Friday afternoon, The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that DC finally plans to release their comprehensive Rebirth continuity in 2020. That's a mere 9 years after they threw out decades of character development in a bid to boost sales.

"We're starting to figure out how continuity works," [DC Comics co-publisher Dan] DiDio said about the process, noting that reboots and complicated retcons are what happens when "things stop making sense."

I'm glad that DiDio, who has overseen DC Comics' output since 2004, has finally realized the value of continuity to the types of stories that his company sells. Better late than never, I guess.

Anyway, I'm sure that what you want to know, as a visitor to a Booster Gold fan site, is "how will this affect Booster Gold?" The answer looks to be: Pretty significantly.

DiDio made the announcement at the "DC Nation" panel of this past weekend's New York Comic Convention accompanied with an illustrated graphic. Bleeding Cool spent most of the weekend pouring over the visible bits of that timeline. I can't make out anything, but Rich Johnston seems to think it restores most of the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity as the third generation of DC heroes.

If that is to be believed, it looks like Booster Gold's history once again includes his joining the original "Bwah-ha-ha" Justice League International alongside Blue Beetle. Also restored: Infinite Crisis and Justice League: Generation Lost. Is there time for 52 to have happened in there somewhere? One can only hope.

Will any of this ever make it to print? Will the short-lived New 52 continuity be abandoned? How can Convergence be shoehorned into this new chronology? Who knows. Maybe we'll find out after Doomsday Clock finally ticks down in December.

Comments (2) | Add a Comment | Tags: 2019 bleedingcool.com continuity conventions dan didio hollywoodreporter.com new york comic con rich johnston

Booster booster Steven Palchinski caught up with Rags Morales at a recent convention and commissioned this Boosterrific portrait:

That's worth hanging in the living room!

Thanks for sharing, Steven.

Comments (2) | Add a Comment | Tags: 2019 commissions conventions fan art rags morales steven palchinski

San Diego Comic Con was this past weekend, and it would have been the perfect time for DC Comics to leverage Booster Gold's recent starring role in Heroes in Crisis into some new material. So what, if anything, did we learn about Booster Gold this year? Not much.

Let us count the ways.

1. Tom King continues to miss the point of how bad Heroes in Crisis was.

At the show, Tom King was awarded the 2019 Best Writer Eisner Award for Batman, Mister Miracle, Heroes in Crisis, Swamp Thing Winter Special. Congratulations to him. As much as I complain about his writing, he seems like a decent guy. But please, Tom, never write Booster Gold again, especially since you don't seem to understand (or maybe, to accept) the weaknesses in your stories as published.

Per Newsarama.com's coverage of the Tom King panel:

"I loved [HiC]," said King. "I think killing Wally was a tough pill for people to swallow." ... King says Wally did not actually murder anyone, and to him, Wally is the hero of Heroes In Crisis.

I really don't mean to rip the band-aid off the nightmare that was Heroes in Crisis (unquestionably the worst comic series I've read in the past 12 months), but if King is going to be rewarded for mischaracterization in pursuit of whatever it was he thinks he was doing in that story, I can't keep quiet.

Wally may not be a "villain" in a traditional comic-book-morality sense, but who tried to cover up an accident by framing other heroes? Who stole from his "friends"? Who took steps to reveal the secret identities of the Justice League to the public? Who was planning to commit murder of his future self? That would be the villain of the piece: Wally West.

The moral of Heroes in Crisis isn't that sometimes bad things happen to good people; it's.... Hell, I still don't know what the moral is, but I'm sure it isn't "if you're having a bad day, go ahead and frame your friends for murder."

Meanwhile, who was it that fought to find the truth despite a public manhunt against him? And who turned his friends for support when he needed help most? And who managed to avoid the worst possible outcome? That would be the hero of the story: Booster Gold.

Maybe the moral is that real heroes don't get the credit they deserve for their bravery, determination, and compassion. Yeah, maybe that's it.

2. Booster Gold will make at least a cameo appearance in Batman: Last Knight on Earth #2.

The Blot wasn't at Comic Con this year, but he did spot our hero in Twitter.com coverage of the DC Black Label panel featuring artwork for the coming book. See if you've got better eyes than The Blot. (I don't.)

That's kind of small. Here's the half with Booster.

Need a little more? Ok, here he is standing in front of... Evil Star, maybe?

You'll find Batman: Last Knight on Earth #2, with art by Greg Capullo, in your Local Comic Shop next week.

3. You can read all of Booster Gold volume 1 on the DC All Access mobile app.

Okay, fine. This wasn't actually announced at SDCC, but it should have been.

This news about the DC Comics All Access App actually came to my inbox this weekend by way of an update from Bob Rossetto, who originally alerted us to the app's Gold deficiency back in September 2018. I'm very pleased that DC has finally fixed that oversight and made Booster more widely available to new audiences. Hooray!

Thanks to Blot and Bob both.

Comments (6) | Add a Comment | Tags: 2019 batman blot bob rossetto comic-con conventions greg capullo heroes in crisis newsarama.com tom king twitter.com

I wasn't planning on starting the week with any Booster Gold art, but when the Blot tweeted the latest addition to his sketchbook, I couldn't wait to share it.

This sketch was commissioned from artist Jae Lee at Comicpalooza 2019. I'm sure you'll agree it makes a fine addition to The Blot's collection, and a boosterrific way to start your week. Thanks for sharing, Blot!

Comments (2) | Add a Comment | Tags: 2019 blot comicpalooza commissions conventions fan art jae lee

Booster booster and art collector Cort was at Vancouver Fan Expo last week, as he was last October and he picked up even more Boosterrific sketches. Here they are, with Cort's own commentary:

Liam Sharp, fellow Brit, said this was the first time he'd ever drawn Booster and really enjoyed it, he even asked me about the history of the character and we had quite the chat, he said he found it fascinating, one of the coolest origins he's heard. Plus I had to see how he'd tackle it, as it could be my only chance to see him do so, very grizzled! I love it.

The ever personable and great Ty Templeton was a joy to listen to. He held many interesting anecdotes of the comics industry. Signed me some Booster Gold and JLI comics too.

Tom Grummett whom was beside Ty did a fantastic Booster for me as well, it was everything I could ask for, it screams Booster Gold to me. The banter between Ty and he was very enjoyable and being able to geek out with them made me adore them all the more as they are just as much fans as we are.

And last but not least, Marcus To. Whom I only knew through some X-Men and Red Robin did a fascinating Poison Ivy for my girlfriend and all his proceeds went to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, so I decided to help put money towards some of the greats whom are dealing with pressing issues. Turned out great!

They all look amazing, Cort. Thank you for sharing again.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: 2019 conventions cort fan art liam sharp marcus to tom grummett ty templeton vancouver fan expo