On this day in 2003, DC Comics began publication of JLA-Z, a Who's Who-inspired excuse for a pin-up anthology of Justice League characters. Booster Gold and Blue Beetle were judged so important to the history of the JLA that they appeared in the very first issue!

(It probably didn't hurt that their codenames both begin with the second letter of the alphabet.)

Art by Kevin Maguire, Joe Rubinstein, Tom McCraw.

On a related note, BleedingCool.com reports from Fan Expo Canada that Ted Kord might be rejoining the Justice League in some capacity in the near future. The sooner the better, if you ask me.

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Something must have been in the air this week as I was emailed by two different people out of the blue who were proud to show off their recent Booster Gold sketch commissions!

First up is from our old friend The Blot, whose magnificent Booster Gold Sketchbook is bulging at the seams. His latest piece is by Invincible artist Ryan Ottley:

Our second piece is shared by Cort, who picked up this sketch commission from the very prolific Leonard Kirk at last years's Fan Expo Vancouver:

Those are some good looking sketches, guys. Thanks for sharing.

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DCComics.com released a "DC Tales From the Vault" episode promoting Batman on Tuesday, and it includes Batman Group Editor Jamie Rich reading his own fan letter published in Booster Gold #7 (1986).

Here's the original letter so that you can read along:

Rich wasn't named Batman Group Editor until April, and Tom King's referenced Booster Gold story, "The Gift," was already deep in production by then. So we won't judge Rich too harshly for that fiasco. (I refuse to believe that any OG Booster booster like Rich would have let King lobotomize our hero if he could have stopped him!)

You get a pass this time, Rich. But know that Booster Gold fans are watching you extra closely now!

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This weekend, Brian Cronin assembled an impressive article detailing five business schemes perpetrated by Blue Beetle and Booster Gold with the intent of supplementing their JLI income.

The list includes run-ins with vampires, the Joker, enraged pin-up models, the Vatican, and, of course, KooeyKooeyKooey.

I don't have much to add other than to say go read it at CBR.com.

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DCComics.com released some alternate covers for upcoming issues of Heroes in Crisis via , including this J.G. Jones alternate featuring Booster Gold and Harley Quinn.

It looks like that will be a 1-in-50 "chase" variant, meaning that comic shops will get one for every fifty of the regular covers they order. (For obvious reasons, these are also called "incentive" variants, as they incentivize shops to order more comics than they otherwise would.) Comic shops price these rarer variants according to the purchase threshold, so expect to pay a pretty penny to acquire this cover, probably three or more times the $4 cover price.

There will also be 1-in-100 and 1-in-200 variants, the second of which is by Francesco Mattina and depicts a very bloody Harley wearing Booster's broken visor. Good luck finding that one for less than $50.

In addition to those rare variants, DC also released the Ryan Sook standard alternate covers for the first three Heroes in Crisis issues. Each depicts an "incident report" based on more traumatic moments in the lives of DC heroes. These are purportedly from the files of Sanctuary, "a facility designed to allow superheroes to process the trauma of those not-so-heroic moments." These traumatic moments include the death of Superman, Batman's broken back, Aquaman's lost arm, and Jason Todd's death. Oddly, they also include Wonder Woman's assassination of Maxwell Lord.

That seems to imply that Lord has died at Wonder Woman's hand. Where does this fit in continuity?

When last we saw him in the pages of Justice League vs Suicide Squad (2016), Lord was still alive and continuing his villainous ways. Since the original Justice League International never existed and Ted Kord is still alive in the DCnU, the events kicking off Infinite Crisis that led directly to Lord's death and eventual rebirth must have played out somewhat differently than originally seen in Wonder Woman #219 (2005) and Brightest Day (2010). Does this cover reference that old continuity destroyed by Flashpoint? Or are we being given a glimpse of a as yet unrevealed relationship between Lord and Wonder Woman in the DCnU? (Could Lord be behind the deaths at Sanctuary?)

Maybe we'll find out more when Heroes in Crisis finally sees print.

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