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, Ripley "Rip" Hunter, also known as the Time Master.

The details of Rip's early life are vague, and that's just the way he wants them. In one telling, Rip was a wealthy adventurer who invented time travel to "solve mysteries that have plagued mankind for centuries." In another, he was an MIT graduate obsessed with conquering the mysteries of time travel to save the world from Vandal Savage. In yet another, he was a member of the time policing Linear Men. The truth has been intentionally obfuscated to prevent interference from those who would change history for their own nefarious means. Even "Rip Hunter" is a pseudonym.

How deep do Hunter's deceptions go? He would have Booster Gold believe that they first met in Booster Gold #13 (1987) when Booster was desperately looking for a way to return to his own future for medical treatment. From Booster's chronological point-of-view, that's true. However, only Hunter knows that he is actually Booster's son — revealed in Booster Gold #1,000,000 (2008) — sent from the future to ensure that his father got the help he needed. Talk about your classic time paradoxes!

Once Booster was out of danger, Rip continued as a consultant for Booster's B.G.I. corporation while still managing to have his own adventures elsewhere. After B.G.I. closed its doors, years would pass before the two would work together again -- but what's a few decades for a time traver? Together, Rip and Booster (and Booster's 20th-century ancestor, Daniel) saved the multiverse from Mister Mind (in 52).

In the wake of their success, the two joined forces on a more permanent basis. As the new Time Masters, they have saved history from the likes of Per Degaton's Time Stealers (in Booster Gold Volume 2, #10), Black Beetle (Booster Gold Volume 2, #19), Darkseid (Time Masters: Vanishing Point), and Maxwell Lord (Booster Gold Volume 2, #34) to name a few. And they did it all in secret.

Hunter played an essential role in helping Booster resolve the multiverse-colliding events of Convergence, but he has managed to stay otherwise mostly hidden since Doctor Manhattan meddled with known history behind the scenes of Flashpoint. Where will we see the Time Master in action next? If the past is any indication, he'll return when Booster needs him most. That's what family is for.

Interested in meeting other "People in his Neighborhood"? Get to know Trixie Collins, Daniel Carter, Jack Soo, Rani, Dirk Davis, Skeets, and Mackenzie Garrison.

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If you look at the top of this page, you might see something like this:

It has been 69 Days since Booster Gold last appeared in a DCnU comic book.

I thought that would be self-explanatory, but as Ithildyn recently noted in a recent post on Batman, Last Knight on Earth, it does open the question of what appearances count, especially in the wake of Flashpoint now that DC is expressly disinterested in even attempting to maintain a strict continuity of events between series. Therefore, let me explain my methodology.

First of all, the DCnU, or DC New Universe continuity, is what I call the "real" sequence of events of the DC Universe in the New 52 era. It's the history shared by all characters of the familiar universe, from Adam Strange to Zatanna. In comics, the "shared universe" concept is what allows the heroes established in various titles to cross over and team-up and form a Justice League. Establishing the shared timeline of the DCnU has been complicated by Convergence, Rebirth, and Doomsday Clock, but without it, there can be no "event" stories to begin with.

Obviously, not every story published by DC Comics takes place in DCnU continuity — nor would we want them all to. In years past, there have been many "imaginary" stories, sometimes called Elseworlds and sometimes Hypertime. Although they may involve "a" Booster Gold, that character isn't "the" Booster Gold. The events of those stories have no effect on the development of our hero, so those tales of alternate realities don't count against the appearance counter.

Another thing I don't count are appearances of Booster Gold within the DCnU that aren't clearly Michael Jon Carter himself. For example, even if Batman: Last Knight on Earth involved the mainstream DC timeline, the Booster Gold we get a brief glimpse of may only be a figment of Batman's guilty imagination. If that's the case, it doesn't really count as a Booster Gold appearance, does it? I put these sort of stories in my "out-of-continuity" category and the appearance counter remains unaffected.

Accurately tracking DCnU history may be an impossible task when it changes every few months, but it's still the core of what Boosterrific.com is all about. The appearance counter is a quick and easy way for Booster Gold fans to recognize gaps in Booster Gold's ongoing character development.

