Booster Gold - The Golden Road

(Hey Todd Squad, JT here with a post about one of my favorite heroes, Booster Gold. I did this post over at the L.O.L. blog and I figured since my site is getting a little more traffic due to recent events, I may as well throw it up over here too, so without further adieu, I present Booster Gold - The Golden Road.)


Hey L.O.L., I'm Jason Todd also known as J.T. and I'm glad to be apart of this lovable Legion of Losers. I didn't know what I wanted my first post here to be about, since Kello's spur of the moment invitation hit my email inbox. I'm usually more of a read then review guy, so when wondering what to write about I remembered my post "Can Jason Todd Regain Glory?" over at my blog. So I thought for a few minutes and I decided to write about another of my favorite characters, one that's really been taking the DCU by storm lately, Booster Gold.

Booster Gold was created by Dan Jurgens and made his comic book debut in 1986, making him four years older than yours truly. The story of Booster Gold is that Michael Jon Carter, a young man born in Gotham City in the 25th Century with a twin sister named Michelle Carter. Michael and Michelle were raised by their mother after their father left, but not before gambling away their money. Luckily, Michael was a great athlete and ended up getting a football scholarship to Gotham University. Michael's father soon returns to his life, and convinces Michael to bet on games and then throw them. It's not long before the College Star gets caught and banned from playing. Michael then takes a job at the Metropolis Space Museum and starts to study heroes and villains from the past. Thanks to a little help from a Museum security robot, Michael steals Brainiac-5's force-field belt, a Legion Flight ring, and Rip Hunter's Time Machine to go back to the 20th Century.

While in the 20th Century, The Golden Hero saves the life of then-President Ronald Reagan, when asked what his name is, Michael, who wants to use the name Goldstar, mistakenly mixes it with his College Football nickname, Booster. This causes President Reagan to introduce him to the world as Booster Gold, a name that soon stuck to him. Booster Gold was mostly used as a comedy character, and one of the few superheroes that had sponsors. Whereas Superman was a hero for good and justice, and Batman was a hero to clean up his city, Booster was a hero just for money. The irony of it is pretty funny considering Booster's football career was ruined over money, then his entire Superhero Career revolved around it. At one point Booster even married a very old woman just to get his hands on her money.

Booster would soon evolve into a more serious character, but before that could happen, he would embrace his inner comedy character. Booster Gold was soon teamed up with the former Blue Beetle, Ted Kord. Booster Gold and Blue Beetle became one of the greatest Duo's in comic books, and always brought the laughs. When you saw Booster Gold and Blue Beetle together, you could be sure the "Bwa-Ha-Ha" wouldn't be far behind, for you or them. Some classic Blue and Gold jokes included Blue Beetle always mentioning he had a heart condition, Booster's marriage to the old, rich woman by the name of Gladys, and many more great moments with the two.

As most comic readers know, Ted Kord would later be killed at the hands of Maxwell Lord, former friend of both Ted and Michael. While this death was pretty uneventful for the most part, it did one thing, and that's push Booster Gold. Without joking around with Ted, Booster was forced to grow up, and become a real hero. It's almost as if he took part of Ted's personality when Ted was killed off. This is when I started to become a fan of Booster Gold. He grew up, stopped the merchandising, and became a true hero.

So what's the point of all this? Booster Gold is the perfect example of a character who was made and became nothing more than a joke, not Booster Gold has three comic books a month. Now Booster appears every two weeks in Justice League Generation Lost, He also appears in his own comic, Booster Gold, and lastly he's shoulder to shoulder with two of the biggest names in DC Comics, Superman and Green Lantern, all why searching for fellow Gothamite, Batman. Booster didn't have a comic at all six years ago, now he's in three a month. If Booster Gold can become a huge character due to excellent writing, than anyone can. Booster Gold is what inspires me to think that maybe someone can redeem a character like Arsenal, or use a character with potential like Connor Hawke. I remember the exact moment I became a true Booster Gold character, and the issue for anyone interested. Booster Gold #5, entitled "No Joke". In this issue Booster Gold tries to go back in time to save Barbara Gordon from being shot and paralyzed by The Joker. Every time he does back, he fails. Booster's always one second too late, or something always goes wrong, and even when he's beaten, battered and bloody, he never gives up. He always tries, and when Batman discovers this, he gains a ton of respect for Booster, he even offers to get him into the Justice League. But Booster graciously denies, claiming as long as no one sees Booster as a threat, and thinks he's a knucklehead and a joke, they'll never expect him to be the true hero that he is. That's the moment I knew I'd always be a Booster Gold fan, because he's evolved from a guy who just wants money and fun, to a true hero that always tries to do what's right. And to me, that's better than being a Hero all your life because he's learned from his mistakes and tries his best, making him human. He's almost like the DC version of Spider-Man in that sense. So even though his past is tarnished, Booster Gold always shines bright.

- Jason Todd