The reason why I hate this arc is because of it demonstrates King's complete misunderstanding of Booster Gold's character. Just months before, in "Booster Shot", Dan Jurgens wrote Booster Gold as responsible, caring, and loyal to his friends. One moment that sticks out in my mind comes at the end of the arc, when Superman and Booster return to the 21st century and part ways. Booster watches as Superman fails to save Lois, Jon Kent, and Samuel Lane from a hail of gunfire; he misses by just a few seconds. So, Booster breaks every law in his book, goes back in time, and slightly pushes a gunman off his balance, the ensuing confusion giving Superman just enough time to save his family. Superman never learns that it was Booster was responsible for saving his family. Booster lets Clark think he did it himself. That is the kind of person who Michael Carter is, not the jackass we saw in this and in HiC.

The state of DC Comics in a nutshell: Geoff Johns: Alright Dan Didio, I'm gonna leave DC Rebirth for a bit in order to help Warner Bros with the DC Films, don't do anything stupid until I get back. A few moments later: Geoff Johns: Alright, I'm back how's eve-GOOD LORD WHY IS THE COMPANY ON FIRE?!

Crap. The only hope I have is that in a future issue, this conversation occurs. Booster Gold: "Sometimes, when it comes to time travel, you just have to roll with it. Best way to avoid the confusion." Batman: "I can understand that, but-" Booster Gold: "Look, all I'm saying that is if a future version of you appears and tells you get your friend a cheese tray as a gift, you get the cheese tray and don't ask any more questions." Batman pauses and then looks over at the cheese tray on a nearby countertop: "Uh... thanks?" Best in-universe retcon I can think of.

To paraphrase Terry Pratchett "What people seem to forget is that 'Simple' doesn't mean 'Stupid.'"

Linkara has a point. The actual gift could be so much easier: "Hey Bruce wanna go back in time to take a picture with your parents that you can then frame and hang up so you finally have a moment in time with them where you are with them as an adult?" DONE Hell, they could even play it up as that making them LATE for the Mugging and thus the whole thing never comes to pass. Making it Boosters Fault without him being stupid.

The moment Martha and Thomas Wayne were shot is an instant in time everyone messes with so constantly that at this point it feels like they should be running into another 5 time travelers trying to prevent it and 7 others trying to stop the first 5 and the Joker is also there but no one knows what he wants.

I actually thought that Booster Gold had been jokerized when reading this originally.

I'm sure someone's mentioned it already, but the Phantom Stranger at one point transported Batman and Robin into a timeline where the murder of Bruce's parents was a few days away, as a test of character to see if he would save the Waynes even at the cost of depriving that reality of Batman. He did... but the young Bruce Wayne who saw this was so inspired by the strange caped crusader who swooped in to save his parents that he dedicated his life to studying forensics, martial arts and the criminal element to become the avenger of evil known as... The Batman! The point is that it was way better than this drek.

Ahh, the road to Heroes in Crisis... I can’t wait for Linkara to ANNIHILATE that

Isn't anyone going to mention that Skeet, the superadvanced robot helper from the future, that has gone with Booster Gold through so many adventures... has no way of protecting itself against what is basically a metal stick?

Bad Booster Gold writing, Dumb Batman, Controversial writer. Yep, it's an AT4W episode.

booster gold's reaction to hal killing himself was both the peak and the worst part of this comic

The most baffling part about this whole story is how easy it is to fix. Option A: Booster brings back the Waynes from a point before they died to see what Bruce became, with the stipulation that they need to be sent back by a certain time, and their memories of it will be erased. They see Bruce as Batman and are naturally pretty horrified at first, but after various interactions like Damian meeting his grandparents, Dick and Tim meeting them as the family he made, and of course, how Bruce turned out after Alfred's raising, they come to accept it, thus giving Bruce some closure on whether or not his parents would be proud of him. Or they could do option B: They play the story a lot closer to what is seen here(though maybe with better reasoning for why Booster is doing this), but at the beginning, Booster is jokerized, and attacks Bruce with the knowledge of what he did. Booster gets killed, Skeets gets damaged, and the suit and Skeets get taken to Waynetech to be analyzed. The story then focuses on Bruce dealing with the fact that his parents living has effectively ruined the world, and ultimately comes to the realization that his parents need to die and he needs to become Batman. Thus, Bruce takes Booster's suit and Skeets, and goes back to where Booster initially changed his timeline, and stops Booster from doing it, thus making this Bruce fade from existence. Admitably, the second story sounds a lot like Flashpoint, and my heart is more in the first story anyway, but it's incredible that these options existed...But THIS story was the one that got published!

