Believe it or not, once upon a time, Booster Gold was such a big star that he could sell comics he wasn't in just by appearing on the cover! Backwards!

Take, for example, Secret Origins #32, released 29 years ago today.

art by Eric Shanower

This issue presents the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths origin of the Justice League of America (which was differentiated from the original origin by the substitution of Black Canary for Wonder Woman).

The Justice League International was super hot at the time, so although the only links between the two teams were Canary and Martian Manhunter, the JLI was still given prime cover real estate to sell the story to new readers unfamiliar with DCU history.

There's no reason this strategy couldn't be used to sell old stories to a modern audience today. I speak only for myself, but I'd be much happier buying a comic showcasing Damian Wayne (Robin V) if he appeared only on the cover.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: black canary blue beetle eric shanower justice league international martian manhunter secret origins

Pop culture website 13thdimension.com posted an "exclusive first look" at upcoming issues of Action Comics this weekend. Running throughout the title in September and October will be a five-part story by Dan Jurgens called "The Oz Effect," in which we will finally discover the true identity of Mr. Oz.

Reading the advance solicitations included in the article, all I could think was "please don't let Mr. Oz be Booster Gold."

The popular theory is that the mysterious Mr. Oz, introduced three years ago (!) in Superman #32, is Ozymandias from Watchmen. Personally, I think that seems a little too "on the nose" to make a very satisfying reveal after all this time. And even if the fans were right and it was supposed to be Ozymandias, I would expect DC to change Mr. Oz's secret identity mid-story to maintain the surprise. (Anyone out there still remember the last minute Captain Atom/Hawk swap in Armageddon 2001?)

Many of the things Mr. Oz has done and said over the past three years indicates a fixation on Superman. Therefore, I assume that Mr. Oz is someone aware of Superman's past in Smallville, Kansas. (I think Mr. Oz takes his name from the original manipulative "man behind the curtain," the Wizard of Oz, who also has ties to Kansas.) While those clues might point to familiar Superman foes like Conduit or Ruin, I begin to worry that it might be a time traveler with historical ties to the Man of Steel.

Which is fine, just so long as it's not Booster Gold.

I mean, if Mr. Oz is revealed to be a nearly omnipotent time traveler seeking to unify a fractured universe (post-"Crisis", "Flashpoint", "New 52", "Rebirth", "Watchmen," etc.), it would certainly explain why fan-favorite Booster Gold has been M.I.A. since Convergence. And we can't deny that Booster has beef with Superman that goes way back. And Dan Jurgens does like to recycle his favorite characters . . . .

As I said, I don't want this to be the case. I don't want Booster to be a "villain." (And I certainly don't want to have to add all 30+ appearances of Mr. Oz to the Boosterrific database after the fact.) But it could be worse. After three years of waiting to find out who Mr. Oz really is, it might turn out that he's the Black Beetle.

Comments (3) | Add a Comment | Tags: 13dimension.com action comics dan jurgens mr oz rebirth solicitations superman

No, seriously, I really need these two as actual LEGO minifigs.

This piece was created by the South African/German artists Basstudio on DeviantArt.com. Great characters know no boundaries!

Comments (1) | Add a Comment | Tags: basstudio blue beetle deviantart.com fan art lego

Before Justice League Action blew my mind this weekend, I was thinking that I should start an occasional series of posts covering some of the higher points of Booster Gold fandom. After all, every day someone is probably encountering Booster Gold for the first time, and they need to know what the good stuff is.

Apparently, The A.V. Club was thinking along similar lines. Monday, the site ran an article by Noel Murray extensively praising the Justice League Unlimited series that ran on Cartoon Network from 2004 to 2006. Most of that praise was thrown at one episode in particular: "The Greatest Story Never Told."

There are few stories in the history of Booster Gold as good as "The Greatest Story Never Told."

Murray's commentary is insightful. He covers why the episode is great as well as why all comic book fans should love Booster Gold. His post's only weakness is that it fails to make it clear to any readers who have never seen the episode just how much fun it is to watch.

So if you're a Booster Gold fan (or even if you're just Booster Gold curious), you owe it to yourself to track the episode down and spend 23 minutes with the most underappreciated hero in the DC Universe.

And when you're done watching the episode, you can read Murray's whole article at avclub.com.

Comments (2) | Add a Comment | Tags: avclub.com greatest story never told justice league unlimited noel murray

I'm about to do something I never do. I'm going to gush about something I saw on television this past weekend, specifically the Justice League Action episode "Time Out."

"Time Out" gives us possibly the greatest on-screen Booster Gold ever.

Episode writer Jonathan Callan channeled Booster Gold perfectly. Like our hero, he stole from his past to make a better present. Sci-fi geeks may recognize that the primary antagonists in "Time Out" were lifted from old Doctor Who episodes. (And that doorway at Vanishing Point sure looked like something from Stargate.) I'm not complaining. Using familiar ideas like this allows "Time Out" to squeeze some high concept time travel shenanigans into a brief eleven minutes of action.

[UPDATE: On Twitter, Callan admits that in addition to Who, the time antibodies were also inspired by Stephen King's Langoliers and the chronovore to be a "lift from Grant Morrison's All-Star Superman".]

Callan makes another theft that is much more important. The plot of "Time Out" comes from another television show you've probably heard of, specifically Justice League Unlimited episode "The Greatest Story Never Told." Once again, Booster Gold is initially presented as an incompetent dudebro who only plays at heroism for fame. Once again, Booster Gold is the only hero who can save the world when an unexpected crisis develops, and once again, no one else gets to know about it. It's the small changes to this formula that make this episode greater than its predecessor.

Whereas "Greatest Story" dropped the crisis into the lap of an ill-prepared Booster, here the problem is a job a more mature Booster has accepted, trained for, and completed many times before without any hope of reward. "Time Out" really sells Booster's inherent goodness and loneliness, personality traits commonly obscured by his more obvious desperate need for attention. In this episode, Booster is fully aware of his faults and doesn't care to hide them because how others see him isn't as important as doing the right thing.

That's some good stuff right there.

I probably don't need to mention that the episode is greatly enhanced by voice acting from former Batman Diedrich Bader and current (and all-time best) Batman Kevin Conroy. They manage to convey a lot of humor and pathos in a very short period of time. Great job done by all.

If I have any quibble, it's that Skeets doesn't have any speaking lines. But given how much good stuff we did get ("Booster cave," Vanishing Point, Booster getting the last word over Batman), I'm more than willing to let that go. That Skeets was in here at all is good enough for me.

I hope any Booster boosters who missed the broadcast will have a chance to discover this gem in reruns. I look forward to many repeat viewings myself.

Comments (2) | Add a Comment | Tags: diedrich bader jonathan callan justice league action justice league unlimited kevin conroy time out