DCComics.com released some alternate covers for upcoming issues of Heroes in Crisis via , including this J.G. Jones alternate featuring Booster Gold and Harley Quinn.

It looks like that will be a 1-in-50 "chase" variant, meaning that comic shops will get one for every fifty of the regular covers they order. (For obvious reasons, these are also called "incentive" variants, as they incentivize shops to order more comics than they otherwise would.) Comic shops price these rarer variants according to the purchase threshold, so expect to pay a pretty penny to acquire this cover, probably three or more times the $4 cover price.

There will also be 1-in-100 and 1-in-200 variants, the second of which is by Francesco Mattina and depicts a very bloody Harley wearing Booster's broken visor. Good luck finding that one for less than $50.

In addition to those rare variants, DC also released the Ryan Sook standard alternate covers for the first three Heroes in Crisis issues. Each depicts an "incident report" based on more traumatic moments in the lives of DC heroes. These are purportedly from the files of Sanctuary, "a facility designed to allow superheroes to process the trauma of those not-so-heroic moments." These traumatic moments include the death of Superman, Batman's broken back, Aquaman's lost arm, and Jason Todd's death. Oddly, they also include Wonder Woman's assassination of Maxwell Lord.

That seems to imply that Lord has died at Wonder Woman's hand. Where does this fit in continuity?

When last we saw him in the pages of Justice League vs Suicide Squad (2016), Lord was still alive and continuing his villainous ways. Since the original Justice League International never existed and Ted Kord is still alive in the DCnU, the events kicking off Infinite Crisis that led directly to Lord's death and eventual rebirth must have played out somewhat differently than originally seen in Wonder Woman #219 (2005) and Brightest Day (2010). Does this cover reference that old continuity destroyed by Flashpoint? Or are we being given a glimpse of a as yet unrevealed relationship between Lord and Wonder Woman in the DCnU? (Could Lord be behind the deaths at Sanctuary?)

Maybe we'll find out more when Heroes in Crisis finally sees print.

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Whew! Most of you agree that Booster won't be Mr. Oz. What a relief.

Last week's poll question: Will Booster Gold play any role in the unveiling of Mr. Oz? (59 votes)

The real question here might be if Booster Gold was a prisoner of Mr. Oz, will we be seeing more of him after "The Oz Effect"? At least we can't see him any less.

We'll find out what role — if any — our hero will be playing in Mr. Oz's schemes when "The Oz Effect" goes on sale in Action Comics this September.

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Pop culture website 13thdimension.com posted an "exclusive first look" at upcoming issues of Action Comics this weekend. Running throughout the title in September and October will be a five-part story by Dan Jurgens called "The Oz Effect," in which we will finally discover the true identity of Mr. Oz.

Reading the advance solicitations included in the article, all I could think was "please don't let Mr. Oz be Booster Gold."

The popular theory is that the mysterious Mr. Oz, introduced three years ago (!) in Superman #32, is Ozymandias from Watchmen. Personally, I think that seems a little too "on the nose" to make a very satisfying reveal after all this time. And even if the fans were right and it was supposed to be Ozymandias, I would expect DC to change Mr. Oz's secret identity mid-story to maintain the surprise. (Anyone out there still remember the last minute Captain Atom/Hawk swap in Armageddon 2001?)

Many of the things Mr. Oz has done and said over the past three years indicates a fixation on Superman. Therefore, I assume that Mr. Oz is someone aware of Superman's past in Smallville, Kansas. (I think Mr. Oz takes his name from the original manipulative "man behind the curtain," the Wizard of Oz, who also has ties to Kansas.) While those clues might point to familiar Superman foes like Conduit or Ruin, I begin to worry that it might be a time traveler with historical ties to the Man of Steel.

Which is fine, just so long as it's not Booster Gold.

I mean, if Mr. Oz is revealed to be a nearly omnipotent time traveler seeking to unify a fractured universe (post-"Crisis", "Flashpoint", "New 52", "Rebirth", "Watchmen," etc.), it would certainly explain why fan-favorite Booster Gold has been M.I.A. since Convergence. And we can't deny that Booster has beef with Superman that goes way back. And Dan Jurgens does like to recycle his favorite characters . . . .

As I said, I don't want this to be the case. I don't want Booster to be a "villain." (And I certainly don't want to have to add all 30+ appearances of Mr. Oz to the Boosterrific database after the fact.) But it could be worse. After three years of waiting to find out who Mr. Oz really is, it might turn out that he's the Black Beetle.

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Outside of time-travel shenanigans in the Stone Age, Booster Gold hasn't been seen interacting with DCnU continuity since Bat-Mite #4, released on September 2, 2015!

This prolonged absence has begun to make many Booster boosters wonder whether our hero might be playing some behind-the-scenes role in the universe-merging, timeline-shattering events of "Rebirth."

At Newsarama, Vaneta Rogers has done a little speculating of her own.

However, as we pointed out in our story exploring the possible new history of the Justice League International, there's one character who's aware of the universe before Flashpoint universe that's conspicuously missing from the "Rebirth" investigation and developments: Booster Gold.

It's possible that Booster and his JLI teammates have just been overlooked in all the "classic" returns in DC's "Rebirth" titles.

Yet there's another possibility - that Booster is actually part of the "Rebirth" mysteries but just hasn't been revealed yet.

Is it possible? Sure, anything is possible in comic books. Do I think it's likely? No. But it sure would be a fun twist, don't you think?

You can read the rest of Rogers' theory at Newsarma.com.

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The unfortunately named Justice League of America: Vixen Rebirth #1 was released last week. Telling the story of how celebrity supermodel Mari McCabe returned to her superheroic persona, Vixen, it's a solid book with some great art by Jamal Campbell.

However, it's not clear how this Vixen relates to the New 52 version, Booster Gold's teammate who was nearly killed in Justice League International #6.

The New 52 incarnation of the Justice League International appears to have existed in the Rebirth Universe, at least according to Green Lanterns #9. Yet Justice League of America: Vixen Rebirth gives the impression that Vixen is a new superhero on the scene. How can both of those stories be true in a shared universe?

In an interview with Matt Santori at Comicosity.com, Vixen Rebirth co-writer Steve Orlando said that so far as he's concerned, "All of [Vixen's] appearances happened." That's a great thing to say to the press to ease Vixen's worried fans, but unless you make it explicit in the comic itself, it doesn't matter. For example, an artist could claim that he thinks Booster Gold is a Canadian citizen, but until he commits that idea to continuity, Booster's published history as an American citizen must still take precedence. (Once again: no comic DC has ever published indicates that Booster Gold is any nationality other than American.)

I appreciate that from a marketing and story-telling position, it can be an advantage to ignore what came before — especially when what came before is a confusing mess after years of unending and unexplained continuity revisions. The down side of any reboot is that it damages existing fans' relationship with a character they thought they knew.

"Continuity" is really just another word for "character development." Without it, we might as well be reading about different characters with similar tastes in fashion.

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