I mentioned that this was coming back in April, and now it's here.

Popularly known as the New 52 Booster Gold, this variant is called "Booster Gold (Futures End)" by McFarlane Toys. But neither of those names is quite accurate.

For one thing, there are actually two Booster Golds in Booster Gold: Futures End, and the one who should be considered the primary protagonist of the issue wore an Advanced Research Group Uniting Super-Humans costume instead. It's never explained why he was wearing it. Maybe it was just so readers could to tell the two Boosters apart?

The other Booster Gold in that issue doesn't really wear this costume either. That character is wearing the Jim Lee design that first appeared on and in the New 52's Justice League International #1. (Here at Boosterrific.com, I call that the Mark XIII Booster Gold powersuit because it was the 13th costume Booster wore.) It has square goggles and a tight-fighting cowl that covered the cheeks with gold piping but left the forehead mostly exposed. As you can see, this figure's head is wearing something more similar to Booster's traditional Mark I costume.

(Since we're on the topic of McFarlane and inaccurately costumed action figures, the A.R.G.U.S. suited Booster Gold from Booster Gold: Futures End is the same character who became Waverider in Convergence. So if you want a complete collection of Future's End Booster Golds, you'll need this one and that one.)

If you're so interested, you can find links to purchase this action figure on mcfarlane.com.

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Earlier this week, DC released the 11th and final issue of Blue Beetle volume 5 (or, if you're inclined to count Fox and Charlton's Blue Beetle titles before DC bought the character, volume 10).

To their credit, the creative team of the latest book bends over backwards to try to tie up all their loose ends while still leaving room for future growth. (In fact, it reminds me a little bit of Booster Gold Volume 1 #25.)

Most of the issue is spent with Jaime Reyes' supporting cast, including Ted and Victoria Kord, who manage to squeeze in a Booster Gold reference!

written by Josh Trujillo; art Adrian Gutierrez, Will Quintana, Lucas Gattoni; edited by Andrew Marino, Katie Kubert

Could this really be the last we'll see (or hear) of Ted's sister, a character absent from all 9 previous Blue Beetle volumes?^[1] Only time -- and the inevitable eleventh volume of Blue Beetle -- will tell.

Thanks to BlueRedGold for making sure everyone saw this.

^[1]Victoria Kord first appeared in a DC Comic book in Blue Beetle: Graduation Day #2^[2], released in December 2022. Graduation Day was a six-issue mini-series whose creative team would carry over to this latest volume of Blue Beetle.

^[2]Although Graduation Day was published months prior to the release of the Blue Beetle movie (which debuted in August 2023), the character of Victoria Kord was originally created by that movie's writers, Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer and Gary Dauberman. She was played by Susan Sarandon.

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AIPTComics.com has the preview of today's Absolute Power #2, and as you can see below, Booster Gold is pictured on page 2:

Will he be seen on any other pages? Will he have a line of dialogue? There's only one way to find out!

Buy this issue and make Skeets happy.

(Thanks to Rob Snow for drawing this to our attention.)

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Last week, DC released Super-Pets Special: Bitedentity Crisis, an anthology issue featuring such famous pet sidekicks as Krypto, Ace, Streaky, and Bitewing to name but a few. There are also many lesser known pets in here, some of whom don't even have any super powers! It seems every animal showed up for this party, every animal except two: Booster Gold's housecats, Jack and Jill.

That's right, Booster Gold has pets, and he always has. Jack and Jill debuted alongside Booster and his suffering secretary, Trixie Collins, in 1985's Booster Gold Volume 1 #1!

To be fair, calling them Booster's "sidekicks" might be a bit of an overstatement. Booster has never spent much time in the same room with them, and his robot buddy Skeets openly dislikes them.

Booster and Skeet's disinterest in them doesn't seem to much bother Jack and Jill. They clearly prefer to spend their time lounging around the Goldstar, Inc. offices with Trixie, where they help her manage Booster's adoring public (in Booster Gold #2), greet Jason Redfern and the alien Z (Booster Gold #6), and avoid the lecherous advances of comic book artists Benny and Marty (Booster Gold #7).

The cats spend so much time with Trixie that it would be easy to mistake her as the cats' proper owner (in as such as anyone can "own" a cat). However, Booster's self-serving manager, Dirk Davis, makes their relationship clear while rescuing them from a building collapse in Booster Gold #11. Whatever you do, don't call them "ordinary."

When Booster left Metropolis to join the Justice League International, he left Jack and Jill in Trixie's care (Booster Gold #25). They must like it there, as they haven't been seen since, not in stories with other super pets.

Other People in Booster Gold's Neighborhood:

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I consider Justice League of America #34, featuring the infamous Club JLI fiasco on KooeyKooeyKooey island, to be among "The 12 Best Booster Gold Stories Ever" for a very good reason: it's very, very good.

I explained my reasoning here, but no matter what I write about it, the best argument can be found in pages like this:

James Gunn could do a lot worse than adapting that!

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