The Boards of Booster Gold

[pyrotwilight]

It was requested some time ago during the last request a thon or the one before that to see a compilation of all the boards that showed up in Booster Gold.

Here are all the ones I could locate.

We first see one in issue 1.



Most of these are self explanatory. The Dr. Thirteen bit referred to the Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang story in tales of the unexpected in which DC's creative groups tried to battle Dr. Thirteen. And of course numerous references to Countdown including to focus elsewhere, the Booster creative team could tell it was awful.

Then in issue 5...



With of course one piece hinting at the return of Stephanie and originally angering fans a bit more since even Booster wondered why Steph didn't get a memorial. I to this day can't tell if Steve is watching is supposed to be a sly nod to the then dead Captain America.

Now in issue 10



Ahh how I loved this board. GIMME BACK MY JEAN PAUL DAMNIT.

And we still don't really know the deal with Captain Atom do we?

Also in 10 but not on quite a blackboard



A view into the future for Damian?

Then in Booster 1,000,000 (a issue after 10)



Wut. Rip. Don't toy with me, gimme my Jean Paul.

Then over in 13, not quite a blackboard.



Though the notes here focused more on stopping the time travelling Starro spores in the Booster arc than anything DCU related. Though one could argue "weak minded servants only" might refer how strong minded characters are kept alive at a whim to the real Starro over in REBELS.

Then in 19...



A single blackboard bit showed up in 21.



No earthly idea what this one means.

With 25 we get closer to the present and stuff going on in the Super books.



And finally in 26.



I still have seen nothing of Waverider coming back and have no idea what Superior or the Metal Men piece could mean.


Hopefully that's all of them. Have fun looking through.                                                                                       


Suggested tags

char: booster gold/michael jon carter, char: rip hunter, title: booster gold

Comments

[jaybee3]

It's interesting to read this (especially the early issues) in light of the man who (co)wrote Booster Gold and put all these messages on the blackboards until BG: One Million was the man who is now the Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics and presumably (if its not a fake-out) will now lead the editorial direction of the DCU instead of Didio.

And since Blackest Night was supposedly (according to Geoff) planned for years one can read a lot of clues and possible clues about that as well:

The Real King Lives (Aquaman)
Ronnie Raymond + X = Firestorm
The Ghost Detectives Have All the Answers
Is Dibny the key?

The last two of course have to do with Elongated Man and Sue who aside from two issues in Outsiders and a cameo in Reign of Hell have not been seen since 52. Is there more planned by GJ?

[pyrotwilight]

Well a few of those are ambiguous

The real king lives could be a joke about how Booster dressed up as Elvis (more or less) in one of his issues.

[jaybee3]

I forgot about that. You're right. ;)

[bwhahahabeck]

Rip sure likes being dramatic.

[cainofdreaming]

Adam Strange: Last Son of Krypto? Err, Clark maybe you should take the dog to the vet before that particular future (past?) becomes true.

[jcbaggee]

Might be a nod to Strange's appearance in World Of New Krypton for the last few issues.

[jcbaggee]

The Lightning Saga one seems to refer to events in Flash books: Lightning Saga brought Wally back to the DCU, and it's fallout eventually led to Bart's return.

"Vigilante Knows Who The Traitor Is, The League Does Not" probably refers to DC Decisions and the Deathtrap crossover in Titans/Teen Titans/Vigilante.

[intertobamf]

Nah, that "traitor" bit was an aborted plotline about a traitor in the Justice League. It was supposed to be around the time of Countdown, if I remember right.

[theanswer]

I suspect Codename: Assassin may be one of the lost Legionnaires in disguise.

[buttler]

I guess I could imagine that, but mostly I think Robinson likes reviving obscure one-shot characters from 1st Issue Special. I look forward to the return of the Green Team, the Dingbats of Danger Street and Joe Simon's original Outsiders.

[buttler]

There actually was a Superman of 2965, a descendent of Superman who showed up a few times in the Silver Age--the first time, naturally enough, in 1965. (His name was Klar Ken T5477.) That's kind of an awesome teaser, really.

[bmaryott]

Early Legion of SuperHeroes, right?

[werehawk.livejournal.com]

Actually just in Action Comics and/or Superman as a imaginary or possible future. I have one issue and it is pretty cool (but still 70s crack)

[autumn_lily]

Why Captain Atom? Why?

I've been asking that ever since his creation...

[theanswer]

80's Captain Atom needs to go away so they can bring back the Charlton version.

[autumn_lily]

I'm only familiar with the 80's version. There's a version of him where he isn't a douche?

[zordboy]

Well, in the late 90s/early 00s he was kind of a cool guy.

[autumn_lily]

I don't know......that hair alone...

[theanswer]

Yeah, the original version was an astronaut and a nice guy with a simpler origin.

[morgana006]

The farther down you get, the less sporadic the boards get (with an interruption in the Starro arc).

I always like seeing the Rip Hunter board. Obvious foreshadowing, but a neat thing to play off of.

Now, there is Real Life reasons for why some of the board never gets fulfilled, but I prefer to think of it as the present (and therefore the future) isn't nearly as straightforward as Rip Hunter thinks it is. I would dearly love to see Rip proven wrong sometime with huge consequences, causing Booster to actually save the day on his own for once.

[zordboy]

A few themes on those blackboards keep popping up. "Don't worry about Countdown, focus elsewhere" is interesting, 'cause the fans figured that one out themselves. "Darkseid RIP" is a Final Crisis reference, or maybe refers to the Batman RIP tie-in -- but "Batman and Robin aren't Batman and Robin" plus "He is coming back" both reference Batman dying. Then you have the "Oan Effect" and the references to the Blackest Night, Red Lanterns and "Darkness leads to death" etc.

The references (and there's a couple) to "Armageddon 2001/2011" are a little scary, since the original story was terrible (and they're doing their best to damage Captain Atom at the moment anyway).

[karthzon.livejournal.com]

I thought He is coming back" and "The equation is out there" were references to Darkseid being the one behind Final Crisis.

"Black Plague, fear = Vulnerability" was, I thought, a Blackest Night reference too.

[silverzeo]

No "Ignore Countdown"?