Now that Justice League International has come to an end, Russ Burlingame and Dan Jurgens have their final monthly wrap-up with "Justice League International #12: The End of the Road" at ComicBook.com. The series was bittersweet, to say the least. As good as it was to have Booster Gold included somewhere in the New 52, the stories always tasted half-baked. Even this final conversation between Burlingame and Jurgens feels a little uncomfortable, as though Jurgens is unwilling or unable to directly answer some of Burlingame's more pointed questions about the activities behind-the-scenes at DC that led to the cancellation of this book despite what appear to have been positive sales.

Burlingame: "Our adventure together proved otherwise." We get a little on-page indication by Batman of a little bit of the nature of his past with Booster. Was there a particular story you had in mind, or was it just a New 52 riff on the adventure they had together during Booster Gold vol. 2?

Jurgens: No, there was a particular story we had in mind that was actually going to be our issue zero. Sadly, we didn't get there.

Burlingame: It almost seems like a weird kind of mirror of the end of Generation Lost, for Aaron to have to set up the end/beginning again.

Jurgens: I hadn't quite thought of that, but you're right. I was just trying to do something fitting. The cancellation was something of a last minute decision so we didn't have a lot of room or time to do things differently.

Burlingame: All of that "turning the page" stuff in this issue —- was that a bit of metatext? If Booster is moving on to the next stage in his evolution, is it time for fans to do the same and let go of our hopes and conspiracy theories that he might be a tether to the DC Universe of old?

Jurgens: My feeling has always been, that, regardless of the character, if there's something about him/her that fans want to hold onto, they should do so.

Here at Boosterrific.com, we'll be holding on to Booster Gold, all right, high collar and all.

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Russ Burlingame and Dan Jurgens have their monthly Justice League International debriefing in the article "Dan Jurgens and Guy Gardner Prepare for the End in Justice League International #11" at ComicBook.com. I found Jurgens' answers to Burlingame's questions to be particularly un-enlightening this month, but even I will be quick to blame that on my own dissatisfaction at the issue and DC Editorial's obvious interference in the story.

Burlingame: It seems here that you're setting up the idea of Godiva and Booster as an official couple. Is that something you had hoped to pay off down the line, or just kind of beginning to wrap up your plot threads before you move onto your next project?

Jurgens: It was something I hoped to develop down the road.

Burlingame: For old times' sake, I just have to ask: Is Godiva Rip Hunter's mother?

Jurgens: Oh, c'mon. It's not like we've ever seen Rip with Elasti-hair.

I'm very frustrated by the cancellation of this series. I guess if there is an upside here, it's that Dan Jurgens still considers Booster Gold to be Rip Hunter's father, for whatever that's worth. It seems unlikely that Dan Jurgens will be investigating the Time Master when he takes over his new role as writer/penciller of The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men this October.

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Russ Burlingame's latest no-longer-titled-"International Exchange" column with Dan Jurgens is already posted at ComicBook.com. As usual, it's a good place to go for creator commentary.

Burlingame: Godiva, meanwhile, is advocating for we Booster fans a little, suggesting that she needs to get a look at Skeets. Was that tossed in after you realized you probably wouldn't have time to write him in to a future issue?

Jurgens: No. At the time that issue was written I was unaware of that, and plans for Skeets were pretty much planned out.

Don't toy with my heart like that! I for one am still holding out hope that we'll get to see Skeets before this series ends. Don't take that hope away from me!

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The latest of Russ Burlingame's "International Exchange" interviews with Dan Jurgens is up at ComicBook.com. I may have my problems with the decompression in Jurgens' recent JLI stories, but I have to say that I really admire his willingness to discuss each issue afterwards. That's above and beyond the call of duty for a professional with his portfolio.

IX: It's interesting—the dialog between Batman and Batwing suggests that even the superhero community isn't really clear on Booster's "deal." Did you want to roll back the number of people in the hero community who knew his "secret?"

Dan Jurgens: No. It's just that we tend to be a skeptical society now.

If an individual suddenly shows up and claims to be from the future, some people are bound to be skeptical. On top of that, I think Batman, more than any other hero, would be the type to check into it on his own and make sure.

Now, if you wrap that into the idea of a hero who advertises projects and tends to hype himself, well, you can see why Batwing would have assumed it was an act.

I'm skeptical about the implication that we were not a skeptical society "then." I don't think there has been a point in history where the general population would believe a man's own claims about being from the future. Even in 1955, we'd want a doctor to take a look for head trauma in that "future boy."

What I'm still more skeptical about is the possibility that Batwing isn't a jerk.

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Hopefully you didn't miss Russ Burlingame's most recent "International Exchange" column that was posted at ComicBook.com on Thursday. If you did, you missed this imortant bit:

IX: Wow! It's been a while since we had the old "Booster Gold's suit is out of batteries" problem. I kinda thought it had gone the way of Green Lantern's 24-hour charge.

Dan Jurgens: Not quite. It's still make of a fiberweave circuitry that depends on a power supply.

IX: That said, shouldn't Booster have been able to swoop down to save Batwing using nothing but his good looks and Legion flight ring?

DJ: ESPECIALLY the good looks!

Yes. Especially.

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