Review: Booster Gold #0

Well, this took forver.

The also-rans of the weeks:

Atomic Robo #5: I actually remembered the sucker this week! \o/ Amusing, but felt mostly like set-up for next issue. It happens.

Green Lantern Corps #21: I thought Boodikka has returned to Bellatrix before.... I seem to recall seeing scans of her visiting her mother on Mother's Day. That aside, I am interested in where this story's going. I am somewhat disappointed that it seems to expect one to be following the other Green Lantern book, considering that I'm only picking up GLC.

Wonder Woman #17: I do believe that I will continue to buy this book. I wouldn't say I'm ZOMGSUPEREXCITED about it, but it doesn't repulse me like Teen Titans did, so it stays.

Brave & the Bold #10: Y'know what's odd about this book? I honestly can't remember what's going on in it between issues. I'll open the book and be like, "Oh, right, last issue ended on that cliffhanger, didn't it?" and then "Oh, right, there's that Mephisto thing going on," and then "Oh, right, that team-up happened." I can't recall this happening with any of the other books I read, it's just Brave and the Bold where I keep going, "Oh, right, stuff is actually happening in this book." It's really a good book while I'm actually reading it, so I keep buying it, but it just doesn't stick once it's out of my hands.

Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps War Vol. 1 HC: I concur with the rest of the blogosphere that this event is rawkin'.

And now, the main course, Booster Gold #0:

Cover: Does not have as much Zero Hour trade dress as I would've though. Also, the image itself is slightly off-center and that bothers me.

Pg. 1: Interesting how Future Beetle doesn't quite seem to be pointing at Ted specifically. Although I'm pretty sure there's no "supposed to be dead" in Booster's life (recently).

Also, noticeable and considerable height difference yeesssssss.

Pg. 2: "Of course, I just broke the same rules I'm supposed to be enforcing," amuses me greatly, considering that Booster got his superhero career started by stealing from a museum he was employed as a security guard in.

While Max was very directly involved in Booster's League membership (and there is a certain argument to be made for making the League seem ineffective with that...), Ted was a member of the Giffen League from the very start, while I think it took almost a year for Max to really become an accepted part of the team.

Pg. 3: "Leaving my future to be eaten away by the spawn of Mr. Mind." Ooooooo, a hint of another panel of the preview page at the end of the first issue!

Dan and Ted's successive "What?"s amuse me. So much I made a LiveJournal icon out of it:


Scarab Speak Translation: "Ted, take the wheel." Which, of course, makes no sense in context.

Pg. 4: Oh hai Zero Hour!

Daaaaaaan, Jaime doesn't quite qualify as a grown man yet!

Pg. 5: Oh, wait 'til Ted hears that Booster was drunk when he rear-ended Barry, too.

Scarab Speak Translation: "Ted, take the wheel." And it actually makes sense here! And seems to be Future Beetle's Scarab speaking, which is interesting.

Pg. 6: Booster confirms that he's over 30. And, of course, he was 19 when he started, so he's been at the superhero thing for over a decade. Of course, considering how long it's probably been since CoIE for the rest of canon, a few of those years were probably spent in the future between the end of the OMAC Project mini and when Booster reappeared in Infinite Crisis. I really would like to know what happened in those years....

Scarab Speak Translation: "My Scar ab's goin g nuts." I really like how they formatted the line breaks there to show the wigging out.

Pg. 7: Hal Jordan was a good guy again by the time I started reading comics. Is hurting Parallax as big a deal as I think it is?

Booster and Hank Hall have met before. In Booster's first series, actually. Issue #17. They did not get along. Things do not seem to have improved. (Which is really no wonder, considering how Booster left Hawk at the end of that story....)

"I lost some special to me. But Parallax says he'll bring him back." Substitute "Future Beetle" for "Parallax." Smirk knowingly. And worry.

Pg. 8: Scarab Speak Translation: "Or me." Hee.

I love how "already destroyed 64th century" = "annihilate the 25th soon enough." That's not nearly 4,000 years or anything. Quick, Shane somebody who's actually read Zero Hour! How long was it between Impulse's disappearance and Booster's? And between Booster's disappearance and when the present was in very immediate danger? Because if that was like bang-bang-bang, then I'll reverse my "haha, what?" reaction to that. But otherwise....

