Hello and welcome to ComicDrake where I talk about comic books and my name is Drake.
Booster Gold.
Thank you Green Lantern.
I’m NOT Green Lantern, I’m Booster Gold!
This man is my favorite superhero of all time and the greatest hero you’ve never heard
of!
Seriously… that’s actually the official tagline for his comic it’s kind of wonderful.
Coming from a poor home in the 25th century thanks to his gambling father, Michael Jon
Carter cheated away a full football scholarship in order to help earn money for his sickly
mother’s medical treatment.
After he was exposed, expelled from college, arrested, and finally out of jail, the only
job that Michael could land was as a security guard for the Metropolis Space Museum.
At this illustrious hall of heroes, Michael steals a wealth of gadgets on display from
the Legion of Superheroes such as a Legion Flight Ring, Brainiac 5’s forcefield belt,
and a time machine!
What’s really odd about this is that the Legion of Superheroes was formed in the 30th
century, but Michael stole their equipment from the museum in the 25th century, which
must have gotten there from the Legion’s 20th century exploits with Superman, but that’s
another video for another day.
With his stolen Legion gear and a museum security robot named Skeets, Michael went back in time
to the 20th century, where he tried to capitalize on his knowledge of the past as the hero…
GOLDSTAR!
Well… that is until he flubbed during his first interview and accidentally said that
his name was “Booster Gold” and the name stuck.
Booster Gold quickly became known as a shameless self promoter who was obsessed with fortune
and glory.
Heh, kind of sounds like me.
This got a little out of hand and irritated plenty of his fellow superheroes.
I mean heck!
Later on when he apparently dies, his casket was covered with corporate sponsor logos!
Self promotion or not, Booster Gold was a successful hero and was even a founding member
of the Justice League International, most of which eventually moved on to form the Super
Buddies which Booster Gold was also a part of.
It was in the JLI that Booster Gold met his best friend, Ted Kord, the second Blue Beetle.
Booster and Beetle are FAMOUS for their hijinks and bromance to the point where characters
IN the DC universe speculate that they might be gay!
Then Ted kind of dies…
Aww…
This sends Booster Gold into a downward spiral of depression that…
it took a long time for him to get out of.
Now, believe it or not, Booster Gold has taken part in PLENTY of big events in the DC universe.
For example, did you know that when Doomsday first came to Earth during the Death of Superman
story, it was BOOSTER GOLD who first ran into him and even coined the name Doomsday?
Superman (who just happened to be flying by) catches him and says “Hey bro, you look…
fucked.” and Booster Gold is like “Doomsday!”
Plus, during the 52 event, Booster Gold gets wrapped up in an INSANE time loop story involving
himself, Time Master Rip Hunter, and Supernova who is an alternate version of Booster Gold
from the not too distant future…
Look, we do NOT have time to get into this right now.
So after all of that, Booster Gold gets hired by Rip Hunter as a Time Master and basically,
his job is to fix all the holes in the DC universe timestream.
What’s really awesome about this is that Booster Gold ended up becoming a REALLY nice
guy, but he has to use his former identity as a scumbag as a coverup for all these big
time traveling adventures!
Booster Gold saves THE ENTIRE MULTIVERSE time and time again, but never gets credit for
it!
That’s okay though because during all of this, we get treated to Booster Gold accidentally
inspiring Sinestro to form the Sinestro Corps and having a BUNCH of drinks with Jonah Hex.
So Booster Gold did some more stuff, but…
Then Flashpoint happened and created the New 52, but this somehow is where things get even
MORE confusing…
the new Booster Gold was short lived in the lackluster reboot of the Justice League International
book.
Booster leads a failed version of the JLI, but at the END of the book an older Booster
Gold comes back in time and warns himself that he needs to prevent Wonder Woman and
Superman from getting together or else he would never be born for some reason...
So the young Booster Gold then just looks at a nearby monitor, sees Superman and Wonder
Woman just kissing each other and them bam, Booster’s gone.
That’s… the last we’ve seen of him save for a couple of appearances every here and
there.
So…
I guess we’ll need to wait and see what happens with the upcoming Convergence event.
Outside of the comics, Booster has appeared in Justice League: Unlimited, an AMAZING portrayal
in Smallville, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, a cameo in the Legion of Super Heroes cartoon,
DC Universe Online, Lego Batman 3, and SyFy is actually trying to produce a Booster Gold
TV show, but who knows if it will actually ever happen!
Now if you’re looking to get into Booster Gold as a character, it’s a little hard
to do without knowing at least a little bit about the DC Universe since he’s always
traveling through time, BUT, if you’re willing to risk it, I’d recommend Booster Gold:
52 Pickup, 52, and Justice League International.
... The original one, not that New 52 crap.
So now’s your chance to have your voice be heard!
If you want the next episode to be on Booster Gold’s best friend, Ted Kord, then click
on Blue Beetle!
However, if you want a video explaining who all the different Robins are, then click this
little picture right here!
Still, as always, don’t forget to like, subscribe, follow me on social media, and
tell me what comic book goodies you’d like ME to explain next!