I may not know a lot about Booster Gold, but even I was pretty disgusted by how Booster was presented in this story.

I stopped reading Heroes in Crisis after issue one. It felt like the most pointlessly violent and mean spirited comic I'd read since Ultimatum. Yeah, I went there. Tear it to pieces, Lewis.

Tom King wrote the comic that basically saved my boyfriend's life, Mr. Miracle, so bad Batman run or not, he will forever hold a very special place in my heart.

I remember the Batman and Catwoman wedding issue and being really pissed off at the end. What is with bad writers thinking superheroes can't get married?!!

20:36 "Look out! The future's brakes have been cut!" Me when I finished high school and I realized adulthood was coming sooner than I wanted it to.

Help us Geoff Johns-Kenobi. You're our only hope.

Also regarding Tom King. I don't hate him, but I feel he kind of keeps writing the same story and should probably be talking to a psychologist for his PTSD.

I got Tom King fatigue when I read this, the guy has a flair but it always just turns into "tragedy porn."

Better story: booster takes Bruce to his parents wedding! That's it, just a one shot!

Booster!? WHY? Philip Fry is more responsible with the timeline.

"Bearded Idiot" I love how you're building your crazy steve injustice leauge

Wait, I didn't realize the guy who wrote Heroes in Crisis was the same guy who wrote Mr. Miracle 2017. For the record, it turns out he's ALSO the guy who wrote the 2017 Vision miniseries Both of these books are seriously some of the best comics I've ever read, and and are pretty much the best proof you can get that "bad comic" doesn't necessarily equal "bad writer."

Dear Lord what is wrong with the premise of this story. In no sane person's head would this gift be a great idea. Just wow. I do like that you always stress not to harass the comic creators. Just like in this video and in the Cassandra Cain retrospective. It's something people need to remember, especially in this day and age.

I'm reminded of an old Brave & The Bold issue that I love. Going with the idea that certain universes are on different time frames (e.g Superman & Batman debuting in the 30's on Earth Two, but in the modern era on Earth One), the Phantom Stranger sends Batman & Robin to another Earth where Bruce's parents haven't been killed yet with the question of whether it's a good idea. Bruce, overcome with emotion, searches frantically for Joe Chill. Meanwhile Dick acts as the detective and learns about the world. He discovers that the world has very little heroic literature and star charts don't show Krypton's star. Also, young Bruce is a spoiled brat. He wonders if preventing the Waynes' murder will deny the world of its only hero. Bruce finds out the the Joe Chill is not the potential killer in this world and has to rush to Crime Alley and Dick decides to help. The near death experience and image of the bat-like person who saved them inspires young Bruce to begin training with his parents still alive. That's how you tell a "What If..." style story about the Waynes' survival. You don't turn a real hero into a complete moron who doesn't even get the point. Even if he got the wrong idea about the Black Mercy, how does changing time equate to that? One is an illusion and one is very real. Alternate Bruce has no memory of the original timeline, but Superman under Black Mercy did. That was the point. His real memories fighting the false ones.

My opinion on Tom King: when he’s good, he’s really good; but when he’s bad he’s really bad. But I still love what he did with Kite Man

This story made me understand dc's obsession with Batman lately. I am a big Batman fan but dc acts like if batman never existed then the entire dc universe falls apart. I know many things would be different but not to the point that an entire city is burning! Also, I can't believe Ra's would be able to take over both Asia and Europe without batman. There are more heroes in other countries in the DC universe. Greece for example has a hero call Olympian who is blessed by the gods with the powers of the argonauts. Don't tell me Ra's has enough resources to beat a character with mythical powers.

Here's the thing Batman's relationship with his sidekicks, especially the Robins and Barbara. These people, are Batman's kids. He considers them to be family. And he was a great father, really. He loves them more than anyone. So tell me how a wife, who's a great heroine in her right, will harm his focus if his five or six children, including his biological son whos still a teen, would?

