We know that Booster Gold will be returning to the DCU this December in Action Comics #993 and #994. We know that the book will be written by Dan Jurgens. What we don't know is who will be drawing it.

The solicitations released earlier this week repeat last week's announcement that the art team on those books will be Brett Booth (Teen Titans) and Joe Prado (Justice League). However, Booth has repeatedly denied via Twitter that he is involved.

Does this mean that Prado will be carrying the load solo? Will there be a different artist altogether on the book? Who would you like to see? Let's put it to a vote!

This week's poll question: Who do you want to see drawing ACTION 993? Please visit the Boosterrific Polls page to view results for this week's poll.

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As anyone who saw Kevin Smith's Chasing Amy knows, a comic book inker is really just a tracer. But if you look at Showcase Presents Booster Gold, you can see how different "tracers" can influence the final product.

Booster Gold inked by Mike DeCarlo, Arne Starr, Ty Templeton, Robert Campanella

In addition to creating Booster Gold, Dan Jurgens drew every issue of Booster Gold volume 1. But he worked with many different inkers. Mike DeCarlo inked the book for the first year with several others, including Ty Templeton, finishing the run. This resulted in a variety of different looks for the character.

I wondered how much credit these inkers deserve for honing the visual identity of the character, so I put the question to Jurgens himself.

Booster's overall appearance, starting with the design of his costume, his general look, body language, expressiveness, etc.-- all those thing go into creating a definitive look. Far more so than the particulars of inking. For me, once I had the design I wanted, I think 90% of it was locked in.

Not to take anything away from Mike, who did a fine job, but I was doing fairly detailed pencils. Ty brought a sense of smoothness to the overall look of the book while Mike really gave the metallic portions of the uniform the look it needed. I really think that, like many things in life, each of the guys brought something good and different to the series.

Again-- that isn't to take anything away from anyone who worked on the book-- just a way of saying that far more goes into it than a simple question of who inked which issues.

It takes a village to raise a child, especially a troublesome child like Booster Gold.

Thanks to Dan Jurgens for providing so many nice images for others to trace, and thinks to Mike DeCarlo, Ty Templeton, and others to for turning Jurgens' images into our favorite comics.

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Kevin Maguire is a class act.

And most of the voters agreed with him.

Last week's poll question: Who is your favorite artist who has regularly drawn Booster Gold? (50 votes)

We're rapidly approaching the 30th anniversary of the release of Booster Gold #1. How are you celebrating?

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Hey, I'd vote for the guy.

Last week's poll question: How does Booster Gold compare to the current, oversized field of presidential candidates? (43 votes)

Two men are responsible for penciling nearly 25% of all of Booster Gold's appearances. Last week we learned that Dan Jurgens, the man who has drawn Booster the most often, is a big fan of Kevin Maguire, the man who has drawn Booster the second most often. Between the two, who's your favorite?

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Over the weekend, I listened to Dan Jurgens' interview with Keith Callbeck on Comicosity.com. (You did too, right?) A lot of great things were discussed, but it is incumbant on me, as the unofficial chronicler of all things Booster Gold to correct one error in the interview.

When asked who was his favorite Booster Gold artist (other than himself), Dan Jurgens said Kevin Maguire. That's not the error. Everyone loves Kevin Maguire's expressive work. But Jurgens also said he believed that Maguire was the first person (after himself) to draw Booster Gold. That's the error.

Booster Gold #1 debuted in November 1985. For the better part of a year, every appearance of the new character, including advertisements, was drawn by a young up-and-coming artist named Dan Jurgens. It wouldn't be until August of the following year that Booster would appear under someone else's pencil. That person wasn't Kevin Maguire, but legendary artist Carmine Infantino!

As you can see, Infantino included Booster (and Skeets!) in his entry for the Space Museum in Who's Who #21 released August 14, 1986. Even if you want to pick nits and say that Infantino was drawing Micheal Carter and not Booster Gold, Maguire still wasn't second. Several other amazing DC artists also got there before him.

George Perez included a panel of Booster in costume History of the DC Universe #2, November 27, 1986.

Eduardo Barreto drew Booster in his rarely seen cape for his first true DCU crossover action in New Teen Titans #29 and #30, beginning December 18, 1986.

Jim Aparo showed Booster Gold working crowd control in The Outsiders #17, January 2, 1987.

It wasn't until March 5, 1987, that Kevin Maguire would finally get his hands on Booster for Justice League #2. (The famous Action Comics #594, in which John Byrne drew Booster Gold beating Superman, wasn't released until August 25 of that year.)

So while Maguire wasn't second to the drafting table, he was in great company. And Maguire has since overcome his late start to become the artist who has draw Booster Gold in more comics than any other artist (except for Dan Jurgens). He clearly has an affinity for the character. Check out his Twitter header:

Jurgens may have had the timing wrong, but he had the artist right. That Kevin Maguire is pretty good.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: artists carmine infantino comicosity.com dan jurgens eduardo barreta george perez jim aparo john byrne keith callbeck kevin maguire