Booster Gold #3: “The Night Has Two Thousand Eyes”
April 1986
Writer/Artist: Dan Jurgens
Inker: Mike DeCarlo
Letterer: Agustin Mas
Colorist: Nansi Hollahan
Editor: Janice Race
“NOOOO!” Booster races towards the explosion, but it is too late. Nothing remain of Skeets. Dirk the manager explains to Rose the publicist (and us) how bad this is, that Skeets wasn’t just a robot, but instantly thinks of a way to spin it to increase Boosters fame. In the base of The 1000, Blackguard asks for a raise for taking out Skeets and is put in his place by the Director.
The Director is another Dan Jurgens creation, first appearance in these very books (back in issue 1, but we don’t know that yet!).
An interlude where we see Rose switching into her other role as Thorn, then its back to Dirk’s office. Their poor secretary is finally leaving work, when Dirk and Booster arrive, telling her to start typing up a press release. Booster is reminded of his hot date with TV star Monica Lake.
The date is NOT going well, when Booster gets called away by an emergency. We see he is followed by Thorn, who is also looking for the 1000, as it was their predecessors, the 100, who murdered her father. We arrive back at Centennial Park, to find the emergency call came from… Skeets! He’s not dead… and he knows how to get into the secret underground base of The 1000.
An interlude to see that Dirk’s secretary finally made it home, then it’s back to the underground base, where Booster’s entry has been noticed. Booster easily shrugs off attacks of varying kinds, so Mindancer arrives to deal with him personally. She hits him with a powerful psychic attack.
Elsewhere, the guy in the shadows who has been after information about Booster Gold decides the time has come to attack. He is revealed as Senator Ballard, an apparently (until now) comic figure who had been turning up ever since issue 1 just to mispronounce Booster’s name in different ways.
Cut back to the underground base. Booster is just coming round after Mindancer’s attack. We find that Skeets is imprisoned, and Booster is pinned down next to Blackguard. They are both about to be cut apart by a solar drill, which Mindancer has established can defeat even Booster’s force field. How will any of them get out of this?
The letters page is an article about how to get into comics, by Dan Jurgens.
The story is moving forward nicely, with a couple of good reveals, but no new stuff about Booster’s origin.
Booster Gold #4: “CRASH”
May 1986
Writer/Artist: Dan Jurgens
Inker: Mike DeCarlo
Letterer: Agustin Mas
Colorist: Nansi Hoolahan
Editor: Janice Race
We pick up right where the last issue left off, with Booster and Blackguard about to go under the super laser. Mindancer tells Blackguard he is there because the 1000 have grown tired of his failures, then turns the Solar Drill up to killing power. Booster cries out in pain, the we cut to Thorn somewhere in the corridors of the base. She discovers the bodies of many dead henchmen (killed last issue powering up Mindancer for her psychic attack). Then she finds the room where Booster is being executed. She uses a smoke thorn to block the laser, and an acid thorn to dissolve the shackles holding Booster. Booster, Thorn and Blackguard all set upon Mindancer, who still hasn’t recovered her psychic attack.
Cut to the always exciting ‘Theresa the secretary’s home life’ story, where we learn that even she doesn’t know where he is from. But back to the fight. Booster releases Skeets to join the attack, while Mindancer brings her psychic-controlled android into the fray. She is also able to control Blackguard, so it’s 3 v 3! Booster crashes into the Solar Drill during the fight, and it goes crazy. There is a big explosion. Skeets lures Blackguard into the errant beam, and he is down for the count. This gives him time to give us a history lesson on Thorn, referring to stories in Lois Lane #105 and Brave And The Bold #188 & 189. Booster thinks she looks familiar, but has to deal with the android by channeling his energy back into himself. Skeets warns “Booster, that could be suicidal!”. Booster smashes the android to bits, but now feels he has almost nothing left in the tank. The Solar Drill is still running out of control and must be stopped before it shoots its own control panel and becomes unstoppable.
Thorn continues to battle Mindancer despite the danger. She manages to remove Mindancer’s mask, which REALLY ticks her off. Well, with a face like that…! Booster stops the Solar Drill, but Mindancer gets away. Thorn leaves too. Next day, and Booster is being interviewed on TV. He boasts of how Skeets, Thorn and himself have destroyed the 1000 (and explains why Superman had never discovered this underground base. It was lined with lead, of course!). Back at Blaze Comics (remember them?), a writer and artist are assigned to the project. I should do a google search and see if either of them look like Dan Jurgens. I REALLY hope so. Then its a new crisis as back at his manager’s office, we find that (by order of Senator Ballard) Booster is being audited as it seems he has never paid any income tax. Even his force field is powerless against this attack!
Another great issue. These books feel really tightly scripted. Apart from the Blaze Comics stuff, which just feels like comic relief, everything else feels like its going somewhere. The mystery of Boosters origin has really been cranked up so the big reveal will feel more epic.
The letters page actually has some letters, including one from ubiquitous letter-hack ‘T.M. Maple’, who is not totally sold on the ‘new type of super hero’. And Dan promises that next issue we will finally see the Booster-mobile.