Booster booster and art collector Cort was at Vancouver Fan Expo last week, as he was last October and he picked up even more Boosterrific sketches. Here they are, with Cort's own commentary:

Liam Sharp, fellow Brit, said this was the first time he'd ever drawn Booster and really enjoyed it, he even asked me about the history of the character and we had quite the chat, he said he found it fascinating, one of the coolest origins he's heard. Plus I had to see how he'd tackle it, as it could be my only chance to see him do so, very grizzled! I love it.

The ever personable and great Ty Templeton was a joy to listen to. He held many interesting anecdotes of the comics industry. Signed me some Booster Gold and JLI comics too.

Tom Grummett whom was beside Ty did a fantastic Booster for me as well, it was everything I could ask for, it screams Booster Gold to me. The banter between Ty and he was very enjoyable and being able to geek out with them made me adore them all the more as they are just as much fans as we are.

And last but not least, Marcus To. Whom I only knew through some X-Men and Red Robin did a fascinating Poison Ivy for my girlfriend and all his proceeds went to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, so I decided to help put money towards some of the greats whom are dealing with pressing issues. Turned out great!

They all look amazing, Cort. Thank you for sharing again.

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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, Jack Soo.

Jack Soo was the best young inventor at Scientific and Technological Advanced Research Laboratories (aka S.T.A.R. Labs) when he was hired to create a new female super suit for Goldstar, Inc (in Booster Gold Volume 1, #7). Soo delivered on his reputation.

The super suit he devised, a white and gold counterpoint to Booster Gold's familiar blue and gold suit, used magnetic waves to attract and repel metallic objects (Booster Gold #11). That suit is still in use by Booster's female sidekick, Goldstar.

When Booster needed to take a trip back to the future, Soo introduced him to his former classmate, time-travel specialist Ripley "Rip" Hunter, as seen in Booster Gold #13. He accompanied them into the 25th century, where he learned quite a bit about future history and technology. Back in the present day, Soo leveraged that information to good advantage, leaving S.T.A.R. Labs to become the head of the newly rebranded Booster Gold International's research and design division (Booster Gold #16).

Dr. Soo would go on to help Booster Gold thwart a terrorist attack (Booster Gold #17), work with Skeets to design the C-4 Personal Drill Robot, nicknamed Seymour, to keep Booster Gold in fighting shape (Booster Gold #18), and reverse the color-sapping technology of the Rainbow Raider (Booster Gold #20).

Jack was last seen attending the funeral of Michelle Carter, Booster's twin sister (Booster Gold #22). Booster Gold International declared bankruptcy soon after, and it seems likely that the multi-talented Dr. Soo returned to his old job at S.T.A.R. Labs where he has no doubt continued his stellar career in the field of super science.

For some insight into what creator Dan Jurgens was thinking when he introduced Jack Soo to the DCU, click here to read my post from June 12, 2015.

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You may recall that when first announced, Heroes in Crisis was originally intended to be a seven issue series with a couple of stand-alone tie-in books. Plans changed, and those stand-alone issues were folded into the series.

The first was issue #3, which focused in part on Booster Gold's actions just before the story started. The second, issue #6, comes out today. Judging the book by its cover, I think we can expect it to show what Harley Quinn was doing when the Sanctuary killings began.

Note that Mitch Gerads is the credited artist for the issue, replacing Clay Mann. Mann's art has been the strength of the series so far, but Gerads shouldn't be considered a step down. Gerads worked with series writer Tom King to create their acclaimed Mister Miracle mini-series.

Also note that neither the issue's solicitation text nor the preview, available on SuperheroHype.com, guarantee Booster Gold will actually appear in the issue. I'll be buying it anyway.

[UPDATE: Booster appears on exactly one page. I think. (It's getting increasingly hard to tell what "reality" is in this series).]

Buy this issue and make Skeets happy!

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Booster booster Aaron Hale is currently selling ten pages of the original color guide for Justice League International #25 on eBay.com.

What's a color guide, you ask? Time for a brief history lesson!

Computers and modern printing techniques have changed things, but for most of the history of comics, all hues were printed from a few shades of one of three distinct colors. Below is artist Todd Klein's color chart from the 1980s when he worked at DC Comics. It has codes for each possible color, where "Y" stands for yellow, "B" for blue, and "R" for red. The "2" meant 25% saturation, "3" was 50% saturation, "4" was 75% saturation, and no number was fully saturated, pure color. When JLI #25 was released in 1989, 124 colors were possible.

DC colors on cover stock via KleinLetters.com

Like a kid with a single box of crayons, the colorist filled in the black and white drawings with watercolor paints to match those colors. The less fun part came after the paint dried. That's when the colorist had to go back over their work to provide the printer of the comic with an appropriate code for each color used so that the image could be reproduced. The colored and coded page was called a color guide, and that's what Aaron is selling.

Justice League International #25, page 11, panel 1 as planned

(If all that sounds like a lot to do, keep in mind that it was followed by a much more labor-intensive process called color separation. Using the coded pages of the color guide as their template, the color separator would paint sheets of acetate to be used when photographing the original art for transfer to the four printing plates needed for the CYMK color process. Printing comics was hard work!)

Justice League International #25, page 11, panel 1 as printed

Aaron's auction ends tomorrow, so don't drag your feet. If you'd like to lay your eyes (or your hands) on a bit of Blue and Gold history, hurry over to eBay.com today!

(And if you'd like more information about how comics are made, check out Todd Klein's fine blog at kleinletters.com or Klein's book co-written with Mark Chiarello, The DC Comics Guide to Coloring and Lettering Comics.)

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We're less than a week away from Heroes in Crisis #6 of 9, which means we're pretty close to learning the truth behind who killed everyone at Sanctuary. It seems like a good time to talk about Booster Gold's mental health.

Clearly, Booster has been mentally struggling with fallout from his incredibly stupid actions in Batman #45. I had complained at the time that Booster's reaction to Green Lantern's graphic on-panel suicide was inappropriate — and it was — but I'm willing to concede that Tom King was trying to make a point in his own way about how the human brain reacts unpredictably to such trauma.

And how is Booster Gold reacting to that trauma? His symptoms as exhibited in Heroes in Crisis look like an aggravated case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which is exactly what press reports advertised King wanted to address in this series. PTSD is triggered by extreme trauma with common symptom including avoidance of repeat stimuli, willful memory loss, and hallucinations. Booster has spent most of the series hiding from just about everyone, so check one. And he claimed he couldn't remember exactly what happened, so check two. But hallucinations? Maybe those too.

As Frankie Hagan pointed out in blog comments last month, so far in Heroes in Crisis, no one seems to have noticed Blue Beetle other than Booster Gold, which certainly suggests that the Blue and Gold reunion may be all in Booster's head. I don't know what that says about Booster Gold, but if it turns out to be true, it may be even more disappointing for Booster Gold fans than if our hero turns out to be a mass murderer.

Speaking of murder, that's the real question, isn't it? Is Booster's mental illness severe enough to drive him to kill? Statistical evidence indicates that there are indeed links between PTSD and increased rates of outbursts of anger and violence. However, the odds that PTSD would unbalance a hero enough to engage in a spree killing remain remote.

Experts say that the biggest indicator of how an individual may respond to PTSD is that person's pre-trauma personality. It's true that Booster Gold has always had his own set of foibles, yet he has never killed anyone, even when given the opportunity. At heart, he's no murderer, no matter what Tom King wants to imply.

We'll find out more about Booster Gold's health when Heroes in Crisis #6 is released February 27.

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