Posts have been light this week in large part because work has kept me so busy. That hasn't changed.

So today, as we head into the weekend, all I can offer is a couple of Booster sightings passed along to me this week by longtime Booster booster Rob Snow:

Booster sighting. New book called DC Periodic table. Booster, Ted and Rip all have profiles. No Skeets.

Officially, the book is called The Periodic Table of DC, and it comes to us by way of DK Publishing.

While DK thrives primarily on being the print equivalent of a CBR listicle, I cannot fault their presentations, which are always top notch. So although I have not yet seen this book myself, I suggest you hustle to pick one up at your local book store before all their copies argon. (Har, har.)

Later in the week, Rob wrote in again.

Nuther Booster sighting. Scott Kolins facebook page has killer Booster sketch.

Facebook and I no longer have a functional relationship, so I cannot see Kolins' post myself. Thankfully, Rob very kindly passed along a screenshot, which looks like this.

If you get along with Facebook better than I do, maybe you can track down a better look.

Thanks a bunch, Rob.

UPDATE: D'oh! As Cort Carpenter points out in the comments, that Scott Kolins sketch was one of his commissions. In fact, I even posted it here on Boosterrific.com back in May 2020! You can see it at this link.

If I wasn't so wrapped up in work, I might have noticed that, but obviously I didn't. Oops. I usually make some effort search my own back catalog in order to bring you only the freshest Booster Gold news. There's probably some sort of lesson in here about life in general... but I'm too busy to figure out what that might be. In this case, at least the sketch is totally worth seeing a second time, as are most of Cort's commissions, which you can see at this link.

Thanks again to Cort for sharing his sketchbook with us, and, heck, for commissioning so many cool Booster Gold sketches that we can't even keep track of all of them!

Comments (3) | Add a Comment | Tags: books commissions cort carpenter dk periodic table rob snow scott kolins

Cort Carpenter has returned to once again give us a look at the latest additions to his already overstuffed Booster Gold sketchbook. Feast your eyes on these:

Scott Kolins

Todd Nauck

Richard Pace

Dan Parent

Andrew Robinson

Craig Rousseau

That Craig Rousseau piece really blows me away. You can see it and all the rest of these and more at imgur.com.

Thanks for sharing, Cort. I can't wait to see what you come up with next.

Comments (1) | Add a Comment | Tags: andrew robinson commissions cort carpenter craig rousseau dan parent imgur.com richard pace scott kolins todd nauck

The fourth issue of the fourth DC Comics volume of Blue Beetle was released one week ago today. Since this issue finally got an origin story for the "Rebirth" versions of all three Blue Beetles, let's run a quick recap.

In 1966, Ted Kord inherited the mantle of the Blue Beetle from his predecessor, Dan Garret. Although Garret did not give Kord the magical scarab that gave Blue Beetle his powers, Kord made do with advanced technology making up for the lost abilities.

In 1986, it was revealed that Kord had found the scarab, but it never worked for him. The new hero Booster Gold would soon become Ted Kord's partner in crimefighting and his best friend.

In 2006, Jaime Reyes found the scarab after Ted Kord's death. He soon learns that the scarab wasn't actually magical but was instead a malfunctioning alien device. Booster Gold locates Reyes and introduces him to the super hero community.

In 2012, in the wake of the universe-changing Flashpoint, Dan Garret and Ted Kord are erased from history. Jaime Reyes becomes the first (and only) Blue Beetle when he comes into contact with an alien scarab following a heist by the Brotherhood of Evil. There is no connection between Booster Gold and Blue Beetle in the New 52 Universe.

In 2016, after yet another universe rebooting Rebirth, Jamie Reyes comes into contact with an alien scarab that was floating down a river. He is mentored by Ted Kord, a retired super hero who once called himself the Blue Beetle after a chance encounter with his neighbor, the previous possessor of Reyes' scarab. There appears to still be no connection between Booster Gold and Blue Beetle in the Rebirth Universe.

But note: for the first time, Booster Gold predates Blue Beetle. Kord name drops "Booster Gold" as a bad example for a name when trying to think up his own moniker on page 17 of Blue Beetle Volume 4 #4.

In the Rebirth Universe, Ted Kord has had time to develop his technology, become the Blue Beetle, and retire from heroics to mentor his successor. If Booster Gold has been around that whole time, what has he been doing? (It's been 519 days since we've last seen Booster Gold make any significant appearance within the DC Universe.) And why do they have to keep changing Jamie Reyes' origin story?

Despite my desire to see Blue Beetle and Booster Gold eventually reconciled, Blue Beetle volume 4 is not a series I can endorse. Keith Giffen's scripts are disjointed and meandering. Rather than resolve the confusion, Scott Kolins only muddies the water further with a loose art style that lacks any subtlety and makes comprehension a chore instead of a joy. (After four issues and a one-shot, I still don't know if the characters have freckles or bad acne. Perhaps the dots are fleas given how they relocate from panel to panel.)

For my money, Blue Beetle has been the biggest disappointment of Rebirth so far. So until Booster Gold is reintroduced to Ted Kord, I won't be paying much attention to the ever-changing origins of the Blue Beetles from now on.

Comments (3) | Add a Comment | Tags: blue beetle cancellation keith giffen scott kolins

The Blot had a busy summer. He picked up these fine sketch commissions for his Booster Gold sketchbook at Space City Comic Con:

From left to right, that's the work of Norm Rapmund, Scot Kolins, and Sean Galloway as the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd drawings in The Blot's Booster Gold sketchbook. You can see them and the other 20 pieces in much larger detail at The Blot Says' Flickr page. Thanks, Blot!

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