For as much as Justice League Action treats Booster Gold as a joke character (and even then he has his more heroic moments, though all but one’s pretty much immediately undermined by the writing for him)...nothing that depiction of Gold has done comes anywhere near as uncharacteristically moronic as what this depiction has wrought. Seriously, what did I just witness in this review?

Lando Calrissan is not in charge of Gotham City ... he's the District Attorney.

This reads like some 14 year old's fanfic who is trying way too hard to be dark and edgey.

The Black Mercy plants were so infamous that Mother Mercy, the sentient plant that spawns the plants, was nearly recruited into the Sinestro Corps but chose the Green Lantern Corps instead. I'm sure everyone with a brain would say giving that would be a horrible gift.

Why do I get the feeling that Booster has Combine Harvester going on in his head on repeat?

1. Why is it that Red Dwarf, a cheesy British SITCOM, was able to do a story like this but actually GOOD with "Tikka to Ride" but the venerable, prestigious Detective Comics Comics completely fails? 2. I think at this point the DC editorial staff need to be assigned auditors who make them go stand in the naughty corner whenever they so much as say the word "Crisis".

I was hoping for Lewis to let out his unbridled rage and I was not disappointed. And thanks for pointing out that that disconnect with the Action Comics story. Shame no one but Dan Jurgens seems capable of writing Booster well.

"Convincing your friends to commit suicide is, admittedly, kind of awesome" - Booster Gold

20:32 Ladies and Gentlemen, Booster Gold.. Our new Bearded Idiot!

... So basically this is the Version of the DC Universe Where Everyone IS INSANE

I shouted "WHAT?" out loud at the screen twice when Booster's plan got explained. Why is the comic book industry like this? Edit: "Oh Brucie, you never were the world's greatest detective." Third out loud "WHAT?"

They should make Kiteman a hero. The war of Jokes and Riddles made him someone who we could sympathize with and honestly, a whole Kiteman book would be hilarious.

There was a Batman Adventures (Batman Adventures, The New Batman Adventures, Batman and Robin Adventures; whatever it was, it was a tie-in comic to the DCAU) where--oh, no. I can't actually remember the specifics... anyway, it involved the story of "what if Bruce's parents hadn't died," and hooo-boy is it a bojillian times better than this. More well thought out, Bruce isn't psychotic at the thought of his parents dying, Dick became a low-level criminal (but one still trying to do good where he could) after his own parents are killed... y'know LOGICAL progression of a world without Batman. But, *BECAUSE* there's no Batman, things are turning out for the worst all over in Gotham, and eventually everything is made right again, and the status quo restored. Of course, there's ALSO "To Kill A Legend," my favorite Batman story, where the Phantom Stranger decides to give Bruce the once-in-a-lifetime chance to save his parents (in another universe) for a birthday presence. Bruce--and Dick--have a few days to come to terms with the idea, because the universe where they're going the save the Waynes doesn't have other planets, Atlantis, Paradise Island, or anything else that might produce a super-hero, or any kind of heroic literature (with the exception of Sherlock Holmes and some other mystery fiction). If the Waynes are saved, and this Bruce never becomes Batman on this Earth, the entire universe misses out the chance for a living, breathing hero. But Bruce can't live with himself--there's two people being threatened with death, and he's gonna save their lives. And other than the fact of the Waynes' survival, Bruce and Dick never see the outcome on this world. But, there was one other person at the site of the Wayne shooting, a young witness who saw it all. But, in this universe, young Bruce Wayne didn't watch his parents' brutal murder in front of his eyes. No, this time, a mysterious, costumed stranger came out of the night to save his parents, and then disappeared. And this Bruce Wayne, despite previously being a royal brat, is inspired to change his ways, to dedicate his life to attaining the peak of human physical and mental achievement, to become a hero. Maybe a dark hero, like the one that saved his parents, but a hero without the tragic backstory we all know so well. TWO stories dealing with the idea of the Waynes surviving, and SO SO MUCH BETTER than the trash garbage shit pile the Gift is.

Man, Heroes in Crisis has to be up there with Holy Terror and Ultimatum as one of the most anticipated and requested AT4W reviews.

So when DC isn't using the Titans as a punching bag, they just use Booster Gold as one and assassinate his character even worse than previous stories!

