Today is a slow news day, so I'll take this opportunity to clean out my "images to post" folder and share this Special Director's Cut™ panel that didn't make the final edit in my annual April Fools Day post.

Booster Gold #2 (1986)

Yeah, that probably deserved to stay on the cutting room floor. Oh well. They can't all be winners, can they, CW?

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Booster Gold tells us he's from the future, and we believe him because that's the kind of nice, trusting fans we are. But if he was really from the future, he should be able to prove it, right? He could accurately predict an earthquake or tell us who wins next year's World Series or, at the very least, give us a hint about what the popular toy will be far enough in advance of Christmas that we can get one before it sells out.

That said, maybe Booster *has* told us about the future, and we didn't understand. After all, sometimes you don't know what you're looking for until you've already passed it.

Here are five instances from DC Comics where, in retrospect, future-boy Booster Gold prophesized coming events:

1. The True Value of Toilet Paper
Justice League America #89 (1994)

It seems like a frivolous joke, but if COVID has taught us nothing else, it's that toilet paper is really the first thing to go.

2. Air Rage
Justice League International #9 (1988)

When I first read this as a kid, I assumed it was one of those adult references that went over my head. Now that I know better, it's funny because it's true.

3. Legends of Tomorrow
Justice League Spectacular #1 (1992)

What, you were thinking George Clooney? St. Elsewhere is *still* great television.

4. The Rise of Non-Fungible Tokens
Booster Gold #1 (1986)

Internet salesmen want you to think that NFTs are new, but they have definitely been around for a while.

5. Being a Real Man
Justice League #4 (1987)

In hindsight, this one seems weirdly specific.

The future is a very strange place indeed.

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The prolonged Internet outage earlier this week has me rethinking the way I do things here at Boosterrific.com

As you know, I don't normally post on Thursdays. But I wanted to post as soon as I was able on Tuesday, and I didn't want to crowd that with a new post, so I waited to follow up until today. Two days a week seems an appropriate posting pace for the amount of new Booster Gold news we've had lately, and I think from now on, Tuesday and Thursday are going to be the new posting schedule.

While I'm at it, it seems like a good time to go ahead and change a few other things.

It's been bothering me lately how I've chosen to manage continuities. In the wake of Infinite Frontier and Generations: Forged, it seems that there are no longer individual continuities in the DCU, but a single, unified continuity. So from now on — or at least until DC changes things again — all separate continuities will be combined into a single stream. That's right, Boosterrific.com now considers every Booster Gold appearance to be canon.

Also, I've decided that the way I handle images on the site is a little old-fashioned. Rather than using smaller static images originally designed to pass easily through dial-up connections, it's time to start moving to a more modern, full motion video format that's so popular with today's broadband audiences. These videos have the additional benefit of audio tracks, which I will be able to release as podcasts, as is all the rage.

But that's not the only concession I will be making for the modern Internet generation. It's well past time I finally embraced the emoji. In order to make this site more inclusive to fans of all ages, all written content will be composed entirely of emoji pictographs from this point onward!

🙏 👩‍👩‍👦‍👦 ❤️ 🆕 ✨!

🐓🥇♾️!!

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The life of any comic book hero would be a lonely one if not for the many characters who have made up their supporting cast. Just as Superman has Lois Lane and Batman has Alfred, Booster Gold has also shared his adventures with quite a few people over the years. Today we look at one of those, Doctor Shocker.

Early in the super-heroing career of Booster Gold, while the self-satisfied young hero was posing with beautiful actresses in perfume advertisements, the Director of the 1000 was plotting his downfall. The 1000 had many employees, from the brutish Blackguard to the assassin Chiller. However, none was as important to the Director's plot against Booster Gold as the man they called Doctor Shocker.

We first meet the bad doctor in Booster Gold #9 (1986), where he was using his high-tech Psi-Trap to "drain the knowledge" of Benjamin "Benny" Lindgren and Martin "Marty" Kramer, the comic book artists working on the Booster Gold comic book. In the next issue (Booster Gold #10), Shocker is remotely monitoring Booster Gold's energy signature. By Booster Gold #11, he's graduated to hacking Skeets, an advanced 25th-century artificial intelligence.

