I told you I had more to share of Cort Carpenter's Booster Gold sketch commissions, and I'm a man of my word. Take a look at these beauties:

Bernard Chang

Agnes Garbowska

Dan McCaid

Marcus To

I don't know how you do it, Cort, but these are all totally Boosterrific.

Comments (2) | Add a Comment | Tags: agnes garbowska bernard chang commissions cort carpenter dan mccaid fan art marcus to

It's been almost exactly a year since we last got a peek into Cort Carpenter's Booster Gold sketchbook, so I'd say we're overdue. Fortunately for all of us, Cort just sent me a bunch of new artist commissions!

Darren Calvert

Max Dunbar

Rick Leonardi

Brent Schoonover

Those are just the headshots! I've got more, but I don't want anyone to overdose on too much Gold. I'll share the rest in the near future.

Thanks, Cort! Keep up the good work.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: brent schoonover commissions cort carpenter darren calvert fan art max dunbar rick leonardi

One of the biggest cliches in American superhero stories is that the superheroes are often, by default, champions of the status quo. But what if the status is not quo? Should superheroes be using their powers to build a better world? That question is at the heart of Booster Gold #17.

The issue themes will be familiar to fans of Roger Moore's James Bond: A mad scientist plans to improve the world by killing a bunch of people, and the Americans and Russians stand on opposite sides advocating for their own interests while a lone hero struggles against all odds to save the day.

The Russian agent is the amoral mercenary Cheshire. The issue's interesting twist is that the American agent is also a villain; the superhero Hawk's good intentions have become warped by his political ideology. Caught in the middle is Metropolis' own Corporate Crusader, Booster Gold, who is just trying to mitigate the collateral damage.

When it all builds to a head, Booster is forced to play his opponents' hardline games against them with a bluff that only an unknown wildcard could hope to pull off, as seen in this very dramatic sequence of panels:

Can superheroes make the world a better place? Booster Gold is still fighting to find out.

Comments (2) | Add a Comment | Tags: capitalism cheshire communism favorite pages hawk

Two months ago, we learned how DC's Legends of Tomorrow executive producers Phil Klemmer and showrunner Keto Shimizu got DC to agree to allow Booster Gold to finally appear on their show.

Late last week, we learned why.

In response to fans questions on Twitter, Shimizu herself tweeted:

DC was in our corner trying to help our chances of renewal. They and WB wanted us to survive. We were asked for a new character to “excite” the audience, and attract more viewers. We requested Booster and DC agreed. It was all in an attempt to save the show.

That's right: they were counting on Booster Gold to help save them. And Booster failed.

As a Booster Gold fan, I should probably point out if you want to stir up public support, it would definitely help to actually tell us in advance to tune in to see our hero. (Early notices only teased a fallen hero whose "golden years are in the rearview mirror.") It's also really hard to boost week-over-week ratings if a character appears only in the season finale. (Booster's episode, "Knocked Up, Knocked Down," had the second-smallest audience of the season; the next-to-last episode was the smallest, meaning Booster actually did bring it up somewhat, and I certainly would have watched the following week if there had been one.)

That said, failure is kind of Booster's story, right? His heart is always in the right place, but he often overestimates his own abilities while underestimating the consequences, sometimes making a bad situation worse. Sometimes much worse. Cancellation worse.

However, Booster Gold's most sterling quality is that he is no quitter. After ruining the day, he'll dust himself off, take ownership of what he did wrong, and set out to make it right. It's the prototypical hero's journey. Everyone loves a redemption story.

And that's why I'm now strongly hoping that Legends of Tomorrow does find a way to return to the screen, at least long enough to give its fans the ending they deserve. We can all rest assured that Booster Gold will continue working behind the scenes until he has helped all those who need rescuing. Because that's what real heroes do.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: keto shimizu legends of tomorrow phil klemmer television twitter.com

A friend of mine noticed that I never get tired of showing off Cort and Blot's Booster Gold commissioned sketches. So last month at Gary Con, he got me this:

art by Jeff Butler

I now have a convention sketch of my very own! One might not seem like a lot, but it's a pretty high number for someone like me who never leaves the house.

Thanks, James (and Jeff!)

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: commissions conventions gary con james simpson jeff butler