Extreme Justice

ARTISTS

Writer: Dan Vado
Penciller: Marc Campos
Inker: Ken Branch
Colorist: Lee Loughridge
Letterer: Kevin Cunningham
Editor: Brian Augustyn
Cover Artist: Marc Campos

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CHARACTERS & SETTINGS

heroes: Amazing Man II, Blue Beetle II, Booster Gold, Captain Atom, Maxima
villaines: Kill Unit, Pulse Unit I, Pulse Unit II, Synapse
supporting: Skeets I

Setting: 20th-century Mount Thunder, DCU, USA

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ISSUE SUMMARY

Cover Description: Booster Gold and Blue Beetle are assaulted by Kill Unit. Note that on the cover of this issue, Booster uses the star on the center of his armor for illumination in a darkened corridor. This scene does not occur inside this issue. Booster's Mark IV armor has been shown to illuminate, but has only done so when its life-support system activated following Booster's death in Justice League International, Vol. 2, #66. It is unclear how much illumination the Mark IV armor is capable of providing.

Brief Synopsis: The mysterious cabal behind Mount Thunder attacks the Justice League.

Issue Summary: Captain Atom's origin is summarized via flashback.

In the present, Maxima leads Amazing Man, Blue Beetle, and Booster Gold against the Beta Team (Kill Unit, Pulse Unit, and Synapse Unit) that previously disintegrated Captain Atom. Unable to withstand Maxima's telepathic assault, Pulse Unit self-destructs.

Somewhere else inside Mount Thunder, General Synge learns of the destruction of Captain Atom and the Pulse Unit, and orders Kill Unit to replace Pulse Unit and resume the attack on the remaining Justice Leaguers.

Regrouping, the Extreme Justice team argues among themselves about what their next actions should be. The team nearly dissolves until Blue Beetle and Booster Gold remind the others why they joined the Justice League in the first place.

Elsewhere, Ronnie Raymond undergoes his first chemotherapy session with Skeets by his side. When the the doctor suggests that Ronnie has been cleared for gene therapy, Skeets becomes excited and encourages the treatment.

Back in Mount Thunder, the Beta Team — with a new Pulse Unit and a growing concern about the righteousness of their orders — reengages the Justice League in combat. Everyone is surprised when Captain Atom rematerializes and joins the battle. Reveal Potential Spoilers

Booster Gold's role in this story:
Featured (Booster Gold plays a prominent role)

Costume Worn: MARK IV armored power-suit

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ISSUE ANNOTATIONS

Page 4, panel 2
Amazing Man II, Blue Beetle II, Booster Gold, and Maxima continue the fight against the Mount Thunder defenders Pulse Unit, Kill Unit, and Synapse following the apparent destruction of Captain Atom.

Page 9, panel 2
Booster suggests that Amazing Man shouldn't be too concerned about Captain Atom's supposed destruction. He suggests that he has "seen him come through a lot worse!" Captain Atom was the first hero to join the Justice League after Booster joined, and the two have appeared in over 40 comic books together by this point.

Page 9, panel 3
Booster picks a fight with Maxima over her romantic relationship, or lack thereof, with Captain Atom. Maxima has been fixated with Captain Atom since the events of Justice League Quarterly #13.

Page 11, panel 1
Encouraging Amazing Man, Booster describes "being a hero" as an inborn instinct, suggesting that if Amazing Man wasn't a true hero, he would have appeared on an episode of "Geraldo" to increase his own fame. Booster must have forgotten that he has appeared on "Geraldo," as revealed in Justice League Quarterly #1.

Page 13, panel 3
Accompanying Ronnie Raymond on his first day of chemotherapy for leukemia, Skeets reveals that future history includes indications that gene therapy will be very successful in the treatment of all diseases. The first experimental demonstration that gene therapy is effective in fighting cancer was not definitively proven until 2006, over ten years after the publication of this issue.

Page 16, panel 4
Amazing Man, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, and Maxima ambush Pulse Unit II, Kill Unit, and Synapse above the Neighborhood of Mount Thunder.

Page 20, panel 2
Synapse taunts Booster, calling him "Tin Man." The Tin Man was the common nickname of a character in L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz. Like Booster Gold, the Tin Woodsman was a mortal who had to replace his body with a suit of metal following damage from an enchanted axe.

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ISSUE REVIEW

Boosterrific Review: Sublime art can make the most banal story an enjoyable experience. In this comic book, a merely passable story cannot rescue this issue from being worth anything other than starting fires. I challenge you to read past page 5, or as I call it, the page of giant orange fungus.

Boosterrific Rating:

• Currently 1.0/5 Stars.

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