Action Comics 998: Act Selflessly

Booster Shot, Conclusion

Writer - Dan Jurgens, Art- Will Conrad, Color - Ivan Nunes, Letters - Rob Leigh, Cover - Conrad & Nunes, Assistant Editor - Andrea Shea, Editor - Paul Kaminski

Initial Reactions

I like this issue a lot.  I have really enjoyed Dan Jurgens' stories since he went on the title to begin Rebirth.  While I know how subjective this statement is, this issue continues to get Superman "right" in my opinion.  This entire arc has been about the importance of family.  This is something Superman has been embracing since Rebirth in both titles, and Jurgens absolutely sticks the landing in the conclusion to this arc.  That is without even mentioning Booster Gold in this story.  He does some amazing things in this issue alone that allows Superman to focus on the family that he loves so much, even though it likely means he will be facing some stiff punishment.  

While I am excited for Bendis to have his turn with the Man of Steel, losing Jurgens' voice from Action Comics is an unfortunate side effect.  We have two more issues penned by Jurgens, plus his part in Action #1000.  I hope you will join me in appreciating his work on Superman!  

The Story

The story picks up exactly where we left off, with Superman and Booster Gold restrained to a cross beam, about to be executed by the House of Zod.  The only thing keeping them alive is a force field from Booster.  Through Booster's dialogue, we see that General Zod, Ursa, Lor-Zod, and the Eradicator are all blasting their heat vision at the pair of heroes.  Just as the force field is about to fail...Skeets successfully overrides one of the Eradicator's robot soldiers.  The Skeets-controlled soldier throws Lor-Zod into the Eradicator and frees Superman and Booster.

The natives of this planet see our heroes fighting back, and the seeds of rebellion seem to be sprouting in their minds.  Once Lor-Zod hears this he threatens the people, but Superman rushes in and quickly starts wailing on him.  Once Booster and Skeets have a chance to regroup, Booster insists that he must get Superman back to his own time, if he were to die here, it would have catastrophic consequences.  Skeets tells Booster he has an advantage, we will learn what it is shortly.

Zod attacks Superman, but Superman is able to land a powerful punch, sending Zod flying.  However, Lor-Zod and Ursa grab Superman's arms and intend to pull him apart.  The Eradicator is ready to declare victory when we see that Skeets has now overridden the entire army of robots, overpowering their leader.

Ursa still has Superman restrained, and is telling her son to rip out Superman's heart.  As a counter, Booster Gold has Zod restrained with a piece of Kryptonite.  While this bothers Ursa, Lor-Zod wants his father dead, seeing him as an obstacle to complete rule of this planet.  Because she is worried about what her son will do, Ursa lets her defenses down, allowing Superman to escape.  The good guys make it into Booster's time sphere and are off to the past.

Superman still wants to know definitively what happened to his father.  Was he really Mr. Oz?  Jor-El's story is confirmed, the explosion killed Lara, and the blue swept him away just before his destruction.  Superman sees his mother incinerated, knowing there is nothing he could do to save her.  He asks Booster if he has ever been tempted to change a bad thing that happened in history, and Booster tells him no, you never cross that line.  The trio is now ready to return to the present.

Once they enter Earth's orbit, Skeets discovers that what appeared to be the death of Lois and her father along with Jon being shot actually happened!  Before hearing this, Superman flies from the sphere towards Logamba, where they were helping Sam Lane escape.  At this moment, Booster decides that he can't allow Superman any more heartache, and travels back ninety five seconds to take care of the shooters.  He knows full well that he will get in trouble for disrupting the time stream, but it is worth it to him.  Because of this, all three make it to the escape helicopter, and Superman arrives just in time to intercept the rocket that was fired to take down the chopper.  Sam, Jon, and Lois finally have a chance to catch up on their way back to the U.S.

Our last scene is Booster and Superman explaining to the Flash why he stole his Cosmic Treadmill.  At the beginning of the arc, this is how Superman goes back in time in the first place, and Booster needed to follow him.  All is seemingly smoothed over, and Skeets (who is still a soldier) and Booster go to face his punishment.  Booster says he has no intentions of ever telling Superman what he did for his family.

Final Thoughts

Believe it or not, Booster Gold is the primary hero in this issue!  He saw the pain that Superman was experiencing throughout this entire arc, which culminated in seeing his mother reduced to ash.  When he saw that Lois and her father was dead, there he acted selflessly in order to shield him from unbearable heartache.  We will have to wait and see what punishment Booster receives, but his act of humility will be it's own reward.  

Throughout his teachings, Jesus preached the values of humility.  Not only that, He humbled Himself in order that He may die for the sins of all people.  In response to this love and humility that Christ showed, we ought to live for others in the same way.  Booster Gold exhibited this character trait, and I think we can all learn something from him.

How can you live selflessly for those you care about?  What about those you don't even know?

Let me know what you thought of the issue.  I would also love to talk about these questions with you.  Feel free to start the discussion in the comments section, or on Twitter @behindthecapes, or like the Facebook Page.