Catch-up Review: Booster Gold #1

So, Booster Gold #3 comes out on Wednesday. Today is Monday. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if I want to review #3 on time and still have covered the previous two issues, I'd have to do one a day. So....

A list of what pushes my buttons, and an explanation of all the references for those of you who do not have Booster's history more or less memorized backwards and forwards. (If you want a synopsis, you've got the entire rest of the blogosphere for that.)

So, we start off with an extended poker metaphor. Considering Booster's personal and family history with gambling, this is flail-worthy. And, of course, he's fighting the Royal Flush Gang, which, as Black Canary will point out in a few pages, is how he got into the Justice League in the first place.

And then we've got a nice double-page spread in which Booster handily summarizes his backstory. The panel layout's a little odd here, forming a kind of convoluted backwards "S" (somewhat appropriate!) The reference to his parents as a collective unit is an interesting one, given how his father walked out on them when Booster and Michelle were 4. Booster's football number being 13 has been rather thoroughly consistent throughout his history, I am pretty sure. Though the colors were originally red and white rather than monochrome. I am willing to forgive this. Monochrome feels more Gotham. I also love all the parenthetical asides here. There's something extremely Booster in that. I also love that the nearly 20 years between Shel's death and Ted's are pretty much entirely skipped over. I mean, it makes sense to do that, of course, but, well, that's almost 20 years right there.

The "I deserve to be cheered for again. (I do.)" gets me every time. Have confidence, Booster!

Batman hits on the strangest mix between dickishness and niceness here. Amazing.

Booster's first heroic adventure was to stop a Presidential assassination plot, so the first paper in the second panel on this page is hilarious. And, of course, the reference to the beginning of Civil War on the second paper. Also worth pointing out is that the teeny tiny type on the papers is all actually real words. Not words that would actually appear in a newspaper, but if you get really up close and personal with your copy, you should be able to make them out. They're worth a good chuckle.

I get a kick out of Booster referring to his usage of historical records as cheating, because I always kind of felt that it was.

It makes oodles of sense that Booster would be mad at Rip for 52. Rip put Booster through all sorts of Hell there and Booster got almost nothing in return for it. I also love it to pieces that Booster lists Skeets's body before his own reputation. It's such a small detail, but it's a telling one.

Strange that Danny and Booster are living in Pittsburgh now, considering that Danny was living in Covington, Ohio in 52 Week 19.

I love Danny. I just do. I also love the contrast of how Booster lost football through his own stupid mistakes, but Danny lost football because of an unfortunate, uncontrollable accident, along with the contrast between the way they are now. *Waves hand vaguely* Did that make sense to anybody but me?

And then Rip is an ass. An ass with a beard. Good call, that. Makes him look distinct from our other two blonds. (The ones who are actually related.)

Also, it is a True Fact that Booster considers his friends to be more important than the Multiverse. Oh, Rip, you magnificent bastard, you, you knew just the think to say to Booster to get him to go with it, didn't you?

I have many, many theories as to who Supernova is. Most of them are the same answer as the last time that question was asked.

The "if I lose an arm again...." is a reference to Booster's ill-fated fight against the minions of the Overmaster. Not only did Booster lose his arm in this fight, however, he was also medically dead for the remainder of the crossover, which eventually led to the infamous Extreme Justice life support suit. It takes balls to reference that, let me tell you.

I like Rose. She's pretty, as a relative of Booster ought to be. :P

Rip is skilled in the art of the back-handed compliment. And, of course, Rip is right when he says that Booster's entirely too comfortable in this environment. Booster's really not the type to give much consideration to the consequences of doing something like kidnapping a baby who would eventually grow up to be a time-traveling supervillain and then dumping them with a happy family.

The scene with the Justice League here just breaks my heart to pieces, because Booster so very much wants that spot on the League, and, well, dammit, he has earned it. The hard way. And he has to let go of it voluntarily (and literally, in the case of that certificate), in order to really be able to be the best hero he can be, and the whole thing's very symbolic and hurty, hurty, hurty. I love it.

And then there's the thing with Batman. Now, a very important thing about Booster here. Calling him Michael is not something you just do. There are tons and tons of reasons behind this, that'll I spare you of (for now), but what it boils down to is that there is a very, very small list of people who can call Booster by his given name and get away with it (I can think of 7 people whom I'd accept a "Michael" from. About half of them are dead. Make of that what you will.), and Batman is most definitely not on that list of people. So, seeing ol' Batsy use "Michael" and then Booster retorting with a "See ya, Bruce." is just great, because can't you just hear the spite in that "Bruce"? It's so very nice to see that the Michael thing is something that Johns and Katz get, because it's important.

Also, can you not just hear the gears turning in Batman's head after that "living down to expectations"?

Internet humor is always worth a chuckle. True Fact.

I love the scene with the kid. Even if the kid couldn't have been older than 5 or so when Booster was in the League. I'll forgive that. And, of course, watching Booster give up the glory is downright charming.

There are two things that I absolutely love about this last little scene. And they are "A couple times" and "we're going to start by saving." Because it's so nice that the writers realize that Booster has lost people other than Ted, although Ted is a very important loss to him. So this promise that Ted won't be the only one that Booster is fighting to save makes me very, very happy. What can I say? Booster has a twin sister who has been dead for about 20 years of whom I am rather fond.

The preview page is just enticing beyond words, of course. As Geoff Johns so artfully put it, "Die, Max, die!"