Spoilers ahead for Action Comics #995, on sale now.
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In this week’s issue of Action Comics, #955, Superman and Booster Gold find themselves transported to Gotham City in the 25th Century, visiting Booster’s hometown and home timeline after having been spat out of the timestream. When he gets there, Booster runs into a couple of people he recognizes — an old enemy named Broderick, and someone he wants to see even less: his dad.
Jonar Jon Carter, a habitual gambler, drinker, and generally terrible role model for his kids, was often referred to but never appeared on the page until Booster Gold‘s second volume in 2006. When audiences finally met the elder Carter in person, he had been recruited into the Time Stealers, a group fo supervillains who wanted to bend time to their own ends, and who found themselves regularly butting heads with Rip Hunter, Time Master, and his father Booster Gold.
The use of Jonar Carter makes even more sense thematically: while Lois Lane struggles to save her own father’s life in the present day, Superman had traveled to the past to learn whether or not Jor-El somehow survived the destruction of Krypton to become the supervillain Mr. Oz.
“I think that’s why we have something we can play on a little bit here,” said writer Dan Jurgens, who created Booster Gold and is writing the current Action Comics arc. “I think there are some natural connections to be made and some things that we can use to build a bit of a relationship between Booster and Superman as well. So, there are connections here and I think some character and story elements we can really use to flesh this out so the readers have fun with it.”
When Jonar meets up with his son in this week’s issue, he is already in custody — and hopes that Booster Gold will break him out. After Booster declines to help the man who he believes ruined his life, Jonar manages to escape custody anyway by using Booster as a distraction to knock out his captors.
It is a short-lived freedom, as after hearing a bit about the kind of man and the kind of father Jonar is, Superman steps in to quickly put an end to the escape plan.
Unfortunately for longtime fans, Booster’s own son, Rip, will not play a role in the storyline, although Booster’s undercover mission as a Time Master who is faking his glory-hound role is referenced repeatedly in today’s issue.
Action Comics #995 is available today. You can get it at your local comic shop or buy a digital copy here.