Pg. 9: I rather like how the 25th century is still "home" for Booster, despite everything.

Pg. 10: So, it seems that Jonar lost his eye to pay for a debt. Not terribly exciting, but certainly gruesome.

"Do you really think you're strong enough to deal with that kind of guilt?" Jonar Carter. Still an asshole!

Booster tracked Jonar down, did he? Iiiiiiinteresting. Mostly, of course, because if Booster tracked Jonar down, then Jonar didn't track Booster down to demand monies of him, which is fractionally less bastardliness than I would've expected.

Honestly, though, this page can pretty much be accurately summarized by just "Jonar Carter is an asshole and Booster's not a particularly bright kid. (Though he is a particularly pretty one.)"

Pg. 11: I love how Michelle is totally more important than anything Booster's done as Booster Gold.

Michelle's supposed to be blond like Booster! Curse you, Hi-Fi! At least the red hair isn't totally out of left field, considering that Mrs. Carter was a redhead, but still. I get the feeling that somebody or multiple somebodies have gotten the two Goldstars mixed up, since Trixie (who actually was a redhead) is sadly overlooked here. But I guess she's kind of obscure.... Not that Michelle isn't, of course, but Michelle's easier to bring back than Trixie would be, of course. Which is really sad when you consider that Michelle's the dead one of the two.

Also it means I have to update my Proud Carter Tradition icon again:


Oh, while I'm at it, hey, lookit, Booster's football uniform is red again. Exciting.

Pg. 12: Ah, Michelle, I am so happy that you are so capable of seeing through Jonar's bull. Not that Booster would ever listen to such a thing, of course. But it's nice that one of you is capable of reason. Also makes me feel much less worried about Jonar's "you and your sister always thought too much of me" from issue 4. Funny how one simple page can assuage my Jonar-rezzing-Shel desires fears.

Tangential thought: Why is the locker room so empty save Carters?

Bawwwwww, Booster's crippling need for love and attention.

"A few months after I went back in time, Michelle followed me" is such a drastic understatement. I mean, of course they couldn't summarize that whole arc down to anything even closely resembling reasonable, but still. It would be hilarious to see 'em try. (I think the shortest I can summarize it is something like, "Booster's power source for his suit ran out, and also he got the tar beaten out of him and ended up terminally ill, so he went back to the 25th century, and the cops caught him, because stealing a time machine is a crazy heinous crime [the punishment is execution without trial, even! Booster compares it to setting off a nuclear bomb in a church.], but then Shel breaks him off death row and returns to the present with him, 'cuz like hell she can stay in the future after that."[And, yes, that link is completely gratuitous, but I love that panel, so bah!]) I would've at least liked it if they mentioned that Booster made a return trip to the future and Michelle ended up coming back with him, instead of making it sound like Michelle made the trip independently.

Pg. 13: I don't think Michelle ever actually called herself Goldstar. I'm not sure anybody ever called Michelle Goldstar in-canon. I mean, Goldstar was the name associated with the costume, of course, but it's not like Shel ever actually did any heroing. It's explicitly stated in canon that she stole (and funny how that part isn't mentioned....) the costume because she wanted to fly. Of course, I can excuse this because it's not like she ever told Booster that, and I can easily believe that Booster is not as good at sussing out Shel's motivations as she is at his.

Booster, 5 minutes does not really a big brother make, while I'm at it.

"It wasn't your fault she died." Actually, Ted, it kind of was. I realize that Booster has probably never explained what actually happened to you, but Shel was not actually murdered like you thought in C2IC; she died at the uncaring hands of electrocution via falling rubble. And what caused the structural damage that resulted in the falling rubble? Yeah, that'd be a guy by the name of Booster Gold. So Booster's part in the death of Michelle is roughly equal to Ted's part in the death of Dan. So unless you've gotten over your massive guilt complex, Ted, (and maybe you have, considering the general lack of Freaking Out that's been done so far, actually,) I'm not sure you should really be telling Booster not to feel guilty about it.

