con•ti•nū′i•y, n
1. The state or quality of being continuous.
2. a continuous series or succession; unbroken, coherent, whole.

"Continuity." Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged Second Edition, edited by Jean L. McKechnie, Collins World, 1977, pp. 395

It's a good topic for the start of a new year.

Booster Gold being written out of DC's current "All In" era got me thinking about this.

Ever since Justice League International volume 3 #1 in late 2011, I've been chronicling new releases of Booster Gold's adventures as taking place in what I call "New 52 Continuity." That was certainly necessary at the time, as the then-continuity of the mainstream DCU in the wake of changes to history in Flashpoint was, for most characters, very different than what had come before. Since everyone's personality is heavily influenced by their experiences, and the characters in the New 52 could no longer be assumed to have the same experiences as their pre-Flashpoint selves, these characters were, to a significant degree, entirely new people (Alan Scott), even when DC pretended that they were not (Clark Kent).

Then came 2015's Convergence, which proved the New 52 Booster Gold and the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths Booster Gold (who I called "Original Gold" or "OG Booster Gold") really were two distinctly different characters living two distinctly different lives. It was like Barry Allen meeting Jay Garrick in "Flash of Two Worlds!" in 1961's The Flash #123 (arguably the single most important story in DC's history, as it first defined the DC Multiverse).

However, in 2016, Rebirth repaired Flashpoint's broken history, and in the years since, further revisions to reality following Death Metal have made it clearer that the pre- and post-Flashpoint continuities have now been fully merged (Wallace West). So which continuity are we in now?

The longest single gap between Booster Gold in-continuity appearances coincided with the Rebirth era, between Bat-Mite #4 in 2015 and Action Comics #992 in 2018. (The Booster Gold/The Flintstones Special was between those two, but it is set in the "Hanna-Barbera Beyond" universe, and it remains unclear which, if any, continuity that Booster Gold belongs to.) It seems logical in hindsight that Action Comics #992 represents the start of a new era, the first (re)appearance of a Booster Gold with a post-Crisis on Infinite Earths history.

Therefore, I think it's past time to update Boosterrific to recognize the modern era of stories as post-Rebirth continuity. I will retroactively make that change beginning with Action Comics #992.

Hopefully, Booster Gold will return to the DC Universe before it becomes necessary to recognize another fundamental change to its ongoing continuity.

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Presenting the 5 most-read Boosterrific.com blog posts of 2024!

5. Monday, February 5: New Release: How to Lose a Guy Gardner
In which we discover that Booster Gold had his own story in the DC's How to Lose a Guy Gardner In 10 Days holiday anthology (and it was delightful).

4. Friday, August 30: My Favorite Pages: Justice League Intl Special
In which we laugh along with Booster Gold and his BFF Ted Kord preparing for the theater in Justice League International Special #1, page 8.

3. Monday, June 10: The Return and Return of Robo Force
In which we showcase two (!) "Robo Force" covers featuring a team of robots including Booster Gold's sidekick, Skeets, from Ross Pearsall's superlative Super-Team Family Presents.. imaginary team up books from braveandboldlost.blogspot.com.

2. Monday, February 26: Sooner to Be New Release: Blue Beetle
In which we learn that Blue Beetle Volume 5 scribe Josh Trujillo considers Booster Gold to be a 12 out of 10 on the fun-to-write scale. (I wish he'd share that news with whoever isn't writing Booster Gold comics these days.)

1. Monday, September 23: It's Not Easy Being Green
In which we note that Booster Gold's appearance on the cover of Justice League of America Volume 2 #7 has been turned into a poster available on Amazon.com. According to analytics, this post got an aberrantly huge number of hits, and I cannot for the life of me imagine why unless Amazon was backtracking the link many, many times. Whatever the reason, I will not deny that everyone can use more Booster Gold on their walls!

Here's to another Boosterrific year in 2025!

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Today marks the negative 418th birthday of Jon Michael "Booster" Carter, born this day in the year 2442.

Congratulations, Booster!

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Justice League America #53 is not a great comic book. Part of the problem is the scenario, the first chapter of the "Breakdowns" storyline, which focuses heavily on a Justice League International grieving over a comatose Max Lord while experiencing a literal existential crisis in the United Nations General Assembly. That's pretty heavy stuff that isn't traditionally the type of crisis that you can solve by putting on brightly colored pajamas and punching something.

Sadly, this issue's artists, Chris Wozniak and Bruce D. Patterson, aren't able to elevate the often maudlin script. Wozniak lacks his predecessors' mastery of realistic and consistent facial expressions that so often made Maguire and Hughes' work so brilliant, and the figures here all look like they were sculpted in Play-Doh. Neither does it help that in such a wordy comic, usual letterer Bob Lappan has been temporarily replaced by Willie Schubert, so even the words don't look right for a JLI title. It's not a particularly pleasant reading experience.

But any comic book with Booster Gold in it is a good book, even if he's only here in a supporting role and even if he doesn't wear his costume.

I choose the above page 10 as my favorite mostly because Booster's inclusion there in the bubble makes it the last time the classic Justice League International team would ride into action together as a United Nations-sanctioned team. Where are they headed? The sewer. It's a fitting end to the JLI's original "Bwah-ha-ha" era.

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Justice League Task Force #37 (1996)

The gang looks happier every year!

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