? The sewer. It's a fitting end to the JLI's original "Bwah-ha-ha" era.

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As Armageddon 2001 meandered its way through the 1991 DC annuals, the Justice League was dealing with its own crisis as founder and team glue Max Lord lay in a coma. This gave Waverider a perfect opportunity in Justice League America Annual #5 to inspect the probable futures of several Justice Leaguers in quick succession in his search to find the future Monarch.*

The visions he saw were all of a shared future in which Martian Manhunter is a cookie guru, Guy Gardner led a cult of personality, Fire was engaged to marry Oberon, and Booster Gold had returned to the 25th century, spent time in jail for his previous crime, then resumed his old job at the Space Museum.

This page reads a little differently after Countdown.

Booster actually has a charming dual role in this issue, supporting his teammates in the present, and in the future, stealing another time machine to put his fractured team back together. For a guy often accused of being a screw-up, Booster has always been a big hero behind the scenes.

* It's no coincidence that herein Waverider disguises himself as Captain Atom, whom he will dramatically fail to investigate a few weeks later in Justice League Europe Annual #2. I'd be inclined to say "spoiler warning" here, but this is definitely not a spoiler. As DC editorial decreed, Captain Atom is not Monarch.

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Remember that time Superman killed Booster Gold?

Ask yourself: is Superman mad that he murdered Booster or that Booster called him a m-monsterrr?

Sheesh, 1991 was a rough year for Superman. First Armageddon 2001 suggests he's going to be a murdering tyrant in the future, then Adventures of Superman #479 makes him a murdering tyrant in the present.

Don't worry too much about Booster's death there. He doesn't really die. Or, more accurately, that's not really Booster Gold. It's not even really Superman. Red Kryptonite does some strange things to Kryptonians.

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Justice League America #51 is a nice reminder that no matter how bad things get, you can always count on your friends.

No, I didn't choose this page just because of "Your Boosteraciousness," but I could have.

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The Armageddon 2001 storyline ran through the DC annuals in 1991 as Waverider took peeks into potential futures for the heroes of the DCU in search of the one who would become the evil dictator Monarch.

It was Superman's turn in Superman Annual #3, where an increasingly tyrannical Man of Tomorrow is opposed by the freedom-loving Justice League International (with predictable results).

I also really like pages 38 and 44, but neither of those pages manages to work in quite so much delicious cheesecake.

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