It seems a shame that it is equally impossible that Alan Moore will ever write for Booster Gold as it is that Jack Kirby will rise from the dead to draw him.

Last week's poll question: Which legendary writer/artist duo would you have liked to see collaborate on Booster Gold? (42 votes)

After last week's poll exercise in the classics, let's go back to the future!

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Why was Justice League International volume 3 cancelled? Probably because by issue 12 it was selling about as well as Booster Gold volume 2 was selling at issue 47.

If Booster can do as well alone, why stick him with a bunch of dead weight like Guy Gardner and Batman? (Note that while our old pal Shag at FirestormFan.com will attribute the sales bump beginning at issue 9 to an appearance by Firestorm, but it's really do to a change in DC's return policy.)

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Believe it or not, Booster Gold has appeared in 4 separate number 10 issues of ongoing series in the past 4 years. One of those series was his own, which made it through a run of 49 issues. Two of the others had already been canceled at the time the issue was published. The third is the current Blue Beetle series, which has sales numbers far worse than any of the other three series ever had, but has not yet been cancelled.

Granted, this random sampling of DC's production is hardly conclusive, but superficially it would seem that we should expect an ongoing with Booster Gold to sell right about 30,000 by the 10th month. (Booster gets the least face time in his one-page cameo in Blue Beetle, and it has the lowest sales. Coincidence or proof?)

Whatever else it may or may not say about DC's editorial policies, this chart does seem to demonstrate that cancellation is due more to editorial expectations or whims than just sales figures. Someone at DC must love Blue Beetle.

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Hoping to surprise their friend and teammate Mister Miracle, Booster Gold and Blue Beetle drop in on him at his day job in Mister Miracle, Volume 2, #7. Mister Miracle is understandably not pleased to have his super-heroic secret identity exposed to the citizens of Bailey, New Hampshire. With friends like these, who needs enemies?

To make up for their gaffe, Blue Beetle and Booster Gold decide to masquerade as... themselves. Beetle and Booster, in the guise of Blue Beetle and Booster Gold, respectively, go on to provide autographs for the citizens of Bailey. It's not their proudest moment.

Compared to some of the pair's misadventures, this events comes off comparatively smoothly. Until a foursome of Professor Ivo's robots crashes the event. Nothing is ever dull in the life of a professional super hero.

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Yesterday, DC announced solicitations for the month of September, making it official that September 2012 will be the first month since November 2006 in which DC publishes no book including Booster Gold as a featured character. Even the best heroes need some time off every 69 months or so.

[Be aware that sales data in the graph above is not entirely accurate. In addition to unreported digital sales, sales priort to issue #9 were likely under-reported by up to 10% to account for estimated retailer returns. Therefore, it is unlikely that there was any significant sales upturn for issue #9. Unadjusted numbers for months prior to May can be seen at Comicbeat.com.]

It is important to remember that Justice League International wasn't canceled for poor sales alone. Many New 52 series are selling far, far worse. (For example, even with a guest appearance from the Booster Gold, Firestorm #9 sold almost half as many issues as JLI #9 did, and it still isn't canceled.) While expectations are certainly higher for Justice League titles, Justice League Dark has been selling only slightly better (+/-2,000 issues) than JLI, and it still isn't canceled. The evidence seems to indicate that DC has something else in mind for either the JLI or its star, Booster Gold.

Whatever the reason, I'll be saving an extra $4 come September.

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