The Waynes surviving and the world being fucked over is just as absurd as Barry Allen saving his mom and the world being fucked over as a result.

I love the fact that Linkara's Batman voice is the same, even though it's not Bruce anymore.

The more I read stories by King, the more I get the feeling that he doesn't like Booster Gold. And Kings style of writing doesn't seem to fit to a comic like this. His comics are more... what's the word? More like nightmares, where nobody wakes up and nothing makes really sense. It worked with "Mister Miracle", but in the end it's all a big series of events about nothing. And he does that now for quite a while and it ends with a big "meh" and shrug by me. Maybe King should step back for a while and write more his own stuff again, like "Sheriff of Babylon."

This reminds me of that episode of Star Trek where Kirk falls in love with an anti war activist in the thirties and HAS to let her die because if she lives her activism prevents the US from entering WWII in time and Hitler has too much of a foothold to be brought back down. Only that was good

I believe there are only 6 words that describe this story in general And I quote...... Ahem... "WWHHAATT!!!!??!?!?? THE!!!???! HELL??!!!! IS!!! GOING!?! ON!?!?" 😤

Your description of how Booster is SUPPOSED to be portrayed actually reminds me of another character with a similer line of thought. And is accused of being an idiot for the same reason. Luffy from one piece. Don't get me wrong. Boy is certainly dumber then booster. But he is straightforward. He prefers A to B thinking.

Soooo about that Booster Gold retrospective.

Jesus Christ, this story is horrifically psychotic.

“The Gift”; Flashpoint But Dumber!

I forsee another moment of Linkara getting drunk and ranting to Dan Jurgens...or maybe this time Dan Jurgens will get drunk and rank to Linkara.

When are comic companies going to get the hint that marriages do not ruin superheroes? If anything, getting married tend to make the heroes stronger. They have someone to fight for, a reason to never give up so they can go home and hold their loved ones after a hard battle, a sympathetic shoulder to lean on when things get rough, the list goes on.

So in a nutshell they pulled a DC Countdown mix with youngblood storylines. That’s just a mess up storyline

Linkara, I am not one of your Patreons (sadly enough) but I just can't wait to see you EVISCERATING Heroes in Crisis. I enjoy greatly the way you speak about the issue.

Well I didn’t expect this. If this story and heroes in crisis are any indication Tom King needs a therapist because the amount of bipolarity in this story is kind of disturbing.

This would have been a decent Deadpool comic.

Man Linkara REALLY wants to talk about Heroes in Crisis. Never read the story myself but from what I read so far about it I can wait it’s inevitable review.

Sheesh, so Geoff gets DC’s comics to turn around only to get a panicked phone call to save the DCEU. Hopefully you get some downtime Mr. Johns

Honestly it felt like the Writer wanted to turn Booster Gold into a DC version of Deadpool with his “comedic” timing, his “banter”, talking to himself, having a convoluted plan, and not really caring about the consequences of his actions

OH MY GOD! HE IS COVERING "THE GIFT"!!! Will this be like a "training" for his eventual review of Heroes in Crisis!? YOU MAKE THE CALL! (ALSO Linkara, hopefully you can cover Tom King's Batman's arc "Knightmares". Thta's when his Btaman run started to go off-the-rails. with King abusing the "it's implied the audience knows" narrative and forgot to explain and show things like how Flashpoint Batman took Batman to that machine in which he is currently trapped during said arc)

Ah yes, my most hated story arc of King's run. I am still very soured over what happened to Booster here.

The Wedding of Batman and Catwoman; DC's answer to One More Day.

I remember when... I think it was maybe issue 3 of Heroes in Crisis, right when all the negative press about the book was finally settling in and word of mouth got around about it. Every comics outlet rightfully threw ire at it. And yet, in one book I happened to pick up that month, there featured an advertising the trade style promotion ad with a taken out of context quote spun to make the book sound good. This was LONG before the book even FINISHED, and they were already scrambling to cover the bad PR it was getting. NEVER seen that before for an ongoing book. Blew my mind.

A jokerized city of heroes..... was this the prototype for the batman who laughs?

I've gotta wait a whole year for another event comics month? Awwwww

Let's be fair: no Batman means none of the people he trained are operating and it's like 20 different superheroes.

what was so infuriating about this was that it came out within WEEKS of the better superman crossover. My comic shop still had the former on the shelf when this was out!

