Yesterday, I was searching the Internet for cute dog pictures (that's what it's for, right?), and I came across this recent post on afghanhoundpedigrees.com:

That smile! That hair! That self-possessed grace in front of the camera! Obviously, that dog must be named Booster Gold!

Specifically, it's Golddragon Booster Gold, bred and owned by Mario & Joaquin Martinez-Sanchez of Golddragon Kennel in Spain. (Photo credited to Armando Sobrado.)

I'm a Standard Poodle person by nature, but I cannot deny that hound certainly glitters.

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Tom Brady won his 7th Super Bowl yesterday in impressive fashion. At the age of 43, he not only becomes the oldest quarterback to win the big game (passing his own record), but also the quarterback who has won the most of them.

Winning Super Bowls is just one metric by which his greatness will be judged. He also holds records for career games won, Pro Bowl selections, seasons as passing leader, total touchdowns thrown (regular, post-season, and Super Bowls), and game-winning drives. In the history of the NFL, he's the only player to throw 5 touchdowns in a single quarter. (The NFL record for touchdown passes in an entire game stands at 7, achieved only 8 times in 100 years!)

I mention all of this not necessarily to praise Brady, who is inarguably the greatest of all NFL quarterbacks, but as a comparison to where the bar is set for future players aspiring to equal or surpass his greatness. Especially one college football player who will take snaps under center for Gotham University in the year 2462. According to Booster Gold #6, the scouts say he could be the best ever.

Skeets is a robot. He *can't* lie.

In light of what we've seen Tom Brady do in the 21st century, it's all the more impressive to hear how Michael Jon "Booster" Carter will be praised in the 25th, by which time we can imagine that few, if any, of Brady's records will still be standing. (Four hundred years is a lo-o-ong time. Even Brady will have retired by then.)

Secret Origins #35

Aim high, Booster.

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Here's something I missed in the run up to Comic-Con: a teaser poster for DC's Year of the Villain event!

You probably can't see him, but Booster Gold is in there, right between Flash and Wonder Woman!

This ad was released online in July and appeared in all DC imprint comics published this week. (Does anyone recognize the artist? Drawn by Nick Bradshaw, inked by Cully Hamner, and colored by Hi-Fi Designs.) It specifically teases the first storyline in the upcoming Batman/Superman #1.

Booster's inclusion here shouldn't come as a surprise, as he had already been linked to the issue in May's DC's Year of the Villain Special. I guess we'll have to buy Batman/Superman #1 — in stores August 28 — to find out if Booster is truly among the "Secret Six" victims of the Batman Who Laughs.

In very related news, Jonathan Reichman pointed out that this week DC announced six new series to tie directly into the Batman/Superman series and four (and counting) Tales from the Dark Multiverse one-shots. One of those stories hints bad things for our hero.

Per the press release from DCComics.com:

TALES FROM THE DARK MULTIVERSE: INFINITE CRISIS #1
Writer James Tynion IV (Justice League, Justice League Dark) and artists Aaron Lopresti (Wonder Woman) and Matt Ryan (Damage) team up with cover artist Lee Weeks for this dark turn on DC’s mega-event Infinite Crisis. The destruction of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, the rise of Alexander Luthor and Superboy-Prime, and the rebirth of the Multiverse all began with Ted Kord, the Blue Beetle. Kord saw it all coming and died with secrets that could have saved the world. But in the Dark Multiverse, Blue Beetle survives, and with the death of Maxwell Lord by his hand, Ted sets off events that irreversibly alter the lives of not only the Justice League, but also his best friend, Booster Gold. In trying to prevent a crisis, Blue Beetle becomes the crisis, and the Dark Multiverse will never be the same.

Thanks for warning us that was coming, Jonathan. Let's see if we learn more when DC releases November solicitations (probably next week).

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Free copies of DC Nation #3 arrived in your Local Comic Shop (and on Comixology) last week. There were several pages promoting Heroes in Crisis, but very little previously undisclosed information was delivered. However, we did get this house ad for DC Nation #4:

Hmm. What can we glean from this illustration?

At last month's Comic-Con, Dan DiDio and Tom King teased that one of the two much discussed "deaths" of Heroes in Crisis will be a Flash, who is conspicuously absent from this ad. Is the other doomed hero one of these characters? I still hope it's not Booster!

I'd be remiss in my duties as unofficial chronicler of Booster's official chronicles if I didn't make note that the art for this piece — a future Heroes in Crisis cover? — was drawn by Brad Walker and inked by Andrew Hennessy. So far as I'm aware, this is the first time either has illustrated Booster Gold. Comparatively, colorist Jason Wright is an old hand, having colored Booster appearances twice before!

Perhaps DC will be willing to spill some more details in the next issue. They'll have time. DC Nation #4 is scheduled for a September 5 release, whereas Heroes In Crisis #1 won't be available until September 26.

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Brady Kj recently found a Booster Gold cameo appearance in Harley Quinn #20. Naturally, I rushed out to my LCS to pick up a copy. Sure enough, Booster is on the first page as part of one of Harley Quinn's dreams.

I should have stopped reading there. Every character in these pages is, to put it lightly, a jerk. None are worse than the protagonist, Harley Quinn.

There are always problems adapting a villain into a story protagonist. Harley Quinn is implied to have a warped morality, but no morality is present in this issue other than her own. She murders a customer service representative in the busy Los Angeles airport, steals a police car as an officer watches, and pushes a company mascot in front of a bus on a crowded street. This isn't "cartoon violence," either; characters are shown clearly suffering from Harley's actions. Yet no one in Harley's world even attempts to stop her from committing these villainous acts. The only "heroes" present are prostitutes in costumes. Do heroes only exist in Harley's dreams?

Issue co-writer Jimmy Palmiotti liberally sprinkled the same sorts of violence throughout All-Star Western, and it worked there. Bounty hunter Jonah Hex lived in an Old West devoid of law and order. More importantly, despite his flaws Hex was an anti-hero devoted to bringing to justice the fiends who committed these types of atrocities.

By comparison, Harley Quinn is set in modern-day Los Angeles starring a mentally damaged villain. L.A. is not a lawless place located sometime in the distant and barbarous past. What good are Batman and Superman if they let a Harley Quinn run free to murder citizens of America's largest city? What's the point of using L.A. as a backdrop if there's no police or other public servant striving to enforce the rule of law?

I guess what I'm saying is that it damages the verisimilitude a shared comic book universe if inhabitants of that universe are allowed to kill, maim, and steal without recourse. I guess I'm also saying that murder isn't a very funny punchline. But what do I know?

Harley Quinn #20 sold more than 56,000 copies, more than any single issue of Booster Gold outside the "Blackest Night" crossover event. So the next time you question one of DC's decisions, remember that sex, violence, and death sell comics, not story or character. The market has spoken.

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