The Invasion! event was one of the few over the years that did, genuinely, change the ongoing status quo of the DCU when the Alien Armada detonated its Gene Bomb in issue #3, activating and super-charging the innate abilities of countless heroes and villains.

One long-term result of this was Fire becoming the familiar (if you'll pardon the expression) human torch we all know and love today. Another is the development of Maxwell Lord's mind-manipulation. But the immediate aftermath of the Gene Bomb was chaos, as powers ran wild across the globe.

Of course, in a world gone mad, it was up to heroes without the so-called "meta gene" to step up and save the day, heroes like Blue Beetle and Booster Gold.

Note that the first line on this page (spoken by Booster) is a reference to advertising campaign for Excedrin pain reliever and the final line (spoken by Beetle) is a reference to the George of the Jungle cartoon. Obviously, those two guys watch too much TV.

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I'd say "Spoiler Warning," but somehow I can show you the entire final page of this week's Blue Beetle #6 without giving away any significant details of the issue's story. (Did they do that on purpose?)

words by Josh Trujillo; art by Adrian Gutierrez, Wil Quintana, Lucas Gattoni

As you can see, there is some sort of "tachyon interference" and then a "blop!" and then... "The Hunt for Ted Kord!"

Before you can ask "do those mean that Booster Gold will be in the next issue," I can already answer "yes," because the March solicitations released in December already told us so. The Adrian Gutierrez cover of Blue Beetle #7 will look like this:

So consider this your three-week warning that Booster boosters should definitely plan on picking up Blue Beetle #7 when it arrives in Local Comic Shops everywhere on March 5.

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Thanks to the unique combination of Keith Giffen's plotting and layouts, J.M. DeMatteis's vaudevillian dialogue, and Kevin Maguire's rendering of body language and facial expressions, almost every page in Justice League International #19 is a standalone delight.

From Ice Maiden falling for Guy Gardner to Green Flame hitting on Lobo to Oberon saying goodbye to Black Canary to Superman rejecting Batman: pick a page at random, and it's probably a winner.

But the best page, my favorite page, is the one where Booster Gold and Blue Beetle get a door slammed in their faces.

If you ask me, turkeys are much more intimidating than beetles.

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After many, many months, there's finally a Booster Gold sighting in the monthly DC solicitations for March. In fact, there's a plethora of them.

First up, there's March's issue of Blue Beetle, which even features our hero alongside many of his Justice League International teammates on the cover:

BLUE BEETLE #7
Written by JOSH TRUJILLO
Art by ADRIAN GUTIERREZ, CULLY HAMNER, JEFF LEMIRE, and HOWARD PORTER
Cover by ADRIAN GUTIERREZ
Spanish-language cover by ADRIAN GUTIERREZ
Variant cover by KEVIN MAGUIRE
$3.99 US, Variant $4.99 US (card stock), On Sale March 5
In order to get Ted Kord back on his feet, Jaime will need to work with Booster Gold! Can this Blue and Gold pairing help their friend, or are Ted’s superheroing days over?

And, as if that wasn't enough, DC is also giving us a new collection of Booster Gold volume 2!

BOOSTER GOLD: THE COMPLETE 2007 SERIES BOOK ONE
Written by GEOFF JOHNS, JEFF KATZ, RICK REMENDER, and CHUCK DIXON
Art by DAN JURGENS, NORM RAPMUND, PAT OLLIFFE, and JERRY ORDWAY
Cover by DAN JURGENS and NORM RAPMUND
$29.99 US, 400 pages, Softcover, ISBN: 978-1-77952-723-3, On Sale April 23
Presenting the greatest, most popular, most beloved, and did we say popular, superhero of all time: Booster Gold!
...Or so he hopes to be thought of one day. As the time-traveling hero gets caught up in the madness of changing histories, fighting Time Stealers, and trying to undo the death of his bestie, Blue Beetle, he will learn the hard way
that twisting time too far may just cause it to snap! Collects Booster Gold #0-14 and #1,000,000.

Given that this Book One collects 15 issues, and there are functionally 49 total issues in volume 2, I think we can expect at least two more books to come.

Knowing those are coming is a pretty good early Christmas present.

But wait! There's more

Among the many reprint collections in the monthly solicitations (which include a new printing of 52 Volume One with a very Boosterrific cover), DC has announced a first-time-in-print collection of the WEBTOONs.com Batman: Wayne Family Adventures Volume Four... with Booster Gold and Skeets on the cover!

BATMAN: WAYNE FAMILY ADVENTURES VOLUME FOUR
Written by CRC PAYNE
Art by STARBITE
Cover by VASCO GEORGIEV
$14.99 US, 208 pages, Softcover, ISBN: 978-1-77952-691-5, On Sale May 7
Season two of the smash-hit WEBTOON series continues here! When your superhero life is just as busy as your personal life, there’s never a dull moment in the Bat-Family. Bruce Wayne’s young heroes are still learning to fight and live side by side, but they always have each other’s backs.
Collecting episodes 71-116 of the massively popular WEBTOON series, optimized for a brand-new reading experience in print!

Maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but so far as I'm aware, Booster has never appeared in Wayne Family Adventures. I mean, I haven't been reading it, and Googling gives no indication that Booster has ever been there. But it's not impossible. For that price, I'm willing to buy the 6-by-9-inch trade and find out myself.

You can read all the solicitations at AIPTComics.com. Here's to 2024!

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Justice League International #17 has a delightful sequence in which Booster Gold escapes from prison by using just his Legion Flight Ring... while he's not even wearing it!

But that's not my favorite page in the issue.

No, my favorite page is one that takes place shortly after Booster and Blue Beetle have re-united with Batman (disguised as Maxwell Lord because, aw, just read it). Page 8:

If you ask me, Booster, "Catcher of All the Beautiful Half-Naked Girls That Fall Out of the Sky" sure would look good on a resume.

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