I'm glad you took the time to praise Tony Daniel's work at the end because throughout the review I was thinking, "Jeez, this artwork is far too good for the story it's telling."

25:13 then again the Superman Reborn merged the history of New 52 and the Pre New52 and ended up undoing convergence in the process (even if appaently nobody remembers that) into a single continuity so maybe Kord's and Boster's story as Best friends is once again canon to DC's timeline.

It feels like they were trying reinvent Booster into this dark humor driven character like Archer. Except they forgot the part that Booster isn't a new character with a blank slate.

8:30 saying that escalated quickly is the understatement of the next 5 millennia Seriously one page and your already screaming and I’m eating my words from last week

DC: why don't young people want to read are books? Also DC: 9:18

It’s amazing how much Geoff Johns means to DC. Rebirth was amazing... but since he left it has fallen again ... :/

Wasn't expecting Bruce to become Cable near the end, minus the Liefeld proportions.

Well Booster's character is assassinated but at least we have Wally back *OH WAIT! THANKS TOM KING!*

Tom has forgotten how humans behave. Sometimes I wonder if he's been replaced by some kind of alien robot.

I get the feeling from this that Tom King REALLY hates Booster Gold.

16:38 you know what's funny about the black mercy plant in one of the Green Lantern Comics there was actually a main plant that was sentient and it actually became a Green Lantern

When I hear about Heroes in Crisis, it leads me to ask one question: Why was Wally West brought back again?

You know i think the worst part of this story arc was that around the same time a superman and booster gold story took place in action comics and revoled around booster geting pist with superman about timetraveling to cription since it could alter the time stream and then goes into booster backstory and why hes a hero

Why does it feel like DC is regularly taken over by middle school edgelords?

The Gift Sounds like a title for a chapter from Scary Stories to Tell in The Dark

This feels like Flashpoint all over again. One tiny change and everything goes crazy.

His Vision was probably my favorite series in Marvel... and then there's this. And thank you for saying that about Morrison. I've been trying to put my finger on what bugged me about the early issues of JLA Vol. 3 for years, now.

22:00 I actually believe Ra's taking over a couple continents to be the most believable part about this awful story lol.

Oh my God that moment with Hal Jordan killing himself and Booster Gold's expression is cause for concern. And I don't even mean within the comic itself. I've heard from somebody that Tom King suffers from very bad depression, although the person who told me this did not cite their source so I can't take it as anything more than a rumor, but if that has any truth to it and it's reflected by Tom King in his work then I seriously hope he's trying to get some help before he does something bad to himself. I can't fairly judge his books because I stopped reading Batman 6 issues after Rebirth for financial reasons, but I have not heard positive things since the Batman/Catwoman wedding plot, so I've had little interest in picking the book back up, but I hope Tom King's mental health and work improves.

It begins... I will NEVER forgive King and Didio for what they did to Wally!

WOW!! What kind of crack were the editors smoking when they said that THIS was worth printing?!?

A clip from "Yes, Minister"? You just made my day, Linkara.

Anyone else notice that this story makes Booster Gold Batman's most dangerous and effective villain

You keep mentioning Heroes in Crisis, but oh my god I cannot wait! Please, people! Vote for that comic! I NEED to see Linkara rip it to shreds! I just hope the Harley/Ivy follow-up we get winds up being good. At least give us SOMETHING positive out of that dumpster fire of an event comic.

Till this day, I still kinda believe that DC forced TK to write this because I still refuse to believe the person who wrote that Vision and Mister Miracle can also write..........this.

6:55 I don’t know why, But I freaking love this title card.

watchmen is constructed in a way that you know that any kind of sequel or spinoff is just a WRONG IDEA

After Booster Gold told his story to the real Batman at the end, I thought we'd get a scene or at least a joke about Batman snapping and killing Booster Gold then and there. Sounds like ti would be more in-character than anything else in the comic.

The thing I don't understand is... how did Booster think the 'gift' was going to work even if things hadn't gone to hell? I mean, he doesn't take Bruce with him, Wonderful Life style to show him the altered timeline. Was he just going to tell Bruce afterwards "Hey, I saw an alternate timeline. It sucked, good thing you missed it!"