As all Booster boosters know by now, DC has announced a new Blue Beetle/Booster Gold mini-series coming in July 2021. What you may not know is just how long it has taken to get to this blessed event. What follows is the second in a series of three posts that originally appeared here on Boosterrific in June 2011:

Just a few months after Dan Jurgens teased the impending release of The Blue and the Gold in August 1988's Direct Currents #8 (as posted in part 1 of this series), the news was confirmed in the Justice Log letter column of Justice League International #25 (April 1989).

These letter column responses are presumably written by series editor, Andy Helfer, or more likely his assistant, Kevin Dooley. They should be in position to know the accuracy of the following news they printed a few months later in Justice League America #32 (November 1989).

I don't know where the news of the new publication date was was released first, but it doesn't much seem to matter. That "semi-regular" series hint seems to suggest that by this time, DC had decided that the ideas behind The Blue and the Gold series had been rolled into what eventually became Justice League Quarterly at the end of 1990. More news about The Blue and the Gold series wouldn't appear until writer/artist Dan Jurgens and editor Brian Augustyn took over the series in 1992. The news wasn't good, but at least it was honest. From Justice League America #64 (July 1992):

Jurgens was the go-to man for many of DC's major event series in the early- to mid-1990s, and his schedule was always full. Worse, just a few issues later, Booster would be powerless, and Beetle would be in his second coma, both thanks to Doomsday. Months passed before both were back in fighting condition, and this storyline seems to preclude the opportunity for a spin-off mini-series focusing on the pair. The letter column for Justice League America #71 (February 1993) seems to confirm this being the end of the road for the long-planned series. This is the last mention of The Blue and Gold in the series.

Five years after Dan Jurgens called it "the one project I'm really excited about," The Blue and the Gold looked like another missed opportunity.

Next time, we'll revisit my 2011 Q&A with Dan Jurgens about the fate of The Blue and the Gold series.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: andy helfer blue and gold blue beetle brian augustyn dan jurgens flashback justice league kevin dooley

Just a few months after Dan Jurgens teased the impending release of The Blue and the Gold in August 1988's Direct Currents #8 (as posted in yesterday's blog post), the news was confirmed in the Justice Log letter column of Justice League International #25 (April 1989).

These letter column responses are presumably written by series editor, Andy Helfer, or more likely his assistant, Kevin Dooley. They should be in position to know the accuracy of the following news they printed a few months later in Justice League America #32 (November 1989).

I don't know where the news of the new publication date was was released first, but it doesn't much seem to matter. That "semi-regular" series hint seems to suggest that by this time, DC had decided that the ideas behind The Blue and the Gold series had been rolled into what eventually became Justice League Quarterly at the end of 1990. More news about The Blue and the Gold series wouldn't appear until writer/artist Dan Jurgens and editor Brian Augustyn took over the series in 1992. The news wasn't good, but at least it was honest. From Justice League America #64 (July 1992):

Jurgens was the go-to man for many of DC's major event series in the early- to mid-1990s, and his schedule was always full. Worse, just a few issues later, Booster would be powerless, and Beetle would be in his second coma, both thanks to Doomsday. Months passed before both were back in fighting condition, and this storyline seems to preclude the opportunity for a spin-off mini-series focusing on the pair. The letter column for Justice League America #71 (February 1993) seems to confirm this being the end of the road for the long-planned series. This is the last mention of The Blue and Gold in the series.

Five years after Dan Jurgens called it "the one project I'm really excited about," The Blue and the Gold looked like another missed opportunity. To be sure that I had the whole story, I went to the source. Tomorrow here on the Boosterrific Blog: my Q&A with Dan Jurgens about the fate of The Blue and the Gold series.

Comments (3) | Add a Comment | Tags: andy helfer blue and gold blue beetle brian augustyn dan jurgens justice league kevin dooley

Following TGB's weekend comments over his feelings about Giffen & DeMatteis' take on Booster Gold (as detailed here), I decided to look through the old "Justice Log" letter columns for examples of people who felt the same way about G/D's original run. It didn't take too long to find this in the letter pages for JLA #38:

TGB, maybe it will make you feel any better to know that some people have shared your opinion for 20 years.

[The response was written, presumably, by Andy Helfer, editor of Justice League America at the time. JLA #34 was the infamous KooeyKooeyKooey incident. Coincidentally or not, JLA #38 was the first issue following Booster's original resignation from the League.]

Comments (7) | Add a Comment | Tags: andy helfer giffen kooeykooeykooey letters page tgb thegreatestblogyouveneverheardof

tiggerpete posted on Sep. 2, 2010 at 6:03 PM
and here's the kicker, this is pre-internet, shocking when you realize that this is nearly identical to various forum posts that you can come across on both sides of a given issue
Fanboys=consistently upset about something since the beginning of letter columns
I believe the saying goes "you can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time"

 Boosterrific [Official Comment] posted on Sep. 3, 2010 at 4:13 AM
The more things change....

Harry posted on Sep. 3, 2010 at 9:36 AM
G&D are divisive writers. To create humor, they are often left to disparaging one or more characters (or at least portraying them in a less than flattering light). Many fans are protective of their favorites and many others are resistant to their comics being "silly". When I was collecting this comics, I must admit that I cringed several times at B&G's antics. It made the characters targets for mockery by my friends (and by proxy, me as well for being a fan). But it also created fans that adored the characters and who would defend them (and G&D). Polarization of the fanbase may not be the way to universal acceptance and top ten sales... but it could be the way to consistently selling 20k issues over 5-10 years. I would hate to see BG regress to immaturity. But I would hate to seem him stagnate as a character. I intend to do my best to enjoy the ride.

TGB posted on Sep. 3, 2010 at 11:34 PM
And it isn't just that - it's become so darned formulaic. Look through each G&D issue and about 1/2 to 2/3s of the way through it, they have Booster monologue about how it isn't right for him to be there, how he's changed so much over time, how they weren't REALLY idiots but were content to let people think so... It's like it's their way of justifying it all. The problem is that here you have polarization of a relatively small fanbase. BG was selling around 20k before the change... does dividing the fanbase keep it at 20k?

 Boosterrific [Official Comment] posted on Sep. 3, 2010 at 11:45 PM
Just for you, TGB (this was going to be a future post, but you can have it now -- happy Labor Day!), from JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA #24:

See? They were using the fun-loving dudes excuse even back in 1989. [Again, this is presumably editor Andy Helfer responding.]

Eyz posted on Sep. 7, 2010 at 6:30 AM
Oh..the letter... XD
I'd say (well, that's an old letter, but I'd say this anyway) get Beetle & Gold out of the book so I'll only have to buy their adventures instead of the whole JL! :P
And give them a cartoon show, and a movie, and--

Justin Garrett Blum posted on Sep. 16, 2010 at 3:54 PM
I know there are a lot of people who still feel this way about those old issues of JLI--they carry a grudge to this day about the Bwa-ha-ha league. I've never really been a fan of the Justice League in general, so I think G&D's stuff is classic, since I actually cared about the characters for a change, more so than I really cared about the adventures (which isn't to say that G&D didn't do some interesting arcs).

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