So Convergence is now over, and it represents a paradigm shift for our hero. We shouldn't be surprised; the first time DC tried a weekly, eight-issue event series, it, too, rewrote the book for Booster Gold.

By the conclusion to 1988's Millennium, Booster Gold was penniless and disgraced thanks to the machinations of his manager, Dirk Davis. It was revealed that Davis had all along been a sleeper agent for the evil Manhunters, and he had manipulated our hero into a corner. As a result, Booster lost his solo series and very nearly quit adventuring altogether.

Davis' personality was hard to nail down throughout Booster Gold volume 1. Some issues he was Booster's friend, and some issues he was in league with Booster's enemy or trying to steal Booster's girl. That might make readers wonder what creator Dan Jurgens might have intended for Davis if Millennium hadn't resulted in the series' cancellation.

Naturally, I put the question to Jurgens himself.

I was merely trying to write Dirk as a more complicated individual-- multifaceted, as so many people are. So, yes, he was a huckster. The MILLENNIUM crossover came somewhat out of nowhere and we were encouraged to use important characters as Manhunters. I plugged Dirk into that role as part of the story, but was never really thrilled with the concept of doing so.

In this case, it was more about the general notion that we use fairly important characters as the Manhunters. It was also thought that it would be more effective that we use someone who'd been there from issue #1, and I wasn't about to use Trixie.

When I would have started the series, there was no plan for Davis or anyone else to be a Manhunter because MILLENNIUM didn't even exist. All of it came later and in a situation like that, you do what you can do make things work.

Nearly 30 years later, Convergence reveals that DC is still flying by the seat of its pants. Would we want our comics any other way?

As always, thanks to Dan Jurgens.

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In the future, Booster Gold might one day marry a blonde, but he's had his share of other love interests in the past. Before Godiva and Gladys, before Firehawk and Blair Butler and Trixie Collins, there was Monica Lake. And she was a real piece of work befitting the Corporate Crusader.

Monica was a career-driven actress who only loved men who could, ahem, boost her career. She tolerated Booster's bad fashion sense, lame jokes, and camera-hogging tendencies only for the reflected glory it brought her. This did not endear her to anyone, including Booster.

Their relationship lasted for the first year-and-a-half of Booster Gold's superheroic career before Booster finally showed her the door. (Literally.)

Of course, the cliche of the "difficult" actress doing whatever was required to get to the top is nothing new. One actress in particular during Hollywood's Golden Age had a similar name and a terrible reputation. I had to know if Booster's Monica might have been based on a real person, so I naturally asked creator Dan Jurgens just that.

Not really, no. I always liked the way the name "Veronica Lake" rolled off the tongue. It had a great sound, so I went with "Monica". But that's where the similarity ended.

It has been said that The Blue Dahlia screenwriter Raymond Chandler disliked Veronica Lake so much, he nicknamed her "Moronica Lake." But if Jurgens says he didn't copy that on purpose, I believe him.

As always, thanks to Dan Jurgens.

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Everyone knows that the best super heroes have sidekicks that reflect some aspect of their personalities. Batman has his inverse with Robin, Captain Marvel has a palette swap with Captain Marvel Junior, the Red Bee has a real bee with Michael. So what kind of sidekick should a hero from the future have? A robot, of course!

We already know that it was no accident that Booster Gold's sidekick Skeets was shaped like a football. But what kind of name is "skeets"? To find out, I asked the little fella's creator, Dan Jurgens:

In my younger days, I did some hunting. As part of that, I often went skeet shooting. For those who don't know, skeets are small, frisbee sized objects that hurl through the air for target practice.

Given his size and way he flew around, "Skeets" seemed a perfect name.

So despite having no arms or legs, it turns out that Skeets is every bit as athletically inspired as his hero.

Thanks to Dan Jurgens (who I believe has a very good chance of surviving Convergence).

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Even by comic book standards, "Booster Gold" is kind of a funny name. In the now-classic origin story in Booster Gold #9, Booster himself tells us that the name was an accident!

I always wondered if there was any real-world truth to this scene. Was Goldstar the original working title for Booster Gold? Did Booster Gold creator Dan Jurgens flub the pitch to DC executives, resulting in a "Booster Gold" comic instead of the intended "Goldstar" comic? For the answer, I went straight to the source and asked Jurgens directly. In a nutshell, the answer was "no." Here's what he said:

I was really hooked on "Booster Gold" right from the start. I liked the way it rolled off the tongue and, more importantly, touched on two aspects of his character:

1) "Booster" signifies both the concept of stealing something (to boost a ring, for example) as well as the the self-promoting aspect of it.

2) "Gold" clearly pertained to his quest for star status and money.

In other words-- it fit!

There's only one Booster Gold. Accept no imitations.

Thanks to Dan Jurgens for indulging my quest to document every little thing I can about the history of the original Corporate Crusader.

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The back pages of 2008's Booster Gold: 52 Pick-Up hardback treated readers to Dan Jurgens' early sketches for Booster Gold's costume.

As odd as some of these are, none of these designs stray too far from the Booster Gold costume we've come to know and love. And there must be something right about Booster's costume because it has stood the test of time.

I asked Booster's creator Dan Jurgens how much credit he thought Booster's costume deserved in keeping the character at the forefront of the DC Universe for 30 years.

A lot. I really do believe it's a great look -- very tailored to the character, much in the same way Green Lantern's always seemed perfect for him.

That's our Booster Gold. Anything worth doing is worth doing in style.

As always, thanks to Dan Jurgens.

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