In promotion of Blue and Gold #1, DC Comics has posted a primer on the history of Blue Beetle and Booster Gold on their blog at DCComics.com.

Most of what they have to say won't come as news to Boosterrific.com readers, but that's not necessarily true of what Dan Jurgens tells Liam McGuire in the interview now available at ScreenRant.com:

Screen Rant: Booster Gold and Blue Beetle have a very different relationship with the big players on DC's Justice League. Does that difference get explored in this book?

Dan Jurgens: Very much so. Booster is a rather insecure person. He craves acceptance from the other heroes. He’s desperate to be regarded as an "A-Lister".

Ted would like that as well, but it's not an obsession for him. Booster, on the other hand, is desperate for it.

It's always great to have insight on how Booster's creator views his creation. "Insecure" may be an unusual word to apply to a DC superhero, but it accurately describes Booster's personality and what has motivated him into so many of his misadventures.

But hold on, here's another interesting bit:

Screen Rant: What can you tell us about working with Ryan Sook on this project?

Dan Jurgens: Ryan and I have worked together on FUTURES END, ACTION COMICS and BATMAN BEYOND. Every time I work with him, I am amazed by the quality of work and depth of thought that shows up on each and every page.

He's very much into the spirit of this project and exploring the nature of these two characters. It's a delight to see his work come in as we're working Marvel style, and it's really giving him the opportunity to add his magic touch.

If you aren't familiar with the "Marvel style," it's a "plot-first" process pioneered by Stan Lee and his artists in the 1960s where bare-bones plots where provided to pencillers so they have the most flexibility to work engaging layouts. In this method, scripting dialogue is done last.

(Stan Lee once wrote a book called How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way that focused entirely on what panels should look like in a Marvel comic, not how the artist and writer might work together. Ironically, the process is better explained by Denny O'Neil in The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics.)

Over the past four decades, Jurgens has pencilled most of his own Booster Gold scripts, so it's interesting to see how he writes Booster for other artists. Is this how he worked with Aaron Lopresti on Justice League International or Corin Howell for Bat-Mite?

I hope Jurgens doesn't tire of talking Booster Gold anytime soon. There's always more to learn.

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"BREAKING NEWS" is not something that a Booster Gold blog has much opportunity to say, but I think this counts.

DCComics.com has just posted... well, here it is in its entirety:

DC Comics Proudly Presents ‘Blue & Gold’ by Dan Jurgens and Ryan Sook!
DC’s two favorite underdogs (Blue Beetle and Booster Gold, not Dan and Ryan) launch their own eight-issue miniseries!

Michael Carter, aka Booster Gold. A scoundrel from the future armed with stolen technology, a time machine and a robot pal named Skeets, is intent on making a name for himself in the past!

Ted Kord, aka Blue Beetle. The inheritor of a proud legacy of crimefighting who had no powers to speak of, but who carried on the Blue Beetle legacy with just his wits and his fists…is armed with a whole lot of gadgets and a sharp sense of humor!

Together, they’re going to make headlines in DC Comics’ Blue & Gold, a limited eight-issue miniseries by Dan Jurgens and Ryan Sook launching this July!

Desperate to regain the spotlight, Booster Gold looks to attract the public’s (and Justice League’s) attention the same way any washed-up, second-rate hero would—social media. The not-so-tech-savvy hero from the 25th century enlists the help of his best friend, Blue Beetle, who possesses both the money and the brains to help his old pal navigate the scary world of internet influencers.

Watch out, evildoers, our heroes are live and online!

Don’t miss Dan Jurgens’s triumphant return to Booster Gold, teaming with all-star artist Ryan Sook (Legion of Super-Heroes), telling a tale filled with heart…and maybe even redemption for DC’s two favorite underdogs!

Blue & Gold #1 (of 8) by Dan Jurgens and Ryan Sook arrives on July 20 with a cover by Sook ($3.99) and a card stock variant cover by Dave Johnson ($4.99).

For more information on Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Skeets, Time Travel, the DC Multiverse and the World’s Greatest Super Heroes, visit http://www.dccomics.com, and follow DC on social media at @DCComics and @thedcnation.

(I apologize for reposting the entire solicitation in full, but it feels like a special occasion, like the announcement of an armistice treaty. The original text is posted at https://www.dccomics.com/blog/2021/04/21/dc-comics-proudly-presents-blue-gold-by-dan-jurgens-and-ryan-sook)

If that doesn't make your 2021, Booster boosters, nothing will! (Thanks to all who made sure I saw the news.)

Comments (7) | Add a Comment | Tags: blue beetle dan jurgens dccomics.com ryan sook

DC will be releasing Harley Quinn #72 tomorrow whether your Local Comic Shop is open or not (and whether your shop is accepting non-Diamond shipments or not).

Some of you young 'uns with your newfangled digital devices may want to forego buying a floppy and instead opt for the digital edition somewhere like Comixology.com.

In any event, know that the issue will soon exist in the wild for you to hunt down at your convenience. And I know that you'll want to, because Booster Gold is definitely in it, as the preview at DCComics.com proves.

