I don't know which page I would have picked as a favorite from Justice League America Annual #7 when I first read it in 1993.

I like the Hitchcockian horror-influenced sequences of Booster Gold's talking head running through pages 5, 6, 7, and 9, but none of those pages quite come together as a whole for me. Gene D'Angelo's garish colors combine with Greg LaRocque's loose layouts to create an almost hallucinogenic environment which bothers me more the longer I look at them.

So instead I think I'll choose page 16, where a powerless, line-swinging Fire saves the JLA's resident idiot, Guy Gardner, on the world's largest jungle gym:

I cannot deny it: I enjoy cheesecake "Good Girl" images of Fire. But I also think this example of lurid, sexually suggestive posing works particularly well, thematically, in this dark horror story in which the alien parasites use lust to manipulate their prey, like a page from Dracula, and the protagonist's runaway id creates monsters, like scenes from Forbidden Planet. Cheesecake images here can inspire similar feelings in the viewer, deepening a connection with the story.

(Unfortunately, this particular issue meanders too much to really take advantage of such atmosphere. Too many subplots, too many pages to fill, too many inkers. But still. It's nice to know that Greg LaRocque was trying.)

Horror and sex, working together since man first discovered Fire.

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Booster Gold plays only bit parts in Justice League America #77 and #78, and is absent from #79 entirely.

So let's skip ahead to Justice League America #80, where the Corporate Crusader is finally back in super-powered action... in arguably the ugliest costume he'll ever wear.

Yes, that ridiculous suit is bulky and ugly, and it makes Booster look considerably less-than-heroic, which was writer Dan Vado's intention as he started Booster's long journey back from Doomsday's destruction of his original power suit. Sometimes to get to the top, you have to start at the bottom.

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Since my annual April Fools' Day post went over like a lead balloon (for reminding everyone of that nonsensical story in which the DC Multiverse's anthropomorphic embodiment of entropy pretended to be Booster Gold), let's see if I can refresh your palette with a post about that time the heart and soul of the Justice League pretended to be something called a "Bloodwynd."

Obviously, I'm talking about Justice League America #76.

In case you're too young (or too old) to remember, Bloodwynd was a mysterious character with magical powers who appeared from thin air to save the Justice League in Justice League America #61. Blue Beetle never liked the guy and vowed to discover his true identity, setting up a subplot that would have to wait for Superman to die before it could be resolved. (Trivia fact: Bloodwynd and Ice are the first heroes on the scene after Doomsday kills Superman.)

Bloodwynd's secret identity was revealed in, well, either Justice League America #74 or #75 depending on how much credence you give to dreams. But Justice League America #76 is the first issue to begin untangling the Bloodwynd mystery.

Hammer pants, Booster? Really?

Do I love this page just because of that cool last panel of Beetle emerging from the shadows? Yes, yes I do.

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I don't much care for the finished art in Justice League America #75. I find the inks by Romeo Tanghal and Bob Smith too thin, scratchy, and inconsistent to be entirely satisfying. Maybe they were trying to match the dreamlike nature of Doctor Destiny's nightmare powers? It just doesn't work for me.

But I am a big fan of Dan Jurgens' page layouts, which is why is why I cannot decide whether I prefer page 10 or 15. Here are both. You decide!

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What is most impressive to me about this two-page spread from Justice League Europe #50 is that at the time, Booster Gold's only power was flight. The rest of his technology had been destroyed by Doomsday (including, apparently, his blue boots). Yet here he is charging into battle with just his fists to save Europe from the super-powered army of Russia's newest dictator, Sonar. What a hero!

Yeah, maybe it does look like Booster should be shooting Booster Shots there, doesn't it? Before you suggest that maybe the artist forgot that Booster was powerless and editors had to erase Booster's powers (and opponent) from that panel, know that later, on page 34, Booster gets in a fistfight with Doctor Mid-Night (whose superpower is being blind). A hero, I say!

I also enjoy the dialogue here.

Yeah, deceit and money are useful, but as Sonar will be the first to admit, it helps when you have a mind-control machine.

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