This name drop is the closest that Booster Gold comes to making an appearance in this week's The Flash 2021 Annual:

words by Jeremy Adams, art by Fernando Pasarin, Brandon Peterson, Hi Fi, Michael Atiyeh, Steve Wands

For what it's worth, it's cool that Booster and Rip Hunter are still Time Masters in the DCU. Though how Green Arrow knows Booster is a time cop isn't clear. Do secret identities mean *nothing* in modern comic books? And if everyone knows that Booster Gold is a time cop, why hasn't anyone called him in to help while Wally West has been bouncing through time for the past few months? Maybe it's best if I don't climb down this rabbit hole....

Still, I have to admit that I had expected more in an issue revisiting the events detailed in Heroes in Crisis. Especially since a key element of that story was Wally framing Booster Gold for murder.

The DC Universe has been rebooted (twice!) since Heroes in Crisis. It would be so easy to say that the murders at Sanctuary didn't happen. I won't spoil any of the details of the issue, but The Flash 2021 Annual doesn't want to ignore all of that past, just the parts that are inconvenient. Inconvenient to Wally West, I mean.

Gunfire and Lagoon Boy might be alive again somewhere in the Multiverse. (Thanks, Infinite Frontier!) And Professor Zoom has taken credit as the true puppet master behind Wally West's criminal acts. (Thanks, Flash Forward!) Apparently now we need another excuse for why none of whatever happened was really Wally's fault in the first place. (Thanks, The Flash 2020 Annual!) Funny how one bad story can generate a cottage industry of retcons. (Thanks, Tom King!)

Anyway, Booster has forgiven Wally, and The Flash 2021 Annual wants us all to follow suit. So I'll try to forgive it its flaws. Any book that finally gets rid of Wally's over-detailed New 52 costume can't be all bad.

Is this the last appearance of the Gold Beetle? Only time will tell.

Comments (1) | Add a Comment | Tags: flash gold beetle green arrow heroes in crisis rip hunter

Back before the DCU was overwritten by the DCnU, and before "The Arrowverse" was a thing on TV, Green Arrow and Black Canary got married in the appropriately titled Green Arrow and Black Canary Wedding Special in 2007. Everyone who was anyone was there, which means that of course Booster Gold was there — in a strictly non-speaking cameo appearance.

Ok, well, technically, as we now know (but Booster didn't at the time), Booster didn't really attend the marriage as there wasn't any actual marriage in that issue. In follow-up issues of Green Arrow/Black Canary, it was soon revealed that the Green Lantern who exchanged vows in The Wedding Special was an imposter. But that's sort of par for the course in the star-crossed Arrow/Canary relationship.

Someone at DC must love doomed weddings, because this week The Wedding Special, previously collected in The Wedding Album, is getting collected for a second time in Green Arrow/Black Canary: Till Death Do They Part.

As you can see, even if the unions don't last, memories of weddings are eternal. That's why you should get yourself in as many wedding photos as possible. Consider it another good lesson learned from Booster Gold comics.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: black canary collections green arrow new releases reprints wedding

Yesterday, the CW Network released a pic of Green Arrow from the Arrow pilot. This is bad news. Follow my logic:

1. The CW and SyFy request scripts for Green Arrow and Booster Gold respectively from Berlanti Productions
2. Berlanti makes a Green Arrow script that CW likes enough to turn into a pilot and publicly promote.
3. Berlanti focuses on the project that is most likely to make them money.
4. Therefore, the Booster Gold television project slides into development hell.

Pilot season for Fall 2012 is almost over, and there has been no new news about a Booster Gold pilot. In Hollywood, no news is bad news. It is beginning to look like we won't be seeing Booster Gold on TV this fall. Maybe next year?

Comments (6) | Add a Comment | Tags: berlanti productions syfy television