The mischaracterized of Booster Gold

King isn't the first writer to get Booster wrong (he's also gotten core Bat characters wrong too) but unfortunately these mistakes have staying power.


One of the most predominant mistakes writers had with Booster was mistaking his role in Blue and Gold and that devolving it Into him acting stupid. Originally Ted was the schemer that dragged Booster into messes. Which makes sense for Booster when you consider he is a gambling addict that wants to avoid turning into his dad and wants respect as a hero. Fun was fun but at the end of the day he wanted to be an equal to the legends he worked with.

I've seen fans often debate why writers later put Booster in Ted's role. I always felt the JLI period Giffin and DeMatteis did have it's pros and cons for the character. Despite what some think Booster was mostly the straight man of the two. It gave him more fame and popularity with fans yet stuck him in the comic relief role for a long time. DeMatteis admitted (during their time writing Boosters' second title) that he never read the first series and trusts Giffin for that kind of thing. That was why Michelle wasn't mentioned in JLI and Skeets wasn't seen.

I've seen some fans point out that Jurgens took over the JLI title after the duo and wrote a somewhat more serious Ted and more playful Booster. The reason I think it works is that Ted was starting to question his place on the team. As the only powerless member he's trying to remain important making him question his actions more. Which I could see working with the character. Maybe Booster just wanted to have more fun in light of all the stress and seriousness. I'd buy that. But still I don't recall Jurgens ever writing Booster as extreme as others would.

I recall one book that had Booster pulling Ted into a scheme and either forgot or tried to retcon Booster as the one that came up with the Kooey Kooey Kooey plan. I think the 90's had a lot of wacky Blue and Gold plots that didn't get them or just had them around for humor. There are exceptions of course like Ted in Birds of Prey. But FKATJL and ICBINTJL came out and it didn't really help Boosters' image. I loathe those books just because of how Booster is treated. The reveal that he was faking it came too late and I don't think they ever gave a satisfying explanation for it in the books or the Gladys thing. It just felt like they wrote Booster that extreme to balance a more "mature" Ted.

In truth I didn't find Ted mature I found him insufferable. Everyone treated Booster like crap for no reason. It felt more like bullying than actually friendships. But anyway my point is that people saw the dumb Booster as the real Booster. I saw lots of posts of people believing that was in character. There were actual fans that I spoke to that totally believed Booster would marry an old lady for money. Some tried to excuse it to make it make sense themselves by claiming Booster loved her when the text said otherwise. Of course Jurgens shrugged it all off with Booster telling Michelle it was a joke but the thought process still exists.

Likewise I've seen a lot of people defend King. One person claimed this was the most interesting take of Booster they read. There are a lot of excuses but all these out of character takes do is reinforce mischaracteriztion and is why I'd prefer it if writers did their research. Not the bad takes but actually reading work the original writers did with the characters. Reading solo books and not forcing a square into a peg hole to take the plot in the direction they want. If that's all that's important then you can make your own characters.