One of the many things that DC Comics got right with "The Death of Superman" stories was the follow-up "Funeral for a Friend," which allowed the shocked reading public to grieve the loss of our greatest hero alongside the characters of the DC universe. It really sold the weight of the storyline. The DC Universe had been changed for everyone, and probably not for the better.

Justice League America #70 is all about exploring that grief from the point of view of several different characters. When I read the issue as a Booster Gold fan, I'm usually focused on Booster's triple traumas: losing his super powers, falling to Doomsday, and failing to save Blue Beetle.

But as I reread the issue today, the page that really stuck me wasn't Booster leaning over Beetle's comatose body or Ice breaking down in tears, but Batman doing his best to put death in perspective.

Batman always knows best.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: batman favorite pages justice league international

What I like most about my favorite page from Superman #74 is that for one brief moment, it seems like everything is going to be okay.

Krakadoom! I just love the sound effects in this issue.

Which, of course, will only serve to deepen the horror when, a few pages later, Doomsday beats the living stuffing out of Booster Gold and the rest of the Justice League.

The pacing of Dan Jurgens' "Death of Superman" contributions are exceptionally effective storytelling, which is no small part of why this storyline is still so celebrated all these years later.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: doomsday favorite pages justice league international superman

Look, I could beat around the bush, but is there really any suspense about what will be my favorite page of 1992's Justice League America #69?

Uh-oh, Booster.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: doomsday favorite pages justice league international superman

I should probably warn you up front: my favorite page from Justice League Quarterly #9 is the last page of the story, and therefore contains spoilers.

Sure, I could have chosen a different page. Booster Gold is in two of the stories in that anthology, though I definitely prefer the second, "Tomorrow Belongs to Geralyn," especially in light of how Booster's career will change in the wake of 52 over a decade later.

It begins with a street urchin picking Booster's pocket in a diner, the discovery that the urchin is key to Booster's personal past, and ends with, well, this page. It's heartwarming, really.

Not that we should be surprised by that. It's written by Elliot S! Maggin, one of DC's premier Bronze Age scribes.

So if you don't want to be spoiled by the "twist" ending of a 12-page short story from 1992, turn away!

...

You have been warned.

See? So spoilery. (It's even better with context. Trust me.)

Comments (3) | Add a Comment | Tags: favorite pages justice league international

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.)

Comments (1) | Add a Comment | Tags: favorite pages justice league international