A few weeks ago, while discussing my favorite page of Justice League International #14, I said that Steve Leialoha's loose style was a bad match for Keith Giffen's layouts. I've been looking at a lot of Giffen's layout art since his recent passing, and I've changed my mind. I now think the problem with Leialoha's art in JLI #14 and #15 is that Leialoha's finishes are probably too loyal to Giffen's layout style.

In any event, the art in Justice League International #15, while still not up to the standard set by regular series artist Kevin Maguire, is at least more consistent from panel to panel and page to page than the previous issue managed.

Thanks to J.M. DeMatteis's dialogue, there are several pages competing to be my favorite of the issue, including Booster Gold flying into action in page 10, Booster Gold saving the day on page 15, and Batman's punchline on page 22. But since this will always be the first meeting between Blue and Gold and Fire and Ice, page 6 steals the show:

I can't say the four of them really get along any better these days, but they'll always be family.

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The Justice League Unlimited returns to your Local Comic Shop today for their first new adventure since 2008 in Justice League Infinity #1.

The issue is co-written by Justice League International scribe J.M. DeMatteis, so you just know there are going to be some old-fashioned Blue and Gold antics.

I say let him eat cake!

Justice League Infinity is only a seven-issue mini-series, but if that's not enough Justice League Unlimited for you, DC has also released a new reprint collection of old JLU comics, Justice League Unlimited: Girl Power. Despite its focus on female heroes, Booster makes small appears in two of the stories in that reprint. Some Booster Gold is always better than no Booster Gold.

Buy either of these books and make Skeets happy!

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I was recently asked whether we would ever see Rani again. I think that's a pretty good question.

For those who don't know or don't remember, Rani was a supporting character in later issues of Booster Gold Volume 2. Displaced from her natural era (the 30th century), she was taken in by Booster Gold who treated her as family. That makes Booster something of a surrogate father to the young girl. Rani was still a member of Booster's family when the events of Flashpoint changed the DCU. She hasn't been seen or mentioned since.

Now Infinite Frontier has restored all previously existing chronologies into an infinite DC Multiverse, Rani certainly exists somewhere. But it remains an open question whether readers will ever see her in the pages of an ongoing comic again. In other words, will we ever learn what became of Booster Gold's young ward?

Obviously, I can't predict the future, but past experience leads me to believe that Rani's story may never be told. Comic book supporting characters rarely follow the heroes they support from title to title. Artist turnover is high in the world of comic book publication. New storytellers often want to tell their own story, not continue the story of a previous teller. So even if Booster Gold gets another chance at the spotlight, it's unlikely that Rani will follow him (unless Rani's creators, Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis, are the ones telling that story, and even then it's no guarantee that they would want to retread old ground).

Which is not to say that it's impossible. Creators like Roy Thomas, Grant Morrison, James Robinson, and Geoff Johns have made careers out of breathing new life into long forgotten characters. Who's to say that someone won't pick up the loose threads of Rani's story and run with them?

I sure hope so, Rani. You can't ignore family forever, can you?

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Two Saturdays ago, I directed you to Russ Burlingame's newly-created Indiegogo campaign for his "Best Movie Ever: A Totally Jerkin' Book" critical history of the Josie and the Pussycats movie. At the time, I wrote

If this goes really well for Russ, I'm betting he'll finally re-release those "Gold Exchange" columns in book form. I'd really like to get my hands on that book.

Burlingame listened. He soon updated his campaign with this promise:

If the campaign reaches $5,000, I'll provide everyone who bought the book with a PDF copy of a collected edition of my "Gold Exchange" columns, which ran on ComicRelated and Blog@Newsarama from about 2006 until 2011. The Gold Exchange was a monthly interview column in which I and the creators of the comic provided a running "commentary track" on Booster Gold.

The ebook will be free, but at $5,000, those who are interested will also be able to purchase a paperback copy of The Gold Exchange, which features interviews with Dan Jurgens, Geoff Johns, Rick Remender, J.M. DeMatteis, and Keith Giffen. This collection is something I had meant to print back in 2011 and put the content together to do so, but ran out of time and resources and ultimately left it unfinished.

Well, good news, Booster boosters! He's now well past $5,000! Hooray!

It's not too late to join this party. For as little as $15, you can secure your own link-rot proof "Gold Exchange" eBook on IndieGoGo.com. Then, if you like, you'll have the opportunity to own a print copy of Booster Gold's oral history.

That's a small price to pay for a unique companion piece to place on your bookshelf beside Booster Gold: 52 Pick-Up and your other Booster Gold Volume 2 collections.

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Your periodic reminder that the world is not fair:

Justice League 3000 was cancelled in 2015, just as DC was entering the Rebirth era and restoring much of the history that the New 52 had abruptly jettisoned. As the name suggests, Justice League 3000 took place in the distant future of the DCU, and perhaps the company was more interested in looking backward at the time.

Or maybe the obstacle was then-publisher Dan DiDio, who rather famously treated the entire Justice League International era roster with something approaching open disdain. It's hard to imagine DiDio okaying DeMatteis's return to the characters for more than a few issues at at time.

(In fairness, it should be mentioned that DeMatteis is hardly the only artist to be denied access to Booster in the past decade. You may remember that DC also shot down Booster book proposals by Tony Lee and Ngozi Ukazu.)

Will things be different in 2021? If the hints that Blue and Gold will be back at work in the DCU after Infinite Frontier have any veracity, I sure hope so.

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