I hope that answers your question, Ithildyn. In short, it counts the stories I say it counts and ignores the ones I say it ignores.

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DC Comics Co-Publisher and Chief Creative Officer Jim Lee hasn't drawn Booster Gold often — the cover of Infinite Crisis #5 is the only instance I'm aware of — so we should celebrate it when we see it. Therefore, for any Booster booster who isn't following me on Twitter and hasn't seen this yet, check it out:

Lee didn't just tweet the finished product. He twitched himself drawing it! It took over three hours beginning to end, and you can watch every minute in these videos on YouTube:

BOOSTER GOLD! BLUE BEETLE! Part 1 of 2--Art Stream with JIM LEE
BLUE BEETLE! BOOSTER GOLD! Part 2 of 2. Final inks! Art by JIM LEE

Thanks to everyone who reminded me to post that.

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As mentioned last week, you'll find Booster Gold in today's Batman: Last Knight on Earth #2, at least in a very small cameo. If you want more Booster, you can also pick up the hardcover Injustice 2 Volume 6 for $24.99.

Included in this final collection are Injustice 2 #31 through #33. Be forewarned, things do not go well for our hero in Tom Taylor's video-game inspired universe. However, our hero makes his final adventure as satisfyingly poignant as it is entertaining. Plus, he gets a cool jacket as a parting gift.

And while we're on the subject of new releases, Rob Snow reports that DC is planning a collection of Conglomerate stories reprinted from Justice League Quarterly. Per the preorder link he found at Amazon.com:

For the first time since its original publication, Keith Giffen's Justice League Quarterly brings a quirky and unique take on the Justice League!

Introducing the Conglomerate, a new super-team assembled by Booster Gold! Booster's new pals and gals are Maxi-Man, Praxis, Gypsy, Echo, Vapor and Reverb, but pretty soon Booster's got to wonder if their industry backers want them to be heroes...or corporate puppets.

Collects stories from Justice League Quarterly #1-4.

The book hasn't yet been announced by DC, but that doesn't mean it's not coming. Rob spotted the upcoming Booster Gold collection on Amazon about a month before DC announced that, too. You've preordered yours already, right?

Thanks to Rob for finding those links for us. (Seriously, man, I swear I looked.)

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It is a truth universally acknowledged that every comic book heroes will inevitably get in a fist fight with every other hero. Such was the case with Booster Gold and Superman early in Booster's career.

Every new super hero in a shared universe needs guest appearances from more famous characters to drive new readers to their title. Hence Superman's appearance in Booster Gold #6 and #7.

Pencils by Dan Jurgens, Inks by Mike DeCarlo

Not coincidentally, Dan Jurgens took the opportunity of a visit from the established star — in his very first appearance in the newly-merged post-Crisis on Infinite Earths DC Universe continuity — to reveal Booster's less-than-stellar origin tale. The image on the cover correlated well with the shock and disgust that audiences felt discovering that they had been reading the tale of a gambler and a thief. Superman was giving our hero nothing less than what many of us felt he deserved.

But the story doesn't end there.

Because Dan Jurgens was kind enough to accommodate John Byrne's post-Crisis revamp of Superman in the aforementioned issues, Byrne let Booster guest in Action Comics #594. The cover to that might look familiar; turnabout is fair play.

Pencils by John Byrne, Inks by Keith Williams

Once again, the cover was figuratively true. Booster had been growing into the role of a true hero, and history had been proven to be on his side. The story inside plays on Booster's bad reputation following the earlier story, making the cover reversal doubly sweet.

Aren't these some great covers? As a fan of traditional fine art, I love that the extremely foreshortened poses turn the heroes into grotesques personifying the ugly, violent acts that they are engaged in. As a fan of comic book artists, it's particularly interesting to compare young Jurgens' early take on Superman to Byrne's more iconic character (and also to Jurgens' future interpretation).

As a fan of comic book super heroes, it's just great to see two heroes going head-to-head.

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