Do you remember that my favorite page in Justice League International #24 was Booster and Beetle behaving badly at a super-hero gathering?

If so, then you can probably already guess which page is my favorite in Hawk and Dove #1.

These panels are a flashback to events behind the scenes of Invasion! Book Two, which means this party actually takes place before that one. So if Booster seems comparatively immature here, don't worry; he grows up fast.

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One of the biggest cliches in American superhero stories is that the superheroes are often, by default, champions of the status quo. But what if the status is not quo? Should superheroes be using their powers to build a better world? That question is at the heart of Booster Gold #17.

The issue themes will be familiar to fans of Roger Moore's James Bond: A mad scientist plans to improve the world by killing a bunch of people, and the Americans and Russians stand on opposite sides advocating for their own interests while a lone hero struggles against all odds to save the day.

The Russian agent is the amoral mercenary Cheshire. The issue's interesting twist is that the American agent is also a villain; the superhero Hawk's good intentions have become warped by his political ideology. Caught in the middle is Metropolis' own Corporate Crusader, Booster Gold, who is just trying to mitigate the collateral damage.

When it all builds to a head, Booster is forced to play his opponents' hardline games against them with a bluff that only an unknown wildcard could hope to pull off, as seen in this very dramatic sequence of panels:

Can superheroes make the world a better place? Booster Gold is still fighting to find out.

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You may have heard that there's something of a global health crisis ongoing right now. As someone with older parents, I find it a little scary, which makes it a fitting topic for Friday the 13th. What would make me feel better is a super hero who could stop a spreading disease dead in its tracks.

Which brings me to that time that Booster Gold single-handedly prevented a disease outbreak (with a little help from Skeets).

Of course, when pandemics strike the DC Universe, there's usually some super villain at work. That was definitely the case in the story "Dream of Terror" published in Booster Gold #17 (1987).

Dr. Pete Babich is biologist and eugenicist obsessed with solving the problems of social inequality. Like so many bad guys, Babich considers himself a hero who believes that he alone has "the courage to do what must be done." Specifically, he means releasing a virulent, globe-spanning disease that will kill everyone he considers to be "undesirable," by which he means "poor."

To initiate his class warfare, he enlists the help of the Teen Titan Hawk. Babich has misled Hawk into thinking that the disease won't kill outright, but will instead sterilize the population. For some reason, Hawk still thinks this is a good idea.

Babich's initial target? Mexicans. He might have gotten away with it, too, if the Russians hadn't gotten involved via their agent, the mercenary Cheshire. (This is an American comic, remember? With us, it's always Mexicans and Russians.)

Because of the Russians' attempt to steal Babich's creation to use for their own purposes, the evil doctor is exposed to his own disease. It works as advertised, destroying a certain undesirable human in a scene delightfully dripping with dramatic irony.

It would be tragedy if Babich's engineered plague went on to kill hundreds or thousands worldwide, but this being a comic book, that's not going to happen. Especially not with Booster Gold on the scene.

Everyone lives happily ever after!

I certainly don't mean to suggest that COVID-19 is the work of a super villain (or the Russians). I just find reassurance in stories about good, powerful people putting their own lives on the line to save us. In the DC Universe, they're called super heroes. In the real world, we call them health care professionals.

Stay safe, everybody. (Personally, I'll be spending the foreseeable future indoors reading comics, so it's not all bad.)

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Booster Gold has never been especially lucky in love. In fact, he's never been very lucky in anything at all. But his love affairs stand out as particularly star-crossed.

While Booster has had semi-stable relationships with actress Monica Lake and Firestorm's main squeeze, Firehawk, he's just as likely to be seen striking out. Justice League International fans may recall Booster made a fool of himself hitting on Justice League Europe liaison Catherine Cobert. Superboy fans might remember the embarrassing time Booster and Beetle both failed in their desperate attempts to pick up Superboy's fellow Raver Aura. But does anyone remember that time during Invasion! when Booster Gold struck out with Dove?

As seen in a flashback in Hawk & Dove Volume 3, #1 — released 27 years ago today! — Booster decided that the middle of an alien invasion of Earth was the right time to make a move on Dove. (The heart wants what the heart wants!) Both Dove and Hawk disagreed.

Awk-ward! For a Time Master, Booster Gold can have some pretty bad timing.

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