You know what I just noticed, that I probably should have noticed quite some time ago?

If you look at the cover of JLI #1, Booster has a traditional "hero flying pose" going on, with his right hand extended in front of him in a fist.

The only problem? How's he flying? Apparently in the new DCU (I refuse to say "DCnU" as it sounds ridiculous), he either doesn't have or doesn't need (or both) his Legion flight ring.

On the other hand, a quick flip through the first GENERATION LOST hardcover reveals that Lopresti (and the other pencillers on the book) NEVER drew the ring. So is this just a mistake which, with Dan watching, will eventually be corrected?

I might be wrong, but I think to have read somewhere that the Legion Flight Ring can make itself invisible, if wished so by its wearer. If that is true, it would make sense for Booster to keep the ring hidden most of the time...after all he stole it. (If this is actual right, it was most likely invented as an excuse for all the times artists forgot to draw the rings)

A Second solution..he wears the ring under the glove.

I've been hating on that suit for weeks, and I didn't even realize there was no ring! It's even worse than I had imagined!

I suspect that this is really a Lopresti oversight: his depiction of Booster Gold's costume in JLGL wasn't consistent to begin with. Details like costuming just aren't his strong suit.

But as a fanboy, may I suggest that Booster need not even be wearing the ring to use it? The ring works telepathically, and can fly without direct contact with the user. Maybe Booster has it looped around a belt or necklace or somewhere out of sight where it can still function.

(I hate the look of the acronym "DCnU" and was strongly opposed at first, partially because I strongly oppose the reboot and partially because I think putting "new" in any title is asking for trouble from the standpoint of longevity -- one day the DCnU will be rebooted: will that make it the DCnnU? But since it reads as "DC New", I have to give it credit as an appropriate and clever wordplay.)

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Just a quick thought, could it be that Lopresti put it on the left hand? If that's the case could we be looking at a married version of Booster Gold.
And booster doesn't need to hide the ring, Brainiac 5 already knows that he has it.

No ring? On the cover? Which probably makes it the real new design (unlike the inconsistency in Generation Lost)

Dan was a little cagey on the issue of wardrobe:

GX: I can't help but notice, by the way, that Booster has been shedding clothing like wildfire; here,he loses his forcefield on loan to Doomsday and then on the cover of JLI #1, he's got no Skeets and no Legion of Super-Heroes flight ring. Will he be fighting crime in his well-fortified underoos by the time we first see the Time Stealers attack the August General in Iron?

DJ: Time Stealers? Attack the August General? Hmm...

Interesting.

Well normally artists outside Jurgens seem to forget the ring. I can't see it entirely disappearing since we've seen two different origins of Brainy 5 tracking Booster down because of it.

DC released some pages from JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #1 today on the The Source, and it looks pretty much like the no ring is intentional, at least by Lopresti.



Cropped from The Source.

I do like Lopresti & Ryan's work, but damn that costume. Those extra lines on the neck and triceps(!) and *shudder* those guantlets. Barf.

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I have another (totally baseless) theory about why Booster has a new Costume:

In the summarry for Legion Lost it says that they are stranded in the past and their technology from the future does not work anymore for unkown reasons...and we all know who elses uses tech from the future. If their's starts to fail, maybe so does Booster's and he once again has to use replacement suits based on current tech...though one has to wonder who builds it in the absence of Ted.