You know, for someone who says I don't like Tom King's work, I somehow dedicate a lot of space on this blog to him. What can I say? The guy's just kind of hard to ignore, especially when he tweets things like this:

That's the book cover under the dust jacket of the Human Target Volume 1 hardcover coming our way September 27. Yeah, we've seen that art before — it was created by Greg Smallwood for the interior of Human Target #1. But it's still Boosterrific no matter how many times we see it.

While I'm on the topic, this would seem to be a great time to mention that Russ Burlingame has an exclusive interview with Tom King in The Gold Exchange: The Boosterrific Deluxe Edition. With Russ's permission, I'm quoting starting from page 594 here:

Burlingame: You said earlier that you write Booster "wrong." That feels like a healthy way of internalizing audience feedback, just to crack the joke and say "I know 30% of everyone reading this are going to bitch, and that's fine."

King: I mean, I say "right" and "wrong," but I wouldn't change the way that I write. I just wrote Booster for Human Target, and I loved how those pages turned out. Yeah, my Booster's a little goofier and a little sillier, and I know it's not going to please everyone, but it's my job to make the best product I can, and that's the best product I see.

If I'm just trying to write the way everyone wants me to write, then I'll write crappy. I know it's going to turn out worse if I try to do it the other way.

My general opinion is that there are a lot of superheroes who are super-competent and super good in the DC Universe, and it's nice to have one who's not that way. It's what makes him interesting and funny. It's nice to have a guy who can make jokes, and that when you read him, it can make you laugh. That's what I like about Booster; he's not like all the other superheroes.

To me, it's the difference between what Iron Man was up until Robert Downey, Jr. and what he is now. He was just a generic, boring guy, and yeah, he had alcoholism, but that was basically it. And then Robert Downey, Jr. came along, and it was like, "What if we made this guy so arrogant it was funny?" And then we're like, "Oh, yeah. Now he's a [effing] great character."

Burlingame: In Human Target, it isn't just Booster, but the entire Justice League International. Do you approach Booster a little differently as part of that unit?

King: I knew I was taking the Keith Giffen/JLI version as opposed to the Dan Jurgens, more heroic version. I wanted to make sure I had it down, so I talked to Dan about it and he was like, "Well, Booster is a guy who doesn't mind making money off being a superhero," so I wanted to make a thing where he was making money off being a superhero, so I put Booster's Bagels in there.

I just started to put captions back in my writing. I haven't used captions since The Vision, so that's like seven years without captions. The whole point of Human Target is, he goes through each JLI member and kind of cuts to the core of them at some point and says why they're awesome, or what's at their heart. So it gave me a chance, using Chance's voice, to say what I love about the character.

So Booster is Booster. And "Yeah, Booster's a joke, but aren't they all? At least this one's funny" is I think his great Booster line.

We can agree on that, at least. Booster Gold *is* funny.

Thanks for the interview (and the book), Russ!

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Remember that time when the powers-that-be at DC decided to scrap (almost) their entire shared universe for another, new shared universe of unfamiliar characters in familiar costumes?

Yeah, okay. That's a little vague. We *are* talking about DC here.

Specifically, I'm talking about the relaunch 12 years ago, the "New 52." If you'll recall, sales were down, and something had to be done to goose them. That something was determined to be a line-wide reboot. However, before a new universe could be launched, the pre-existing universe had to be canceled. Which is how Booster Gold #47, released on this day in 2011, became the final issue of that series.

Sadly, it's not a very good comic book.

Most of the story deals with Booster's tragic but inconsequential misadventures in the Flashpoint alternate universe with doomed Alexandra Gianopoulos — all drawn by a fill-in artist who seems to be operating under an unforgivingly tight deadline.

But the issue ends with a Dan Jurgens-drawn coda teasing that perhaps Booster had returned to the mainstream DCU in time to continue his story in the incoming New 52 Universe, where all DC characters would be wearing new costumes designed by Jim Lee.

It would be four more years before it was clarified that the New 52 Booster Gold (introduced the following month in Dan Jurgens-written Justice League International #1) and the original, post-Crisis on Infinite Earths Booster Gold were not actually the same entity at all. (All was revealed in 2015's Convergence Booster Gold.)

It's that sort of confusion that made the New 52 such a frustrating experience for longtime fans. If the creative teams don't know what the new rules are, how can the readers?

Frankly, over a decade later, I'm still irritated. The less said about Booster Gold #47, the better.

Comments (1) | Add a Comment | Tags: costumes dan jurgens jim lee new 52

While Booster boosters were occupied with last week's announcement and pre-sale of the McFarlane Toys Blue and Gold action figure 2-Pack, DC Comics tried to sneak another announcement past us:

That's the "Gatefold Main Cover" by Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding of The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special #1, coming to a Local Comic Shop near you on November 8. And, as you can see, Booster Gold is on it.

According to the press release at DCComics.com, Jurgens and Breeding are just part of the all-star cast of writers and artists from the original "Death of Superman" reuniting for this special. The issue also brings back Roger Stern and Butch Guice, Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove, and Jerry Ordway and Tom Grummett. Yes, please.

