Monday, December 29, 2014

"The End" Week: Booster Gold #25!


I actually read DC's Millennium crossover when it came out, but had to look it up since I didn't recall if any other books were cancelled during it: from 1988, Booster Gold #25, "The End" Story and pencils by Booster's creator Dan Jurgens, inks by Robert Campanella.

To infiltrate the Manhunters (who were maybe 90% alien robots, 7% human agents, 3% brainwashed pawns) Booster Gold went undercover. He may have wanted to tell someone first, since most of earth's heroes and the general public think Booster is a traitor that betrayed them all. While escorting Xiang, one of the Chosen from the crossover; Booster blows up his house, since he felt the Manhunters ruined it for him: his agent Dirk Davis was a Manhunter, who wrecked his career and fortune. Booster takes off his costume, and even deactivates his robot sidekick Skeets.

Booster had planned on taking his private jet, but Davis had sold it to LexCorp. Pissed since he'd recently had a run-in with Luthor, Booster steals the jet, but he and Xiang are shot down. Booster had kept his Legion flight ring, though; and the pair make their way to Rip Hunter, Time Master. (A couple of decades later, Rip would be revealed to be Booster's son; but I don't know if Jurgens already had that in mind!) Booster wants to see if he can use his time machine to go back to the future. Maybe even a couple decades past that...unfortunately, Rip didn't even have a working time machine right then, and Xiang suggests maybe Booster has a responsibility to make things there better if he can.

The JLI shows up then, telling Booster they never thought he was a traitor. (Harbinger also had told J'onn J'onzz that Booster was important, as a descendant of the Chosen, and an important link in human evolution, although J'onn keeps that to himself.) Recovering Skeets and his costume, Booster then says goodbye to the love interest of his series, Trixie; and closes with the affirmation that he was going to find a place he wanted to be...then attack that market for all it was worth.

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