Someone’s planning to destroy Superman, Batman and the rest of the Justice League, and only Booster Gold, the biggest dunce in the DCU, can stop it—but no one can know it was him.
Superstar writer Geoff Johns (Green Lantern) teams with New Line Cinema Executive Producer Jeff Katz (“Snakes on a Plane”
to co-write the July-shipping Booster Gold, a time-traveling, space-unraveling new series that secretly shoots the formerly fumbling hero into the big leagues. Along for the ride is artist Dan Jurgens, who created the character in the original 1986 Booster Gold series. But from the first issue, Johns wants one thing clear: This is no Booster you’ve seen before.
“The whole point of the book is to create a very unique character in the DC Universe,” says Johns. “And Booster, because of all the time-traveling villains who could go back and destroy him when he was 2 years old or erase his family lineage, has to go down in history as a complete moron.”
To dodge that danger and secretly act as the greatest hero in the history of the DCU (literally), Booster decides to embrace his image of ineptitude to fool his possible enemies. According to Katz, whose only past comics work can be found in the The Wicked West II anthology from Image Comics, Booster’s got a new modus operandi following the events of 52.
“The point of the book ultimately is to establish his domain as the timestream and the multiverse,” says Katz. “Whenever you have big timestream crossovers or, more important, big multiverse crossovers, in the future, Booster’s a guy that will make a lot of sense to be involved and play a big role. It gives him a big stage.”
But what’s up with the former time master, Rip Hunter? Oh, he’ll be along for the ride. Acting as a mentor to Booster, Hunter taps the blue-and-gold hero to act as lawman for all of time and space.
“Post-52, the timestream is malleable,” adds Katz. “As a result of that, you’ve got this sort of frontier land that, if someone were to take it and make it their own, there’s a ton of power in. Basically [Booster’s] got to be the sheriff of that.”
Policing the timestream can be a dangerous profession, though, as Rip Hunter explained in 52. Combating time-traveling villains can be tricky because they can simply go back in time and erase your past to destroy you—which is exactly what someone has in mind for the JLA.
“The first story is called ‘52 Pickup’ and [it’s] all about someone trying to prevent the origins of the world’s greatest heroes, and Booster Gold has to stop them,” says Johns. “It’s Booster doing exactly what he’s been doing—
saving everyone’s ass without anyone knowing it. Just like he was in Countdown to Infinite Crisis and OMAC Project, he’s at the center behind the scenes.”
Right away, look for Booster to meet up with some of the most recognizable faces from throughout DC’s history, including a mysterious figure wearing his one-time Supernova outfit. Issue #2 sees Booster team with Jonah Hex for a Wild West adventure, and in issue #3, the hero comes face to face with the greatest Green Lantern who ever lived—but it’s not who you’d expect.
“The cool thing is that he can team up with anyone in history—dead or alive,” gushes Johns. “Far future or in the past. It’s all about time travel, but it’s not like he teams up with Abraham Lincoln. He teams with the DC Universe.”
And for anyone afraid the book is simply a 52 spinoff, think again. The series could be the one DC title most connected to the next big event. “The book is the link between 52 and Countdown,” reveals Johns. “Our issues are building off 52 and through Countdown and into the big event Countdown ends with. It’s huge.”
