In celebration of the 30th anniversary of the first appearance of Booster Gold, I've spent the year asking Dan Jurgens questions about Booster Gold's earliest adventures. Today I conclude this year-long column with two final questions about Booster's powers.

In the pages of Secret Origins #35 (1989), Mark Waid pointed out that all of Booster's original powers and abilities were based on equipment found in Superman's pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths adventures, including Superboy's Legion flight-ring, Brainiac's force-field, and Lex Luthor's power suit. Most of those original powers are still part of Booster's ability set today, except for the Mass Dispersal Force, originally based on Jor-El's Phantom Zone Projector.

Being able to dematerialize and rematerialize matter at will is a pretty significant power. I asked Jurgens why it faded into the land of forgotten powers so quickly.

People seemed to have a hard time grasping what it was.

On top of that, I'd had a conversation with a couple of people at DC who thought it seems a bit too "magical". So, with that in mind, we dropped it.

On the other hand, one of the most enduring components of Booster's power set didn't have any clear antecedent: his Booster Shots ray blasts.

What could have inspired Jurgens to give Booster ranged gauntlet attacks? And perhaps more importantly, which came first, the power or the "pun"-ny name?

Good question!

The name really did come first in that case. I had been scrawling ideas in a note bad -- just sort of an idea matrix, if you will -- and wrote down "Booster Shots".

Once I did that, I simply had to find a way to use it!

There you have it. (And yes, I did save that one for last because Jurgens said it was a good question. Hooray, me.)

Thank you, Dan Jurgens. I've really enjoyed quizzing you on thirty-year-old trivia.

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Today marks the observance of America Recycles Day, a day organized by Keep America Beautiful to promote national awareness of the benefits of waste recycling. Since Boosterrific.com is devoted to comic books, it is only natural that we celebrate with comic books, and in today's case, action figures!

DC's New 52 is nothing but an experiment in recycling ideas. I asked last week what you thought about recycling one of Booster's oldest powers, and a plurality of today's voters act like they've never even heard of it! Seriously, people, you're reading a site called Boosterrific and you haven't checked out our section on Booster Gold's powers?

Last week's poll question: Should Booster Gold use his long-ignored Mass Dispersal Force power in future adventures on TV or in the DCnU? (37 votes)

Today, through their website Matty Collector, Mattel releases Justice League Unlimited Booster Gold for the the last time. This release is part of the "Final Figures" series of JLU figures from Mattel, as the company tries to clean out their warehouse on this discontinued line of figures. The Booster in this set has been previously released in two different paints, so today's Booster Gold figure is really nothing new. That makes this Booster the perfect spokesman for America Recycles Day!

Booster aside, this "Final Figures" series 3-pack also includes exclusive versions of Blue Beetle and Fire, an ideal collectible for fans of the original Justice League International. If you're interested in acquiring limited edition set, act fast! Matty Collector figures don't last long, and this thirty dollar 3-pack is limited to quantities of 10. Hopefully, given Mattel's valiant effort at recycling figures, there will be enough sets to go to everybody who wants one.

Speaking of action figures, it seemed that Booster Gold got a new figure every year in recent years, but nothing since Flashpoint. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

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More than 3 million people are watching Arrow each week, not a far cry from the numbers that Smallville was pulling in its final season. Given that the CW approved a full season of episodes, it would seem that the network is happy. But the only question that matters is how Booster Gold fans feel about the show.

Last week's poll question: How have episodes of Arrow influenced your expectations for a Booster Gold television show from the same producers? (40 votes)

Arrow has changed a lot while adapting Green Arrow for television. Some modifications are to be expected as the character moves away from his source material, but it's not like characters don't change over time even in their native comic book format. Even Booster Gold has changed a little since his 1985 debut.

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Combine an attention-hounding rapper with a media-grabbing time traveler, and what you get is pure art.

Captain Senator created the above piece incorporating the opening lines of Kanye West's song "Power." The piece is appropriately titled "Kanye Plus Comics: Booster Gold" and was intended to be part of a series. You can see more of the Captain's work on her Deviant Art page, but I especially recommend her sketch of "Booster Gold beating up dinosaurs with lasers on their heads."

Reminder: there will be no Boosterrific.com blog post on Monday, May 28, 2012 because of the Memorial Day holiday. Enjoy the long weekend.

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