Random Happenstance

We referenced this issue almost eleven years ago! But I never had a copy...until now! From 1986, Booster Gold #8, "Time Bridge, chapter 1" Story and pencils by Dan Jurgens, inks by Mike DeCarlo.

In 2986, the Legion of Super-Heroes Ultra Boy, Chameleon Boy, and Brainiac 5 visit the Time Institute, where Chronarch has made an interesting discovery: the excavation of a time machine! It had been Rip Hunter's, but had been stolen from a museum in 2462 by a security guard named Michael Carter. Inside the sphere was another oddity: a section of Brainiac 5's force-field belt. Brainy guesses someone took the machine into their future, stole the belt at some point, then returned to the past; but he's wrong: the odometer on the time machine indicates Carter only took it back to 1985, then it was left for a thousand years.

In flashback, we see Carter--better known by his football nickname, Booster--and his security robot Skeets arrive in 1985. The time machine is shot, but he's got no plans on returning to 2462: instead, with a power suit and a familiar looking "magic little flying ring," and a stolen credit card (expiration date, 1998!) he starts putting together a costume and a plan. They need to hurry though, before their window of opportunity closes: tomorrow, a shape-changer was going to attempt to assassinate the president and vice-president...unless they're saved by America's "brilliant new idol!"

Elsewhere, the Director of the 1000 goes over his plan with his hitter, Chiller. Chiller would kidnap and kill Reagan and Bush, leaving Bush's body to be found, then shape-changing into Reagan. The 1000's agent, Senator Dillard--really the Director himself--would heroically work out a deal to "rescue" Reagan, who in gratitude would appoint Dillard as his new VP. Simple as pie, right? And it's not even the most evil way to become president that I've ever heard. Meanwhile, the Legion arrives, and realizes the date, now wondering if Carter was maybe trying to impress Jody Foster...Things go predictably awry at Reagan's speech, as when Chameleon Boy sees the newly minted "Mighty Booster" flying in, he assumes it's an attack; and Booster had himself been expecting a shape-shifter! While Chiller, disguised as a Secret Service agent, gets Reagan and Bush to "safety," after a short scuffle, Chameleon Boy wraps up Booster! Mission accomplished, Brainy suggests they "may as well head back to the thirtieth century!" (Booster had sent Skeets to make sure the president's limo was safe, so we have a little hint of what might happen next!)

I know part of what happens next--like how he ended up named "Booster Gold"--but I have to keep an eye out for the next issue. And I'm not sure if Booster even has the flight ring in the current continuity, but he sure as hell should. I think Booster should have a Legion crossover every year or so where the team comes back to hassle him for the flight ring and Brainy's belt, and every time it's a different continuity version: post-Zero Hour, Threeboot, New 52...