After being captured by an alien who claims to own the entire Earth (a plot device that probably sounds familiar to readers of Blue and Gold #5), Booster Gold doesn't have much to do in Justice League America #68 but serve as a background wall decoration.

Fun fact: The Matrix was released 7 years after this comic!

To be honest, the H.R. Giger-inspired page 12, above, is not really my favorite page in the issue. I prefer both the giant Guy Gardner taking up all of page 1 and the sequence of lonely, heartbroken Ice wandering an abandoned Edwards Air Force Base on page 9. But Booster isn't on those pages.

In fact, Booster isn't on most of the pages in this issue. I even considered skipping this issue entirely, and I would have if Booster hadn't played such a significant role in the first half of this story. After the big build up in the previous issue, it would have felt wrong to leave Booster's storyline just... hanging.

(Sorry. Not sorry.)

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After a long summer of capturing the heroes of Earth one by one, Eclipso made his big move in Eclipso: The Darkness Within #2, forcing the heroes to confront the lengths they were willing to go to in order to save the world from the Prince of Darkness.

But can any of us really "kill" the darkness within ourselves, Rex?

Call me a prude, but I do love it when superhero comics are morality plays, especially when the first character to reveal a hard stance against killing is the same one most people would name as the least ethical. Booster Gold is nothing if not always full of surprises.

Spoiler alert for a 1992 story: the heroes win. And only some of them have to kill somebody. Days are longer in the summer, so Eclipso would have smarter to lead a winter event story. Maybe next time.

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To recap: when last we left our heroes during the 1992 "Darkness Within" event, the Justice League and the rest of the heroes of the DCU were fighting for their very survival against the awesome corrupting powers of Eclipso, who had just taken his greatest prize, Superman, starting a race against time to find the Man of Steel before Eclipso could unleash the Kryptonian's powers at sunset.

Which brings us to Adventures of Superman Annual #4, and Booster Gold to save the day!

A redheaded Brazilian?

I'd make a joke here about discovering that Booster can read, but he's really just flipping past the articles to look at the pictures. Sigh. Oh, Booster, you really are your own worst enemy.

Look, Booster Gold and Superman have thrown down several times by now, and I'd like to tell you that this is the occasion when our Golden Boy finally taught Big Blue a lesson... but no.

I won't spoil the story further except to say that this issue is the penultimate chapter in this event, and about a third of the pages are used to set up the finale. Still, it's a pretty good battle with consistent characterization, solid (if unexceptional) sequential art, and a heroic tone, which combine to make me nostalgic for the comics of yesteryear.

(Footnote: As it happened, I was listening to the soundtrack to Kpop Demon Hunters during my latest re-read of this and by chance started "Takedown" as the heroes launched into their fight with Eclipsed Superman [page 9]. It's no Dark Side of the Moon during Wizard of Oz, but I thought it made a pretty good backing track for this particular fight. YMMV.)

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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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