Eric Martsolf has been playing Brady Black on the daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives since 2008. But Booster Gold fans know him better as the only person to date to play a live action Booster Gold on television.

Martsolf was recently interviewed by Canadian television website, GlobalTV.com, where he doubled down on his earlier comments about the legacy of playing Booster Gold.

GlobalTV.com: From playing various roles in shows such as Days of Our Lives, Passions, and Global's own NCIS, what has been your favourite role to date?

Eric: Besides Brady Black it would have to be Booster Gold from the Smallville series because I got to fly. I got to show Clark Kent how to be Superman and it was just cool. I got a lot of credit with my kids because at the age that they were at, they truly believed that I could shoot lasers out of my wrists and if they misbehaved they thought I was going to shoot a laser at them. That role has just given me a lot back.

Booster Gold is the role that keeps on giving.

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Westfield Comics has posted an article detailing the origins of Booster Gold Volume 1 in advance of the reprinting of those issues for the upcoming Booster Gold: The Big Fall hardcover.

The article was written by Robert Greenberger, a former DC editor who worked on the Who's Who series. Greenberger spoke with Booster's creator, Dan Jurgens, for a first-person take on the occasion. Most of what was said will be familiar to long-time Booster boosters (much of it is corroborated by what Jurgens had previously told me in my Secret Origin interview) but it's always interesting to hear Jurgens speak of the old days at DC.

Writes Greenberger:

Jurgens pitched the idea to Giordano and was surprised at how quickly the series was picked up. "At the time, DC was a remarkably fun place to work," Jurgens recounted. "They were very, very open to new ideas and concepts. The company was committed to trying new things.

"I was at a convention in Dallas that Dick Giordano and Pat Bastienne were also attending. Dick was always highly encouraging and always said if I had anything in terms of a project idea, to bring it to him.

"We had breakfast before the Con started and I pitched him the basic concept of Booster—where he came from, what motivated him and what would make him different. At that point, I didn't even have the pitch written out. I believe I had a preliminary sketch.

Booster Gold being born in Dallas makes perfect sense. There are few times/places more associated with American capitalism than Dallas, Texas in the mid-80s. (Booster Gold versus J.R. Ewing!)

Speaking of villains, Jurgens also admits to a lingering affinity for Dirk Davis. Maybe one day Booster's selfish agent will get a shot at redemption. Until then, you can relive his glory days in Booster Gold: The Big Fall when it is released this September.

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The life of any comic book hero would be a lonely one if not for the many characters who have made up their supporting cast. Just as Superman has Lois Lane and Batman has Alfred, Booster Gold has also shared his adventures with quite a few people over the years. Today we look at one of those, Skeets.

Most heroes select a sidekick to help assist them in their heroic mission. Not Booster Gold. No, he wouldn't even *have* a heroic career without the assistance of his robotic sidekick, Skeets.

Skeets, a BX9 Security Robot, was Michael "Booster" Carter's co-worker at the Space Museum in the 25th century when Booster got the idea to steal a time machine and travel into the past to begin a life of super-heroics. Realizing he would need help, Booster added to his list of crimes by also kidnapping Skeets.

Rather than resent being displaced from his own time, Skeets embraced the opportunity for a first-hand observation of what to him was ancient history. Using his database of cultural knowledge, Skeets aided Booster in assimilating into 20th century culture, including supervising his tactics on the way to establishing Booster Gold as a powerhouse of both business and crime-fighting.

Due in part to Booster's immaturity, their relationship remained largely one-sided. Though Booster called Skeets a confidant, the robot was often treated exclusively a coach and mentor. When Booster left Metropolis to join the Justice League International, he deactivated Skeets and had him placed in storage, consulting him only on rare occasions when he needed access to 25th-century knowledge or technology. Despite this mistreatment, Skeets held no ill-will towards his former kidnapper. When Blue Beetle used alien technology to replace Booster's 20th-century power suits, Skeets voluntarily became the new suit's operating system, reuniting Booster and his sidekick in an unorthodox way.

This coupling of sidekick and powers would last through several different super suits. However, when Booster rejoined the Justice League International's successor group, the Super Buddies, Skeets was once again left behind. At least this time, Skeets was allowed to go his own way. The two drifted apart, and it would be at least a year before Booster learned that Skeets had been captured and disassembled for parts by Maxwell Lord's anti-hero Checkmate organization.

Though the details remain a mystery, Booster Gold traveled through time and repaired his robotic friend, this time using the body of a 25-century valet robot. Thanks to the timely intervention of Rip Hunter (with an assist by Doctor Magnus), Booster was able to save Skeets from a second destruction by Mister Mind in an adventure that led to Booster and Skeets joining Hunter in his mission to protect the correct course of history. To this end, Skeets would take on more responsibility (and power), eventually leading to evidence that he was transcending his original programming.

Whether or not Skeets was truly evolving is a question left unanswered following Doctor Manhattan's meddling in the continuity of the DC Universe. In the aftermath, a new Booster Gold emerged accompanied by a new Skeets, this time an SKS-1 prototype soldier's assistant. The new Booster is less mature than ever before. Thankfully, the new Skeets, in addition to being even more powerful, is also more independent.

Perhaps this third time around, Skeets will finally get the respect he deserves as Booster Gold's equal partner and not just another sidekick.

For a bit of insight into what Dan Jurgens was thinking when he created Skeets, see my Secret Origins interview. You can also click here to read my post from April 24, 2015.

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Now that the final chapter of Heroes in Crisis has been written, I'm of the general impression that the less said about it, the better.

(Right now, I never want to read a DC comic book again. Maybe by Monday, I'll be in a better mood.)

While I'm recovering from my own personal trauma, enjoy this delightful sketch of Bing Crosby and Bob Hope as Booster Gold and Blue Beetle drawn by Joe Phillips in the style of Al Hirschfeld tweeted by @DrPopCultureBG.

Sigh. I still love you, high collar. (And I'm tickled pink by the thought of Booster wearing one of Bing's rugs.)

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Heroes in Crisis #9 is out today, putting a period on a frankly disappointing mini-series. All's well that, well, ends.

Newsarama.com has the issue preview, which delightfully gives almost nothing away for a change. We'll all be surprised when we get to our Local Comic Shops today.

Buy this issue and make Skeets happy!

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