Barely a month and a half into the new year, and Booster booster Cort has already gathered a new line-up of Booster Gold commissions.

Freddie Williams III

Stephen Sadowski

Cary Nord

John Delaney

Cort notes that both Sadowski and Nord think this was the first time in their careers they've been asked to draw Booster Gold. Hopefully it won't be their last.

Comments (1) | Add a Comment | Tags: 2020 cary nord commissions cort carpenter fan art freddie williams iii john delaney stephen sadowski

The life of any comic book hero would be a lonely one if not for the many characters who have made up their supporting cast. Just as Superman has Lois Lane and Batman has Alfred, Booster Gold has also shared his adventures with quite a few people over the years. Today we look at one of those, Monica Lake.

It's a common practice for anyone seeking to become a celebrity to attach themselves to other celebrities. When Booster Gold was new on the scene, he was no different.

In order to maximize his client's marketing potential, Booster's manager, Dirk Davis, scheduled a very public dinner date for our hero at The Imperial, "one of the finest restaurants in Metropolis," in Booster Gold #3 (1986). The lucky (or opportunistic, depending on your point of view) starlet is Monica Lake, star of The Love Cruise.

Due in equal parts to Booster's vanity and Monica's disinterest, the date did not go well.

Despite the inauspicious start to their relationship, both Booster and Monica recognized the practical public relations value of continuing their association. By the next issue, Booster Gold #4, Monica was already in touch with Davis about staging another encounter. In Booster Gold #9, she revealed explicitly what she hopped to gain by the relationship.

For a time, the plan seemed to work. The media couldn't get enough of the couple. Rumors of an impending marriage between the couple started immediately ("his first, her fifth"!), and continued for months.

Gradually, this made-for-tabloids romance began to strain Booster's personal relationships, most notably with his secretary, Trixie Collins, who felt that Booster was demeaning himself (as seen in Booster Gold #10). Booster eventually agreed. After a near death experience and a trip to the future, he re-evaluated his life and decided that there was no room in it for Monica Lake, resulting in a blow-up between the two in the pages of Booster Gold #16.

It was not the last Booster would see of Lake, however. She may not have gotten what she wanted from their year-long partnership, but Booster sure did. He had successfully elevated himself into the celebrity social echelon, and the former couple would cross paths again at celebrity parties, such as the art gallery opening of painter Paul Morris' latest show (Booster Gold #19).

Neither Booster nor Monica come off looking very good in hindsight, but that's sadly true of all too many relationships. In all fairness, they were both immature. Booster was barely 20 years old at the time, and Lake couldn't have been too much older despite having already been married four times. Keep that in mind this Valentine's Day: if you want to maintain the magic in your partnership, don't be a childish jerk.

To answer the question of whether creator Dan Jurgens based Monica Lake on any real celebrities, click here to read my post from May 8, 2015.

Interested in meeting other "People in his Neighborhood"? Get to know Trixie Collins, Daniel Carter, Jack Soo, Rani, Dirk Davis, Skeets, Mackenzie Garrison, Rip Hunter, Michelle Carter, and Nurse Devlin.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: holidays monica lake people in his neighborhood supporting characters valentines day

CBR.com (yes, them again) alerts us that

"A new report suggests that a series based on Blue Beetle may be in development at HBO Max."

That has caused a lot of Internet DC and comics fan sites (you know the type) to speculate that Booster Gold must be appearing in this. Two things:

1) We don't even know if this rumor is true, and

2) No it doesn't.

While it would be nice to think that Blue and Gold will one day own the airwaves just as they own our hearts, there's no great reason to assume that Booster will have anything to do with a Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle project (which this undoubtedly is, assuming it really is in the works).

Therefore... we are still where we were the last time we heard a rumor that Booster Gold might be coming to a streaming service near us: that is, Booster Gold might be coming to a streaming service near us.

