I've been really, really busy lately, so I haven't even made it to my Local Comic Shop in a week. Therefore, I wouldn't have known about this week's Gold Beetle appearance if not for Booster booster Marty. Thanks, Marty!

As you can see above, Gold Beetle and Wally West have their first meeting (from her perspective) in this week's Flash #798.

Of course, their first meeting from his perspective was in Flash #767, during which he was displaced in time and inhabiting Impulse's body in the 30th century. So their objectively chronological "present day" first encounter would be Flash #795. Confused yet?

One of these days I really need to devote more time to Gold Beetle, and that time might be soon. It sure looks like she'll be back for Flash #799, and no self-respecting heir to the legacy of Booster Gold would dare miss a milestone issue like #800....

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Since Gold Beetle is a Booster Gold legacy character, I'm sure Booster boosters everywhere will want to know that AIPTComics.com previews reveal that she's in this week's The Flash #796.

But I can't talk about it. Not yet.

You'll recall that just last week, I mentioned that The Flash #795 ended with a big reveal related to Heroes in Crisis. Well, it seems that in this week's book, Gold Beetle tells us what she's done and how.

Even though I've got a bone to pick about this particular revelation — why can't we all just agree that Heroes in Crisis never happened? — I'm not going to talk about it yet. I'm not even going to link to the preview because it definitely counts as spoiler territory (even though Heroes in Crisis came out four years ago!).

At the very least, I should read the whole story before I form a solid opinion about it. For all I know, by the end of the "One-Minute War" storyline, time travel shenanigans will have rewritten history (again). It certainly wouldn't be the first time a Flash has changed history.

Maybe this time, they can finally excise Heroes in Crisis from all continuities. That would be nice.

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Flash's so-called "one minute war" has been rolling along for months, and in last week's The Flash #795, we finally got another appearance by the Gold Beetle (last seen in January's The Flash: One Minute War Special).

"The One-Minute War, Part Six: Give Me Liberty"; written by Jeremy Adams; art by Roger Cruz, George Kambadais, Fernando Pasarin, and many more

Gold Beetle is in only a few panels in this issue, most of which are pretty spoiler-y. What I *can* say is that despite multiple Multiversal reboots, it seems that DC just can't let Heroes in Crisis go.

We'll have to pay attention to future issues for more information.

Thanks to Rob Snow for keeping tabs on Gold Beetle for us.

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As Rob Snow recently pointed out to me, January's Flash: One Minute War Special has a Very Special Guest Star:

"Chapter Four: Future"; written by Jeremy Adams; art by George Kambadais, Matt Herms, Rob Leigh

Gold Beetle's sidekick robot used to be called Skeets (presumably *our* Skeets), but here is renamed Beets. I guess it makes sense that if Gold Beetle combines the legacy of both Booster Gold and Blue Beetle then her robot companion should be an amalgam of Skeets and Buggles (introduced in Blue and Gold #3, half a year after Gold Beetle's debut in Future State: Suicide Squad #1).

We're still waiting on an adventure teaming Gold Beetle up with her ancestors, but I'm sure we're getting closer every day.

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This name drop is the closest that Booster Gold comes to making an appearance in this week's The Flash 2021 Annual:

words by Jeremy Adams, art by Fernando Pasarin, Brandon Peterson, Hi Fi, Michael Atiyeh, Steve Wands

For what it's worth, it's cool that Booster and Rip Hunter are still Time Masters in the DCU. Though how Green Arrow knows Booster is a time cop isn't clear. Do secret identities mean *nothing* in modern comic books? And if everyone knows that Booster Gold is a time cop, why hasn't anyone called him in to help while Wally West has been bouncing through time for the past few months? Maybe it's best if I don't climb down this rabbit hole....

Still, I have to admit that I had expected more in an issue revisiting the events detailed in Heroes in Crisis. Especially since a key element of that story was Wally framing Booster Gold for murder.

The DC Universe has been rebooted (twice!) since Heroes in Crisis. It would be so easy to say that the murders at Sanctuary didn't happen. I won't spoil any of the details of the issue, but The Flash 2021 Annual doesn't want to ignore all of that past, just the parts that are inconvenient. Inconvenient to Wally West, I mean.

Gunfire and Lagoon Boy might be alive again somewhere in the Multiverse. (Thanks, Infinite Frontier!) And Professor Zoom has taken credit as the true puppet master behind Wally West's criminal acts. (Thanks, Flash Forward!) Apparently now we need another excuse for why none of whatever happened was really Wally's fault in the first place. (Thanks, The Flash 2020 Annual!) Funny how one bad story can generate a cottage industry of retcons. (Thanks, Tom King!)

Anyway, Booster has forgiven Wally, and The Flash 2021 Annual wants us all to follow suit. So I'll try to forgive it its flaws. Any book that finally gets rid of Wally's over-detailed New 52 costume can't be all bad.

Is this the last appearance of the Gold Beetle? Only time will tell.

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