Following the release of the second episode of Lanterns on HBO Max, there has been a lot of talk about Manhunters. Which, of course, got me thinking about Booster Gold's very own Manhunter agent. Or, if you prefer, just his agent.

Here, updated from its original April 2019 appearance, is the Boosterrific! Blog character spotlight on Dirk Davis:

The life of any comic book hero would be a lonely one if not for the many characters who have made up their supporting cast. Just as Superman has Lois Lane and Batman has Alfred, Booster Gold has also shared his adventures with quite a few people over the years. Today we look at one of those, Dirk Davis.

As seen in Booster Gold Volume 1, #9 (1986), Dirk Davis was covering a presidential visit to Metropolis as a member of the press when he got his first glimpse of Booster Gold in action. Davis knew then and there that Booster could be worth a fortune.

According to Davis in Booster Gold #2, Booster approached him about becoming the business manager for a super hero, presumably because of Davis's experience managing the careers of larger-than-life professional wrestlers. Within just a few months, Davis had built Goldstar, Incorporated into marketing empire, with lucrative contracts promoting Flakies breakfast cereal, Brysler Motors, Blaze Comics, and Dusk Cologne. He had a super suit created for a potential sidekick, and worked diligently to make Booster a Hollywood movie star.

Unfortunately for Dirk, not all press is good press. His close association with a genuine super hero led to some unwanted attention when the criminal organization 1000 kidnapped his daughter, Sarah, in an attempt to lure Booster Gold into a trap (Booster Gold #7). Things got worse when the 1000 also kidnapped Goldstar, Inc. secretary, Trixie Collins (Booster Gold #10), and forced him to turn over the access codes to the Goldstar computer mainframe (Booster Gold #11).

Booster eventually managed to defeat the 1000 at great personal cost. The only way to repair his power suit and his health was to travel back to the future. While Booster was away, Davis reorganized Goldstar, Inc. into Booster Gold International (B.G.I.) with the intention of building a multi-national corporate conglomeration to compete with the likes of Lex Luthor's LexCorp (Booster Gold #16). As a reward, Booster promoted Dirk from agent to C.E.O. This would prove to be a mistake.

When Earth became ground zero in the war between the Oans and Manhunters during the "Millennium" event, a Manhunter agent stole all B.G.I. assets in an effort to force Booster to joining their side (Booster Gold #24). That Manhunter agent was Dirk Davis.

The Manhunters lost "Millennium" (in no small part because of the actions of double agent Booster Gold in Millennium #7), and it would be years before Booster relocated and confronted Davis over his betrayal (Extreme Justice #6). By then, Davis had lost the entire B.G.I. fortune on a series of terrible investments, so Booster seized control of Davis's corporation, Lightspeed Entertainment.

As Dirk Davis was thrown out of his own building, he swore that Booster hadn't seen the last of him. Like so many of Davis's promises, it has proved to be so much hot air.

To read creator Dan Jurgens' take on Dirk's journey from confidant to villain, click here to read my post from May 29, 2015.

Other People in Booster Gold's Neighborhood:

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Flipping through some issues of 2007's Countdown earlier this week made me think about Daniel Carter, who was teased in a "DC Nation" column as joining the cast of the soon-to-be-launched second Booster Gold series. So I sat down to write a character bio spotlight for Booster Gold's ancestor, but when I looked back at my archive, it turns out I already had one.

Here it is again, as originally presented in February 2019:

The life of any comic book hero would be a lonely one if not for the many characters who have made up their supporting cast. Just as Superman has Lois Lane and Batman has Alfred, Booster Gold has also shared his adventures with quite a few people over the years. Today we look at one of those, Daniel Carter.

After a gruesome injury ruined his promising football career, Daniel Carter had became stuck in an unfulfilling job as Evergreen Insurance Company's fifth-best term-life salesman. He dreamed of being a super hero and reclaiming his lost glory. Perhaps it was that dream — or maybe it was fate — that lured him to Booster Gold's sparsely attended funeral in 52 #18.

Daniel was completely unaware that Michael Jon "Booster Gold" Carter was his descendant until Skeets told him the truth. Unfortunately for Daniel, that was the only truth Skeets told him (52 #19).

Skeets wasn't Skeets at all, but the villainous Mr. Mind in disguise. Fortunately for Daniel, Rip Hunter was already aware of Mr. Mind's schemes. Hunter enlisted Daniel to become the second Carter to don the mask of Supernova, world-famous super hero. Together with faked-his-own-death Booster Gold, Daniel defeated Mr. Mind and saved the multiverse (52 #52). Daniel Carter's dreams had come true!

Afterwards, Booster and Daniel became roommates (Booster Gold Volume 2, #1). Though Daniel meant well, he was also rather stupid. He was often left behind while Booster was out adventuring. This made it easy for Booster's ne'er-do-well father to steal the Supernova costume and use it for evil (Booster Gold Volume 2, #2). It would also present the opportunity for Daniel to meet his future wife, reporter Rose Levin, when she came snooping into Booster Gold's personal life (Booster Gold, Volume 2, #3).

Rip Hunter would eventually recover the Supernova costume, and Daniel would continue to play the role of hero for Rose. He traveled through time to find his wife the perfect gift — and only accidentally gave longtime Justice League foe Starro the Conqueror the ability to conquer all history (Booster Gold, Volume 2, #13). He would redeem himself by protecting Rose from a maurading Black Lantern Blue Beetle in Booster Gold, Volume 2, #27.

