I've featured fan art by TJ Frias before, but twice is just as nice.

This sketch comes via DeviantArt.com, but you can also find more at tjsketchblog.tumblr.com.

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I've been such a downer recently, let me make it up to you by showcasing something truly awesome. Specifically this awesome custom Booster Gold figure in the style of Kenner's Total Justice line from the mid-90s created by Caenman and shared on FigureRealm.com:

While I've never been a fan of the Total Justice figures or the excretable tie-in comic series, something about knowing someone in 2018 took the time to make such a high-quality homage to Booster Gold's ugliest power suits just tickles my fancy. *standing ovation*

Enjoy your weekend, everyone.

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Martian Manhunter is getting a new mini-series in December that will rewrite the character as something a little more... alien than what longtime DC readers are used to. (DC's solicitation reads: "Back on Mars, J'onn was about as corrupt as a law officer can be, and when a reckoning comes for his entire society, he'll get a second chance he doesn't want or deserve!")

I can't say as I'm very eager about that. I happened to like J'onn J'onzz just the way he was.

Take, for example, the Martian Manhunter who appeared in "The Ghosts of Mars," a story running through JLA Classified #42-#46. Written by Justin Gray, the story focused entirely on J'onzz's internal struggle against his own inner demons. Demons that sometimes took the appearance of Booster Gold, as seen in JLA Classified #44, released on this date in 2007.

JLA Classified #44 by Justin Gray, Rick Leonardi, Sean Philips, I.L.L., John Hill

Each of the first four issues of "The Ghosts of Mars" shined a spotlight on a member of the Justice League who inspired Martian Manhunter to new heights of heroism. Ironically in light of recent events in the DCU, the hero of JLA Classified #44 is Wally West, aka The Flash.

Eleven years later, West is dead, Booster Gold is the suspect, and Manhunter is a corrupt cop. Is it any wonder I prefer to read back issues?

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Russ Burlingame reporting for Comicbook.com from the Tom King panel at New York Comic Con on Saturday:

"Booster Gold and Ted Kord will be getting back together in Heroes in Crisis, and King says he is looking forward to that."

Blue and Gold together again? I should be all "whoo-hoo!" But considering Tom King and the context of Heroes in Crisis....

We will see what we will see.

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To say Booster Gold fans aren't enthusiastic about what they've seen from Heroes in Crisis #1 is an understatement. That's understandable. It's hard to get up for a series that starts with our hero being accused of mass murder.

Last week's poll question: What is your reaction to Heroes in Crisis #1? (73 votes)

Thinking out loud here: Maybe mainstream American super hero comics — where all problems are traditionally solved with a healthy application of direct and overwhelming violence — isn't the right medium to be addressing the "ripped from the headlines" cultural dilemma of mental health and mass shootings. I've been reading DC comics for decades, and I'd suggest that they lack the vocabulary for a nuanced discussion about balancing responsibility and forgiveness.

In the context of a world where a Justice League exists to stop local bank robbers and intergalactic conquering starfish alike, how could something like the Sanctuary massacre ever happen? If Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman can't prevent this kind of humanitarian disaster, what hope do any of the rest of us have?

The DC Universe: every bit as terrible as the real world!

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