As you may have seen on the usual comic news sites like CBR.com, the complete Warner Bros. animated feature film Scooby-Doo! and Krypto, Too!, featuring a crossover between Hanna-Barbara's canine crime-solver and the Justice League, was leaked to the Internet this past weekend.

The leak is an undisputed fact. (I've seen the file. More on that in a minute.) What's not clear to me — or apparently to anyone else — is the motivation behind the leak.

These are other undisputed facts: Warner Bros. cancelled Scoob! Holiday Haunt¹ and Scooby Doo! and the Haunted High Rise² late last year as part of their tax write-down strategy. Last week, they also cancelled a third project, Scooby-Doo! and the Mystery Pups³.

But so far as I can tell, no one officially connected to Scooby-Doo! and Krypto, Too!, either at Warner Bros. or production company Digital eMation, has said anything publicly about whether or not Krypto, Too! has actually been cancelled. That's what CBR and almost every other website reporting on this story has said, but not a single one of those reports provides a single source confirming the cancellation. I think that's weird. (For the record, I also think it's bad journalism, but we seem to be losing that fight on a daily basis.)

Frankly, I can think of a lot of reasons why the movie might have been leaked, especially in light of WB's recent instability. I'm not yet convinced that the movie won't one day be released through official channels. For example, the film has a 2023 copyright date in its credits, and there's still listing on Amazon UK for a September 25, 2023, PAL DVD release.

I'm holding out hope for a public release because, as Booster booster Koby first notified me, Skeets is in the movie! As I said above, I've seen enough to confirm that DC's Number 1 Robot Sidekick appears in the background inside the Hall of Justice Trophy Room, right beside a model of the Blue Beetle's Bug. It's a pretty cool Easter egg. Maybe one day, everyone can enjoy it.

[Sources: ¹ gamerant.com, ² comicbook.com, ³ tvseriesfinale.com. See, that's not so hard.]

UPDATE 2024: Rob Snow lets me know that the movie is now available on Max, so here's a legal screenshot:

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Don't worry, there are no spoilers for Blue and Gold #8 in today's post, but I can't say the same for the following link to ComicBook.com!

Now that you've been appropriately warned, here's the link to ComicBook.com where Russ Burlingame has a recap of how it took DC thirteen years (!) to finally tell us who the Black Beetle was:

The original plan to reveal the Black Beetle's true identity, was to do it in Booster Gold #25. The mystery proved so intriguing to readers, and the story for #25 was already so full, that Jurgens and DC opted to put it off until a planned double-sized story in Booster Gold #50. Unfortunately for Booster fans, Flashpoint happened, and the series ended with Booster Gold #47 in 2011 as part of the line-wide "The New 52" reboot. This is the villain's first significant appearance since.

To add a little extra salt to that wound, I will remind you that Booster Gold #47 was actually the 49th issue for the title. In addition to the 47 conventionally sequential-numbered issues, there were also 0 and 1,000,000 issues as well. So we could have had the reveal in a double-sized 50th issue number 48 if DC had let the series go on for just one more month.

And while we're on the topic of salty wounds, can we even be sure that the Black Beetle we got in Blue and Gold was the same character who put together the villainous Time Stealers in Booster Gold Volume 2 #7? As Russ points out, DC History is not what it used to be.

Honestly, I was so angry that the New 52 reboot truncated the continuity of my favorite characters that I strongly considered swearing off DC Comics entirely. (I meant it, too. As several ex-friends can tell you, I'm the sort of guy who can hold a grudge forever. It's not healthy.)

Several reboots and rebirths later, I still don't buy as many DC comics as I used to, but I have happily bought multiple copies of each issue of Blue and Gold with no regrets, no matter who they say Black Beetle is. I feel that's been money well spent, and I'd be glad to give DC more if they decide they want to do it again.

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If you watched The Flash season 8 episode "Impulsive Excessive Disorder" on Wednesday night, you must have seen this:

Nicole Drum provides a recap of Booster's appearance at ComicBook.com, but the article fails to mention that the White House visit is clearly a nod to Booster Gold's comic book origin story (as told in Booster Gold #8 and #9).

Meanwhile, over at EW.com, Chancellor Agard got the behind-the-scenes story of how the cameo came to be directly from Flash showrunner Eric Wallace:

"It was just a kind of a fun coincidence," he tells EW. "I was in post working on episode 806 and I knew the kids, Bart and Nora, would be looking at future things in the Flash Museum. And the head of post for our show and for Legends is the same person, Geoff Garrett. He happened to mention, 'Oh, by the way, don't tell anybody, but Booster Gold is going to be appearing in the finale of Legends.' I'm big Booster Gold fan, and I went, 'Hey, have they cast that person yet? I have a crazy thought. What if we see our kids in this episode looking through newspapers and we see whoever you guys have cast really fast, kind of a connected thing?' And he said, 'Well, it's funny you should mention that, Eric, because the finale of Legends airs the week before Flash returns.'"

