Today Judd Winick is 50 years old, and he has spent many of those years creating comic books. (Technically, he's spent most of the past decade creating best-selling Hilo graphic novels for middle schoolers, but c'mon. We all know graphic novels are just longform comic books.)

Though Winnick has rarely worked on stories involving Booster Gold, there is one notable exception:

Justice League: Generation Lost is the story of former Justice League International members efforts to bring their former mentor, Maxwell Lord, to justice for his subsequent crimes against humanity.

The series began in 2010 and for the most part took into account nearly two decades worth of shared-universe heroic adventures. To Winick's credit, if you'd never read a single issue of Giffen and DeMatteis's Justice League International or Johns' Countdown to Infinite Crisis and Blackest Night, I'm sure you can still enjoy Justice League: Generation Lost. It's as much a traditional superheroic action/adventure story as it is a revenge story.

And for Booster Gold, it was very, very personal.

art by Keith Giffen, Aaron Lopresti, Matt Ryan, Hi-Fi, Sal Cipriano

In fact, Booster's key role in this story is a huge part of why I included the series in my 2020 list of the 12 Best Booster Gold stories ever.

Unfortunately, the story's impact was promptly devalued as the established DCU was discarded for the New 52. That means there are a decade's worth of new DC readers who are unlikely to be familiar with this great tale, which is a real shame.

As a birthday present to Mr. Winick, how about re-reading this great series. Better still, recommend it to someone you think would like it. It'll be like Winick gave *them* a present for *his* birthday.

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Like my favorite super hero, I'm planning to start the year watching my alma mater play football. In the meantime, I present for your nostalgic enjoyment the 5 most-read Boosterrific.com blog posts of 2020, presented in ascending order of hits:

5. Monday, April 6: This Day in History: Without Great Power
In which we revisited Booster Gold's participation in Justice League Europe #50, his first taste of superheroic action after losing his powersuit to Doomsday. Say what you will about his motivations, but Booster Gold's got guts.

4. Friday, March 13: That Time Booster Gold Defeated a Disease
In which we took at look at the events of Booster Gold Volume 1 #17 in light of the pandemic that was sweeping the globe. Conclusion: an impenetrable force field is better than a vaccine.

3. Monday, October 26: The Strong and Silent Type
In which I improved Superman & Batman Magazine #8 by cutting out most panels that don't include Booster Gold. Sorry, I couldn't do anything about that bulky 1990s power suit.

2. Monday, November 9: Two of a Kind: Shattered and Forged
In which we clear up the confusion surrounding DC's announcements of Generations: Shattered and Generations: Future State comic books. Hint: they're the same book. Or, at least we think they are. We'll be more certain when we finally have the book in our hands next week.

1. Friday, December 18: The Best of Booster Gold: Action Comics 995
In which we conclude our year-long series of the 12 best Booster Gold comics. (Maybe those clickbait comic book listicle sites are onto something.)

Let's make 2021 another Boosterrific year!

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DC took advantage of Fandome to release their 2020 December solicitations. These are the places we should expect to see Booster Gold in coming months:

DEATH METAL: THE LAST 52: WAR OF THE MULTIVERSES #1
written by SCOTT SNYDER, JOSHUA WILLIAMSON, MAGDALENE VISAGGIO, JAMES TYNION IV, KYLE HIGGINS, MARGUERITE BENNETT, MATT ROSENBERG, JUSTIN JORDAN, REGINE SAWYER, and CHE GRAYSON
art by DANIEL SAMPERE and others
cover by DAN MORA
variant cover by GARY FRANK

What would it take to get every being left in the Multiverse to side together in the ultimate, final showdown? Total decimation and the complete undoing of all existence? The Batman Who Laughs has made his final move, bringing the most horrifying opposition to the battleground, and now every hero and villain left alive will stand and fight together. This epic battle book details every side of the last war across the Multiverse—Wonder Woman leading the heroes, Superman leading the villains, and Batman leading the dead—everyone has to play their part. Everyone and everything is at stake…so join here for the last of the DCU as we know it! $8.99 PRESTIGE FORMAT ONE SHOT, ON SALE December 29, 2020

I know the text doesn't explicitly mention Booster Gold, but he appears on *both* covers seen above. Am I willing to shell out $17.98 for the pair? I'll see how I feel about that decision when I complete my Christmas shopping.

