Longtime Booster booster Morgenstern recently asked me a very good question:

Did you ever write an article about this dropped idea of making Tim Drake Blue Beetle and the Death of Booster Gold by Scott Beatty & Chuck Dixon?

The answer is "no." And I'll correct that oversight right now.

Before I can explain, let me set the stage. The early 2000s were a lean time for Booster Gold. He made exactly two in-continuity, non-flashback appearances in 2001, both in very small parts (just a few panels) as set dressing for the "Our Worlds at War" and "Joker's Last Laugh" crossover events. Although Booster was still friends with Ted Kord, the Blue Beetle was finding much greater success as an associate of Oracle's Birds of Prey. That's where this story begins.

In Birds of Prey #39 (released in January 2002), Ted Kord is diagnosed with a heart condition that forces him to hang up his tights. However,Birds of Prey and Robin writer Chuck Dixon and his "Joker: Last Laugh" co-collaborator Scott Beatty didn't intend this to be the end of the Blue Beetle, just an opportunity for a passing of the mantle.

The plan, as Beatty revealed on his blog in a 2019 post titled "THE CLIP FILE: How Scott Beatty & Chuck Dixon *ALMOST* Turned Robin Into BLUE BEETLE!," was that "a gravely injured Ted Kord would find a replacement Blue Beetle while he convalesced... assuming that he would survive at all. It would be a *paid* position occupied by a cash-strapped Tim Drake (a.k.a. Robin III)." Christopher Irving's 2007 encyclopedic The Blue Beetle Companion confirms the plan, quoting Dixon as elaborating that eventually "an invalid Ted Kord would direct a half dozen Blue Beetles (all with different talents) to battle international crime."

What makes all of this relevant to Booster Gold fans is exactly how Beatty and Dixon intended to launch this enterprise in the pages of a proposed mini-series they called Blue Beetles. Quoting from the mini-series pitch proposal on Beatty's blog:

We throw down the gauntlet with the death of Booster Gold.

Really.

With ground-support from Ted, Danny and Star begin an investigation into the events surrounding Booster Gold's demise, a mystery which provides the backbone to the first few issues. Their trial-by-fire begins as Ted launches an ambitious campaign to reel in any Beetle foes still at-large, sending his apprentice Beetles to capture a string of rogues and offer them clemency if they swear to renounce villainy; otherwise it's a one-way ticket to the Slab. And now that it's tucked away in polar isolation at the bottom of the world, NOBODY wants to go to the Slab.

Meanwhile, Booster is celebrated on the evening news, showered in fifteen minutes of celebrity as unofficial biographies are published, how-to videos are hawked, and the promotional machine grinds dollars out of heroic sacrifice.

The kicker is this: Booster's death was faked by Maxwell Lord in order to capitalize on the cult of celebrity surrounding young stars dying young and leaving beautiful corpses. Lord plans on marketing the Booster Gold bio and telepic, then engineering a ballyhooed superhero resurrection.

Booster and Max are in cahoots, hoping to spike interest in the hero's eventual resurrection and subsequent product endorsement deals. What's worse, both Booster and Max were willing to silence Ted Kord in order to maintain the ruse.

That's... just.... Wow.

Although this particular pitch was denied by the Powers-That-Be at DC at the time for unspecified reasons — and I can't say I'm too saddened by that particular decision — it's amazing to see how many of these ideas presage what would actually unfold in the hands of other writers. Remember, this was 2002. Max's villain turn in Countdown to Infinite Crisis was still three years away, and Booster's death would be a key component of Infinite Crisis-follow up 52!

For more information on this particular footnote of DC history, I encourage you to read Beatty's full proposal for Blue Beetles on his blog, scottbeatty.blogspot.com.

Thanks for helping me correct my oversight, M.

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Some time back, Drake tweeted:

I can speak only for myself, but I *do* still love floppies, largely because in my mind, that's what a comic book *is*.

I agree that the writing is on the wall for single issue floppies and that the future of the comics lies in an inevitable shift to more consumer-friendly mass market trade collections. However, once upon a time, buying single issues at a newsstand was the only way to follow the adventures of your favorite hero. You were soon conditioned that if you missed an issue, there wasn't going to be a second chance. If you wanted to read comics, a weekly trip to the store was the only way to do it.

For example, Booster Gold Volume 1, first released in 1986, was out of print for decades, and children of the 80s had no reason to believe it ever would be seen again. A full-color reprint only arrived in the past year, and I just got my hand on the second half, Booster Gold: Future Lost, last week.

Now available at a fine retailer near you!

Comic book retailing has changed a lot since your drugstore's spinner rack, but until the publishers finally throw in the towel, I think I'll stick to my singles. It may be more expensive, more labor intensive, and more often than not, an inferior reading experience, but at least I still get to look at all that great comic cover art.

No matter what anyone else tells you, we do buy them for the pictures.

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Drake McWhorter (aka @TrailerDrake) recently posted his pop culture "shrines" on Twitter. Here's his space devoted to BFFs Booster Gold and Blue Beetle.

Personally, I keep all my Booster action figures and knickknacks on their own bookshelf. Actually, if I count the ones still in their original packaging, two bookshelves in two different rooms. And that's not counting the comics. The Booster-dedicated short boxes (BG volumes 1 & 2 and 52) are on a third bookshelf. Come to think of it, Booster takes up a lot of room in my house.

Do any other Booster boosters devote space in their life to Booster Gold?

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Sometimes cosplay isn't enough. Sometimes you have to bring your favorite heroes into your daily attire. That's what Drake McWhorter did.

Drake, known as TrailerDrake on Twitter, is a big Booster booster (*ahem*), and now he wears his allegiance to Blue and Gold around his neck. If you like it, you can buy your own from dexlarprice on Etsy.com for a very reasonable price.

(Note these ties are quite different from the Etsy Blue and Gold bows I featured last year, though those were also by dexlarprice.)

I have Booster t-shirts and a hoodie. Has anyone else managed to incorporate Booster into their daily wardrobe? And, yes, visible tattoos count.

On a related note — we are talking about Booster Gold merchandise, right? — has everyone signed George Pooley's petition for those cancelled Blue and Gold DC Collectible figures at Change.org? Spread the word!

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While I'm considering creating a "This Is Your Life" video for Booster Gold, it's interesting to take a look at some comparables. Youtube's Comic Drake is a big Booster Gold fan, and he's made some videos highlighting Booster's comic book career. In this one, he explains what he personally likes about Booster Gold.

I think that's great, but it's not quite what I have in mind. I'm thinking shorter (and less emphasis on Booster's "scumbag" qualities). In 60 seconds, can we tell a typical superhero movie watcher who has never opened a comic (and will never open a comic) why they need to meet Booster Gold? I think we can.

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