Shows Booster Is Learning, I Guess

When reading last week's issue of Booster Gold, I wondered whether Booster made the right choice in not warning Ralph about what was going to happen to Sue. There's a chance it destroys the world if he does give a warning, just like there was in saving Ted from his gunshot in the head appointment, but in my cynical mind I thought, "Gee, the worst that could happen is that Identity Crisis never happens, and I wouldn't miss that in the least."

Then I remembered that if Sue doesn't get torched, Ralph probably also doesn't attempt to seal Neron and Faust in Fate's tower. But that worked for about three minutes, so big deal, right? Then it occurred to me that Neron's time trapped away from his realm might have prompted the current war for Hell in the Reign in Hell mini-series. Though it's not selling terribly well, I imagine an upheaval in Hell could be kind of important. Plus, Faust being trapped lead to his tricking Adam into making an exit for him, which has likely not helped Adam's disposition, and probably is going to contribute to his attitude in this upcoming Justice Society story.

Still, setting all that aside, since we don't have any actual idea how important it is to the time stream that any of those things actually happen, I'm impressed that Booster restrained himself from warning Ralph. Granted, he was in the middle of trying to fix one time anomaly, and causing another might have been inadvisable, but he could always visit Ralph at a later point. And yeah, trying to save Ted blew up in his face, but Rip saved Michelle, so I'd think Booster might figure he could give it a whirl, and if it goes bad, just hop back in time and warn his past self to not do it, no harm, no foul. Actually, seeing as Rip has all this equipment that can locate what was altered to cause an anomaly, does he have something that would allow them to determine what would happen if they made a change? That would be a What If? machine, like the one from Futurama, wouldn't it?

Still, I'm not sure I could keep from telling Ralph, knowing what was going to happen, knowing he'd come yell at me for not warning him. It just seems like needless suffering, so I'd probably think, what could it hurt, damn the consequences. I have to give Booster credit for restraint, though I can't help thinking him smiling and telling Ralph to enjoy his time with Sue is going to twist the knife in Ralph when everything goes wrong. I suppose he had to sell it to be convincing.