UPDATE 2020-09-14: BleedingCool.com reports that the second cover by Gary Frank was original intended for the abandoned 5G event, so it doesn't have anything to do with the book's contents. I wish that made my math easier, but it is a beautiful, cheerful cover.

(By the way, there are four other Dark Nights: Death Metal books and three new Tales of the Dark Multiverse being solicited — because Eddie of Iron Maiden makes all of DC Comics' publishing decisions in 2020. Booster Gold could conceivably cameo in any of these books, so if anyone notices our boy, please pass word along. Thank you.)

Next up is the book DC teased last week:

GENERATIONS SHATTERED #1
written by DAN JURGENS, ANDY SCHMIDT, and ROBERT VENDITTI
art by IVAN REIS, BRYAN HITCH, KEVIN NOWLAN, AARON LOPRESTI, FERNANDO PASARIN, PAUL PELLETIER, and others
cover by IVAN REIS and JOE PRADO

A threat of cosmic proportion to DC's newest (and oldest) universe compels one of the most unusual groups of heroes ever assembled to take on the most mysterious foe they have ever encountered. What started in Detective Comics #1027 explodes out of Dark Nights: Death Metal to tell the story of the generations-spanning history of the DC Universe! Join the original Batman, Kamandi, Starfire, Sinestro, Booster Gold, Dr. Light, Steel, and Sinestro in their quest to save the universe before time runs out…
$9.99 PRESTIGE FORMAT ONE SHOT, ON SALE January 15, 2021

There are two covers for this one, too, but so far we've only seen the one I showed on Generations Shattered on Friday. Will the second one have Booster Gold on it also? That'd be useful information, DC, as my Local Comic Shop only orders for me exactly what I tell them to, and I don't need to buy two copies of the interior pages.

Note that the solicitation above text name checks Detective Comics #1027, which is due in my store tomorrow with a $9.99 cover price. What is up with all these $9-$10 comics, DC? Haven't you heard that there's a pandemic-inspired economic crisis on? Why are you making me choose between skipping meals or comic books? I feel I should warn you that food is pretty darn important to me.

Also in the solicitations is the news that Booster Gold will also be appearing in the JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL BOOK TWO: AROUND THE WORLD TP reprint collection coming in January. I recommend it highly for fans of Blue and Gold, though I have to admit that I won't be buying it on release. Its cover price is a very reasonable $29.99 for 20 comics, but it'll be March before I recover from buying all those other Booster Gold books.

You can find all of DC's December 2020 solicitations at GamesRadar.com.

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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.

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Not so long ago, Booster booster Fin called my attention to a comic I had long overlooked. It wasn't a missed Booster Gold appearance. Not quite, anyway.

Just see if this banter doesn't sound familiar:

art by David Williams and Kelsey Shannon

Those panels are from The Authority: The Lost Year, a series in which the Authority bounced from one alternate universe to another. (This was back in 2010, before the New 52 folded the Wildstorm Universe into the mainstream DCnU.)

Issues #8 and #9 were written by Grant Morrison, Keith Giffen, and J.M. DeMatteis and featured an alternate universe in which the local Authority looked and acted a lot like a particular, best-selling DC Comics team of the late 1980s.

The meta-textural take on the Justice League International by the JLI's original writing team is delightful, especially as contrasted with the modern, no-nonsense Authority concept (itself strongly reminiscent of the extreme 1990s love affair with "mature" sex and violence content).

As you can see, that's Blue Beetle in the role of the Authority's Midnighter (a Batman-like vigilante) and Booster Gold as Apollo (whose character is a riff on Superman — so fitting!) In their original continuity, Apollo and Midnighter are a homosexual couple, allowing the issue's writers to directly tackle the longstanding Boostle phenomenon 'shipping Blue and Gold into a romantic relationship.

I'm sorry I hadn't realized this book existed sooner. Thanks, Fin.

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