Booster Gold #1,000,000 review

Holding Back The Years

A slight tie-in to the DC One Million event from back when.

Actually, aside from the cover design the first couple of pages, it really has nothing to do with DC One Million. Issue #0 felt much more like a Zero Hour tie-in than this issue felt like a DC One Million tie-in. But no matter.

So Ted Kord is dead again, the time stream is setting itself back and Booster Gold is flung into the year 1,000,000 where he meets a sham hero, much like himself, named Peter Platinum. Platinum recognizes Gold and proceeds to tear into him, reminding him how much of a failure and a joke he is. That's pretty much the theme of this issue. Booster is a failure at everything he does. He couldn't use his fame as a hero to become fabulously wealthy, he could barely use his power to do any good. He's ready to give it all up and breaks it off with Rip Hunter.

Back in the 21st century, he encounters the Royal Flush Gang tearing up a casino. Frustrated, he uses the occasion to take out his problems on the gang, making a bit of a mess before Green Arrow and Green Lantern come in and finish things off and proceed to absent-mindedly accuse Booster of hiring them as a PR stunt. This pisses Booster off no end before Batman calls him and requests to see him.

Booster is furious at this point, going on how he realizes how crap he is and raving away when Batman shows him some photos. In a previous issue, when he tried to save Barbra Gordon from being crippled, Booster was tortured by the Joker as well. Batman had these photos, but sat on them until Booster was about the right age. So they have a man to man where Batman confides in him that he respects him for being crazy enough to do the right thing. "Let the world think you're crazy if that's what it takes to be the best you can be," is what he tells him. Course, comi9ng from Batman, this is high praise. Finding new confidence in himself, he takes off to find Rip Hunter to talk about maybe keeping on doing what they've been doing. Big reveal, Booster Gold sees his younger, previously dead sister, Michelle. Apparently, Rip Hunter saves her at the point of her death and reunites the two. The point he makes is that even though the past is past, the future is wide open (cornball, yeah). Booster is reunited with his sister, Rip has his Time Masters, and, in an epiloge, we see someone break into the Kord Industries building. Interesting.

All told, it was okay. It's the epilogue to the Blue & Gold storyline and wraps things up well enough. I would think Booster would be more torn over having to deal with his best friend dying a second time. Instead he's running around lamenting how much he sucks. What a selfish prick, but I guess that is very much in the character of Booster Gold. What's interesting is, for a minor hero, Booster Gold's reputation as a louse and a sleaze survives nearly a million years into the future. No respect from his fellow heroes, probably the most underestimated hero in the DCU, can't catch a break.....I would think this title would have been better considering.

This is my last issue of the series. Next month starts an arc by recently Chuck Dixon, who recently left DC. (The DC website says he's a guest writer, but my guess is he was supposed to be taking over as regular writer.) All told, have I enjoyed this series? Well, I've had some fun with it. Unfortunately, the approach to the format, basically being written with the collections in mind, hurt it for me. Also, I've loved that it's got a more old time feel to it. Too many writers take their work too seriously and this never lost its lighthearted feel. Unfortunately, it just dallied and dragged its stories on way too long. Solid art by Dan Jurgens every issue, and the stories themselves weren't bad, just forgettable and didn't have that oomph. Maybe Chuck Dixon will fix that problem, but I'm not gonna be on board. Maybe I'll pick up a trade in the future, but for now I'm done.