Thanks to site commenter Anonymous, we have known for a few months that the Jim Pesl referenced in Booster Gold Volume 2 was a high school friend of Norm Rapmund who now works in a restaurant in Northern California.

Thanks to Russ Burlingame's recent "Panel Discussions" podcast, we now know why Norm Rapmund puts Jim Pesl's name (pronounced "pē-zuhl") in his comics:

It was actually kind of funny that it took until Booster Gold for people to notice because [Rapmund]'s been doing this for years. He started slipping Pesl's name in back when he was doing X-Men [beginning in 2000] and he's put it in ... not every issue he's ever inked but pretty much every title he's inked in one way or another.

The pair of them have been friends for 20-odd years. Back in high school Jim was the only other person besides Norm who read comics. When Norm started working in comics and Jim was still reading, he threw the name in there. They live in the same general area, and [Norm found that] Pesl was very excited about having been referenced in X-Men. So Norm started tossing it in and occasionally bringing free comics to Pesl's restaurant. In exchange, Pesl gives Norm food. So there you have it.

Free food sounds like a pretty good reason to put someone's name in your comics, but maybe higher cosmic forces are at play. As fate would have it, the pair graduated from El Dorado High School. El Dorado is the name of the infamous South American City of Gold.

From El Dorado High School to Booster Gold. And now you know the rest of the story.

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Sorry to pull a bait-and-switch on you for Gold Exchange Tuedsay, but it seems that there will be no more "Gold Exchange" columns now that Booster Gold has been canceled. The successor to the "Gold Exchange" will be announced during Russ Burlingame's "Panel Discussions" today on Comics Related. The "Panel Discussions" podcast will also feature Burlingame's call-in interview with Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund that was recorded on Friday. Tune in to Comic Related to hear what Dan and Norm have to say.

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Sadly, Booster Gold has been unavoidably detained, but writer Dan Jurgens and co-artist Norm Rapmund will be available in his stead.

Jurgens has written and drawn more Booster Gold appearances than any other writer or artist. Rapmund has inked far more Booster appearances than any other inker. Combined, the pair have worked on over 177 Booster Gold stories! If you've got Booster Gold questions, these are the guys to ask.

The pair will be interviewed by Comic Related contributor Russ Burlingame and broadcast in the near future as part of Burlingame's Panel Discussions podcast. Burlingame will be recording his call in show at 3PM EDT. If you've got something you'd like to say to Jurgens, Rapmund, or Burlingame but a conflicting schedule, call early and leave them a message at (315) 464-0046.

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Booster Gold, Volume 2, has seen its last issue. Does that mean that Russ Burlingame's most recent "Gold Exchange" column at ComicRelated.com is also his last? Here's hoping for more. I don't know how many more endings I can take right now.

As usual, Burlingame asked Dan Jurgens all the right questions, and Jurgens replied by decisively answering the most pressing question of all: the fate of Skeets.

GX: What's in the backpack that Booster brought back with him from the Flashpoint Universe? Looking at #45 I can't seem to find him filling it before he leaves the cabin.

DJ: Skeets! He puts Skeets in the backpack previously, right as he left the cabin in the woods.

What a relief! Loosing Skeets to Flashpoint would have been a terrible insult to a great supporting character. Skeets, we're looking forward to seeing you in the DCnU.

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With the final issue of Booster Gold due tomorrow, perhaps it's time to refresh your memory about the last issue with Russ Burlingame's most recent "Gold Exchange" column at ComicRelated.com. (My apologies for not linking sooner. First Comic-Con got in the way, and well, now here we are. Sorry, Russ.)

GX: The other side of that, of course, is that she's different from The Parasite (and, for that matter, Rogue) in that she doesn't seem to harm the people from whom she takes the power, right?

DJ: You're right-- she's different from the Parasite. But I think it's important to note that there's a great deal we don't know about her-- and she may not know about herself.

GX: Also: Booster's powers are not natural; she can apparently "borrow" power from inanimate objects, too?

DJ: Yes. It doesn't have to be a biologically based super power.

GX: If Alex is copying Booster's powers, why are her blasts green? Much has been made of the green-ness of it among fans who are speculating who or what she might represent in the Flashpoint Universe.

DJ: Once again, there is a lot about her that has not been revealed, as well as the notion that she, herself, doesn't have a complete understanding of what she is, what she can do and what actually happens as part of the process.

Jurgens does a find job of not explaining that, doesn't he? This probably means that he plans on addressing this in the future. With only one issue of Booster Gold remaining, here's hoping he acts fast. (Or will we be seeing Alexandria in the future?)

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