Hey, everyone, remember that time when Booster Gold – hero from the 25th Century, best friend of Blue Beetle, goofy good-natured hero that comes through in a pinch – was possessed by Monarch and quantum energy and became a many tentacled, energy blasting monster?

No?

Allow me:

Yep, that’s Booster there. Man, the 90s were not kind to him.

This is at a time when the JLA had split into various factions and this one, Extreme Justice, had come up against a returned Monarch who was actually Nathanial Adam, not Hank Hall, and the Captain Atom we see in the image above is a clone made by the Quantum Realm that only thinks it’s Nathanial Adam . . .

And you thought Hawkman’s continuity was tricky . . .

Back in the Judgment Day crossover (no, not that one) between the various Justice League titles, Booster had lost his arm and had now accepted the new Monarch’s offer to fix him but it was all a trap to allow Monarch access to the League’s HQ, hence the tentacles and blasters and all that. The team get him stabilised and, to their surprise, find that something good has come out of the MILLENNIUM crossover (yes, that one).

And just to finish off the day, they manage to block Monarch’s control over Booster and everyone else he’d healed in the previous issues, and Beetle was finally able to construct a new, less bulky and more stream-lined suit for Booster after his original had been destroyed by Doomsday back in the Death of Superman story.

EXTREME JUSTICE was seen as something of a knee jerk reaction by DC to the then-current hyper heroics coming out of Image, but it didn’t last. It limped along for another few issues and then was quietly forgotten . . . until someone like me comes along and does one of these posts.

Sorry.