Last weekend, I read online rumors that a director had been hired for the previously-announced Warner Bros Booster Gold television show, and that James Gunn himself would be writing. I did not post about that here because I was waiting for some confirmation from Warner Bros.

I don't like unfounded rumors. Founded rumors are fair game, but those unfounded ones... I can't stand those.

Here it is, nearly a week later, and we still don't know if the rumors are true. But James Gunn may have addressed them when, according to BleedingCool.com, he responded to a question about the rumor on X.com Threads.net by posting:

"Don't believe the Internet." ^[1]

Is that in reference to the announcement of the director? Or that Gunn will be writing any episodes? Or should I not believe what Gunn is saying now because I only read that online?

Or, heck, since I only know that Warner Bros is supposed to be working on a television show because I saw the announcement WB released on the Internet, maybe I shouldn't believe that either.

Or maybe the James Gunn on X Threads isn't really James Gunn? If that quote was made by an imposter, does that mean I should believe the Internet? Come to think of it, I've only ever seen James Gunn on the Internet; how can I know he really exists at all?

"Down, down, down. Would the fall never come to an end?" ^[2]

Anyway. I think the point here is that we still don't have any concrete news about what to expect from a Booster Gold television series, so don't get too excited — or bent out of shape, whichever your proclivity may be. James Gunn will tell us when he wants to know.

Assuming he's real, that is.

^[1] I'd link to the original post if I could find it, but X.com now requires a login to see its content, and I'm not going to do that. So I'm just going to have to take Bleeding Cool's word that this happened. Does that make me part of the rumor mill? Yes, yes it does. Probably best if you just forget that I posted any of this. As a wise man once (maybe) said, don't believe the Internet. UPDATE: See the comments! It wasn't on X but Threads, which is EXTRA why I couldn't find it.

^[2] This quote comes from a book. Since it was written on paper in the age before digital screens, the source can be trusted as the gospel truth. Which is how I know that all Cheshire cats can grin... and most of 'em do.

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Back in August, when DC announced November 2023 solicitations, I wrote

In worse news, the November 2023 DC solicitations are out at GamesRadar.com, and the only sign of our hero is a poke at the Blue and Gold team in the tease for Fire & Ice: welcome to Smallville #4 (shipping in December).

Well, that was true then. But sometimes things change for the better. If BleedingCool.com can be believed, key information was left out of those solicitations.

DC's Twas The Mite Before Christmas, a seasonal Bat-Mite anthology, was solicited as being by Natalie Abrams, Michael W. Conrad, Josh Trujillo, Ethan Sacks, Zipporah Smith, Rob Levin, Sholly Fisch, and Jillian Grant with [art] by Marcus Smith, Gavin Guidry, Andrew Drilon, Soo Lee, Juan Bobillo and more. But who is doing what? And was anyone dropped? No, but a few were added. Here is the full creative team as it hits FOC this weekend.

• The Teen Titans in "At Home Alone in Titans Tower" by Zipporah Smith and Logan Faerber
• Harley Quinn & Amethyst in "The Princess Switch" by Rob Levin and Bob Quinn
• Lex Luthor in "Lex-Tacular Christmas Carol" by Ethan Sacks and Soo Lee
• Batwoman in "Riddler on the Roof" by Natalie Abrams and Marcus "Mas" Smith
• Booster Gold in "The Santa Copies" by Jillian Grant and Rebekah Isaacs
• Superman in "Streaks in the Sky" by Michael W. Conrad and Gavin Guidry
• Bunker in "It's a Bunkerful Life" by Josh Trujillo and Andrew Drilon
• Bat-Mite in "Wonderful Toys" by Sholly Fisch and Juan Bobillo

Bleeding Cool has a history of teasing Booster Gold appearances that never manifest, but the solicitation text did explicitly reference "eight classic holiday stories!", so that math checks out. The cover image on LunarDistribution.com also shows Harley Quinn, Lex Luthor, Batwoman, Superman, Bunker, and Bat-Mite, so that looks promising, too.

However, both the solicitation and the cover include John Constantine, who you'll notice is conspicuously absent from the above list. Ruining my holiday fun sounds just like the sort of thing Constantine would do!

Now you've been forewarned. Don't let this one pass you by when it arrives in fine Local Comic Shoppes everywhere on December 12.

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So far as I can tell, time traveler Booster Gold has never appeared in a comic book released on the 11th day of September.

Coincidence? I think not.

"If Only," 9-11 - The World's Finest Comic Book Writers & Artists Tell Stories to Remember, 2002
by Dan Jurgens, Alan Davis, Robin Riggs, Mike Collins, Mark Farmer, Todd Klein, Lee Loughridge

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BleedingCool.com reports

DC Comics has announced 2023 editions of the following books: Creature Commandos, Batman And Son, Booster Gold: 52 Pick Up, The Authority Book One, Batman And Robin Vol 1: Batman Reborn, and Wonder Woman: Paradise Found.

It's great that 52 Pick Up is getting a new printing, but it makes me wonder whether that's happening just because it finally sold out on Amazon following the recent announcement about Warner Bros' latest plans or whether its story (by Geoff Johns) will be the basis for James Gunn's show.

Based on Gunn's "Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters" announcement, I've been assuming that his Booster Gold show will be based on Jurgens' original run, which is collected in The Big Fall and is also sold out on Amazon. But no reprint announcement for that one yet.

So Johns over Jurgens? Or am I reading too much into this? Probably the latter. If Gunn's previous work is any indication, the television show won't hew too closely to any previously published story.

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Remember that time when the powers-that-be at DC decided to scrap (almost) their entire shared universe for another, new shared universe of unfamiliar characters in familiar costumes?

Yeah, okay. That's a little vague. We *are* talking about DC here.

Specifically, I'm talking about the relaunch 12 years ago, the "New 52." If you'll recall, sales were down, and something had to be done to goose them. That something was determined to be a line-wide reboot. However, before a new universe could be launched, the pre-existing universe had to be canceled. Which is how Booster Gold #47, released on this day in 2011, became the final issue of that series.

Sadly, it's not a very good comic book.

Most of the story deals with Booster's tragic but inconsequential misadventures in the Flashpoint alternate universe with doomed Alexandra Gianopoulos — all drawn by a fill-in artist who seems to be operating under an unforgivingly tight deadline.

But the issue ends with a Dan Jurgens-drawn coda teasing that perhaps Booster had returned to the mainstream DCU in time to continue his story in the incoming New 52 Universe, where all DC characters would be wearing new costumes designed by Jim Lee.

It would be four more years before it was clarified that the New 52 Booster Gold (introduced the following month in Dan Jurgens-written Justice League International #1) and the original, post-Crisis on Infinite Earths Booster Gold were not actually the same entity at all. (All was revealed in 2015's Convergence Booster Gold.)

It's that sort of confusion that made the New 52 such a frustrating experience for longtime fans. If the creative teams don't know what the new rules are, how can the readers?

Frankly, over a decade later, I'm still irritated. The less said about Booster Gold #47, the better.

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