Today's post is going to be old news for a lot of you, but after my rant yesterday, I felt compelled to run this today.

Via Twitter, Norm Rapmund has provided a critical clue about the "BG" art Dan Jurgens teased last week:

Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund working together again is great news, but it's not unexpected. When DC released the April solicitation for Booster Gold/The Flintstones Annual #1 back in December, the solicitation included this line:

Variant cover by DAN JURGENS and NORM RAPMUND

So although neither Jurgens nor Rapmund told us why they're collaborating on a cover featuring Booster Gold, I think we can put two and two together.

Booster Gold/The Flintstones Annual #1 will go on sale on March 29 with a $4.99 cover price. The standard cover is by Mike Allred and will also feature Booster Gold, so bring $10!

Thanks to bennibeard for linking to Rapmund's tweet in the Boosterrific Forum.

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Tuesday, Booster Gold creator and current Action Comics scribe Dan Jurgens posted the following tweet:

Later that day, Morgenstern posted a link to the tweet in the Boosterrific Forum. Because it is likely that Jurgens was referring to Booster Gold, I retweeted the message via @boosterrific. That was the last I expected to hear about that, at least until we had some new information. (Does "BG" stand for what we want it to? Why be coy about it? Why is he drawing it?) I was wrong.

Late Thursday night, CBR.com reposted the tweet on their site. I assumed that was because they were more starved for content than usual. The post, by Jim Johnson, adds nothing to the tweet that isn't visible from the original post. However, within hours of that post, multiple people reached out to me to say, "Have you seen this on CBR.com?" Yes, I had.

Before I rant a bit — it's my website, and I'll rant if I want to! — let me say that I don't want to discourage anyone from sending me anything that they think is Boosterrific, I really don't. I want your input, and I will always try to be polite and thankful for anything you send me.

But paying so much attention to a teasing tweet not because Dan Jurgens posted it on Twitter but because CBR reposted it? Really? CBR? A once-great website of comics journalism that lobotomized itself in a bid to become the BuzzFeed of comics/movie/television entertainment? At least when Megan Peters covered the tweet for ComicBook.com, she added some context! But CBR? "Hey, look! A thing!" Grr!

I know that I shouldn't be irritated. It's no one's fault but mine that I underestimated how excited Booster Gold fans would be that Dan Jurgens might actually be drawing the character again no matter what the medium or purpose. I should have immediately posted Jurgens' tweet here in the Boosterrific Blog on Wednesday. And I certainly can't expect anyone else to share my biases against CBR. For all of those oversights and failures, I apologize. I'll try to do better in the future.

TLDR: For some reason, Dan Jurgens told the world he is drawing something that starts with the initials "BG," and I didn't tell you. But don't worry, CBR.com has you covered.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll crawl back into my cave.

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Roy Westerman and Phil Cho have set about redesigning the DCU in a project they're calling Earth-27. This is Cho's version of Booster Gold and Skeets:

What a rogue! I don't care for the extraneous zipper and buttons across the chest, but I still think it's better than the New 52 design.

You can see more of Cho's designs on DeviantArt.com or his website, PhilChoArt.com.

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Booster Gold hasn't always had the most reliable appearance schedule. For every Booster Gold appearance you collected, there is probably one you missed. Maybe on purpose. Our hero's inclusion in Eclipso #18 likely falls into this category.

The Slings & Arrows Comic Guide describes this early 90s series as something trying "hard to be different — Eclipso is both villain and host — but in the end it becomes another team book because Eclipso's evil is too downbeat and serious for him to carry the narrative by himself." I assure you, it wasn't that good.

The series is best known for the mass murder of several minor C-List heroes in issue 13. This event was used to justify drawing the Justice League into the series starting with issue 14, including Booster Gold, in all his extreme 1990s power armor glory:

Art by Luke McDonnell, Audwynn Jermaine Newma, Raymond Kryssing, & Tom McCraw

"It means we're all in deep doo-doo!" Ah, the 1990s. How I do not miss you.

Eclipso issue 18, released on this date in 1994, was the final issue of this series. Too bad the cancellation came five months too late to save Commander Steel and Major Victory. Rest in peace, guys.

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If you think about it, we owe the longevity of our hero to the success of 1987's Justice League reboot which launched 30 years ago yesterday.

Although Dan Jurgens created a unique and endearing character in Michael "Booster" Carter, it was the character's inclusion in J.M. DeMatteis and Keith Giffen's reboot of DC's flagship team (and specifically his relationship with Blue Beetle) that cemented Booster Gold's place in the DCU. Without the JLI, Booster Gold probably would have faded to the same sort of neverland as other lesser known DC characters like Geo-Force or Blue Devil.

In celebration of the anniversary, the Irredeemable Shag interviewed DeMatteis for a very special edition of the Justice League International: Bwah-Ha-Ha Podcast. The writer admitted that Booster Gold held a unique place in the series.

Shag: Favorite JLI members. Give me like two or three.

DeMatteis: Well, Beetle and Booster for sure. Because in so many ways, they're the heart and soul of the book. ... I love the banter, and I love that we continued to play with them.

We love it too!

You can find the whole podcast interview, which covers the JLI from their inception, through their name changes, and into the year 3000, at fireandwaterpodcast.com.

Something tells me we'll still be celebrating the JLI when it's 60th anniversary rolls around. In every medium, great entertainment endures.

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