You know, for someone who says I don't like Tom King's work, I somehow dedicate a lot of space on this blog to him. What can I say? The guy's just kind of hard to ignore, especially when he tweets things like this:

That's the book cover under the dust jacket of the Human Target Volume 1 hardcover coming our way September 27. Yeah, we've seen that art before — it was created by Greg Smallwood for the interior of Human Target #1. But it's still Boosterrific no matter how many times we see it.

While I'm on the topic, this would seem to be a great time to mention that Russ Burlingame has an exclusive interview with Tom King in The Gold Exchange: The Boosterrific Deluxe Edition. With Russ's permission, I'm quoting starting from page 594 here:

Burlingame: You said earlier that you write Booster "wrong." That feels like a healthy way of internalizing audience feedback, just to crack the joke and say "I know 30% of everyone reading this are going to bitch, and that's fine."

King: I mean, I say "right" and "wrong," but I wouldn't change the way that I write. I just wrote Booster for Human Target, and I loved how those pages turned out. Yeah, my Booster's a little goofier and a little sillier, and I know it's not going to please everyone, but it's my job to make the best product I can, and that's the best product I see.

If I'm just trying to write the way everyone wants me to write, then I'll write crappy. I know it's going to turn out worse if I try to do it the other way.

My general opinion is that there are a lot of superheroes who are super-competent and super good in the DC Universe, and it's nice to have one who's not that way. It's what makes him interesting and funny. It's nice to have a guy who can make jokes, and that when you read him, it can make you laugh. That's what I like about Booster; he's not like all the other superheroes.

To me, it's the difference between what Iron Man was up until Robert Downey, Jr. and what he is now. He was just a generic, boring guy, and yeah, he had alcoholism, but that was basically it. And then Robert Downey, Jr. came along, and it was like, "What if we made this guy so arrogant it was funny?" And then we're like, "Oh, yeah. Now he's a [effing] great character."

Burlingame: In Human Target, it isn't just Booster, but the entire Justice League International. Do you approach Booster a little differently as part of that unit?

King: I knew I was taking the Keith Giffen/JLI version as opposed to the Dan Jurgens, more heroic version. I wanted to make sure I had it down, so I talked to Dan about it and he was like, "Well, Booster is a guy who doesn't mind making money off being a superhero," so I wanted to make a thing where he was making money off being a superhero, so I put Booster's Bagels in there.

I just started to put captions back in my writing. I haven't used captions since The Vision, so that's like seven years without captions. The whole point of Human Target is, he goes through each JLI member and kind of cuts to the core of them at some point and says why they're awesome, or what's at their heart. So it gave me a chance, using Chance's voice, to say what I love about the character.

So Booster is Booster. And "Yeah, Booster's a joke, but aren't they all? At least this one's funny" is I think his great Booster line.

We can agree on that, at least. Booster Gold *is* funny.

Thanks for the interview (and the book), Russ!

Comments (1) | Add a Comment | Tags: dan jurgens gold exchange human target interviews justice league international keith giffen russ burlingame tom king twitter.com

Two pieces of news today that are probably each worthy of their own post. But since they both came from the ghost of Newsarama at GamesRadar.com, I'm combining them into this one post.

Thing 1: "Booster Gold: Inside the social media superhero who was 35 years ahead of his time" by Vaneta Rogers is a retrospective of what Booster Gold has meant to the writers who have crafted his adventures.

Rogers' oral history includes interviews with Dan Jurgens, Keith Giffen, J.M. Dematteis, and Jeff Katz, all ow whom clearly have a great deal of respect for the character they helped craft.

In fact, Giffen said that, when he and co-writer J.M. DeMatteis were told by editor Andy Helfer they had to use Booster Gold in their new Justice League run in 1987, it was this 'things-never-go-right' element that defined Booster.

"I'll be honest: I had no idea what to do with the character when we first had him," Giffen said. "Booster really didn't gel in my mind until he had the first 'bwa-ha-ha' moment and Beetle was laughing at him. I knew then that this character is going to know life's frustrations and is going to get knocked down a lot, but is always going to get back up again."

That's just a taste of the insight the piece provides into what has made Booster Gold so durable for the past three-plus decades. Good work, Vaneta.

Thing 2: "New DC Human Target is a 12-issue 'whodunit'" by Micheal Doran is essentially a sales piece to encourage fans to buy the upcoming Human Target series featuring the Justice League International.

The report lays out the basic premise of the series and quotes writer Tom King telling us how this is going to be just like every other prestige mini-series he's written for DC in the past half decade. But the important part for Booster boosters is the news about the variant covers.

The [Trevor] Hairsine and [Danny] Miki #1 and #2 variants connect to form the cover of a 'Whodunit' board game. The back cover features a pin-up calendar, "leaning into the mid-century feel of the comic," says DC.

When placed side by side, those variant covers will look like this:

Mid-century? No. Boosterrific? Very.

