Last week at CBR.com, Jason Cohen postulated that Booster Gold is the solution to most of the problems with the DC Extended Universe (read: movies).

Booster may not seem like the blockbuster name that will fix the DCEU, but the character could do the necessary legwork to "boost" confidence in the future of the troubled cinematic universe. Between the character's bumbling wannabe hero schtick, his time traveling capabilities, and a character arc on par with Iron Man or Ant-Man, he's the perfect choice to cement the redefinition of the DCEU.

I certainly agree with Cohen's larger point that the DCEU needs an overhaul. I'm not so sure, however, that Booster is the solution.

I'm really of two minds about this. On the one hand, I'd love to see a good Booster Gold movie. On the other hand, I'm not sure that Warner Bros even can make a good Booster Gold movie.

Until Warner Bros demonstrates to me that they can consistently make the kind of superhero films I want to see — Wonder Woman's first two acts were a good start — perhaps it would be best if Booster remained the greatest hero the cinema-going public has never heard of.

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This delightful Booster Gold sketch by LawfulStudios9646 can be found on DeviantArt.com.

I find it refreshing in this age of high definition to be reminded occasionally that not all super hero art has to be hyper-realistic. It's enough just to be fun.

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After a good run, it looks like Booster will be taking June off. He is almost nowhere to be found in DC's June solicitations.

I say "almost" because:

SUPERMAN BLUE VOL. 1 TP
Written by DAN JURGENS, KARL KESEL, DAVID MICHELINIE and LOUISE SIMONSON
Art by RON FRENZ, SCOT EATON, STUART IMMONEN, JON BOGDANOVE, TOM GRUMMETT, SEAN CHEN and others
Cover by DAN JURGENS and JOE RUBINSTEIN

When the sun temporarily goes out, Superman temporarily loses his powers...but when they return, they are not what the Man of Steel expects! Clark Kent is suddenly transformed into a being of crackling blue energy, complete with new abilities and a totally new look! And before long, the villainous Cyborg Superman splits the Man of Steel into two beings: Superman Red and Superman Blue! Will Metropolis have two protectors?

Includes stories from SUPERMAN #122-125, ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #545-547, ACTION COMICS #732-734, SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL #67-69 and SUPERMAN ANNUAL #9.
On sale JULY 11 • 376 pg, $24.99 US

You'll see that trade collection is scheduled to include a reprint of Superman #124, which all Booster boosters will recognize as the last appearance of Booster's very briefly worn Mark X power suit, and the first appearance of Booster's slightly less briefly worn asymmetrical Mark XI power suit!

Words by Dan Jurgens; Art by Frenz, Rubenstein, et al

I'm sure you all have that one in your collections already, so you'll be able to pick up a backup reprint when this trade is released in July.

You can see all of DC's June solicitations at Newsarama.com.

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Behind the scenes, Boosterrific.com is undergoing a long-delayed server upgrade.

For me, that means a lot of work migrating flies and databases from one server to another. I'll also start the process of cleaning out some of the dead links and other cobwebs around the house.

For you, that means that there is the possibility of disruptions in site performance in the next few days/weeks as I rearrange and try to prepare the site for the modern, mobile web. (I also have to decide what I want to do — if anything — about Google's requirement that all websites have SSL certification. I'm not made of money, Google!)

Please be patient with me during this overhaul.

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I received two emails over the weekend pointing out potential holes in the Boosterrific.com database. Thank you both so much for trying to make this website better.

Logan's email pointed me to Superman/Batman Secret Files 2003. I checked my back issues, and sure enough, there was Booster. Now the Boosterrific database is more complete than ever!

The other issue isn't quite so clear. Here's the original email from José:

Hi, I would like to ask if costumes count as appearances, like number 12 of JL 3001, where there is no appearance of Booster, but the costume does. Now, if they do, I would like to add Guy Gardner #18-21, appearing a prototype of the Booster costume.

José is talking about the power armor that Guy Gardner wore for the brief time in 1994 between the loss of his Qwardian power ring and the development of his Vuldarian shape-changing powers. That armor was designed by Ted Kord with the intention of using it to replace the power suit that Booster Gold lost to Doomsday.

Guy Gardner: Warrior #18 by Chuck Dixon, Mitch Byrd, Dan Davis, Stuart Chaifetz, Albert DeGuzman

While I certainly can see where José is coming from, I'm not sure I should be tracking these. As a rule, I always track Booster Gold appearances when he is seen on panel in a comic. Those include comics that clearly show Booster's costumes whether he is wearing them or not. (The only on-panel Booster Gold "appearances" I intentionally don't track are when he is mentioned in dialog between other characters when he doesn't actually appear in the book.) Therefore, the question here is whether Guy Gardner's armor really ever belonged to or can be identified as belonging to Booster Gold.

Evidence to support José's case can be found in Justice League America #80 when Beetle says Booster's bulky Mark II armor is based on the Rocket Red armor. Beetle says the same thing about Gardner's armor, but that doesn't make them the same armor. In Guy Gardner: Warrior #18 Beetle himself calls this suit a glitchy prototype, and there is no visual evidence in any comic book that Booster Gold ever wore it.

So is José right? Should I be tracking this costume? What do you think?

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