Justice League America
“Born Once Again”
Volume 1, Issue 61, April 1992
Released March 10, 1992
Cover Price: $1.00
Guide Price: $2.00 (as of 2011)
Writer: Dan Jurgens
Penciller: Dan Jurgens
Inker: Rick Burchett
Colorist: Gene D'Angelo
Letterer: Willie Schubert
Editor: Brian Augustyn
Cover Artists: Anderson, Dan Jurgens
Heroes: Blue Beetle II, Booster Gold, Green Lantern IV, Maxima
Villain: Weapons Master
Setting: Happy Harbor, DCU, USA, 20th-century
Cover Description: In homage to the cover of Justice League of America, Vol. #1, Blue Beetle plays a unique game with the Weapons Master. Also pictured, clockwise from the Weapons Master, are Maxima, Guy Gardner, Superman, Booster Gold, Ice, and Blue Beetle.
Brief Synopsis: As the Justice League reassembles, they are confronted by the Weapons Master.
Booster Gold's role in this story:
Featured (Booster Gold plays a prominent role)
Costume Worn: MARK I power-suit
Issue Notes: This issue marks a relaunched Justice League team, with a focus on more action and less comedy.
Story Notes: The story title of this issue, "Born Once Again," is a reference to the story title of Justice League #1, "Born Again."
This story has been reprinted in:
Superman and Justice League America (2016)
Page 1, panel 1
This new era of the Justice League opens inside the Justice League's Secret Sanctuary. Guy Gardner is sitting in the same chair in the same pose as page 1, panel 1 of Justice League #1. Even the number and arrangement of the thought balloons are similar.
Page 2, panel 1
Booster announces the inevitable, revealing to Blue Beetle II that he has resigned from the Conglomerate to return to the Justice League full time. Booster's actual resignation from the Conglomerate is never seen.
Page 3, panel 1
Booster is the first to greet Maxima, Queen of the planet Almerac. The two met during the "Panic in the Sky" storyline in recent issues of Superman comic books, and first appeared on-panel together in Superman, Vol. 2, #66.
Page 9, panel 1
After dispatching Maxima, the Weapons Master attacks Booster with a sword that overwhelms Booster's "impenetrable" force field. Booster is knocked-out without so much as throwing a punch. Fellow Justice Leaguers Blue Beetle and Guy Gardner will fare little better.
Page 16, panel 1
First costumed appearance of Bloodwynd. He arrives too late to save the Justice League from the Weapons Master's dimension spanning powers.
Page 21, panel 5
The board shown in Weapons Master's duel with Blue Beetle is the one used by Despero in his first appearance in Justice League of America, Vol. 1, #1.
Boosterrific Review: Writer Dan Jurgens assumes the reigns with this issue and immediately borrows from the League's past to set the stage for its future. Because Dan Jurgens is integral to the history of Booster Gold, the character that this site is devoted to and clearly biased in favor of, it is easy to say that Boosterrific is too effluent in praise of Jurgens. And maybe we are. But Jurgens must still be recognized for his success in crafting a new League that unites the lofty legacy of the League with the excitement and relevance of its youthful lineup of fan favorite characters. This issue is both fun and exciting, and promising of things to come in this new era for the storied Justice League.
Boosterrific Rating: Worth Its Weight In Gold.
Average Fan Rating: (1 vote)
Your love of Dan is noted, Walter. But if you ask me, his run on Justice League America, starting with this issue, is essentially either an unimaginative retread of past stories or a vehicle for his absolute hero worship of Superman, and often at Booster's expense. It's always been fascinating to me that Dan could create such a brilliant character and often do a beautiful job writing him in Vol. 1 (though obviously I have opinions on the entire secondary cast), and that Giffen and DeMatteis could actually continue writing Booster well for five years (more humbled, occasionally prone to bad decisions and letting Ted talk him into mischief, but solidly lovable), and then the minute Dan takes the reins back, suddenly his creation's a sexist lout who somehow turns into little better than a caveman when he never was that before.
There are things I want to love about this era. I like that Dan treats Ted as a more serious hero, though again, he shows that his own skills are definitely in character creation more than writing, in that he seems to think the Blue Beetle has ever had anything 'buglike' or 'creepy' about him, which isn't any more forgivable than Giffen and DeMatteis Flanderizing him like hell.
But ultimately, everyone in the League becomes -- essentially -- a vehicle for Dan's veneration of Superman, from Ice suddenly developing a crush, to Guy losing basically every bit of nuance he might have regained over time from Englehart's debatable choices, to Booster losing 90% of his natural charm and just becoming very unlikable most of the time.
It says something that it takes Dan Vado coming behind Dan Jurgens to clean up the mess Dan managed to make of this team and his own creation, but I find myself grateful that Dan was only on the book just long enough to knock Superman off the coil and wake Ted up. No offense.
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