Booster booster Eskana writes in to say:

Not sure if you saw it, but in your quest to account for every appearance of the Corporate Crusader, I found one out of the ordinary... My comic shop's "Comic Shop News" had a FCBD special with what seems to be original art on the cover, showing Blue and Gold (alongside the Hulk, Black Panther, and Invisible Woman) by Fred Hembeck. Just thought I'd let you know!

Most comic shops that carry Comic Shop News pamphlets give them away for free, especially on Free Comic Book Day, which is next Saturday, May 7.

But if your Local Comic Shop doesn't have any, you may be able to find copies for sale online at ebay.com, which is where I found this image:

sold by comrus1

Thanks, Eskana! Happy hunting, completionists!

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: 2022 comic shop news eskana fred hembeck free comic book day

DC Comics' July 2022 solicitations are due out today, but Michael Doran of Newsarama@GamesRadar has already broken some Booster Gold news, specifically that our hero is going to start hunting vampires this summer.

cover art by Alan Quah

DC vs. Vampires: All-Out War #1 is a new six-issue "all-you-can-eat buffet of grindhouse mayhem" limited series beginning in July that serves as a companion series to the main DC vs. Vampire series, following the companion one-shots DC vs Vampires: Hunters in May and DC vs Vampires: Killers in June.

"One of the last secret, underground human cities is facing total annihilation and its leader - John Constantine - must plan a suicide mission to assassinate a key lieutenant in the vampire empire!" reads DC's description. "Against unreal odds and with an unlikely team including Booster Gold, Deathstroke, and Mary Marvel, does the Hellblazer have one more trick up his sleeve?"

DC vs. Vampires: All-Out War will be written by Matthew Rosenberg and Alex Paknadel with "monochromatic" black-and-white (!) art by Pasquale Qualano.

It's always cool that Booster Gold gets more spotlight, but if the main DC vs. Vampires mini-series is any guide, most of these characters are just going to die very gruesome deaths at the hands of other fallen heroes. If vampires can turn the likes of Wonder Woman and Superman, I don't much care for Booster Gold's chances. (How did he not see this coming?)

Will Booster be seen anywhere else in the DCU in July, perhaps in a book that isn't so... bloodthirsty? I'll certainly be checking GamesRadar.com for updates later today.

UPDATE LATER TODAY: Whoo, boy, it looks like DC really doesn't know what direction it wants to take its properties this summer. An endless series of Dark Crises, Flashpoints, and multiverses of Superman and mechs and vampires and knights and children.... Maybe I'm just getting too old for this.

On the up side, Booster Gold does appear on the solicited cover for Superman: Son of Kal-El #13 by Travis Moore.

The issue is teased to introduce the television Arrowverse's Dreamer to the DCU (whatever that means anymore), so when it arrives in your Local Comic Shop on July 12, expect it to be a big seller to television watchers who also buy comic books... all 15 of them.

Now get off my lawn.

Comments (1) | Add a Comment | Tags: alan quah dc vs vampires gamesradar.com michael doran newsarama pasquale qualano soliciations

Two pieces of news today that are probably each worthy of their own post. But since they both came from the ghost of Newsarama at GamesRadar.com, I'm combining them into this one post.

Thing 1: "Booster Gold: Inside the social media superhero who was 35 years ahead of his time" by Vaneta Rogers is a retrospective of what Booster Gold has meant to the writers who have crafted his adventures.

Rogers' oral history includes interviews with Dan Jurgens, Keith Giffen, J.M. Dematteis, and Jeff Katz, all ow whom clearly have a great deal of respect for the character they helped craft.

In fact, Giffen said that, when he and co-writer J.M. DeMatteis were told by editor Andy Helfer they had to use Booster Gold in their new Justice League run in 1987, it was this 'things-never-go-right' element that defined Booster.

"I'll be honest: I had no idea what to do with the character when we first had him," Giffen said. "Booster really didn't gel in my mind until he had the first 'bwa-ha-ha' moment and Beetle was laughing at him. I knew then that this character is going to know life's frustrations and is going to get knocked down a lot, but is always going to get back up again."

That's just a taste of the insight the piece provides into what has made Booster Gold so durable for the past three-plus decades. Good work, Vaneta.

Thing 2: "New DC Human Target is a 12-issue 'whodunit'" by Micheal Doran is essentially a sales piece to encourage fans to buy the upcoming Human Target series featuring the Justice League International.

The report lays out the basic premise of the series and quotes writer Tom King telling us how this is going to be just like every other prestige mini-series he's written for DC in the past half decade. But the important part for Booster boosters is the news about the variant covers.

The [Trevor] Hairsine and [Danny] Miki #1 and #2 variants connect to form the cover of a 'Whodunit' board game. The back cover features a pin-up calendar, "leaning into the mid-century feel of the comic," says DC.

When placed side by side, those variant covers will look like this:

Mid-century? No. Boosterrific? Very.

Comments (2) | Add a Comment | Tags: covers danny miki gamesradar.com human target keith giffen micheal doran newsarama tom king trevor hairsine vaneta rogers

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.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: dan jurgens geoff johns gold exchange j.m. dematteis keith giffen rick remender russ burlingame

I've been a grouch all week, but it's not all bad news in the world. I mean, DC Fandome version 2.0 is set for tomorrow, and DC is promising us 24 hours of free comics. That's not nothing.

And if Booster Gold fans want even more comic books, you should know that on Wednesday, Newsarama/GamesRadar broke the news that Booster Gold would be appearing in Generations: Shattered #1 in January.

(I said that like you didn't already know it, but you probably did. So many people got in touch to share that Newsarama article, I must have been the last to know. Thanks for keeping me informed, everybody!)

Judging from the article, Generations: Shattered looks to be a $10 anthology book collecting some of the pieces of DC's abandoned "5G" event. The official solicitation hasn't been revealed — and might not be revealed for a while considering that Newsarama says it's coming in January and DC hasn't even released its December solicitations. But we do know that Dan Jurgens is listed as one of the writers, and we did get this look at the sweet cover by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado.

Pay close attention:

Booster hasn't had that shaded star on his costume since Booster Gold #8 in 1986! Could that be an accident? I think not.

Dare we hope that Generations: Shattered will actually revisit Booster's original post-Crisis on Infinite Earths chronology for the first time since... ever? Remember, back in 1986, Booster was living the lifestyle of the rich and famous. Ah, the good old days!

Maybe this wasn't such a bad week after all. #CorporateCrusader #BringBackTrixie

Comments (4) | Add a Comment | Tags: 2020 conventions covers dan jurgens dc fandome gamesrader.com generations ivan reis joe prado newsarama.com solicitations