Comments (2) | Add a Comment | Tags: covers danny miki gamesradar.com human target keith giffen micheal doran newsarama tom king trevor hairsine vaneta rogers

I was recently asked whether we would ever see Rani again. I think that's a pretty good question.

For those who don't know or don't remember, Rani was a supporting character in later issues of Booster Gold Volume 2. Displaced from her natural era (the 30th century), she was taken in by Booster Gold who treated her as family. That makes Booster something of a surrogate father to the young girl. Rani was still a member of Booster's family when the events of Flashpoint changed the DCU. She hasn't been seen or mentioned since.

Now Infinite Frontier has restored all previously existing chronologies into an infinite DC Multiverse, Rani certainly exists somewhere. But it remains an open question whether readers will ever see her in the pages of an ongoing comic again. In other words, will we ever learn what became of Booster Gold's young ward?

Obviously, I can't predict the future, but past experience leads me to believe that Rani's story may never be told. Comic book supporting characters rarely follow the heroes they support from title to title. Artist turnover is high in the world of comic book publication. New storytellers often want to tell their own story, not continue the story of a previous teller. So even if Booster Gold gets another chance at the spotlight, it's unlikely that Rani will follow him (unless Rani's creators, Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis, are the ones telling that story, and even then it's no guarantee that they would want to retread old ground).

Which is not to say that it's impossible. Creators like Roy Thomas, Grant Morrison, James Robinson, and Geoff Johns have made careers out of breathing new life into long forgotten characters. Who's to say that someone won't pick up the loose threads of Rani's story and run with them?

I sure hope so, Rani. You can't ignore family forever, can you?

Comments (6) | Add a Comment | Tags: j.m. dematteis keith giffen rani

Two Saturdays ago, I directed you to Russ Burlingame's newly-created Indiegogo campaign for his "Best Movie Ever: A Totally Jerkin' Book" critical history of the Josie and the Pussycats movie. At the time, I wrote

If this goes really well for Russ, I'm betting he'll finally re-release those "Gold Exchange" columns in book form. I'd really like to get my hands on that book.

Burlingame listened. He soon updated his campaign with this promise:

If the campaign reaches $5,000, I'll provide everyone who bought the book with a PDF copy of a collected edition of my "Gold Exchange" columns, which ran on ComicRelated and Blog@Newsarama from about 2006 until 2011. The Gold Exchange was a monthly interview column in which I and the creators of the comic provided a running "commentary track" on Booster Gold.

The ebook will be free, but at $5,000, those who are interested will also be able to purchase a paperback copy of The Gold Exchange, which features interviews with Dan Jurgens, Geoff Johns, Rick Remender, J.M. DeMatteis, and Keith Giffen. This collection is something I had meant to print back in 2011 and put the content together to do so, but ran out of time and resources and ultimately left it unfinished.

Well, good news, Booster boosters! He's now well past $5,000! Hooray!

It's not too late to join this party. For as little as $15, you can secure your own link-rot proof "Gold Exchange" eBook on IndieGoGo.com. Then, if you like, you'll have the opportunity to own a print copy of Booster Gold's oral history.

That's a small price to pay for a unique companion piece to place on your bookshelf beside Booster Gold: 52 Pick-Up and your other Booster Gold Volume 2 collections.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: dan jurgens geoff johns gold exchange j.m. dematteis keith giffen rick remender russ burlingame

When I first made my list of the twelve best Booster Gold comics, I decided that the Formerly Known as the Justice League mini-series belonged at number 7. But I wasn't sure which issue to spotlight.

Frankly, the entire mini-series is worth a read. It's a great call back to the best of the humorous yet heroic "Bwah-Ha-Ha" era of the Justice League International by the very creators who made that series such a hit.

Ultimately I've chosen to highlight issue #4 in part because it does such a good job of making the badly threadbare plot of a hero-vs-hero fistfight into a truly delightful read.

The issue sees the newly formed "Superbuddies" super team abducted by the villanous Roulette and forced to fight one another to the death. The joke is that no one takes the Superbuddies seriously or expects them to win. This is in keeping with the reputation of the JLI itself, which was at something of a nadir when the issue was published. Of course, fans — and team creators Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis — knew that the JLI was far more competent than their reputation (even if the team itself didn't).

In addition to the ton of jokes and familiar characterization of a bunch of friends who also happen to be teammates, this issue really highlights the strengths of original Justice League International artist Kevin Maguire's storytelling ability. His expressions, body language, pacing... it's all perfect.

(And the cover's not bad either!)

If there's any complaint to be made about this series, it's that the comedic roles of Booster Gold and Blue Beetle have been swapped. Back in the day, Booster was the straight man. Here he's the fool. Some might find that offputting, but Booster boosters know it's only an act. Booster will do anything to be the center of attention.

Besides, you know it's only a comic book.

As far as comic books go, it's a pretty good one. It easily deserves to be counted among the The Best Booster Gold Stories Ever.

Comments (1) | Add a Comment | Tags: best of blue beetle captain atom elongated man fire j.m. dematteis justice league international keith giffen kevin maguire mary marvel superbuddies