Booster Gold Keeps Screwing Up : A Review of Batman 46

in #comics6 years ago (edited)


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Or does he?

Warning : Spoilers Most Certainly Ahead


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When we last saw Booster, he was on his knees, crying in horror and shock, in a room at stately Wayne Mansion. Booster had just lost his a) possible best friend and b) means to fix the Universe’s timeline when Bruce Wayne decided to take a fire poker and annihilate Skeets. So much for Booster’s wedding present for the Batman (that review is here)…

Issue #46 quickly lets us know that Booster is still in a modified world where there is no Bruce Wayne version of the Dark Knight. And that is not a good thing. This timeline and reality still carries a Bruce Wayne, but it also carries an alive and (sort of) well Thomas and Martha Wayne. Bruce’s parents are alive, Bruce Wayne is happy, the Wayne’s are still stalwarts of Gotham City, yet the rules of Universe have completely crumbled and been turned on its head. A non Bruce Wayne Batman world includes :

  • A psychotic archetype of the Batman in the form of a Punisher-esque badass in Dick Grayson
  • A Cobblepot that resides in the White House
  • Ra's al Ghul as some type of world leader that has released a toxin that “Jokerizes” innocent people
  • A Selina Kyle / Catwoman that is psychotic serial killer
  • A Justice League that was eliminated from the world by fighting a gigantic intergalactic starfish (Starro) without the strategy and brilliance of Bruce Wayne/Batman behind them
  • A Gotham City on the verge of ultimate collapse
  • And a Booster Gold that is currently sporting a beard


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One year since Booster lost Skeets, Booster has decided that the Universe and reality can still be fixed without the assistance of time travel. How so? Booster’s grand plan is the belief that love will fix all, and a “cute meeting” will cure the world’s ills. Instead of traveling back in time to allow the Waynes to be murdered in cold blood, Booster has decided that perhaps bringing Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle together will fix his mistake. Love is all, love is eternal, and love is not bound by time or dimensions. The love between two complete strangers in this version of reality, Bruce and Selina, still exists and will manifest once the two meet. As the Beatle said, love is all you need, right? Not quite, Booster, not quite…


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After breaking out Kyle from a what appears to be maximum security complex, Gold escorts her to a safe spot he has apparently secured over the past year. He immediately tells Selina the plan, sews a leather suit together for her, and readies her for the “cute meeting” between her and Bruce Wayne. Enter Dick Grayson.


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I like this Dick Grayson; this guy is someone who likely lost loved ones tragically, is a tremendous athlete, yet didn’t have the mentorship of Bruce Wayne. This Dick Grayson is a murdering psychotic vigilante. And that is the key to this story...there is no Bruce Wayne Batman to reign in the Universe. That being said, he is an extremely interesting Batman; absolute violence and destruction are his means. And upon finding Catwoman and Booster, there is an intense skirmish that forces Booster to bring the eventual encounter with Selina and Bruce away from a rooftop to a head at Wayne Mansion. Because that makes sense, yes Booster?


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Not quite. Then, in an intense series of panels and story (which I really enjoyed), we see that :

  • Booster crashes Wayne Manor to force an encounter between Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle
  • Selina is ABSOLUTELY INSANE, and when confronted by Alfred, rips Alfred’s throat with her claws
  • Thomas Wayne hints at some backstory between him and Selina, and offers himself up for sacrifice to save his family
  • Selina is ABSOLUTELY INSANE and then rips Thomas’s head apart/upper torso apart with her claws
  • Grayson then shows up and puts a bullet in Kyle’s back
  • Grayson then throws a grenade/flash grenade in the general direction of Booster Gold, knocking Gold out
  • Grayson gets ready to put a headshot into Catwoman, but Catwoman then slices Grayson’s fingers apart from the hand holding the gun
  • Martha runs to Thomas, and Grayson recovers himself enough to discharge another bullet into Catwoman that then passes through her and into Martha, killing her and Kyle instantly
  • Bruce Wayne has then had enough, picks up a gun and fires a bullet into Grayson’s head, killing the current form of the Dark Knight


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Yeah, it’s a pretty intense part of the story, but I loved it.


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The story ends with Booster Gold, in a semiconscious state, thinking that despite the previous chain reaction of events, he has somehow triumphed again. Booster Gold, Guardian to the Timestream, and despite the shortcomings of his new plan, thinks that he has still saved the Universe. Bruce Wayne now can become the Batman. And that is what Booster Gold does, after all. Booster Gold is a hero, and once again, has saved the world.

Again, a great story; in the context of the larger Dr. Manhattan mythos, this is certainly a fascinating story arch. I can’t wait to see where the story goes.

A Different Take with the Esoteric


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Writer Tom King quickly points out the state of things in his story by using two numbers; the numbers 16 and 17. In an exchange featuring the trial of Jason Todd and his company, “Todd-Tire-Taze,” it is mentioned that 17 children were killed by his product, not an original 16 children reported on. Such an interesting use of numbers, let’s take a look.

