It cannot be denied that the original cast of Booster Gold was pale. Michael Carter was white. Trixie Collins was white. Dirk Davis was white. About the only characters in the first six issues who weren't white were Booster's orange cats, Jack and Jill. (Hey, it's not Booster's fault that Metropolis was settled almost exclusively by Western Europeans and Kryptonians.)

The eventual introduction of supporting cast member Dr. Jack Soo in Booster Gold #7 finally provided an injection of some much needed color.

Soo was the best young inventor at Scientific and Technological Advanced Research Laboratories (aka S.T.A.R. Labs) when he was hired to create a new female super suit for Goldstar, Inc. He delivered on his reputation and earned his place in Booster Gold's supporting cast.

While Soo's specific heritage is never addressed, his tan skin, dark hair, and narrow eyes indicate Asian ethnicity. "Soo" also happens to be a Westernization of the fairly common Chinese surname "Su."

Of course, it's hard not to notice the sudden appearance of an ethnic minority in a comic full of white characters. But was Asian the right race for Booster Gold's first new supporting character? I mean, isn't "Asian scientist" a little cliched?

As always, I turned to creator Dan Jurgens for the answer.

Yes, we realized that we need to have a more diverse cast.

I would also add that "Asian scientist" might seem a bit stereotypical now, but it certainly wasn't 30 years ago.

Jurgens has a point there. While ethnic Asians make up almost 15% of all modern science, technology, engineering, and technology jobs in America today (second in percentage only to — you guessed it — whites), that number was closer to 5% in 1980 according to census.gov.

Thanks to Dan Jurgens for being both culturally sensitive and historically accurate.

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I like the New 52 Booster Gold less every time I see him, but that doesn't mean I'm ready to give up on the character just yet.

Last week's poll question: Do you intend to keep buying Booster Gold comics now that you know New 52 Booster isn't pre-Flashpoint Booster? (49 votes)

The big DC Comics news these days is all about either Arrow/Flash/Legends of Tomorrow on television or the Superman V Batman movie. It seems like these are two separate universes, and characters from one are excluded from the other. If that's the case, what part should Booster Gold play?

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I'm not done with Special Edition 2015 just quite yet. Check out this sketch by Bill Walko:

On DeviantArt.com, Walko explains that the dialogue is "a private cosplay joke." Any chance that's what the two fellows we met yesterday were saying?

UPDATE 2015-06-10: It turns out that Walko drew more than one Blue and Gold sketch last weekend! You can find the other here: billwalko.deviantart.com. (It's really the better of the two.)

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My how time flies. The first issue of Identity Crisis, the event series that brutally raped and murdered one Justice Leaguer as a cheap excuse to get the rest of the "Satellite Era" Leaguers to fight amongst themselves and destroy years of friendship and camaraderie, was published eleven years ago today.

Thankfully, Booster Gold had almost nothing to do with the series, but our hero did have the good manners to accompany pal Blue Beetle to Sue Dibny's funeral.

Identity Crisis would set the tone of the DCU for years to come. This story drove Batman to create Brother Eye, who played a critical role in the death of Blue Beetle, and I'd be perfectly happy to pretend it was never published.

We still miss you, Sue.

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You know convention season is in full swing when Booster Gold and Blue Beetle come to cosplay!

This pic was snapped at Special Edition NYC 2015 by Kronos2501. You can see the original and his other cosplay pics at DeviantArt.com.

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