The Internet buzz this weekend was all about DC's post-Future State solicitations coming this March. It looks like we're down to 20 titles in its shared DC Universe, which is a far cry from 52. But maybe less is more. DC certainly wants us to think so.

Anyway, the big news for Booster Gold fans is that our hero is featured on the cover of DC's tentpole March title: Infinite Frontier #0.

cover art by Dan Jurgens and Mikel Janin

Isn't that cover a beaut? (Thanks to Rob for making sure I saw it.)

HollywoodReporter.com confirms that Infinite Frontier is a one-shot, but most of the characters on its cover appear in one or more of the 19 other titles in the publisher's solicitations on GamesRadar.com. Conspicuously absent is any hint of where we might next see Blue Beetle and Booster Gold. (There are several reprint collections that will include Booster cameos — more on those later — but nothing new.)

Will Infinite Frontier be Blue and Gold's only appearance in this new DC Universe? (DC doesn't want to call it a reboot, but if it talks like a reboot....) Has their comic not yet been announced? Will they be playing a supporting role in someone else's comic? Or are they on that cover just because Dan Jurgens drew it?

Come to think of it, Jurgens' name isn't mentioned anywhere else in the solicitations, either. Batman Beyond was canceled, and Nightwing has been passed to the very capable hands of Tom Taylor. So what will Jurgens be up to? So far, mum's the word.

I hate to speculate about such things, but it sure would be nice to see Jurgens working on Booster Gold full time again.

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Not so long ago, Booster booster Fin called my attention to a comic I had long overlooked. It wasn't a missed Booster Gold appearance. Not quite, anyway.

Just see if this banter doesn't sound familiar:

art by David Williams and Kelsey Shannon

Those panels are from The Authority: The Lost Year, a series in which the Authority bounced from one alternate universe to another. (This was back in 2010, before the New 52 folded the Wildstorm Universe into the mainstream DCnU.)

Issues #8 and #9 were written by Grant Morrison, Keith Giffen, and J.M. DeMatteis and featured an alternate universe in which the local Authority looked and acted a lot like a particular, best-selling DC Comics team of the late 1980s.

The meta-textural take on the Justice League International by the JLI's original writing team is delightful, especially as contrasted with the modern, no-nonsense Authority concept (itself strongly reminiscent of the extreme 1990s love affair with "mature" sex and violence content).

As you can see, that's Blue Beetle in the role of the Authority's Midnighter (a Batman-like vigilante) and Booster Gold as Apollo (whose character is a riff on Superman — so fitting!) In their original continuity, Apollo and Midnighter are a homosexual couple, allowing the issue's writers to directly tackle the longstanding Boostle phenomenon 'shipping Blue and Gold into a romantic relationship.

I'm sorry I hadn't realized this book existed sooner. Thanks, Fin.

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Booster Gold isn't in the solicitation text for today's Harley Quinn #73, nor is he in the previews (which you can see at comic-watch.com). But Booster booster Rob Snow reports that our hero is definitely in there, and I have proof:

Booster has appeared in each of the previous three issues, developing something of a romantic relationship with the title character before walking out at the end of the last issue. Today's issue #73 is only the fourth chapter of a five chapter story. The solicitation for next month's Harley Quinn #74 promises that "Harley will come face to face with the person pulling the strings" in the "epic" finale. After playing such a big part in the story so far, it's hard to believe that Booster won't be there to lend a hand. (Or be revealed as the puppeteer! Bwah-ha-ha!)

And while we're on the subject, I should mention that Issue #75 will be the last in the series. (Don't tear up. I'm sure it's just going to reboot. Again.) Writer Sam Humprhies has promised "a happy ending for all." Could that mean Booster Gold, too? I guess we'll find out in August.

Oh, and before I forget, the Infinite Crisis Omnibus is also due out today. It recollects a whole bunch of comics, including Booster Gold's appearances in Countdown to Infinite Crisis and the Infinite Crisis and The OMAC Project mini-series. I'm a cheapskate, but there are so many good comics in that book, it's probably worth the $150 cover price.

Buy something and make Skeets happy.

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Boosterrific Note: the following was sent to me in response to my April 10 post asking for Booster Gold fans to write in and tell us a bit about themselves.

Everyone, say hello to Fin.

Hello!

I'm a bit of a Booster newbie, seeing as I've only been a fan for about a year and a half now. (To be fair, I've only been into comics for about... wow, has it been three years? It feels both longer and shorter than that!) I've had this website open in my tabs for about half that time, and love that this place exists for us to get the latest Booster-news, see art, and have fun and interesting commentary on his appearances (even if we don't agree sometimes; example one — sorry, but his second hairstyle was grossly militaristic and way too Sergeant Rock-looking, bring back the over-idealistic curl! XD). When you posted asking for fans to write in, I though, "nahhh, I'm not interesting enough," but then I thought about how Booster would use it as a marketing opportunity and decided "what the heck!"

