Dan Jurgens spoke to Josie Campbell of ComicBookResources.com, and he had a lot to say about Booster Gold's role in Futures End and beyond (and before).

CBR: In the "Futures End" weekly, we've got Terry McGinnis time traveling; as Booster Gold is also a time traveler, how much of what happens in "Futures End" going to impact your "Booster Gold: Futures End" one-shot?

Jurgens: Quite a lot, actually, and I think you have to step back a little farther than that in terms of the question. The last time we've seen Booster Gold [in the present] was in the Justice League International" annual of 2012. Since then, [other than his appearance in "All Star Western"] we haven't seen Booster until we saw him at that point. We're going to finally start to find out, was he taken? Did he just slip out of existence? Or did he go someplace else? This starts to deal with all that. It goes back to that point. We pick up on that, and we start to answer some of those questions, as well as how it relates to "Futures End." And then, as I said earlier, where does it go from there? It's definitely plugging in, in that very wide-scope kind of way.

Yep, I will definitely be buying 2 copies of Booster Gold: Futures End in September.

CBR: Is there a chance readers will see more Booster Gold coming up, either in "Aquaman And The Others" or perhaps in a solo book once again?

Jurgens: Yeah, I think there's a good chance. [Laughs]

Finally a new Booster Gold series? Yeah, I'd buy two of that, too!

If you love Booster Gold, you should read the whole article at ComicBookResources.com. Thanks to MetalWoman for calling it to our attention.

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"Predicts" may be a bit strong. But in last week's interview with Josie Campbell for Comic Book Resources, former Justice League: Generation Lost and current Batwing writer Judd Winick does hint that the JLI has a future after their cancellation.

CBR: While the JLI are in [Batwing] with issue #12, has the cancellation of "Justice League International" affected the story you're telling at all? Or is what you're doing unaffected as it is specific to your book?

Winnick:The script was written before the announcement. Even though the book is being canceled, I don't think the JLI is being disbanded so much as we're not publishing a book about it. I can't tell you how it's being wrapped up, y'all will just have to read the JLI title. In Batwing, we will leap in as a team, and Batwing as a member.

As mentioned, the Booster Gold-led JLI appearance in Batwing #12 is scheduled for an August 1 release. That's the same day that the final issue of Justice League International hits the stands, but don't expect the events of Batwing to provide significant illumination on the resolution to Dan Jurgens plans for the JLI. From the same interview:

CBR: Turning to your other series, while Batwing appeared in Gotham for "Night of the Owls," the next issues will see him operating on an international level and teaming up with Nightwing and the JLI. Did you talk a lot to Kyle Higgins and Dan Jurgens about their characters?

Winick: No. In this case we're doing it through editorial. This isn't a crossover so much as it is just using the characters. I know Kyle a little bit, mostly through Scott Snyder, so through editorial we asked if it was cool. But it goes to a larger issue tact we're taking at DC. We're trying to be better in paying attention to continuity, but at the same time not being so slavish to it we're not producing story.

Standalone adventures without slavish devotion to continuity? I think I can support that concept (partially because I don't really want Judd Winick anywhere near my favorite characters' continuity).

Comments (3) | Add a Comment | Tags: batwing comicbookresources.com continuity dan jurgens josie campbell judd winick justice league justice league international kyle higgins

Josie Campbell of Comic Book Resources interviewed Dan Jurgens last week about his plans for the future of the Justice League International. Perhaps more interesting than the future is the still-muddled past of familiar DC characters in the unfamiliar DCnU.

CBR: In terms of what's next for the team, you already dealt with one big, planet-destroying menace in Peraxxus in the very first arc. As a writer, where do you go from there? How do you top a guy who nearly destroys the Earth?

DAN JURGENS: I think since the first arc was very much, for lack of a better term, plot-oriented or adventure oriented, I think what we want to do now is something that is more character oriented. Sort of like your question about Guy and Batman -- why are they there? Obviously we saw how everybody was brought together and were really thrown into the deep end right away without having any real knowledge of how they function together. Booster kind of knew Fire, he kind of knew Guy; the idea is that they had met previously but certainly had not worked as a team previously. If you've never done that, why are you going to continue to hang out with these strangers? So the more character-driven aspect of it where they ask themselves these questions becomes much more part of where we're going from here, and we see some of those things dealt with in issue #6, which comes out [next] month, and then really kicks off with #7.

