I had no idea what to post today. Booster isn't in any new comics, isn't expected to be in any upcoming comics, isn't in the news. He'd be furious.

But not all is lost. There's still plenty of great Booster Gold content out there if you know where to look. For example, these delights are on DeviantArt.com:

Toks Solarin

Heads Up Studios

Hernan Cabrera

Booster may be missing in action, but he still has some pretty great (and talented) fans out there!

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: deviantart.com fan art heads up studios hernan cabrera toks solarin

Last week's blog post featuring a page from Justice League Task Force encouraged Booster booster Ian to reach out with a pretty Boosterrific accompanying pic:

[B]rother made it for me for my birthday last September, so it's almost a year old now, I know it's missing an arm but he ran out of clay! Though it wouldn't be the first time booster was missing an arm!

Wow! All my brother has given me in the past decade is grief.

Thanks, Ian. Any family member who gives the gift of Booster Gold is definitely a keeper.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: fan art ian sculpture

And so at last we reach the end of Booster Gold Volume 1. It is, without a doubt, the ugliest of all 25 original issues.

Robert Campanella's inks are not a good fit for Dan Jurgens' pencils, and even most of Jurgens' layouts are subpar. Either this issue was rushed through editorial to fit the aggressive Millennium publishing schedule, or all the visual artists involved were in a hurry to move on to greener pastures. Maybe both.

(In my opinion, this issue is the only one in volume one that I think looks definitively superior in the often careless recolored digital reprints over the original newsprint publication.)

It's really a shame about the art, because the Dan Jurgens' script deserves better. It hits all the right notes as it forces Booster to face the down-side of publicity (in an American fast food restaurant) with a Communist providing outside perspective.

It also cleverly draws in the Justice League characters Booster is closest to while setting our hero up for a triumphant come-back in the future. Both of those latter elements factor into my favorite page of Booster Gold #25 (especially Beetle's lecture in panel 2):

Yeah! What Beetle said!

That's what I like so much about Booster Gold. His path meanders, but he always gets to the right place in the end.

Comments (3) | Add a Comment | Tags: black canary blue beetle dan jurgens favorite pages martian manhunter robert campanella skeets

AIPTcomics.com has all of DC's solicitations for September, and oh, boy, they look great.

I've had my eye out for Blue Beetle #1 ever since DC.com revealed back in April that Ted Kord (and the Bug!) would be on the Adrian Gutierrez cover.

I've also been anticipating Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville #1 for months, and although I don't like incentive variants, I just might be convinced to pony up for this 1:25 Kevin Maguire variant cover.

I hadn't been planning on buying any of the four monthly books written by Tom King, but Julian Totino Tedesco makes riding a kanga look like so much fun on the variant cover for Wonder Woman #1, I just might change my mind. (It wouldn't be the first time I'd've bought a comic just because of a Tedesco cover.)

Ooh! And how about the Chris Samnee variant for Shazam #3? Or the two part Mikel Janin acetate cover for Superman #6? And don't even get me started on the Old Man Red Bee (and Old Man Blackhawk!) appearing on the 1:25 Rahazzah variant for Peacemaker Tries Hard! #5.

Now, if you've read down this far, you might have noticed that I haven't mentioned Booster Gold yet. Well, that's because the solicitation doesn't either. I was trying to soften the blow with all those great covers.

Did it work?

If it helps, DC also announced that the first six issues of The Human Target will be collected (for the second time) in October. Booster will be in that. Come to think if it, it's also got some great covers.

Booster may be hard to find these days, but at least it isn't hurting my eyes to keep looking.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: adrian gutierrez aiptcomics.com blue beetle covers fire ice julian totino tedesco kanga kevin maguire solicitations wonder woman

My favorite page from Justice League Annual #1 has little to do with Booster Gold directly but still relates very much with it means for him to be a member of the Justice League (as well as demonstrating why Martian Manhunter is the League's metaphorical heart).

Also, I really appreciate the placement of the "End," in no small part because Black Canary would not.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: favorite pages justice league martian manhunter