By Michael DeLaney

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!

The “Superman time travels back to pre-blown up Krypton” story is so frequent of a tale that DC should make a hardcover collection of them all. A bit more than a trip to way back when, Action Comics 993 touches on the elusive mysteries of Mr. Oz and Doctor Manhattan.

In Doomsday Clock 1, Geoff Johns implyies that Manhattan tampered with Superman’s past, causing Ma and Pa Kent’s deaths. In Action Comics 993, Dan Jurgens takes that idea a bit further, implying that Manhattan (or someone else) altered Krypton’s past so that sworn enemies Jor-El and General Zod are now allies.

Beyond that little continuity nugget, not a lot happens on Krypton besides Booster Gold showing up to remind Supes that his superpowers don’t work on Krypton.

Action Comics 993 is actually more Booster Gold-centric than Superman-centric. I kind of love the idea that Daily Planet jock Steve Lombard is a Booster Gold fanboy — has that always been the case? Lombard champions Booster’s lack of powers and his branding initiative like a true capitalist.

Lombard’s lack of self-awareness really makes Booster the perfect hero for him.

Booster is a tricky character because his arc is in a never-ending loop. He’s a self-righteous self-promoter who learns humility and heroism over and over again like he has short-term memory loss. Here he asks his sidekick Skeets to post his time traveling to the popular social media.

Somewhere in the future — maybe the 25th century — there exists a Booster Gold social media story that is an excellent use of the character and critique of the platform.

The conversation doesn’t stop there. What do you wanna talk about from this issue?