Golly, does everything have to be about death these days? I mean, COVID-19 trigger warning, people.

Hey, wait a second, are they holding hands? Gasp! They're not social distancing!

No, seriously, Booster. I'm doing you a favor, man. Stay away from her. She's bad news. She literally tried to kill you. Multiple times. And not with a disease, with a mallet. That's a relationship red flag, buddy.

Buy this issue (sooner or later — but safely!) and make Skeets jealous.

Thanks to Michael Stalans for the preview link.

UPDATE 2020-05-11: Eskana put this link in the comments below, but I'm going to repost it here so everyone can see it. From CBR.com: "Harley Quinn's Sam Humphries Explains Her Budding Romance With Booster Gold". Just say no, Booster!

Comments (7) | Add a Comment | Tags: cbr.com dccomics.com eskana harley quinn michael stalans new releases previews sam humphries

Hey, kids! Today's your first second chance to buy November's Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Infinite Crisis #1 one-shot, as it is included in Tales form the Dark Multiverse hardcover collection. Better late than never.

Speaking of reprints, if you're the sort of person who reads comic book related news sites — either for fun or because you run a website devoted to a comic book character who only sporadically appears as a background character in other books and you're always looking for new content — you may have heard that today's Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #3 went to a second printing two weeks before the issue was ever released!

Believe it or not, that post-Final Order Cut-off/pre-New Release sellout happened because DC failed to mention in the solicitations provided to the stores that a certain super-popular character appears in it.

That character is sadly NOT Booster Gold.

Per DC's February 11 press release at dccomics.com:

The debut of Punchline, the Joker’s deadly new henchperson, has led to pre-on sale sellouts of both Batman #89 and Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #3—and now, DC announces that these issues, both written by James Tynion IV—are rushing back to press for second printings!

Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #3’s second printing covers the confrontation between Lex Luthor and The Joker, with help from Punchline and Mercy, as the conflict between the forces of Perpetua and the Batman Who Laughs reaches the boiling point. Written by Tynion IV with art by Steve Epting, this issue will arrive in stores with a recolored version of its original cover by Epting.

The second printings of Batman #89 and Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #3 will both be published on March 4. If the comics aren’t already on your pull lists, contact your local comic book shop and let them know you’re looking for these issues to be added!

For the record, no one knew this milked cash cow "Punchline" character would be in these two books until DC announced it... on February 7. Hint to DC: if you want people to buy your comics in the specialty shops dedicated to your product, maybe you should tell us about them before those stores have to place their orders from you. Otherwise, you're kind of shooting yourself in the foot. You won't make a single penny on the two or more (or much more) times cover price I'll now be paying for a first edition printing of a new Booster Gold comic book, so you end up losing money and angering fans. That's good business, he says sarcastically.

Sigh. Oh, well. I guess it's just one last thing I can blame on newly ex-publisher Dan "don't let the door hit you on the way out" DiDio. (Double sigh. Now who am I going to blame for everything I don't like about DC Comics?)

If you can find it for a reasonable price, buy this issue and make Skeets happy.

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Here's something I missed in the run up to Comic-Con: a teaser poster for DC's Year of the Villain event!

You probably can't see him, but Booster Gold is in there, right between Flash and Wonder Woman!

This ad was released online in July and appeared in all DC imprint comics published this week. (Does anyone recognize the artist? Drawn by Nick Bradshaw, inked by Cully Hamner, and colored by Hi-Fi Designs.) It specifically teases the first storyline in the upcoming Batman/Superman #1.

Booster's inclusion here shouldn't come as a surprise, as he had already been linked to the issue in May's DC's Year of the Villain Special. I guess we'll have to buy Batman/Superman #1 — in stores August 28 — to find out if Booster is truly among the "Secret Six" victims of the Batman Who Laughs.

In very related news, Jonathan Reichman pointed out that this week DC announced six new series to tie directly into the Batman/Superman series and four (and counting) Tales from the Dark Multiverse one-shots. One of those stories hints bad things for our hero.

Per the press release from DCComics.com:

TALES FROM THE DARK MULTIVERSE: INFINITE CRISIS #1
Writer James Tynion IV (Justice League, Justice League Dark) and artists Aaron Lopresti (Wonder Woman) and Matt Ryan (Damage) team up with cover artist Lee Weeks for this dark turn on DC’s mega-event Infinite Crisis. The destruction of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, the rise of Alexander Luthor and Superboy-Prime, and the rebirth of the Multiverse all began with Ted Kord, the Blue Beetle. Kord saw it all coming and died with secrets that could have saved the world. But in the Dark Multiverse, Blue Beetle survives, and with the death of Maxwell Lord by his hand, Ted sets off events that irreversibly alter the lives of not only the Justice League, but also his best friend, Booster Gold. In trying to prevent a crisis, Blue Beetle becomes the crisis, and the Dark Multiverse will never be the same.

Thanks for warning us that was coming, Jonathan. Let's see if we learn more when DC releases November solicitations (probably next week).

Comments (3) | Add a Comment | Tags: batman cully hamner dccomics.com hi-fi designs jonathan reichman nick bradshaw secret six superman