It could be argued that self-interested corporate shill Booster Gold is the embodiment of the modern American Dream. But the DC Universe already has an embodiment of the American Spirit, and he's been around for a long, long time.

"In 1776, as a new, but tattered flag was hoisted over the thirteen free states, a new spirit was born, a spirit that grew until 48 states became united under one flag."

That's how National Comics #1 opened in 1940, thus beginning the comic book adventures of the personification of the American Spirit of Liberty, better known to comic book readers as Uncle Sam, eventual leader of the Freedom Fighters, first on Earth-X, then on the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths's only Earth, and now on Earth-10.

You might think that Booster and Uncles Sam, both being active, time-traveling, metaverse-hopping superheroes for decades now, would have worked together a bunch. But that's actually far from the case. As it happens, they've appeared on panel together in only two adventures.

The first time was in 2007's Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Superman-Prime, when the heroes of Earth came together in an attempt to put the rampaging Superman of Earth-Prime in his proper place: six-feet underground.

Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Superman-Prime #1, Page 4, Panel 1

The second time was a few year later, in the pages of Blackest Night #8, when the heroes of Earth came together in an attempt to put the rampaging Nekron in his proper place: also six-feet underground.

Blackest Night #8, Page 10, Panel 1

As you can imagine, there's not a lot of time for small talk when you're trying to save the world.

I like to think that once the smoke cleared, the two heroes got a chance to share a Coca-Cola and a slice of apple pie and argue about baseball. One might love money while the other loves freedom, but something tells me they have more in common than they have differences.

Blackest Night #8, Page 33, Panel 6

Happy Independence Day, everybody.

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