The Number 16


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The number 16 is the square of the number 4. The number 16 is representative of totality or perfect wholeness. It also represents the idea of felicity, or being in a state of bliss or in a state of happiness. You know what isn’t the equivalent of the number 16 in the DC Universe? You guessed it; a world where Bruce Wayne is not Batman. Instead, this world is the equivalent of…

The Number 17


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Oh the dread of number 17. The number XVII, if converted into the anagram VIXI, is latin for “He has lived.” It is the number of abomination, as it was the 17th day of Luna and the day Luna was full that it was written that Osiris was killed. It is also the number that falls between the 4 x 4 square and the 6 x 6 x 3 x 3 parallelogram, or 18. It is the number of antiphraxis, or as the Pythagoreans viewed it, as did the Egyptians, the number of abomination as it represents opposition and obstruction.

King is obviously entrenched in the literature and philosophy of the occult; Batman, as Bruce Wayne, is key to the entire DC Universe. His absence in such a world, thanks to the wedding gift of Booster Gold, has generated a timeline of reality as being representative of the number 17 ; an existence of abomination. The number 16, or the timeline of reality where Bruce Wayne is indeed Batman, represents a more stable and fixed (complete) paradigm of the Universe.


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Or from the perspective of the Tarot, the move from the number 16 - the Tower - to the number 17 - the Star, is representative of a transition from trauma to acceptance. The Tower is the psyche violently attempting to hang on to its identity, attitudes, and thoughts. The transition to the Star is the psyche's realization that the struggle is not required; only acceptance of its identity, attitudes, and thoughts. From what we’ve seen esoterically in this comic book, we see Bruce Wayne fighting his occult knowledge of who he is truly meant to be in exchange for a different, happier life. Presented with the brutal slaughter of Alfred and his parents, Bruce Wayne now much accept the truth of the matter; Bruce Wayne is indeed the true Batman, and the glue to existence.

At least that is what I believe Booster is banking on!

A Potential Conclusion


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I loved this story. I really enjoy King’s work, and his constant emphasis on how important Bruce Wayne is to the DC Universe. Yes Bruce Wayne might be a violent, physical adjustor to criminal behavior, but it is his brain that is the most important asset of this man. A world without Bruce Wayne as the Dark Knight is a world where no other superheroes can survive. It’s a world without organized form and function; it’s a world where things have crawled across the Sephiroth’s Abyss and manifested into something we formally recognized. It’s there, it looks familiar, yet it is something completely different.


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Throw in Booster Gold as that Six of Wands archetype, or the unstable, volatile portion of alchemical Fire moving through the center of the entire Program of Reality (the Tree of Sephiroth), the Simulation becoming unglued, and the Six of Wands potentially finally realizing its true outcome : Victory. Call him a challenge to the will of the Demiurge, if you will...

Again, I loved this comic and recommend it to all Batman / comic book fans. As mentioned before, I can not wait to see how this all ties in to the greater storyline playing out. Some reviews of this issue were harsh, but I believe most will enjoy it. Thanks as always for reading, and drop a line with any thoughts.

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I really dug your post, man. The review was so good and entertaining and the esoteric commentary at the end really made it unique. I submitted it for an upvote by @curie and friends and it was found worthy of a big payout. Keep up the good work. I look forward to reading more. If you want to learn more about @curie's work (which, as @rasameul mentioned, is upvoting under-appreciated authors). Check out our account or visit us at our discord channel.

thank you for stopping by. I will definitely check out @curie and see if I can finally get moving on discord. thank you again!

This is so beautiful, man. I had no idea such an account as yours existed on steemit. And your posts are so beautiful. I checked out your external blogs and saw your Gnostic writings. I did dabble in Gnosticism for a while, but only as a means of literary progression. Feel free to scour my blog anytime; I did an (effete) analysis of one of Valentinus' passage as a review of Harold Bloom's Anxiety of Influence.

I absolutely will try to keep following all your blogs.

Cheers, man.

well thank you so much rasamuel - I'm glad someone enjoys it. I'm hoping to keep on the gnostic route, and have more articles on the way. I'll definitely check out your work. thanks so much again for dropping a line - cheers to you as well!

P.S I have an hunch some whales might discover this post soon. Fingers crossed.

Hey thanks ! I'm just happy people enjoy the content. The thread of gnosticism is everywhere, I enjoy learning and writing about it. Cheers again!

Well deserved, man. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the @curie curation guild, but you just got upvoted by them and everyone on their trail.

Our goal is to reward deserving promising authors here on steemit that hasn't been discovered yet. Glad to see you get a vote,

Keep putting up great stuffs, man,

Cheers,
Ras.

Will do, and thanks to @curie and @rasamuel for enjoying this. It's really easy given the quality of content that the folks at DC are currently putting out. A good time to be a comic book fan.

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