In case you haven't heard, you'll find the 1000th issue of Action Comics at your Local Comic Shop today. The issue is a celebration not just of Superman, but also all the very talented writers and artists who have toiled for the last 80 years to bring comic book fans joy and inspiration.

Booster Gold creator Dan Jurgens is one of those writer/artists. Jurgens not only drew the first appearance of Superman in the 1980s post-Crisis on Infinite Earths DC Universe (in Booster Gold #6!), he was instrumental in bringing us the death and return of Superman in the 1990s. As part of the celebration, he also pencilled one of the 11 different Action Comics #1000 covers!

As if that's not enough reason to celebrate, DC has also released a poster containing all 1000 Action Comics covers. That means it's also a Booster Gold poster! Decades before showing up on the cover of his recent team-up in Action Comics #993, Booster Gold got the better of Superman on the cover of Action Comics #594!

Here's to 1000 more adventures of Superman to come.

UPDATE: SuperPat dropped by the comments to tell us that Booster does make an appearance in Action Comics #1000! Everybody is getting in on the celebration!

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NO. Not even slightly awesome, you monster.

The above image was released late last week as part of the preview for this week's Batman #45. While I'm always reluctant to pre-judge a story before I've read it, I have to say that in all the years I've been tracking Booster Gold appearances, nothing has disappointed me more than what I've seen from this issue so far.

Before you read any further, know that I'm about to rant about what could be considered spoilers.

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Still here? As we knew from last week's released previews, this story opens with Tony Daniel's drawing of Hal Jordan blowing out his brains with his ring. Very violently. Very graphically. Even putting aside the moral issues of suicide, that's not the sort of thing I want to see in my DC Comics.

But now we have the dialog that goes along with those pictures, and Jordan's death is nothing nearly so disgusting as the words coming out of Booster Gold's mouth in reaction.

Watching a man shoot himself in the head IS NOT AWESOME. Not a little bit. Not kind of. Never.

At no point in the published history of Booster Gold has the character ever expressed such an ugly sentiment. The character is a hero, yes a hero who has made many foolhardy decisions over the years, but never has he willfully allowed harm to come to someone else or glorified such violence or death in any way. To see those words coming out of the mouth of Michael Jon Carter literally turns my stomach.

It only makes matters worse knowing that this sort of shocking vulgarity isn't in a standalone Elseworlds book, but in Batman, DC's best selling ongoing title. I haven't purchased an issue of Batman in years, but I cringe at the thought that some parent might buy this to introduce Booster Gold to their kid. (As if shooting violence wasn't commonplace enough in schoolyards in 2018.)

If I sound like a sanctimonious prude, maybe I am. Maybe I'm overreacting because it's my hero espousing something I'd expect to hear from an ISIS recruit. But what would fans of Batman or Superman think if their idols said such things? In the DC Universe, Booster is a celebrity. In the real world, if a Kardashian reacted this way, how would their fans respond? I doubt there'd be much applause.

To be fair to issue writer Tom King, I haven't read the full story, and perhaps this is a trick. Maybe that's not Booster at all, but someone wearing his skin. Maybe it's an alternate evil timeline with a Booster Gold too immature or psychologically damaged to understand the callousness of his words. Maybe this takes place inside a simulation, and Booster's comment is a clumsy response to a well-crafted high-definition computer generated hologram. Maybe the Cosmic Cube has turned my hero into a Nazi. Weirder things have happened in comics. Still, I find it revolting that any DC Comics character should be implied to think such thoughts, much less give them voice.

Batman #45 gets the benefit of my doubt. But even if King and Daniel find some way to redeem the story, I doubt I'll be recommending anyone buy it. Personally, I don't think anyone needs a comic in their collection that shows Green Lantern's brains falling out of his skull while someone else laughs at it.

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Booster boosters no doubt recall the image of Blue Beetle and Booster Gold running scared as seen in Booster Gold, Volume 2, #34. You know, it's that image that Dan Jurgens said was his least favorite, remember?

The good news is that you can look down at it every day with the officially licensed t-shirt from 80sTees.com!

The shirt is printed to order, making it a mite expensive at $40 for a large t-shirt, but when has money ever stopped a true fan from wearing his heart on their sleeve? Or, as the case may be, their chest.

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I've made no secret of my appreciation of Ross Pearsall's Super-Team Family Presents... mash-ups. They're all great. The latest to feature Booster Gold is no exception.

If I saw that cover on a newsstand, it would definitely be coming home with me. Great work, Ross.

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I gave you the new cover to Batman #46 Friday, and the DC Batman Panel at C2E2 this past weekend gave us some exciting news about what you might find behind that cover.

Fair warning: the following post has light spoilers for next week's Batman #45, so cover your eyes if you don't want to know too much before you have the issue in your hands.

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Still here? Ok. One additional warning! The preview images DC has released for this issue that can be found at any of the following links are uncommonly violent. (I might be getting prudish in my advancing age, but golly gee, maybe the Comics Code wasn't such a bad thing.)

Now, as I was saying, according to Newsarama's coverage of C2E2, quote

DC Comics has confirmed during their Batman panel panel at Chicago's C2E2 convention that the Booster Gold team up arc starting in April 18's Batman #45 will take place in an alternate world where Booster Gold has gone back in time to save Thomas and Martha Wayne - and inadvertently prevents Bruce Wayne's birth.

That news seems to come directly from writer Tom King himself. Rich Johnson has more detailed spoilers at BleedingCool.com for those of you who really want the dirt.

The rest of us will find out what the big deal is next week when Batman #45 will be in our Local Comic Shops. I advise reading it on an empty stomach.

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