On this day in 2003, DC Comics began publication of JLA-Z, a Who's Who-inspired excuse for a pin-up anthology of Justice League characters. Booster Gold and Blue Beetle were judged so important to the history of the JLA that they appeared in the very first issue!

(It probably didn't hurt that their codenames both begin with the second letter of the alphabet.)

Art by Kevin Maguire, Joe Rubinstein, Tom McCraw.

On a related note, BleedingCool.com reports from Fan Expo Canada that Ted Kord might be rejoining the Justice League in some capacity in the near future. The sooner the better, if you ask me.

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Something must have been in the air this week as I was emailed by two different people out of the blue who were proud to show off their recent Booster Gold sketch commissions!

First up is from our old friend The Blot, whose magnificent Booster Gold Sketchbook is bulging at the seams. His latest piece is by Invincible artist Ryan Ottley:

Our second piece is shared by Cort, who picked up this sketch commission from the very prolific Leonard Kirk at last years's Fan Expo Vancouver:

Those are some good looking sketches, guys. Thanks for sharing.

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Booster Gold-related pickings were slim at this year's Comic Con. What did we learn? Not much.

1. Booster Gold will not be in CW's Legends of Tomorrow season 4.

Per CBR.com: When asked at Saturday's DC's Legends of Tomorrow panel whether Booster Gold might put in an appearance, show executive producer Phil Klemmer said it was "not in the works." Seeing as how Booster hasn't been in any of the first three seasons of Legends of Tomorrow, this hardly comes as a shock.

2. Nathan Fillion isn't planning on playing Booster Gold.

Per ScreenRant.com: When asked whether he was aware that some fans want him to portray Booster Gold on screen, the Castle actor said that he likes the character but he's not campaigning for the part. Given that there has been no evidence that anyone is currently actively working on a Booster Gold movie or television project (and he won't be in Legends of Tomorrow ), this shouldn't come as much of a surprise to anyone, either.

3. Booster Gold will be playing a central role in Heroes in Crisis.

Per: Newsarama.com: Yes, we've known about Heroes in Crisis for nearly 2 months. But DC had a very weird press conference on a boat — somebody really loved Eyes Wide Shut — to promote the mini-series where they released new colored Clay Mann art featuring our hero.

I'm still not sold on Heroes in Crisis, but I can't deny that it's looking pretty darn good.

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Herbert Fung has been going to the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo for years, and more often than not, he seems to bring back a Booster Gold commission from a superstar artist. It was Adam Hughes in 2013, David Finch in 2014, and Ty Templeton in 2016.

This year, Herb has outdone himself with this amazing Booster Gold commission from Tom Grummett:

Oh, boy, that looks good! I'm gold with envy, Herb!

Grummett's credits are diverse, but I'll always think of him as THE artist for Superboy. After seeing this, I'm inclined to put him near the top of my list of Booster Gold artists as well.

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I gave you the new cover to Batman #46 Friday, and the DC Batman Panel at C2E2 this past weekend gave us some exciting news about what you might find behind that cover.

Fair warning: the following post has light spoilers for next week's Batman #45, so cover your eyes if you don't want to know too much before you have the issue in your hands.

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Still here? Ok. One additional warning! The preview images DC has released for this issue that can be found at any of the following links are uncommonly violent. (I might be getting prudish in my advancing age, but golly gee, maybe the Comics Code wasn't such a bad thing.)

Now, as I was saying, according to Newsarama's coverage of C2E2, quote

DC Comics has confirmed during their Batman panel panel at Chicago's C2E2 convention that the Booster Gold team up arc starting in April 18's Batman #45 will take place in an alternate world where Booster Gold has gone back in time to save Thomas and Martha Wayne - and inadvertently prevents Bruce Wayne's birth.

That news seems to come directly from writer Tom King himself. Rich Johnson has more detailed spoilers at BleedingCool.com for those of you who really want the dirt.

The rest of us will find out what the big deal is next week when Batman #45 will be in our Local Comic Shops. I advise reading it on an empty stomach.

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