Booster Gold #14 (Volume 1)

Booster Gold: I may be a jerk sometimes...but I'm not a total sludge. We're in this together!

OLDER SPOILERS AHEAD



Title: "A Future Lost"

To say Booster doesn't take the news well is a understatement. His fury soon takes over, first at himself then at the landlord (Curtis) for kicking his sister out. Thanks to Trixie talking sense into him and the tenant that took over his old place they leave. Only now the cops know he's back which isn't good. See using a time traveling device is taken VERY seriously. It's considered an act of terrorism since it puts everyone's lives in jeopardy based on what the time traveler does. I don't think Giffin understood this when he and DeMatteis were writing the second series. But why Booster can't take responsibility for his actions will become very clear.

Rip and Soo can't fix the time sphere without new parts so they decide to explore the future. Another neat touch is that Jurgens acknowledges via Rip that there are still a lot of similarities from their time and Boosters'. It's still impressive tech but he thought it would have progressed more, which it hasn't thanks to the nuclear disaster although their not aware of that yet. This takes place around Christmas which is part of the reason I decided to review this now. Booster goes home for the holidays! Oh and they spot a news report of Booster being back and know their all in trouble. Even if you didn't know the suspect they were discussing was Booster the sponsor announcement at the end should clue you in.

Returning with Trixie to the time sphere he continues to blame himself for his mothers' death suspecting his thefts and the cops hounding her was too much for her to take. Trixie doesn't think so  but the debate is put on hold because some trigger happy cops found them. Good thing the others left because they blow up the time sphere. These guys want to shot first, prevent having their paychecks docked for property damage and think taking our heroes on will be fun. It's a example of how wrongheaded the law enforcement can be in the future. Booster and Trixie take them on with Trixie once again being awesome. They leave just as Rip and Soo return. Booster starts getting a little moody with Trixie until she points out that she did a lot for him and may never see her loved ones again. Could I love how she's written more? No one could ever slap sense into him faster than Trixie. Their dynamic is better than I remember, coming across very natural.

Going to the library to research Rip and Soo discover that time travel really is considered dangerous as the information is restricted. Curious they decide to read up on Rips' bio only to find out the records were destroyed in the nuclear conflict. Both are horror stricken with this information although Rips' reaction of this will be more extreme in his own story.

Booster doesn't believe his sister would want to see him so he focuses on finding the others only the police pull out the big guns. The government brought in an Animal! As Booster explains animals are mutants that are trained only to be loyal to their masters and ruthlessly take down their targets. Since she's the only one of them with powers Trixie does a good job fighting against Animal and protecting Booster. Only things get a little out of hand and rather than kill Animal she gets captured saving him. This would give Booster a chance to run away but like the quote at the top says he wouldn't do it. They get questioned when Trixie requests Booster get medical attention. This is when we meet Broderick. He fills us in on another tidbit with the law: time travel violation is punishable by execution without trial. Which was a big reason for Booster not being able to do time for his crime.

The science guys trade their "ancient" things for a room and get Skeets to work. Too bad the police are at their door.


Once again Boosters' morals are a little grey when the subject of Animals' fate comes up. He tells Trixie to go not really sounding like he expected anyone else to save the guy. Part of it's because he wants to stay free but I'm not sure if any of it has to do with what Animal is. Did he think the mutant wasn't human since he's supposed to be a mindless ruthless tool of the law? Jack Soo wasn't really given as much depth as the others but one thing I love about his character is his sense of humor. He's a great counterpoint to Rip who sees their struggles as an adventure. I'm pretty fond of Broderick although I'll admit he comes off as the standard bad guy at first. The reason I think he's awesome comes later but this is where we see how determined he is to see Booster pay for his crimes/die. I stated how great Trixie is as Goldstar but it bears repeating. The only reason their captured is because of her compassion which is actually a good hero lesson for Booster. He still has some stuff to learn but she's a good influence.


Say What?: The knock to McDonalds' was a good one.

"Lousy fifty credit trick"? Why Mr. Jurgens did you just go there?

They think Rip Hunter and Jack Soo are co-players?