If you followed the adventures of Booster Gold in the mid-90s, you must be familiar with the work of Dan Vado. Vado was the writer who gave Booster his first suit of bulky 20th-century power armor in Justice League America #80, cut off his arm and killed him (temporarily) in Justice League America #89, then restored what remained of the fortune Dirk Davis had stolen in Extreme Justice #6.

Vado's time writing the character is often overshadowed by the, um, "extreme" art of the era. That's a shame. Vado's writing strongly emphasized the troubles and personalities of the characters in the ensemble cast. Yes, it's all a bit melodramatic, but that was always a component of the International era of the Justice League. Extreme Justice might not have a sterling legacy, but it's really pretty good if you can read it with your eyes closed.

Happy 56th Birthday, Dan Vado. And thank you.

Comments (1) | Add a Comment | Tags: dan vado extreme justice happy birthday justice league international

To those of you who still say Twitter isn't good for anything, I give you this:

This mock-up of Nathan Fillion as Booster Gold came to us by way of its artist, @BossLogic. And, yes, I would pay money to see this in a movie theater.

Comments (2) | Add a Comment | Tags: bosslogic fan art nathan fillion twitter.com

As I said two weeks ago, the first volume of Booster Gold was in many ways a re-investigation of the heroic ideal of the DC Universe. But Dan Jurgens didn't draw the line at exploring what made a hero. He also took a hard look at what made a villain.

Jurgens tended to humanize Booster's villains, giving them reasonable backstories that were filled with the same short of hardships that Booster Gold was struggling to overcome. Sometimes that resulted in characters like Broderick or Dirk Davis, but it didn't always work. No matter how much you pathos you give to a color-blind man who dresses like a prism, he's still going to look like a clown.

Of course I asked Jurgens what his motive was for bringing the Rainbow Raider, one of the least successful of Flash's foes, to Metropolis. Why choose him, a villain with a lackluster Silver Age-style gimmick, to feature in a two-part story against a modern anti-hero like Booster Gold?

I though it'd be fun to play off the color angle. Plus, I liked the visual of him riding his rainbow.

Not my best day.

So not everything can be Shakespeare. It's important to remember that sometimes a funny-book is just a funny book.

Despite that Rainbow Raider story, we still thank you, Mr. Jurgens.

(Reminder: no post on Monday because of the Labor Day holiday. Blogging is hard work!)

Comments (2) | Add a Comment | Tags: dan jurgens origins rainbow raider true story

I'm on the fence here. I like Nathan Fillion, but he is not my ideal Booster Gold. Judging by these numbers, I'm not alone.

Last week's poll question: Should Nathan Fillion be cast as Booster Gold? (54 votes)

Comic book characters get reinvented all the time. Even the perennial-sellers like Superman and Batman aren't the same characters they were 70, 30, or even 10 years ago. They keep their names and their capes and their dead parents, but that's about all. That makes me wonder what parts of a Booster Gold's character are so essential that they can't be changed?

Comments (3) | Add a Comment | Tags: characters nathan fillion polls

Booster Gold fans rejoice! Our hero, the gilded guardian of time, and his sentient sidekick, Skeets, return to action today when they join forces with that mini munchkin of mayhem, Bat-Mite! Evildoers beware, the team of Mite and Gold are on the case!

*Ahem.* (All that bubbly sort of goes straight to your head, doesn't it?)

You'll find Bat-Mite #4 in your Local Comic Shop today. Buy it and make Skeets happy.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: bat-mite new releases