This is obviously a big deal for DC, so obviously there are multiple covers. Nine, in fact, if you count the "Premium Polybag Variant." What you see above is the main cover. That means it'll be the cover you'll find if when you open the polybag to get your updated armband.

(Personal side note: for many, many years, I've worn a black leather jacket modeled after the Tom Grummet cover of The Adventures of Superman #501 with a Superman #75 black arm band. That armband is not a particularly durable fabric [2015 pictures here], and I look forward to replacing it.)

Anyway, while not every cover has been revealed yet, DC's announcement does include the "Funeral for a Friend" variant cover by Ivan Reis and Danny Miki. Like the Dan Jurgens variant for Justice League #75 a few months back that homaged "Funeral for a Friend," this cover also pays tribute to the Superman #75 poster, also with Booster Gold:

(Yes, that *is* Blue Beetle behind Booster on that cover. I'm sure I don't need to remind you that Beetle was not present for Superman's funeral because Doomsday put him in a coma. But if I'm going to nitpick, I probably should say something about Martian Manhunter/Bloodwynd. And let's just not go there.)

So if you're counting, that's at least *two* copies of The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special #1 you're going to need to keep your Booster Gold comic collection complete.

I'll let you know if that number goes up.

Comments (1) | Add a Comment | Tags: brett breeding covers dan jurgens danny miki dccomics.com death ivan reis solicitations superman

By my count, Booster Gold has appeared in over 770 comics. That's a lot of pages!

I think it'll be fun — and maybe even enlightening — to give them another look, one page per book, in chronological order of publication, in a new series I'm calling:

There's no better place to start than where it all started, on the first page of Booster Gold volume 1, number 1, released on October 29, 1985.

You might be surprised that I chose as my favorite page from his first appearance one that has so little actual Booster Gold in it. What can I say? I'm a sucker for metatextuality in fiction.

From the moment I picked this issue out of a convenience store magazine rack in early 1986, I've always loved that the first Booster Gold comic book opens on the idea of a Booster Gold comic book, specifically a comic book that publisher Skip Blaze hopes will save his entire company. Though I didn't realize it at the time, that's an especially bold start for a character designed to break the mold of what DC Comics was known for producing.

Fortunately for Booster boosters everywhere, Skip Andrews' (and Dan Jurgens') big gamble in 1985 sure has paid off.

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Last week on Twitter, the image of a 1938 house advertisement for Action Comics #1 inspired Russ Burlingame to compare it to "that Direct Currents-style book that circulates as '1: Booster Gold' from time to time."

For those of you who don't know, Burlingame was talking about this, DC Releases Vol.1, No. 21, February, 1986:

DC Releases was a free handout for customers in the nascent direct comics market of the mid-to-late 1980s. (No. 48 was the final issue before it was replaced by Direct Currents, which continued to promote DC products for another decade.) This is called the "February" issue because it was promoting books with a "February" cover date, although they were mostly being sold to consumers in October/November 1985.

The solicitation text, likely written by DC's promotional copywriter extraordinaire, Paul Kupperberg, is pretty Boosterrific:

He's In It For The Bucks!

Talk shows! Prime-time commercials! Opening night bashes! T.V. guest appearances! Product endorsements! Where does this guy come from?

Just between you and me, the other heroes in the DC Universe aren't too hot on Booster Gold's strivings for star-status. But Skeets, on the other hand, is loving it! Skeets? Oh. He's Booster's flying, computerized companion. Who knows where he came from, either. But wherever it is, all the gossip columns have it that he and Booster came together!

As Metropolis goes goo-goo and ga-ga over this empowered hunk (ya gotta hand it to the guy), he keeps his priorities straight! He knows that being a celebrity super-hero means being a super-hero first, and when B.G. puts his powers into drive—watch out!

In this premier issue, Booster must recover a satellite guidance system stolen from S.T.A.R. Labs (I hope he doesn't miss his contract negotiation meeting because of that!) And: Action explodes in the streets of Metropolis when the incredibly strong Blackguard meets our affluent hero face-to-face!

Dan Jurgens, penciller on The Legion of Super-Heroes, Sun Devils, and Warlord, and Mike DeCarlo, who inked Dan on Warlord, promise a super-action series, seasoned with just the right blend of satire, urbane wit, and humor. So, as Booster Gold would say, buy, buy, buy!

While the widely-seen house ad for Booster Gold #1 that was included in Crisis on Infinite Earths #11 (and almost every other book DC published in October 1985) is more famous and much more widely seen than DC Releases, this handout was created specifically to promote books released on October 8, 1985 (including Crisis on Infinite Earths #11). Therefore, as Russ said, Booster's cover panel here is very likely the character's very first public appearance.

That's why you'll find copies going for $500 on eBay.

Personally, I'd rather spend my money on comics rather than advertisements for comics, but you do you.

Comments (2) | Add a Comment | Tags: dan jurgens dc releases ebay.com mike decarlo paul kupperberg twitter.com