Ready for some scary news for Friday the 13th?

Tom King is going to be writing more Booster Gold.

Announced earlier this week via substack.com, Tales of the Human Target is a one-shot anthology issue of Human Target / Justice League International team-up stories that will include a Booster Gold adventure drawn by Kevin Maguire.

(Par of) Booster will even appear on the issue's alternate cover by David Marquez:

Booster and Beetle! Ice and Fire! Batman and Mister Miracle?

I have not enjoyed King's treatment of the JLI in the Human Target mini-series so far, so I can't honestly say that I'm enthusiastic about reading this. But I will definitely be buying it to look at Maguire's pictures when the book comes out on August 23, 2022.

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Up front, let me say that I bought two copies of the first issue of Human Target, one by Greg Smallwood — showing Booster Gold's fist! — and one by Hairsine, Miki and Beredo — showing Booster Gold's leg! (I like to think of them as parts of a "Build-A-Figure" cover.) Having read the issue, I do not regret that decision.

However, that should not mean that I'm ready to endorse the story based on the first issue alone. I am on record as no fan of Tom King's storytelling, especially in reference to the way he handles Booster Gold. It is very clear that King and I have very different interpretations of the character (and most of the other inhabitants of the DC Universe).

Earlier this week, King was interviewed by Jenna Anderson for comicbook.com, and he explained why he chose the Justice League International for his story:

"What Giffen and DeMatteis put into these characters, they all feel very fleshed out," King added. "They all feel very real. When you picture them in your head, you just see that Kevin Maguire face looking up at you. They're very easy and very fun to write. The thing I most love to do in comics is to take silly ideas seriously and find the depths in them, and that concept was all over this — the idea that these little silly flaws that are implanted in these characters actually show real heart and real depth. Like I wrote this thing for Booster, why Booster's good. And the idea is, Human Target expressed my opinion on Booster as 'Booster is a joke. He makes mistakes all the time, but he doesn't hide them. He shows himself. He is himself. Booster is Booster. Yeah, he's a joke, but everyone is. At least Booster's funny.' That kind of stuff is incredibly fun to do. These characters have such potential — each one of them could launch their own series."

Ahem. Almost all of them have launched a series. Or two. Or more.

I have to admit, I can kind of see where King is coming from calling Booster "a joke." Yes, he has some terrible ideas, and yes, he takes advantage of his friends, and he even occasionally misjudges his own abilities. But those traits could just as easily describe Batman.

Maybe it's my incredible dissatisfaction with the way King depicted Booster Gold during his run on Batman or my anger at the horrible handling of the promotion and resolution of Heroes in Crisis that make me suspicious that Booster will be treated badly by Human Target. But at least I can rest assured that this will be the last time King will use Booster in a story, right?

King continued. "Booster Gold [is] my favorite character to write in all of fiction — who is always trying to do good, and always slipping on the banana peel."

Grr. You can't always get what you want. Sometimes, you can't even get what you need.

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Tom King is up to his old tricks in today's Human Target #1. Someone has tried to kill Lex Luthor, and who are the usual suspects? Hint:

Art by Greg Smallwood

I wonder which character will need a rehabilitation mini-series this time?

Booster Gold's arm is on the standard cover, and his legs are on the variant. Buy either one and make Skeets happy!

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Two pieces of news today that are probably each worthy of their own post. But since they both came from the ghost of Newsarama at GamesRadar.com, I'm combining them into this one post.

Thing 1: "Booster Gold: Inside the social media superhero who was 35 years ahead of his time" by Vaneta Rogers is a retrospective of what Booster Gold has meant to the writers who have crafted his adventures.

Rogers' oral history includes interviews with Dan Jurgens, Keith Giffen, J.M. Dematteis, and Jeff Katz, all ow whom clearly have a great deal of respect for the character they helped craft.

In fact, Giffen said that, when he and co-writer J.M. DeMatteis were told by editor Andy Helfer they had to use Booster Gold in their new Justice League run in 1987, it was this 'things-never-go-right' element that defined Booster.

"I'll be honest: I had no idea what to do with the character when we first had him," Giffen said. "Booster really didn't gel in my mind until he had the first 'bwa-ha-ha' moment and Beetle was laughing at him. I knew then that this character is going to know life's frustrations and is going to get knocked down a lot, but is always going to get back up again."

That's just a taste of the insight the piece provides into what has made Booster Gold so durable for the past three-plus decades. Good work, Vaneta.

Thing 2: "New DC Human Target is a 12-issue 'whodunit'" by Micheal Doran is essentially a sales piece to encourage fans to buy the upcoming Human Target series featuring the Justice League International.

The report lays out the basic premise of the series and quotes writer Tom King telling us how this is going to be just like every other prestige mini-series he's written for DC in the past half decade. But the important part for Booster boosters is the news about the variant covers.

The [Trevor] Hairsine and [Danny] Miki #1 and #2 variants connect to form the cover of a 'Whodunit' board game. The back cover features a pin-up calendar, "leaning into the mid-century feel of the comic," says DC.

When placed side by side, those variant covers will look like this:

Mid-century? No. Boosterrific? Very.

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On Friday, comic book writer Tom King (@TomKingTK) tweeted this image accompanied by the text "Announcement incoming.":

Those arms belong to, from top to bottom, Martian Manhunter, Rocket Red*, Blue Beetle, and Fire. Naturally, this made a lot of people excited at the teased prospect of new comic adventures of the Justice League International.

Of course, that's not what Tom was teasing.

He was baiting the hook with the JLI for a different property he revealed later that same day:

Who can be mad about a bait-and-switch that leads to art this great? (Those new arms belong to Booster Gold, Guy Gardner, Batman, Ice, and G'nort.)

If you didn't know, Christopher "Human Target" Chance has been in the DC Universe since 1972 but is far more famous outside comic books. In addition to recent guest appearances on Arrow, Chance has had his own television series twice (!). Being a TV star probably explains why he and Booster Gold have never crossed paths.

Frankly, the espionage antics of Human Target are a perfect fit for King's storytelling strengths, and any project that keeps King far away from Booster Gold is a project I can support. In fact, I promise to buy a copy of the first issue... but only if they keep that amazing Smallwood cover.

* That Rocket Red arm design belongs to the armor of Maks Chazov, who was never a member of any line-up of any Justice League, international or otherwise. Chazov worked for the pre-New 52 United Nations-sponsored incarnation of Checkmate. But it wouldn't be the JLI without a representative Rocket Red, and all the Reds who appeared on a JLI roster are dead. I guess you can't bring every dead hero back to life.

UPDATE 2021-07-12: Shawn dropped by the comments to point out that Greg Smallwood has posted process and reference pics of the cover's development on Twitter.com. He includes an interior pic of the JLI, and it is glorious.

Yep. Definitely buying that.

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