"Booster kind of knew Fire"? Prior to Flashpoint, Booster Gold and Fire had shared panels in over 140 different comic stories over the past 24 years. According to Jurgens' response, most of those co-starring appearances are no longer part of DC's history. Should readers be sad to see the relationship erased or excited to see it starting over?

You can find the full interview here. (Thanks to Morgenstern for pointing out this interview.)

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Last week Josie Campbell interviewed Blue Beetle writer Tony Bedard for Comic Book Resources. It would seem that Bedard has big plans for the future.

CBR: So we are going to see Kyle [Rayner, Green Lantern] and Jaime [Reyes, Blue Beetle] meet! From that point onward is the idea for the series to become more involved in the greater DCU with characters crossing over to different books, events in "Blue Beetle" echoing through other series, etc.?

Tony Bedard: Yes, after re-introducing Jaime to the readers and re-establishing his origin, etc., I want to make sure that his world extends beyond his roots in El Paso. Readers need to know that this guy is important to the DCU, and I think Blue Beetle fans want to see him interact with Green Lanterns and with the Justice League and especially with Booster Gold. Now, we're not going to do it all at once, but I think it will be a blast to discover the rest of the DCU heroes and villains through Jaime's eyes.

No mention was made of the series' tenuous sales position after DC's recent slate of cancellations or how far Bedard is working ahead of the already solicited issue #8 due in April. Nonetheless, it seems pretty clear that if you want to see Blue and Gold reunited in future issues, you might want to start promoting Blue Beetle to your friends and family. You don't want to be responsible for standing between Booster Gold and Blue Beetle, do you?

You can read the whole interview here.

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David Uzumeri covered the "DC ALL ACCESS: Justice League" panel at New York Comic Con for Comics Alliance and turned in the following quote about Booster Gold:

[Dan] Jurgens and [Geoff] Johns confirmed that Booster Gold doesn't remember the pre-New 52 DC Universe.

However, Vaneta Rogers also covered the panel for Newsarama, and her article implies a starkly different conclusion:

Jurgens said Booster's experiences from Flashpoint seem to be relatively intact, but he said the fact that he has those memories in his head somewhere doesn't necessarily mean he can remember them consciously.

Johns said, "If Booster remembers anything, he's not going to tell anyone."

Johns: "Does Skeets remember?"

Jurgens: "No, Skeets does not."

Johns: "Does Rip Hunter remember?"

Jurgens: "That's a story still waiting to be told."

(Is it just me, or does Johns' response to Jurgens' announcement that Booster remembers sound like something a super villain would say to a hero who has just discovered his world-ending plot?)

Josie Campbell's article for Comic Book Resources verifies Rogers' report.

[DC Senior Vice President Bob] Wayne then asked Jurgens on behalf of the online fans about Booster Gold's continuity and whether Booster remembers the timeline from before Flashpoint. "Booster's experiences are still relatively intact," said Jurgens before continuing, "But it's one thing to have those memories, it's another thing entirely to recall those memories."

"Is Rip Hunter coming back?" Johns asked him.

"There are still stories to be told," said Jurgens, before dashing Johns hopes that Skeets would reappear anytime soon.

Funny that three reporters covering the same event would hear three different stories, isn't it? In any event, it seems likely that Booster does remember Flashpoint, even if his lips are currently sealed. This isn't the first time that history has been changed around Skeets (or Booster, for that matter). It is interesting to speculate how Rip Hunter, DC's resident Time Master since the Silver Age, is dealing with the changes to history. Certainly, that's a story I'm looking forward to reading.

Comments (4) | Add a Comment | Tags: comicbookresources.com comicsalliance.com dan jurgens david uzumeri geoff johns josie campbell new york comic con newsarama.com reboot rip hunter skeets vaneta rogers