Supernova hasn't been seen since Flashpoint, but so long as Booster Gold is still around, Daniel and Rose have to be out there somewhere.

Other People in Booster Gold's Neighborhood:

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The DC Multiverse can be an incredibly unsettling place to live. One day you're a killer, the next you're a henchman for a galactic entity determined to exterminate humanity. Today we look at one of those twisted souls, Devastator.

Devastator's story begins in Justice League America #86 where many other stories end: Death Row. That's where the Overmaster first finds killer Jack Snyder.

The Earth is soon rocked by a series of natural disasters of increasing severity. In the ensuing chaos, no one seems to notice when Snyder is freed from prison.

No one notices, that is, until Snyder reappears as a member of the Overmaster's hand-chosen answer to Earth's super-powered champions. Snyder is granted a portion of the Overmaster's power, given a suit of armor and an energized battleaxe. Now calling himself Devastator, Snyder and the rest of the Cadre are unleashed on the Justice League with, ahem, devastating results for Booster Gold in Justice League America #89.

The attack severed Booster's right arm and destroyed his armor. Although the League would beat a hasty retreat to try and save him, Booster would succumb to his injuries and die in Justice League Task Force #13, increasing Devastator's kill count by one.

Devastator and the Cadre press their advantage in Justice League International #65, attacking rogue Cadre members in Benares, India. Although the Justice League manages to defeat them (Devastator himself falling to Justice League Europe's Maya), the Cadre ironically escapes capture when the Justice League itself is accused of going rogue by the League-Busters, another United Nations-sponsored task force.

As the heroes regroup, the Cadre reorganizes around Ice, who has been recruited by the Overmaster. Devastator is the first to gleefully support Ice when she brutally murders the Cadre's previous leader, Shatterfist, in Justice League America #90.

Devastator will eagerly join Ice and the rest of the remaining Cadre in their final stand against the Justice League outside Overmaster's headquarters on the slopes of Mount Everest in Justice League Task Force #14.

Fortunately for humanity, despite the loss of Ice, the Justice League was ultimately victorious, defeating both the Cadre and the Overmaster. Fortunately for Booster Gold, Blue Beetle was able to bring his old buddy back to life by creating new armor with integrated life support systems. And fortunately for the Cadre, Beetle was also able to decipher the Overmaster's technology and save them certain death when the Overmaster's headquarters explodes in Justice League International #66.

Unfortunately for Jack Snyder, his escape from death was probably short lived. Though he has not been seen since, without the Overmaster's power and protection, it can be assumed he was returned to the Florida Department of Corrections where he paid the ultimate price for his many crimes.

Other People in Booster Gold's Neighborhood:

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The DC Multiverse can be a darkly unforgiving place to live. One day you're a hero, the next you're a villain. Sometimes you don't even get the chance to find out what you are. Today we look at one of those unfortunate souls, Alexandra Gianopoulos.

Alexandra's story begins in Booster Gold Volume 2 #45 when Booster Gold falls into her bed. Literally.

Unfortunately for everyone, Booster is being pursued by Doomsday, who makes short work of her Coast City penthouse apartment, forcing Booster and Alexandra to flee. Booster soon deduces that he had unintentionally arrived in an alternate timeline orchestrated by Flash's archnemesis, Professor Zoom and sets out to apprehend the villain.

Alexandra liked the idea of a world where humans and metahumans weren't waging a world war against one another. Her own father had been killed in the fight against Emperor Aquaman, and worse, she was a closet metahuman herself. She was born a "parasite" with the innate ability to temporarily absorb the abilities of anyone she touches. The unexpected arrival of a time traveler made her think that maybe the world really could be changed for the better.

When Doomsday and Booster Gold resume their fight, Alexandra flies into action with Booster's powers. However, her rash intervention only results in all three of them being captured by the United State military (Booster Gold Volume 2 #46). When Doomsday proves too powerful to be tamed, Alexandra utilizes the military's mind control technology to force the monster to kill itself (Booster Gold Volume 2 #47).

As changes to the timestream began to eat away at Booster's memory, he heroically vows to Alexandra that he will tap into Flash's Speed Force, resolve the Flashpoint paradox, and take her with him to a better timeline.

Booster fails.

In an interesting quirk of history, death in the Flashpoint timeline was not intended to be the final fate of poor Alexandra Gianopoulos. You can see in the panels above that Alexandra nebulously disappears into the Speed Force, and in comics, if there is no body, there is no death.

As DC timeline rebooted itself into the New 52 Universe, we can be sure that Alexandra was to join the reformed Justice League International. She can plainly be seen as the "woman in black" in the originally solicitated cover for Justice League International Volume 3 #1. However, for reasons that remain unclear (perhaps an editorial mandate that no characters were allowed to escape the Flashpoint paradox?), when the book was released, Alexandra had been replaced by former Global Guardian Godiva.

Alexandra will make one last appearance on the released cover of Justice League International Volume 3 #5 (another editorial oversight?), but she hasn't been seen since, a lingering reminder that time definitely does not heal all wounds.

Other People in Booster Gold's Neighborhood:

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Over 3000 different keywords/phrases have been used over the years here on the Boosterrific! Blog, some obviously more often than others. Some of them are recurring categories, perhaps first and foremost among them being "solicitations" and "new releases," which alert Booster boosters to upcoming and new Booster Gold appearances in comic books.

Select few recurring items over the years have earned their own banner images. Click on any of the following banners to see their associated posts.

And one more for a series that should have a banner but doesn't...

Thanks for reading!

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