*shrug*

When DC wants us to know otherwise, they'll tell us.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: cbr.com hbo movies television

The life of any comic book hero would be a lonely one if not for the many characters who have made up their supporting cast. Just as Superman has Lois Lane and Batman has Alfred, Booster Gold has also shared his adventures with quite a few people over the years. Today we look at one of those, Nurse Devlin.

Not all supporting characters are created equally. Some are far more important than others, but even the smallest has a role to play in the adventures of a superhero. Take, for example, Nurse Devlin of Metropolis General Hospital, first met in Booster Gold #13 (1987).

At the end of his previous adventure, Booster had been left battered and broken by the 1000. Because he lacked immunity to 20th-century diseases, he was nearly at death's door. Nurse Deslin helped repair our hero's body. She was also instrumental in improving his soul.

She took advantage of Booster's weakness to read him the riot act about how his selfish behavior disguised as altruism wasn't heroic.

Booster had heard the same countless times before — from no less a moral authority than Superman among others (see Booster Gold #6). This time, he listened. Near-death experiences will do that to you.

The change wasn't immediate. Booster first had to travel to the future and confront his own death squad (in events perhaps unintentionally echoing Charles Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol) before he accepted the need to begin modifying his behavior. Growth is never easy, even for super heroes.

After returning to the present in Booster Gold #15, Booster turned over a new leaf, beginning with an anonymous donation to the Metropolis Food Shelter. (It's no accident that Booster's goodwill tour began with a donation to Nurse Devlin's charity. This suggests that wounded pride motivated him as much as a true desire to be a better person, but hey, every hero has got to start somewhere.)

Interested in meeting other "People in his Neighborhood"? Get to know Trixie Collins, Daniel Carter, Jack Soo, Rani, Dirk Davis, Skeets, Mackenzie Garrison, Rip Hunter, and Michelle Carter.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: nurse devlin people in his neighborhood supporting characters

Early Saturday, Wired.com ran an article by Adam Rogers titled "The CW's Crisis on Infinite Earths Puts a Gen X Headlock on Superhero TV".

The article is mostly about the CW's upcoming crossover event between its DC-themed television shows, but as originally published, it contained the following passage:

Clearly superproducer Greg Berlanti and writer Marc Guggenheim, teenagers at the time Crisis came out, cared about all this. Their Arrowverse now occupies a significant number of hours on the CW's program grid, pulling stories from all across DC spacetime. And like our own universe, the wider Berlantiverse is expanding. Titans and Doom Patrol are on the streaming service DC Universe—based on DC books but, confusingly, outside Arrowverse continuity. Next year, TV will add Arrowverse shows with Superman, Stargirl, Booster Gold, and Green Lantern.

Did Wired break the news that Booster Gold is coming to the CW in 2020? Not so fast.

The article was later updated, changing the above to

Clearly superproducer Greg Berlanti and writer Marc Guggenheim, teenagers at the time Crisis came out, cared about all this. Their Arrowverse now occupies a significant number of hours on the CW's program grid, pulling stories from all across DC spacetime. And like our own universe, the wider Berlantiverse is expanding. Titans and Doom Patrol are on the streaming service DC Universe—based on DC books but, confusingly, outside Arrowverse continuity. Next year, TV will add Berlanti shows with Superman, Stargirl, and Green Lantern.

Hmm. Look who's missing from that revision.

The footnote for the article says it was "Updated to clarify that not all the upcoming DC comics-based shows will necessarily be Arrowverse shows." Which obliquely avoids saying anything about why references to Booster Gold were dropped.

So, is a Booster Gold television show coming or not?

I asked around to see if I could confirm any of this (as it relates to Booster) and was told not to trust any of it. Therefore, let's pretend none of this happened and just keep hoping for progress on the Booster Gold The Movie coming to HBO Max rumor that I rumormongered last month.

Comments (2) | Add a Comment | Tags: adam rogers greg berlanti hbo movies television wired