On this date in 1863, Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the most famous speeches in American history.

Despite its fame, many elements of what transpired that day at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery — including the exact text of the speech itself — remain unclear to even the most dedicated historical researcher. To know the truth, you would have had to have been there.

Be sure to dress for the occasion.

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Some of you reading this today are too young to remember that Booster Gold was once DC's resident continuity cop with a detailed working knowledge of how things were supposed to be. He had his own series dedicated to adventuring between and behind the panels of previously documented events from the lives of other DC characters.

It's true. Long before Booster was a mass murder suspect in Heroes in Crisis, he was making mistakes of a different sort as documented in Booster Gold: Blue and Gold, a collection of the second half of Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz's run on Booster Gold, volume 2.

You might be startled to realize that Booster Gold: Blue and Gold was released 10 years ago today. Ten. Whole. Years. Gee whiz, time flies when you're growing old.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some good old comics to go re-read.

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In 1962, a console television sold for around $600, which is the equivalent of $5,000 in 2018 dollars. But even if you could afford such a luxury, you might not have enjoyed what you were seeing.

On this date in 1962, President John Kennedy interrupted your regularly scheduled news broadcast to announce the United States was on the brink of war.

"This Government, as promised, has maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet military buildup on the island of Cuba. Within the past week, unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive missile sites is now in preparation on that imprisoned island. The purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western Hemisphere."

Things got worse before they got better, and the United States and the Soviet Union avoided nuclear war only by the narrowest of margins. You might think that historians and politicians alike would learn key lessons from such brinksmanship, but recent events — from Russia invading its neighbors to America withdrawing from nuclear limitation treaties — would indicate otherwise.

As the saying goes, those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

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Martian Manhunter is getting a new mini-series in December that will rewrite the character as something a little more... alien than what longtime DC readers are used to. (DC's solicitation reads: "Back on Mars, J’onn was about as corrupt as a law officer can be, and when a reckoning comes for his entire society, he’ll get a second chance he doesn’t want or deserve!")

I can't say as I'm very eager about that. I happened to like J'onn J'onzz just the way he was.

Take, for example, the Martian Manhunter who appeared in "The Ghosts of Mars," a story running through JLA Classified #42-#46. Written by Justin Gray, the story focused entirely on J'onzz's internal struggle against his own inner demons. Demons that sometimes took the appearance of Booster Gold, as seen in JLA Classified #44, released on this date in 2007.

JLA Classified #44 by Justin Gray, Rick Leonardi, Sean Philips, I.L.L., John Hill

Each of the first four issues of "The Ghosts of Mars" shined a spotlight on a member of the Justice League who inspired Martian Manhunter to new heights of heroism. Ironically in light of recent events in the DCU, the hero of JLA Classified #44 is Wally West, aka The Flash.

Eleven years later, West is dead, Booster Gold is the suspect, and Manhunter is a corrupt cop. Is it any wonder I prefer to read back issues?

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One of the casualties of the 1992 "Death of Superman" story, other than Superman, was Booster Gold's original costume. Destroyed by Doomsday, Booster's power-suit was soon replaced by a series of ungainly, lesser armors which became mandatory when Booster lost his arm in a battle with Devastator.

Booster was understandably bummed by the tech downgrade. You would be too, if you had to wear this:

Words by Ivan Velez Jr., Art by Rio, Branch, Burton, Leigh, and Loughridge

(Imagine being forced to use an iPhone 2 now that you're used to your iPhone 8. *shudder*)

Fortunately for our hero, his best pal, Ted Kord, worked diligently at developing better and better suits of armor. The best armor Ted would ever devise debuted on this day in 1995 in the pages of Extreme Justice #10:

Kord's "Mark X" armor was based on a pre-existing alien technology stolen by the Wonder Twins. When Ted reverse-engineered it for Booster's use, he incorporated Skeets' AI for its onboard operating system.

Though the suit made its first appearance in Extreme Justice #10, Booster wouldn't actually put it on until after his arm was replaced with cybernetics courtesy of the villainous Monarch in Extreme Justice #14. (It's a long story.) He also wouldn't wear it for very long. It was destroyed a year later.

And I think we're all okay with that.

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