I adore that Ted places Michelle before himself here. Because it is Right and Good and feels like delicious, delicious Validation.

Explicit statement that Friends and Family > Career and Respect makes me happy.

And check out that grin in that last panel. Booster has a Plan. A Plan that involves saving his sister. Yesssssss.

Pg. 14: Look, it's the Space Museum! Check out Booster's Legion Flight Ring in the foreground there and the forcefield belt in the back.

Also, be sure to check out the expression on Dan's face. He's so totally gawking. Jaime probably is, too, but it's less obvious. And Future Beetle's just like B|.

Hi-Fi, I do not think that the guy tackling young Booster on that screen should be wearing the same color football uniform that he is.

While I'm at it, why is this game being broadcast to an empty museum?

I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with Dan Garrett calling Booster "Michael".

I'm curious as to how they managed to get this far without setting off any alarms already.

Pg. 15: Lookit, it's a Batarang and Adam Strange's helmet!

Man, that's a lotta robots. Which is new. I'm none too familiar with the Space Museum's original stories, but I don't think it's ever had robots other than Skeets in the context of Booster. And none of these other robots look like Skeets, which is even more weird.

"And I don't want to hear any more complaints from you about our protocol. Shoot to kill, Skeets, you're scrap." I still haven't figured out if the Leader 'Bot is telling Skeets not to kill people or if he's telling him to kill people. Very big difference, that.

I like the expressions in the 4th panel. A lot. They are quite perfect.

Pg. 16: "Which one?" Hee. (Although, c'mon, Ted, why are you even bothering to ask; what could you do against a horde of robots like that?)

It amuses me that the other robots turn into regular OMAC's, while Skeets just turns into an OMAC'd Skeets. That makes perfect sense!

OK, starting from regular Booster and working outwards, we've got the original costume (complete with cape!), the life support suit from Extreme Justice, the Conglomerate outfit (<3), and 3 versions that I don't think are actually from anything. Pretty sure I'd remember seeing a Booster with that many stars on his costume. So gaudy.

Besides the Jaime-esque costume, all of the alterna-Teds seem to be just made up.

Of course, if I'd been in charge of this, I probably would've included the Booster from this (admittedly fairly obscure and probably with good reason) comic and the literal Blue Beetle Ted who recently appeared in Countdown: Arena.

Pg. 17: "This is so awesome." QFT.

"We can't remember this? But that's not fair." Also QFT. Although I do agree with Dan regarding the necessity of it, and it does explain why Jaime is not showing any signs of having met Ted over in his own book.

"Just try to remember to go easy on me that first year of school, okay?" "Never." I <3 you, Dan. <3

Ted and Jaime bonding yay.

Pg. 18: "Your blind, unflinching determination is as inspiring as it is fortuitous, Michael." It's also probably kind of unhealthy and definitely makes him easy to manipulate.

Pg. 19: "In fact, everyone looks ridiculous with a mustache." As a fan of facial hair, I will fight you, Ted!

Rip's not that bad, is he, Booster? Just has a stick up his time-traveling butt, does he?



That just can't be healthy.

Oh noes, the chalkboard is clean! And, uhh, broken to bits. That too.

What is with all the using Michael in this issue? He goes by Booster. He calls himself Booster. Other people call him Booster. All to the point where if he is going by Michael or Mike, it's usually to protect somebody else's secret identity (since he lacks one of his own), and when somebody has to introduce him as Michael/Mike in that situation, they usually pause before they say it, because it's something they have to work to recall, even if it's Booster himself doing the introducing. Booster got the moniker of Booster Gold by automatically answering Booster when asked for his name by the President and not getting the chance to fully correct it in time. That's how thoroughly Booster goes by Booster instead of Michael. Could we please not throw it around like we would Clark Kent or Bruce Wayne or something? Kthnx.

Pp. 20-21: OHSHI-

Pg. 22: Yes, Booster, Zero Hour. That's why there are OMAC's all over the place. That makes perfect sense. B| Booster, sweetie, I love you, and I understand that you really don't want this to be exactly what Rip was warning you about, but seriously. Could you at least try for a scapegoat that makes sense?

So, this is going to end well, yes?