Twenty years after he debuted in 1985's Booster Gold, Volume 1, #1, Booster Gold had faded from sight into the background of the DC Universe. Considered a laughingstock by other heroes and readers alike, his career and popularity was at its lowest point. That all changed thanks to Infinite Crisis.

Following the death of Blue Beetle (and the disassembly of Skeets) in Countdown to Infinite Crisis, Booster Gold became DC's avatar of pathos as he searched for the man responsible for the murder of his best friend (and sidekick). From death came rebirth as this ultimately led to Booster reclaiming his time travel ability as well as his position among the more prominent DC heroes.

Today, DC releases to comic shops The Infinite Crisis Omnibus. This 1,152-page hardcover collects all of the key books in the Infinite Crisis event and its four mini-series lead-ins. That's a lot of Booster Gold! The edition will retail for $150.00, which is about what it would cost you to pick up all these issues individually at your local comic shop.

As mega-crossover events go, Infinite Crisis is about as good as it gets. Too bad that Flashpoint, an example of how bad mega-crossover events can be, removed the story of Infinite Crisis from continuity. It's equally too bad that DC doesn't realize that by reminding us how entertaining their character development and continuity used to be, we won't ever be satisfied with the confusing and misguided post-Flashpoint DCnU.

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Earlier this month, George Pérez was among the featured guests at the annual Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Illinois. His question and answer session was recorded and hosted by Superman Homepage. Rich Johnson at Bleeding Cool transcribed some of the video, including the following quote:

Unfortunately when you are writing major characters, you sometimes have to make a lot of compromises and I was made certain promises, and unfortunately not through any fault of Dan DiDio, he was no longer the last word, lot of people making decisions, going against each other, contradicting, again in mid story. The people who love my Superman arc, I thank you. What you read, I don't know.

I've always been pretty outspoken against Dan DiDio and how I've interpreted DC's output under his direction as Publisher. While it is his job to be the public face of the company's decisions, for good or ill, to hear an industry veteran like Pérez explicitly say that DiDio isn't really the boss at DC should really teach me to temper my venomous tirades against the poor fellow.

It's been obvious for some time that DC's corporate parent, Warner Brothers, has been becoming increasingly intrusive in editorial interference of DC's storytelling. The obvious, continued editorial failures behind the rollout of the DCnU are the smoking gun pointing to a dysfunctional, fractured leadership.

As much as I have blamed DC Comics Co-Publishers DiDio and Jim Lee for the recent poor treatment of Booster Gold, I should give DiDio the benefit of the doubt with his plans for Justice League International. After all, if Booster Gold doesn't reappear in a new title soon, there will be plenty of blame to go around.

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Booster Gold has a legion of fans around the world seeking to emulate his charming demeanor and winning smile. Traditionally, most of those fans have two legs, but not this one. Meet Booster Gold, the puppy.

This weekend, owner shygoofy added this Maltese/Yorkshire Terrier mix puppy named Booster Gold to the list of puppies cataloged by The Daily Puppy, a website devoted to showcasing man's best friends. Nicknamed "BooBoo," this puppy is just four months old. If this puppy stays this cute as he grows up, our hero Booster Gold may find some competition for the ladies from this babe hound.

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Booster Gold's one-panel appearance in Wednesday's Blue Beetle, Volume 3, #10 caught me entirely by surprise, despite the fact that we all knew Booster would be guest starring in next month's issue #11. (We did all know that and were already planning to purchase it, right?) Thanks to Morgenstern for pointing this appearance out.

To make up for my lax oversight, I present to you the Blue Beetle comic I wish Booster Gold had appeared in this week:

The above image must be the best All Star issue that DC never published. Unwilling to wait for DC to get around to publishing this series, clearly the greatest idea in the history of comics, Thormeister created this as the cover to an entire 7-page story pitting the pair against Darth Vader. You can find that whole story and more in Thormeister's gallery at Deviant Art.

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Hey, DC, the mob has spoken: we want to see Booster Gold's supporting cast in the post-Flashpoint DCnU!

Last week's poll question: What should Booster Gold do during his September 2012 vacation? (47 votes)

Last month, DC made a lot of waves by teasing that one of their formerly heterosexual characters was switching teams. We now know that the character whose sexual preference was switched was Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern, but for awhile it was anybody's guess. Now that we know the character in question, it's fair to ask, "what if it had been Booster Gold?"

Does it matter to us hardcore Booster Gold fans what equipment our hero prefers in his sexual partners? Sure, Booster Gold had his share of one-night stands in his early days, but he hasn't been seen with a love interest on panel for years. It's no surprise that Booster has a sizable following among "shippers" who enjoy pairing him romantically with his best friend, Ted Kord. They'd be pretty happy to see Booster publicly admit his affinity for men, right?

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