Since I started this week showcasing one incentive variant cover, I should keep the theme going with another incentive variant, one I've never show on Boosterrific.com before, mainly because Booster Gold isn't actually on it.

His goggles are.

That's the 1:200 Francesco Mattina cover for 2018's Heroes in Crisis #1, and as you can see, it depicts a bloody Harley Quinn wearing Booster Gold's (broken) goggles.

This cover was also used as the basis for Graphitti Designs' New York Comic Con 2018 Silver Foil Convention Exclusive. I honestly don't know which one is rarer. ComicChron.com estimated that retailers ordered approximately 140,700 first-edition copies of Heroes in Crisis #1, which implies there are fewer than 700 of the 1:200 variants in the world. How many silver foils were printed for New York Comic Con, which sold over a quarter million tickets? 500? 1000?

For what it's worth, both are available on eBay right now unslabbed for about $35-$70. In either case, that seems like a pretty good deal for such a rare book.

I mean, if you're into that sort of thing.

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Friday afternoon, The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that DC finally plans to release their comprehensive Rebirth continuity in 2020. That's a mere 9 years after they threw out decades of character development in a bid to boost sales.

"We're starting to figure out how continuity works," [DC Comics co-publisher Dan] DiDio said about the process, noting that reboots and complicated retcons are what happens when "things stop making sense."

I'm glad that DiDio, who has overseen DC Comics' output since 2004, has finally realized the value of continuity to the types of stories that his company sells. Better late than never, I guess.

Anyway, I'm sure that what you want to know, as a visitor to a Booster Gold fan site, is "how will this affect Booster Gold?" The answer looks to be: Pretty significantly.

DiDio made the announcement at the "DC Nation" panel of this past weekend's New York Comic Convention accompanied with an illustrated graphic. Bleeding Cool spent most of the weekend pouring over the visible bits of that timeline. I can't make out anything, but Rich Johnston seems to think it restores most of the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity as the third generation of DC heroes.

If that is to be believed, it looks like Booster Gold's history once again includes his joining the original "Bwah-ha-ha" Justice League International alongside Blue Beetle. Also restored: Infinite Crisis and Justice League: Generation Lost. Is there time for 52 to have happened in there somewhere? One can only hope.

Will any of this ever make it to print? Will the short-lived New 52 continuity be abandoned? How can Convergence be shoehorned into this new chronology? Who knows. Maybe we'll find out after Doomsday Clock finally ticks down in December.

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No, DC Comics isn't publishing anything including Booster Gold today. Based on solicitations for October released earlier this week, we won't be seeing Booster Gold at all in October, either. Solicitations tease that there will be "many other heroes and villains from the DC Universe" in Animal Man #13, but that's none to encouraging for those of us already in Booster Gold withdrawal.

In the meantime, we'll take what we can get. The above photo of Guy Gardner, Booster Gold, and Blue Beetle cosplayers, taken at the 2011 New York Comic Con by Kendall Whitehouse, proves that so long as Booster Gold has fans, we'll be seeing him somewhere. Perhaps even at this week's Comic-Con International 2012, hmm?

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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.

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On Tuesday Vaneta Rogers asked Dan Jurgens the question of the week in her column "JURGENS Talks Fast-Moving JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL" at Newsarama.com:

Nrama: Does Booster really have a "Booster Cave?" Will we see it soon?

Jurgens: Of course, the "Booster Cave" is real! In a sense, anyway. And, yes, you will see it.

I'm already giddy with anticipation, but Jurgens is coy as usual. If that answer is still too vague for you, there's still time to make travel plans to meet Jurgens at this weekend's New York Comic Con.

Dan Jurgens' website, danjurgens.com, indicates that Jurgens will be at the convention for 2 days, October 14 and 15, but the convention website, newyorkcomiccon.com, only notes that Jurgens will be present for the "DC All Access: Justice League" panel on Saturday, October 15. Maybe Jurgens is attending on Friday as a fan.

No doubt Jurgens will talk about Booster Gold and the rest of the Justice League International as part of the "DC All Access: Justice League" panel. Jurgens will be one of many creators on the one hour panel, including Brian Azzarello, Brian Buccellato, Cliff Chiang, Yildiray Cinar, Tony Daniel, Geoff Johns, JT Krul, Jim Lee, Francis Manapul, Joe Prado, Ivan Reis, Philip Tan, and Eric Wallace.

Despite that stellar line-up, the panel is scheduled to last only one hour, from noon to 1PM. Fourteen creators on one panel for one hour? That means that each creator should get to speak for just about 3 minutes each. Choose your questions wisely, attendees.

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