Comments on: John Seavey's Storytelling Engines: Booster Gold

By: Carl

Carl — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:35:16 +0000

The genius of JLI was the pairing of Blue and Gold. As Booster was a wannabe Superman, Beetle was a wannabe Batman. Not that they were direct imitations or anything, it's just that there are enough similarities to make the parallels. However, whereas I classify Superman and Batman as "friends from work", Blue and Gold are truly best friends. Superman and Batman are friends because of mutual respect and admiration, along with the fact that they're at least a step above nearly everyone else. Booster and Ted have fun together.

By: Dean

Dean — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 21:42:23 +0000

In retrospect, DC almost could not have planned the early career of Booster Gold any better. John is right that his ego does not make him a great protagonist in a solo title. However, it makes him an almost ideal member of a super-team. The lesson of the Justice League: Detroit was that characters who've never carried their own title are not well suited to the JLA. It is a collection of headliners. Those 25 dead-end issues got Booster in under-the-wire for the JLI.

No matter what you might feel about the Bwahahaha-era, it is hard to doubt that it was a success. The title only ran into trouble when Giffen left and other writers had a hard time continuing the template he'd created. Booster Gold was a huge part of that.

By: Vincent Paul Bartilucci

Vincent Paul Bartilucci — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 23:50:38 +0000

I read the first few issues of Booster Gold's original run and it just didn't grab me.

Didn't care for JLI.

But "The Greatest Story Never Told" is just about my favorite Justice League episode.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 21:28:34 +0000

On the other hand, I really liked the idea that there was another high-profile hero based in Metropolis; aside from Booster, the pickings have always been somewhat thin (Thorn, Guardian, Gangbuster, etc.).

Although I guess Birds of Prey is theoretically based there now, although the soul of that book is pretty clearly tied to Gotham.

By: Thok

Thok — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:50:00 +0000

One other issue with early Booster is that a lot of his story is very reminiscent of Superman, and that comparison doesn't flatter Booster at all (the proper term is that Booster is a Superman ectype).

Both are essentially the sole immigrants from a place they can't return to (Krypton/25th century).

Both have similar power sets (flying/invulnerability/power beams: obviously Superman is better at all of these then Booster and has additional powers).

Both had a home base in Metropolis which only reinforced this connection.

Both have connections to the Legion.

By: Kirk Boxleitner, a.k.a. K-Box

Kirk Boxleitner, a.k.a. K-Box — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 18:24:17 +0000

It's weird to think of a character like "Booster Gold" being ahead of his time (I'd honestly never even considered it before now), but in all the ways you say, he really was. Moreover, unlike Rob Liefeld's supposed take on "superheroes as celebrities" in Youngblood, which wound up being an advertising blurb that was never reflected in the stories, Booster Gold actually did address this head on. Even now, as much as different creators and companies talk about "superheroes as celebrities," and as many series as start out with that concept supposedly front and center, it's interesting how rarely, and how poorly, it's addressed - Kurt Busiek's Superstar came the closest of any comic I've seen to doing it really well, since its protagonist literally became more physically powerful the more popular he was in the media, but that was apparently only one issue.

By: red-Ricky

red-Ricky — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 18:13:11 +0000

I'll be honest, at the begining, I didn't like Booster too much. I was young and I felt that Superheroes should be heroes... for free. And even though I was still a kid, I could see through the 80's embodyment or clichÃ© that he was. You know, that whole "Money-money-money" and "Greed is good" mentality that we all know and love. It wasn't until he lost all his money and had to start trying to get rich again, that I really started liking the guy. I mean, "the get rich quick schemes" of the early 90's... now, those are classics! Nowadays, I think he is awesome. Just not as awesome as Awesome X!!! KA-POW!!!

By: comixkid2099

comixkid2099 — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:54:25 +0000

so booster gold has a showcase? i did not know that. something else i am putting on my buy list.

By: John Seavey

John Seavey — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:18:59 +0000

To be honest, I think it hurt a lot. Giffen and DeMatteis played up the "greedy" aspects of the character and played down the "altruistic" end, so that once his own book was canceled and they were the only people writing the character, audiences pretty much remembered Booster Gold as the super-hero equivalent of a used car salesman. Trying to take the character seriously afterwards was kind of a lost cause for quite a while. (And I say this, by the way, as someone who liked the Giffen/DeMatteis JLI run. My feelings about whether a particular creator's run on a series was entertaining are very different from my feelings about how it affected the storytelling engine of that series.)

By: Anthony Strand

Anthony Strand — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:37:51 +0000

And, of course, with that new charisma, he was given a new series.

I haven't read the old Booster series, although I'm a big fan from the JLI days. How much effect do you think that series had on his becoming likable?