I actually can't figure out what my first introduction to his character was. When I got into comics, I kind of splurged into a lot of different things at once, and then my old Lieutenant (that's a different story) gave me a huge box of his old comics around that time, too. I could've first seen him in Justice League Action; it could've been in the Death of Superman issues (I know I have the JLA one after the Doomsday fight); it could have also been in the more memorable AIDS PSAs of that time period, but I distinctly remember being somewhat appalled by his character in those (in my defense, I didn't know him!); but it was most likely through the Blackest Night event.

As was the case with Booster, I'm not sure when I found this website, and probably found it a few times before I really FOUND it. It was, in all likelihood, when I was looking up a specific picture and clicked the link, purely because the bit of text from the website that Google images offers intrigued me. I really love it; you are ridiculously dedicated to the point where it's inspiring, you offer fresh, informed, and actually interesting reviews, and above all you're a pretty nice guy! (See: the aforementioned disagreement I have with you, and how you were respectful and kind when someone else disagreed in the comments. It's very refreshing when most people will just get angry whenever you disagree.) Your catalogue of appearances is very helpful to the new fan like me, and even more than that I appreciate the fan works that you spotlight, and finding him in fansongs and the like that you have listed is always a treat.

Now, since I started this with the tease of a self-marketing campaign, let's do another horrible segue into that! I'm a kid (well, technically adult, but actually a child) trying to eventually get into a minor editorial position at DC (with the lofty goal of one day establishing that long-ago, way back in the eighties talked-about Blue and Gold series), but I need some exposure before I get that far. As such, I'm currently working for a small independent press (traditional books, not comics) called Apprentice House. We can always use more manuscripts, and we've got a new batch of books I've worked on through acquisitions, editorial, marketing, and a bit of design! Check us out; we've also got more coming out in October! Beyond that, I'm currently writing a short comic that will be up on Webtoons in the coming months. It's for a short story contest, so views and likes and such are greatly appreciated (30% of the judging criteria, too, dern!). The title is "The Tree of Life is Rotting"; the plot is the same. Check it out, hopefully you'll find it interesting and a good read!

Thanks for your time in reading this long rant; I'm ending it now for everyone's sake! I hope you're staying safe, sane, and happy during this chaotic mess of a time, and I wish you a good day. Cheers!

Thank you, Fin. I'm sure you've already realized I only posted this because you said I was a nice guy and not because you're so wrong about hairstyles.

If anyone else would like to share and/or self-promote, please drop me a line through the Boosterrific.com Contact Portal or directly at walter(at)boosterrific.com.

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If you can make it to your Local Comic Shop today, and if your shop hasn't already been closed by the ongoing COVID-19 emergency measures, you might consider picking up Harley Quinn: The Final Trial, a collection reprinting Booster Gold's appearances in Harley Quinn #66 and #67.

Sadly, as I'm sure most of you who visit this site already know, this is to be the last New Comics Day for a while. Diamond Comics Distributors, the sole distributor of all major American comic publishers, has announced that they are not shipping anything "until further notice." I don't disagree that this is probably a necessity in the current environment, but I'm still disappointed by the news.

I've been buying comics once a week since before the inception of the direct market, so I honestly don't know what life is like without a weekly trip to the comics shop. I feel a little like I've lost a limb.

(Once upon a time, I commented to a friend that I didn't understand how people could go a week without comics. Sometime later, I had to miss a week while out of town — I was literally driving across the country — and he teased me about it. The moral to this story, I guess, is be careful what you say to your friends.)

Not that the distribution halt will make all that much difference to Booster boosters. So far as I'm aware, there's only one book guest staring Booster in the current pipeline. On the up side, Booster Gold has already appeared, by my count, in over 850 comics in the past 35 years. That's plenty of re-reading material for any apocalypse.

Retailers and publishers are going to be the ones to really suffer as their revenue streams are closed indefinitely. (Forbes.com has a pretty good piece on what this may mean to the future of the direct marketplace.) They can use all the support we can give them. If you can afford it, consider filling in the holes in your Booster Gold comics collection by mail order from your LCS. After all, we need them to still be there when Diamond finally re-opens their doors, whenever that may be.

UPDATE 2020-03-25: not thirty minutes before I walked in the door of my LCS this afternoon, my local government announced that starting tomorrow, all local "nonessential" businesses must close for the next two weeks. Which certainly means it's a good thing for them that Diamond won't be shipping while they cannot receive the stock. Hooray, silver lining!

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