Doctor Shocker escaped the 1000's underground lair before Booster Gold destroyed it (Booster Gold #12), and hasn't been seen since. Who was this mysterious villain that dressed like a surgeon but acted like a computer programmer? Why did he dedicate himself to making life difficult for Booster Gold? And what school gave him his doctorate in mad science?

We can, in fact, answer most of these questions. Obviously, a silly name like "Doctor Shocker" is an alias for a more familiar face. To determine just who he really is, let's look at some clues he left behind.

1. It's ridiculous to think that a pair of comic book artists would have any unusual, inside information about the heroes they wrote for. Therefore, we can assume that any knowledge gained by the so-called Psi-Trap was worthless. This implies that Doctor Shocker had the information he needed the whole time.

2. The 1000's plan required manipulating Skeets, but how could any 20th-century computer scientist expect to be able to reprogram 25th-century technology in a matter of minutes? Only if that computer scientist had experience with future tech.

3. Booster's final battle with the Director of the 1000 would result in his need to return to the future? As a direct result of Doctor Shocker's actions, Booster Gold would go on to meet Rip Hunter and reunite with his sister, Michelle, both integral members of the eventual Time Masters team. Note also that a supposedly reprogrammed Skeets ended up playing a key role in the Director's eventual downfall. Did Skeets' reprogrammer make a mistake, or was this betrayal his intention all along?

There is only one white-haired old man who has the knowledge of Booster Gold's life, a working familiarity with technology across the centuries, and a demonstrated history of working behind the scenes to ensure that Booster Gold becomes the hero he was always destined to be: Booster Gold himself!

It's no accident that Doctor Shocker managed to avoid meeting Booster Gold face-to-face. That prevented any potential time paradoxes. He'll use that tactic again when he'll need to guide his younger self to the right path during the fall of Coast City in Booster Gold volume 2 #30 (2010).

Past? Present? Future? There's no difference to a real Time Master.

Interested in meeting other "People in his Neighborhood"? Get to know Trixie Collins, Daniel Carter, Jack Soo, Rani, Dirk Davis, Skeets, Mackenzie Garrison, Rip Hunter, Michelle Carter, Nurse Devlin, and Monica Lake.

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DC Comics has announced exciting new plans for the artificial intelligences in the DC Universe, including Booster Gold's best bud, Skeets!

From their press release (via AnotherMealTicket.com):

Artificial Intelligence grows more powerful and integrated in society every day. Meanwhile, society is also becoming increasingly accepting of the LGBTQIA community. This summer, DC Comics will embrace both of these cultural paradigm shifts at the same time.

Beginning in ACTION COMICS #1015, the Kryptonian robotic caretaker Kelex and all artificial intelligences in our publications will no longer automatically be addressed by the offensive gender-neutral pronoun "it". All robots will now be referred to by the gender and pronouns that they self-identify with.

"Some artificial life forms, such as the cisgendered Hourman and Tomorrow Woman, do not need the support of our new editorial policy and will continue to be addressed as 'he' and 'she'," explained DC Comics Editor-In-Chief Bob Harris. "However, our publications are full of non-binary and gender fluid non-anthropomorphic characters, such as Booster Gold's futuristic sidekick Skeets. It's past time that we treat these characters with the respect they deserve and let them use the restrooms of their choice."

A brief, incomplete list of characters affected by this policy includes

· Amazo: identifies as male; uses singular pronoun "he"
· L-Ron: identifies as female; uses singular pronoun "she"
· Kelex: identifies as transgender; uses singular pronoun "they"
· Kilg%re: identifies as genderfluid; uses singular pronoun "ze"
· Skeets: identifies as agendered; uses singular pronoun "Skeets"

Heck, yeah! Robots are people, too! I'm on board for whatever they want to do... so long as Skeets isn't Canadian.

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