After Harley Quinn expressed her feelings last issue, I was expecting to see Booster Gold in yesterday's Harley Quinn #75, in which everyone taking up space in Harley's head helps her celebrate her birthday. But no. There's no sign of Booster Gold. Apparently Harley's love is as fickle as she is.

The closest we get to Booster in the "star-studded" series final issue is this t-shirt worn by Harley's west coast roommate, Becca.

Art by Sami Basri, Hi-Fi

Given that the series has been canceled and DC has yet to announce a replacement, the question becomes "Have we seen the last of #GoldieQuinn?" Only time will tell. (But we can hope.)

In related news, Booster may have skipped Harley's finale because he was trapped in a dungeon in another of yesterday's books, specifically Dark Nights Death Metal Guidebook. I say may because I'm not entirely sure myself.

Take a look at this panel and see what you think:

Art by Doug Mahnke, Jaime Mendoza, David Baron

It looks like *somebody* was in a hurry to get this panel done.

Is that Booster Gold? We saw the same crowd in Dark Nights Death Metal #3, and there aren't a whole bunch of characters it could be other than Booster Gold. Animal Man has angled goggles, Blue Beetle's hair is covered, and it definitely isn't Black Lightning.

So, you've seen the evidence. What's your vote? Booster or not?

This week's poll question: Does the face in the crowd in Dark Night Death Metal Guidebook belong to Booster Gold? Please visit the Boosterrific Polls page to view results for this week's poll.

Comments (2) | Add a Comment | Tags: death metal doug mahnke harley quinn new releases polls sami basri

The readers have spoken, and you've said that you liked things the way they were.

Last week's poll question: What day of the week do you want me to tell you that DCEASED: Dead Planet #1 and Harley Quinn #74 have been released? (26 votes)

I get it. It seems that everything about 2020 has been so outside the norm, maintaining a little tradition of what came before can certainly be comforting. Therefore, I won't remind you about DCEASED: Dead Planet #1 and Harley Quinn #74 until Wednesday.

See you then.

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For years now — over a decade, in fact — the priority for Wednesday Boosterrific Blog posts has been whatever new comic was released that day that included a Booster Gold appearance. But 2020 is changing everything. Booster Gold isn't appearing in any new DC comic today because there are no new DC comics being released today.

As all comics buyers must know by now, DC Comics is no longer being distributed by Diamond Comics Distributors as of today, July 1. While Diamond mandated the release of comics on Wednesdays (for logistical purposes), DC is rolling back to Tuesdays (as it used to be before Diamond gained dominance in the 90s). I can't say that I really care about this one way or another other than the fact that I'm suddenly unsure when I should post "new release" alerts.

Some of you may recall that for the first 6 years of this blog, I posted 5 days a week. If that were still the case, I'd just move "new releases" from Wednesdays to Tuesdays. But I stopped posting 5-days-a-week because, frankly, there's just not that much new to say about a character DC has rarely chosen to spotlight positively in the New 52 era. I've been very happy posting three days a week and would like to continue that pace, if I can make a schedule work that doesn't alienate readers.

Should I maintain the Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule and post about new comics on Monday instead of Wednesday? Or should I change the three days I post to include a Tuesday (probably a Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday posting schedule) so that I can keep you informed of day and date releases? Or, should I just keep posting new releases on Wednesday, since that's when Diamond will keep releasing books and you might as well make one trip for everything?

This week's poll question: What day of the week do you want me to tell you that DCEASED: Dead Planet #1 and Harley Quinn #74 have been released? Please visit the Boosterrific Polls page to view results for this week's poll.

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Not so long ago, Booster booster Fin called my attention to a comic I had long overlooked. It wasn't a missed Booster Gold appearance. Not quite, anyway.

Just see if this banter doesn't sound familiar:

art by David Williams and Kelsey Shannon

Those panels are from The Authority: The Lost Year, a series in which the Authority bounced from one alternate universe to another. (This was back in 2010, before the New 52 folded the Wildstorm Universe into the mainstream DCnU.)

Issues #8 and #9 were written by Grant Morrison, Keith Giffen, and J.M. DeMatteis and featured an alternate universe in which the local Authority looked and acted a lot like a particular, best-selling DC Comics team of the late 1980s.

The meta-textural take on the Justice League International by the JLI's original writing team is delightful, especially as contrasted with the modern, no-nonsense Authority concept (itself strongly reminiscent of the extreme 1990s love affair with "mature" sex and violence content).

As you can see, that's Blue Beetle in the role of the Authority's Midnighter (a Batman-like vigilante) and Booster Gold as Apollo (whose character is a riff on Superman — so fitting!) In their original continuity, Apollo and Midnighter are a homosexual couple, allowing the issue's writers to directly tackle the longstanding Boostle phenomenon 'shipping Blue and Gold into a romantic relationship.

I'm sorry I hadn't realized this book existed sooner. Thanks, Fin.

Comments (2) | Add a Comment | Tags: apollo authority blue beetle david williams fin grant morrison j.m. dematteis justice league international keith giffen kelsey shannon midnighter wildstorm

The fans have spoken, and they've said pretty much what I'd expected.

Last week's poll question: Should Booster Gold be in a romantic relationship with Harley Quinn? (48 votes)

Let's see. In the past 35 years, Booster Gold's biggest romantic liaisons have been with a spoiled movie star, a Senator's daughter turned super hero, an entertainment critic, and now an insane psychiatrist. Our boy doesn't really have a "type," does he?

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