OG Booster booster Shawn Baston notified me that Booster makes a very brief, non-continuity appearance in this week's Teen Titans Academy #4 (thanks, Shawn!). Since I was already in the Boosterrific Database, I decided to take the time to (finally!) update data on some other minor reprint collection appearances I'd been putting off. That's when I noticed something odd.

Justice League Unlimited: Time After Time is a collection of time-travel themed Justice League Unlimited stories. The volume was published last November. (Sorry. Like I said, I got a little behind. I'm blaming the pandemic.) This is its cover:

Usually, these trades reuse cover art from one of the issues they collect, but this one clearly needed something a bit more general for the hodgepodge of volumes within. Instead of an existing cover, art was chosen from an existing interior splash page.

The chosen art comes from Justice League Unlimited #9, credited to penciller Carlo Barberi and inker Walden Wong and reprinted in Time After Time. The issue's story sees the JLU travel back in time to help Shining Knight save Camelot from Morgan Le Fey, and the selected art has some of the DCU's biggest names flying into action alongside King Arthur — swinging on a Batrope! That's an image that will sell some comics!

There's just one problem. To make the existing art fit the desired cover layout, it had to be altered. And I don't just mean that the art was recolored to remove the backgrounds. One hero was edited out of the picture entirely.

Care to guess who that hero was?

Here's the splash page as it originally appeared:

Poor Booster!

Comments (1) | Add a Comment | Tags: carlo barberi covers justice league unlimited king arthur shawn baston teen titans academy walden wong

I spent a lot of time in 2020 showcasing the best Booster Gold comics. But Booster Gold appears in plenty of other comics that while maybe not great are still pretty darn good.

Take, for one example, Justice League Unlimited #17, released 15 years ago today. The issue's story, "Let Freedom Ring" by Adam Beechen, Carlo Barberi, Lary Stucker, Heroic Age, and Phil Balsom, is based in the continuity of the excellent animated series of the same name and is, at its core, little more than a cliché excuse to have some good old-fashioned hero-on-hero super fisticuffs. As stale as the concept may be, there's plenty of fun in the execution.

But don't take my word for it; see for yourself. Here I've condensed the issue to remove most of the panels Booster Gold doesn't appear in (which is how I read most comic books).

As you can see, Booster doesn't play a very big part, but that doesn't mean the issue isn't a joy to read.

I assure you, the panels that Booster aren't in are just as good. (There's an especially entertaining bit between Superman and the Human Bomb.) If you get a chance to read the full issue, I recommend you do so. You won't be sorry.

Comments (1) | Add a Comment | Tags: adam beecham carlo barberi freedom fighters heroic age justice league unlimited lary stucker phil balsom