DC's 1988 event Millennium is not widely beloved for a variety of reasons — foremost among them for all Booster boosters is that it got Booster Gold cancelled. But what sealed its fate is that it doesn't stick the landing.

The concluding issue, Millennium #8, is 24 pages of just talking and new character introductions. It doesn't feel as much like a denouement for what came before as it does the first issue in a brand new comic book populated by a bunch of badly stereotyped characters with poorly thought-out powers. Blech.

Booster appears in several panels in this turkey, and he's featured equally as prominently as Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Which is to say that they are all extras in the story of future household names Gloss, RAM, Extrano, Jet, Floro, and... Betty.

As it happens, I do have a favorite page in this issue. It's page 5, in which Booster Gold learns that everything he's gone through in the previous seven weeks — losing his fortune, his friends, and his good name — was leading to the creation of a superhuman with the power to arrange furniture for maximum harmony!

I have to believe that when Gloss says "You'll never regret this," she's being sarcastic.

Comments (3) | Add a Comment | Tags: favorite pages millennium

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.

Comments (3) | Add a Comment | Tags: black canary blue beetle dan jurgens favorite pages martian manhunter robert campanella skeets

While reading Millennium, it's worth remembering just how unloved Booster Gold was in 1987. This was before the now-beloved "Blue and Gold" bromance, and most DC readers thought very little of a wannabe hero who stole his way to stardom. So it was easy to believe he could side with the manipulating Manhunters.

It's hard to imagine that a Superman might go bad, but Booster Gold? Was he ever really good to begin with?

With that in mind, could there ever be any question about which page is my favorite in Millennium #7?

It might take him a while to get there, but Booster Gold always does the right thing in the end.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: favorite pages

Booster Gold makes only a small cameo in Millennium #4, and we only hear about him in Millennium #5 when we (and Mister Bones) eavesdrop on a conversation between siblings Jade and Obsidian.

Millennium #5, words by Steve Englehart, art by Joe Staton, Ian Gibson, Carl Gafford, Bob Lappan

It's not until Millennium #6 when we see our hero finally return to full-page action. Three pages of action, actually. And I have to say he puts on a pretty good showing for himself despite siding with the Manhunters.

Booster's rarely-seen Absorbing Field wins the day, temporarily incapacitating both Batman and a Green Lantern. Even if you are on the wrong side of this conflict, Booster, that's impressive.

And that's why this is one of My Favorite Pages.

Comments (8) | Add a Comment | Tags: batman favorite pages guy gardner powers

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.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: dan jurgens dirk davis favorite pages ty templeton