The big news this weekend, at least so far as Booster Gold and the Justice League International are concerned, has been the buzz about a sketch appearing on artist R.B. Silva's Instagram page that shows Booster Gold alongside several other high profile characters.

This image is cropped. For the full image, visit instagram.com/p/UgmeoAtmwa/

From left to right, that's Nightwing, Batgirl, Booster Gold, Hawkman, Captain Marvel Shazam, Black Canary, and Red Tornado. What are these characters doing together? Is this an upcoming comic book team? The picture's comment tag isn't a lot of help in deciphering this mystery.

I can't talk about it :) #hankman #boostergold #shazam #blackcanary #batgirl #redtornado #nightwing

Of course, this tells us nothing about the image that we can't see by looking. Given an absence of information, comic book fans do what they are apt to do: freak out. (And yes, the first hashtag by Silva for that image is "#hankman," and not "#hawkman." Was that a typo? Those two keys are nowhere near each other on my keyboard.)

The images have been discussed in the ComicBookResources.com Forum, repeated at BleedingCool.com, covered by Russ Burlingame at ComicBook.com, and even analyzed here in the Boosterrific Forum. Booster Gold fans sure are excited about seeing Booster, even if it's only as a tiny thumbnail sketch.

The question is whether or not this image from Silva represents news of a return for Booster. The answer is that we don't know yet.

DC hasn't announced anything, and Silva has been known to draw commission that have nothing to do with official DC publications. Could it be a pitch by Silva? A first draft of an upcoming book?

There's no evidence yet to suggest anything, so make of it what you will. My advice is that you not get your hopes up until you see it in writing, but I share your enthusiasm that maybe the Booster drought may be coming to an end.

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If you look around the Internet for information on Booster Gold, you might discover a book titled Influential Superheroes of All Time: Booster Gold attributed to Elizabeth Dummel. This 240-page book is one in a series assembled by Ms. Dummel about comic book super heroes. If dig a little deeper into this book, you'll invariably encounter this disclaimer from the publisher:

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. This book presents a fictional biography of one influential superhero character that greatly influenced the world, Booster Gold. This book puts together a showcase of the character's fictional biography and his influence over the world's culture. Read about Booster Gold's powers and abilities, enemies, creators, and more.

"Free sources online"? Has the information been vetted to validate unqualified statements on Wikipedia about Booster speaking "Esperanto as his first language"? (Besides a joke by Blue Beetle, there is no proof of this.) Does the book use the information from Adherents.com to identify Booster Gold as an atheist? (Another one-off punchline with no other supporting evidence.) How seriously does the book take reports from FanExpo 2011 about Booster's New 52 Canadian citizenship? (Much reported, never repeated in canon.) And most importantly, does that mean that the book includes content from Boosterrific.com?

The publisher, Webster Digital Services, defends the book's content as legal under under Creative Commons licensing. That may be technically true, but don't expect any great insight from their copy-and-paste publications of Google search results.

For awhile, the book was available on Amazon.com, although that no longer seems to be the case. Copies are still on eBay.com and BarnesandNoble.com for about $25 apiece. If that's the going rate for republished Wikipedia entries, the content at Boosterrific.com must be priceless!

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I read the results of this poll as, "Booster Gold is just the way I like him!" I couldn't agree more. Here's hoping that one day the rest of the world finds out how awesome our Booster really is.

Last week's poll question: What is the biggest obstacle to making the public recognize Booster Gold as an A-list hero? (44 votes)

I know that yesterday, I made the case that Booster Gold would NOT be the "time-displaced hero" in DC Presents #19, but that doesn't mean that you have to just take my word for it. I'm not Darkseid. I'll let you cling to your hope that Booster will show up if it adds a little motivation to your life. So what do you say, Booster or no Booster?

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I rarely do this, but I've received so many notices about it, I think I can avoid it no longer. For the record: no, it does not look like Booster Gold will be the mystery guest solicited for the final issue of DC Presents.

DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS #19
Written by TONY BEDARD
Art by JESUS SAIZ
Fold-out cover by JESUS MERINO
On sale APRIL 17 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T • FINAL ISSUE
• In this final issue, what time displaced-hero has arrived on our world—and is the destruction he brings the herald to a great disaster?

That tease was from the April Soliciatations released last week, and it has caused many of you to speculate that the "time-displaced hero" is Booster Gold. Russ Burlingame ran an article about it at ComicBook.com, and we discussed it in the Boosterrific Forum. We all came to the same conclusion: it's probably not Booster Gold.

The sword seen on the revealed half of the gatefold cover looks notably like the sword carried by Beowulf in a back-up feature in Sword of Sorcery. DC Presents #19 is written by Tony Bedard, who also writes Beowulf's story in Sword of Sorcery. Combine those two facts and it sure looks like that "time-displaced hero" will be Beowulf. Not Booster Gold.

The only way to find out for sure will be to check out DC Presents #9 when it is released April 17, 2013, but Booster Gold fans probably shouldn't be getting their hopes up.

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Brighten your week with Kerrith Johnson's "Believe - Blue and Gold."

This is just one of several Blue and Gold inspired pieces that illustrator Kerrith Johnson has posted on his Tumblr blog this year. You can find even more of his work on his page at Deviant Art. Thanks to Morgenstern for the link.

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