Wallace continues: "So we made a few calls. I called up Phil [Klemmer], the showrunner of Legends, pitched him the idea. After he stopped laughing so hard he's like, 'Of course, definitely do that.' And then it was a very simple matter of just talking to the actor Donald Faison and getting his permission just to use a picture. He was into it. Next thing you know, it's in the show. It all happened in literally 24 hours. It was hilarious."

Now that Donald Faison's Booster has been in two "Arrowverse" CW shows two weeks in a row, I'm starting to wonder if this isn't the beginning of a trend? I sure hope so. Personally, I'd like to see Booster Gold on every television show every day; I just can't get enough of that guy.

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You all know I'm not much for the rumor mill, but when the CW announced to Entertainment Weekly on Wednesday that actor Donald Fiason (most famous as a lead in the long-running Scrubs) will be joining the cast of DC's Legends of Tomorrow, they described his character thusly:

"The Legends first encounter this character at a different phase of his career whose golden years are in the rearview mirror. He is good guy deep down; his ego is looking for a boost that only fame, fortune, and glory can provide. While he claims to have been recruited to work for a mysterious time organization, he wasn't offered much of a choice in the matter. As an unauthorized time traveler with high-profile aspirations, he developed a mischievous streak and cuts a few corners along the way to achieving his dreams. He knows all about the Legends of Tomorrow and finds them inspiring because they are the kind of heroes who started at the ground floor, as opposed to inheriting their powers from an alien planet, a spider bite, or wealthy parents. But the big question is whether his respect for the team is going to be able to help the Legends out of hot water or get them into hotter water!"

If that sounds a lot like a description of one Michael Jon "Booster" Carter to you, know that you're not alone. I've seen several entertainment websites draw the same conclusion, and even the Internet's foremost Booster Gold reporter, Russ Burlingame, reports on the speculation at ComicBook.com.

So, will Faison be playing Booster Gold? Or are the producers of DC's Legends of Tomorrow teasing us? I guess we'll all find out when the finale airs on March 2.

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Up front, let me say that I bought two copies of the first issue of Human Target, one by Greg Smallwood — showing Booster Gold's fist! — and one by Hairsine, Miki and Beredo — showing Booster Gold's leg! (I like to think of them as parts of a "Build-A-Figure" cover.) Having read the issue, I do not regret that decision.

However, that should not mean that I'm ready to endorse the story based on the first issue alone. I am on record as no fan of Tom King's storytelling, especially in reference to the way he handles Booster Gold. It is very clear that King and I have very different interpretations of the character (and most of the other inhabitants of the DC Universe).

Earlier this week, King was interviewed by Jenna Anderson for comicbook.com, and he explained why he chose the Justice League International for his story:

"What Giffen and DeMatteis put into these characters, they all feel very fleshed out," King added. "They all feel very real. When you picture them in your head, you just see that Kevin Maguire face looking up at you. They're very easy and very fun to write. The thing I most love to do in comics is to take silly ideas seriously and find the depths in them, and that concept was all over this — the idea that these little silly flaws that are implanted in these characters actually show real heart and real depth. Like I wrote this thing for Booster, why Booster's good. And the idea is, Human Target expressed my opinion on Booster as 'Booster is a joke. He makes mistakes all the time, but he doesn't hide them. He shows himself. He is himself. Booster is Booster. Yeah, he's a joke, but everyone is. At least Booster's funny.' That kind of stuff is incredibly fun to do. These characters have such potential — each one of them could launch their own series."

Ahem. Almost all of them have launched a series. Or two. Or more.

I have to admit, I can kind of see where King is coming from calling Booster "a joke." Yes, he has some terrible ideas, and yes, he takes advantage of his friends, and he even occasionally misjudges his own abilities. But those traits could just as easily describe Batman.

Maybe it's my incredible dissatisfaction with the way King depicted Booster Gold during his run on Batman or my anger at the horrible handling of the promotion and resolution of Heroes in Crisis that make me suspicious that Booster will be treated badly by Human Target. But at least I can rest assured that this will be the last time King will use Booster in a story, right?

King continued. "Booster Gold [is] my favorite character to write in all of fiction — who is always trying to do good, and always slipping on the banana peel."

Grr. You can't always get what you want. Sometimes, you can't even get what you need.

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