Your points are all very rational and well thought through, but do you, based on the last few years, expect DC to make well thought through and rational decission?

I agree with MetalWoman that a cancellation of JLI seems very unlikely at this point for any reason short of another line-wide reboot. I also doubt that Geoff Johns (the annual's co-writer) would kick Booster off the team unless he had other plans for the character. DiDio's typically overstated hyperbole is nothing to get overly excited about.

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Thanks, I don't really have much experience with Didio as a writer.

Lets just hope he doesn't let Booster be turned into BOOSTER PRIME, like he did to my childhood hero Superboy . I accepted losing SB to COIE back in 1985, that didn't affect any of the stories had I read as a kid. But having Superboy return as a homicidal maniac was like a poke in the eye of any fan over 30. It really made me want to agree with Superboy's opinion, "the DC Universe isn't a very nice place these days".
Thank you Mr DiDio.

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@Morgenstern: No one does. DiDio really hasn't written very much. He co-wrote a handful of SUPERBOY issues in the late 90s, some METAL MEN and other shorts throughout the 2000s, a short-lived OUTSIDERS run in 2009, and the recent New 52 OMAC. It's more likely than not that most fans haven't ever read anything he's written.

@Grimmy: To be fair, it's Geoff Johns' INFINITE CRISIS you have to thank for the gory villainy of Superboy-Prime. To an old-school Superboy fan like you, this annual's writing team should be a cringe-inducing nightmare scenario.

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Thanks for the info about Didio, though I did assume that Johns (despite writing it) was critical of the whole Superboy Prime arc. Did he not even make fun of it in the early pages of BG Vol2 (Rip complaining about how stupid the idea of "punching reality" is).

But Johns seems to be used as a "fixer" by DC and gets tasked with salvaging franchises that appear to be in trouble (in DC's eyes).

Oh, no doubt that Johns has the golden touch these days. If he is attached as writer, it sells. Fans can't get enough of Johns work right now. I'm sure that DC is only disappointed that he only has 24 hours in a day. They'd have him writing every book that Morrison isn't on, if they could. (And they might even be willing to replace Morrison if Johns was available instead.)

That's the biggest up-side of this one-shot. With Johns attached, it will sell very, very well. As Booster fans, we have to be happy about that.

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What does that make Liefeld? All his title crash & burn, but he keeps getting more work at DC at the moment. Also Robinson seems to have the whole Earth-2 as his personal playfield.

And if I have to choose between Jons and Morrision I'll gladly pick Johns.

You don't know the half of it
I imagine it was a conspiracy between the two that started in a darkened room, with the words "OK, so Superboy comes back, and he's real pissed at the mess we've made of the DC Universe". And it just snowballed from there...

For our younger audience (that's all of you guys reading this), a bit of perspective. Superboy Vol 1 was published continuously from 1949-1977, that's a long time in anyone's book. It's target audience was grade schoolers who weren't ready for the more serious(?) adventures of his adult self. His hometown of Smallville was even more of a fantasy setting than Metropolis, and the stories were usually pretty silly. Then in 1985 DC Comics decided they didn't want to include that sort of concept in their new "more serious" universe. End of story... not quite

I accepted that, I had grown up and wasn't personally following Superboy's stories any longer, and I still had those old books to introduce my children (and grandchildren) to comics with. Now call me "old fashioned" (it's ok, I am), but I don't want to introduce little kids to comics with a heroic character that will one day become a homicidal maniac. That's a little too twisted, even for a lover of black comedy, like me. Seriously, Go watch "Swimming with Sharks", that's my idea of a fun movie.

Everyone (DC, Marvel, etc...) seems to forget that even though "we" have grown up, comics used to be just for kids, and that seems to be the only segment of society that "we're" too sophisticated to produce comics for today. And after the blatant bastardization of such an innocent childhood character, I don't think I even want to encourage the next generation to read our new (anything for a buck) comics.

Annd, since none of what I just said had anything to do with Booster Gold, I'll shut up now.

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Goes to show what I know. Sigh.

@Grimmy, I relate 100%. Maybe we need to form a support group for readers who feel betrayed by comics publishers.

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