Let's make a whole week out of Dan Jurgens' Twitter feed! I wouldn't normally do that, but Dan has shared some pretty good Booster Gold-related stuff lately, like this tease of the original, unused art from Booster Gold #6 (1986).

A bit of background: Booster Gold #6 was the first telling of Booster's origin story, which was originally tied more closely to the Silver Age Superman mythos. For example, the Space Museum was originally intended to be the Superman Museum, and Booster's Flight Ring was going to be the ring that the Legion of Super-Heroes gave to Superboy. (See my 2010 interview with Jurgens for more details.)

The pages seen in that tweet are very likely the original story, before Jurgens had to change it to work with the new origin that John Byrne was giving Superman in the pages of The Man of Steel. It's super-cool that Jurgens still has them. Maybe one day, he'll let us see the whole thing. (In a Booster Gold Omnibus, maybe?)

And before we sign off for the weekend, here's one more tweet from Jurgens, a Booster Gold sketch commission.

See? Twitter *is* useful for more than just rants and bullying. Thanks, Dan!

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When I go into my Local Comic Shop today to pick up Wonder Twins #3, there's something else I'll be taking a look at.

For the second week in a row, DC is releasing a reprint of an event story that contains some Booster Gold. In fact, Booster has very important role in The Death and Return of Superman Omnibus. He named Doomsday.

Justice League America #69 (1992)

But perhaps you already own one of the previous Death of Superman reprints? Well, DC has given you another reason to buy this one. Says Dan Jurgens on Twitter.com:

It's good to know that these omnibuses are reprinting the comics as they were originally intended to be read. That's cool, DC. Good for you.

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Via Twitter.com, Dan Jurgens finally has confirmed the identity of the mysterious woman we saw on the originally solicited cover to the 2012 New 52 relaunch of the Justice League International #1.

To refresh your memory, here is the originally solicited cover, with the woman in Black, on the left and the published cover, with Godiva, on the right:

Art by Aaron Lopresti

Alexandra Gianopoulos was introduced in Booster Gold #45 when Booster quite literally fell into her bed in the "Flashpoint" timeline. Her power was the ability to "borrow" the power of anyone she touched, similar to Rogue of the X-Men. Despite also appearing on the published cover of Justice League International #5, Gianopoulos has never actually made the transition from the Flashpoint timeline to mainstream DCnU continuity.

Thanks to @Cyberjaeger for asking the question that finally resolved this longstanding mystery.

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I mentioned on Wednesday that I was going to be picking up a copy of Young Justice #4. I've actually been buying all the Wonder Comics titles, and I like most of them. (Wonder Twins is my favorite.) A great deal of what I like is the lighter tone of the books.

I have a tendency to complain about the "grim and gritty" nature of the contemporary DC universe. That makes me part of the problem. DC has, in fact, published plenty of "lighter" fare in recent years featuring the characters that I know and love, and I've done a poor job of spotlighting those. The best was unquestionably Justice League Unlimited, based on the Cartoon Network cartoon of the same name.

The series ran for 46 issues from 2004 through 2008. Booster Gold appeared in many of those, including issue 20, released on this day in 2006, in which he helped welcome Mary Marvel to the Justice League.

Art by Rick Burchett

The issue is a great example of the series' traditional, family friendly super hero hijinx that got me into reading comic books in the first place. The story, "Just Us Girls" by Paul D. Storrie, borrows notes from Booster's mainstream DC universe history while introducing readers to Mary Marvel and "girl power" fisticuffs. It's a delightful read.

Advance reviews of the movie Shazam!, opening today and focused on Mary's big brother Billy, indicate that it aims to be in the same vein. I wish it was based on the original Fawcett Whiz Comics characters and not Geoff John's New 52 re-invention of them, but I applaud DC and Warner Bros for at least trying to reach an audience other than fans of the black-as-night Zack Snyder film universe. Beggars can't be choosers.

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If you're headed to your Local Comic Shop today (perhaps looking for Young Justice #4 like me!), there is one new-ish Booster Gold appearance you could take home: Final Crisis DC Essential Edition.

That said, if you're considering buying this because you're a Booster Gold collector, I can't really recommend that you do that. Booster makes a cameo appearance in only a couple of panels of that entire crossover. Only one of those is reprinted here. In fact, here it is.

Now, if you're considering buying this because you are looking for a good read, I can't really recommend that you do that, either. Final Crisis is not DC's best crisis. It's far from Grant Morrison's best work, either. If you weren't around to read this when it was released in 2008, there are plenty of other, better comics that you could read instead.

In other words, reading Final Crisis in 2019 is the DC Comics-fan equivalent of a drug addict shooting up from someone else's discarded needle only because he desperately needs another fix. Just say no.

(Full disclosure: Despite having a run of over 350 consecutive issues of Detective Comics going, I stopped buying it when Final Crisis came along. I really didn't enjoy that story or how it handled Batman.)

(Supplemental disclosure: Detective Comics #1000 is the first issue of that title I have purchased since 2009. I enjoyed most of it except the story that leads directly into Detective Comics #1001. So it very well might be the last issue of Detective Comics that I buy until issue #2000 comes along in 2099.)

DC has a whole line of Essential Editions in the pipeline. If you like event stories, the superior Infinite Crisis DC Essential Edition will be along in July. If you like Morrison, his JLA New World Order DC Essential Edition came out last month, and his Batman Black Glove Saga DC Essential Edition will be along in in June.

In other words, there are plenty of great stories out there. Read some of them, but don't waste your time on this.

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