Our friend Tom Mix is back with another review of Booster Gold.
FACE OFF
June 1986
Creator/Writer/Artist: Dan Jurgens
Inker: Mike DeCarlo
Letterer: Agustin Mas
Colorist: Nansi Hoolaha
Editor: Janice (Yep, it just says ‘Janice’. What are the chances there will be a different letterer next issue!!!)
Very cool cover, I really like this one.
Open up to a splash page of Mister Twister, who is introducing ‘Blackmail Night’.
Mister Twister first appeared in ‘The Brave And The Bold’ 54 in June 1964 in a story with Kid Flash, Aqualad and Robin, so I’ll assume he was created by Bob Haney and Bruno Premiani.
Turns out Mister Twister is standing on top of a huge bomb he has just slid into the middle of a hockey match. He will kill all 18,327 spectators unless he receives 3 million dollars by midnight. The bomb has a ‘deadmans switch’, so the police are powerless. Enter our hero. But, the police don’t want ‘Gloryseeker’ getting everyone killed, and send him away! Booster leaves, but tells Skeets they are going to help anyway. They enter the hockey arena through an obscure roof-top entrance. But Mr. Twister’s radar device detects them, and he demands they surrender. Cut to Trixie the secretary’s apartment, where Booster’s agent turns up to watch the action on TV.
Back at the arena, Mr. Twister is annoyed about Booster’s arrival, and wants to punish someone. He’s going to off someone in the crowd, but Booster says it should be him that gets punished. Mr. Twister agrees, and says the crowd can live if Booster lets the hockey players beat him to death live of TV. How did this book get a Comics Code Authority seal? Anyway, the hockey players all have family in the crowd, so they set to. Booster rolls with the blows to hide the fact his force-field is protecting him, and when he has rolled to a better position, suddenly fires a ‘Booster Shot’ at an electricity transformer, killing all the lights in the place. Booster’s goggles have nightvision so he leaps at Mr Twister, but too late. The bomb is triggered to explode in 29.5 seconds! Booster lifts the bomb and flies with it straight out of the roof of the arena, while Skeets captures Mr. Twister. A huge explosion fills the sky. The city waits to see if Booster survived. Of course he did – He’s Booster Gold!
Back at the apartment, Trixie berates Booster’s manager for only thinking about the money, and not about Booster.
Booster and Skeets are flying home. Booster is saying how he is starting to feel happy here. When he arrived, he felt like he was walking through a history vid. Hmmm… another clue to Booster’s origin? Skeets tells him he is still not doing a good job of acting as though he was born in 1966. So when WAS he born??? Booster looks at a hologram of an older woman and a girl, and suddenly seems morose.
Next we see Booster in bed fast asleep. Some one speaks to wake him, and Booster says “Ma?”. But it’s the secretary and the manager, with the good news that a judge has thrown Booster’s tax case out of court, as Booster is such a great guy. They tell him to come see his new Boostermobile.
Elsewhere, Senator Ballard is FURIOUS about the judge’s ruling. He is determined to crush Booster, who apparently ruined his life and destroyed his future. What can THAT mean?
The Boostermobile turns out to be a red sports car supplied by the Brysler car company – in exchange for promotional services! Booster immediately takes it for a spin, and drives like a maniac – he doesn’t have a drivers licence. Cut to the last page. Entitled ‘Prologue’, we see a small space ship near Jupiter, under attack, in trouble it set’s course for the one man who ca help. Sets course for Metropolis!
“Next issue! At long last! ORIGIN!!! Guest-starring Superman”
On the letters page, the competition to name it is over. It will be known as The Gold Exchange.