Comics publishers are always looking for new (cheaper) artists. In 1988, DC had the bright idea of testing new talent with "Bonus Books," full stories inserted inside established titles.

One of those Bonus Books, the story "Raising the Roof," appeared in Justice League International #18. While the writing and art might feel a little off DC's usual model, the story still contains my favorite page in the entire issue:

Batman "executes" his master house plan? That's a pretty good punchline.

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After many, many months, there's finally a Booster Gold sighting in the monthly DC solicitations for March. In fact, there's a plethora of them.

First up, there's March's issue of Blue Beetle, which even features our hero alongside many of his Justice League International teammates on the cover:

BLUE BEETLE #7
Written by JOSH TRUJILLO
Art by ADRIAN GUTIERREZ, CULLY HAMNER, JEFF LEMIRE, and HOWARD PORTER
Cover by ADRIAN GUTIERREZ
Spanish-language cover by ADRIAN GUTIERREZ
Variant cover by KEVIN MAGUIRE
$3.99 US, Variant $4.99 US (card stock), On Sale March 5
In order to get Ted Kord back on his feet, Jaime will need to work with Booster Gold! Can this Blue and Gold pairing help their friend, or are Ted’s superheroing days over?

And, as if that wasn't enough, DC is also giving us a new collection of Booster Gold volume 2!

BOOSTER GOLD: THE COMPLETE 2007 SERIES BOOK ONE
Written by GEOFF JOHNS, JEFF KATZ, RICK REMENDER, and CHUCK DIXON
Art by DAN JURGENS, NORM RAPMUND, PAT OLLIFFE, and JERRY ORDWAY
Cover by DAN JURGENS and NORM RAPMUND
$29.99 US, 400 pages, Softcover, ISBN: 978-1-77952-723-3, On Sale April 23
Presenting the greatest, most popular, most beloved, and did we say popular, superhero of all time: Booster Gold!
...Or so he hopes to be thought of one day. As the time-traveling hero gets caught up in the madness of changing histories, fighting Time Stealers, and trying to undo the death of his bestie, Blue Beetle, he will learn the hard way
that twisting time too far may just cause it to snap! Collects Booster Gold #0-14 and #1,000,000.

Given that this Book One collects 15 issues, and there are functionally 49 total issues in volume 2, I think we can expect at least two more books to come.

Knowing those are coming is a pretty good early Christmas present.

But wait! There's more

Among the many reprint collections in the monthly solicitations (which include a new printing of 52 Volume One with a very Boosterrific cover), DC has announced a first-time-in-print collection of the WEBTOONs.com Batman: Wayne Family Adventures Volume Four... with Booster Gold and Skeets on the cover!

BATMAN: WAYNE FAMILY ADVENTURES VOLUME FOUR
Written by CRC PAYNE
Art by STARBITE
Cover by VASCO GEORGIEV
$14.99 US, 208 pages, Softcover, ISBN: 978-1-77952-691-5, On Sale May 7
Season two of the smash-hit WEBTOON series continues here! When your superhero life is just as busy as your personal life, there’s never a dull moment in the Bat-Family. Bruce Wayne’s young heroes are still learning to fight and live side by side, but they always have each other’s backs.
Collecting episodes 71-116 of the massively popular WEBTOON series, optimized for a brand-new reading experience in print!

Maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but so far as I'm aware, Booster has never appeared in Wayne Family Adventures. I mean, I haven't been reading it, and Googling gives no indication that Booster has ever been there. But it's not impossible. For that price, I'm willing to buy the 6-by-9-inch trade and find out myself.

You can read all the solicitations at AIPTComics.com. Here's to 2024!

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Justice League International #17 has a delightful sequence in which Booster Gold escapes from prison by using just his Legion Flight Ring... while he's not even wearing it!

But that's not my favorite page in the issue.

No, my favorite page is one that takes place shortly after Booster and Blue Beetle have re-united with Batman (disguised as Maxwell Lord because, aw, just read it). Page 8:

If you ask me, Booster, "Catcher of All the Beautiful Half-Naked Girls That Fall Out of the Sky" sure would look good on a resume.

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Some days you just need a hug.

And a handshake from Batman seals the deal: Page 22 is definitely my favorite in Martian Manhunter #4.

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A few weeks back, I posted what comics fan magazine Amazing Heroes had to say about the undeveloped Justice League International television project of 1990. You may recall that the reviewer was not impressed.

However, over the weekend, I was reading a different old comics fan magazine, Comics Scene, and found a second opinion.

In Comics Scene Volume 2, #46, 1994, I came across Frank Garcia's interview with one of the creators of that project, screenwriter Jeff Freilich. In this article, Freilich brags, "The guys who do the JLA title asked us to write issues because they thought we wrote the characters so accurately." Sure, I suppose that could have happened.

Freilich also had thoughts about who should play the heroes:

Playing casting director for a moment, [Jeff] Freilich considers who they might have signed aboard the Justice League.

"Very often the case in television, when fantasizing casting, we would way, ‘We want a young Bruce Willis' and then go out and look for those people," says Freilich. Not prone to stunt casting, Freilich prefers unknowns for many of the heroes. However, if JLA were to be treated as a feature, the game becomes more fun.

"With a cast that large, you can't really afford to use feature film actors," says Freilich. "It's not a question of expense, by the way, it's a question of commitment. If a person is a movie star, they generally don't want to commit to a TV series. They wouldn't be able to work on movies."

When it's suggested that Sam (Jurassic Park) Neill would be a good Maxwell Lord, Freilich lights up and responds positively. "Sam Neill would be a very good Max. When we wrote Justice League, Neill was an unknown. He has done so many things in the last few years. He would be a superb Max Lord."

For Mr. Miracle's boisterous, loudmouthed manager, Oberon, Billy (Willow) Barty (STARLOG #130) snatches the role. "A young version of Billy Barty [would be better]," said Freilich. "He's a bit old. There are quite a few excellent small actors. It's just unfortunate there are very rarely parts for them. Billy Barty is the person you have in mind immediately."

Offering a surprising suggestion for Mr. Miracle, Frielich thinks real-life escape artist David Copperfield would do the job well.

"When they picked Bill Bixby for The Magician, he was already an amateur magician," the writer explains. "When they cast Burt Lancaster as a trapeze artist [in the 1956 film Trapeze], he was an acrobat and an aerial artist before becoming an actor. It always makes sense with someone and using the stunt double throughout. [Performing magic] is difficult to teach people. You have to have a talent for that kind of stuff."

For the two witty male leads, Blue Beetle and Booster Gold, Freilich envisions a young Woody Allen for Beetle and a young Bruce Willis type for Booster. He says Mark Hamill might do Booster's role well, due to its similarity to his portrayal of the Trickster in The Flash. "But I don't know if we would have gone with Hamill or someone new," Freilich muses.

Bruce Willis? Yippee-ki-yay, Booster boosters.

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