Last week, DC announced the first casualties of the New 52. Blackhawks, Hawk and Dove, Men of War, Mister Terrific, O.M.A.C. and Static Shock were among the worst-performing titles of the New 52. They will be replaced by some familiar titles in the next three months as DC seeks to inject some new blood into the rapidly decaying New 52.

Fortunately, JLI is still a top-50 seller, though it is interesting to note that even it is losing ground rapidly to a rather Boosterrific comparable:

At this rate, it should be expected that sales for the still-on-the-shelf Justice League International #5 will be worse than sales were for Booster Gold #5 in 2007. Granted, these numbers don't take into account the unknown digital sales of the JLI series, but it would still seem that Batman and Guy Gardner aren't helping promote sales significantly more than Booster Gold could do himself. Who would have expected that?

Booster Gold had two things that JLI doesn't. Since one of those things was Geoff Johns who is already busy doing what he does best reinvigorating Aquaman, the JLI will need to hang their hopes on the other one: Skeets, the JLI needs you!

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More often than not, making a comic book is a team effort. Many artists and editors are generally involved in the process. As a result, what any one artist puts into their work doesn't necessarily make it to publication. Such was the case with 2008's Justice League Unlimited #43.

The issue's story, "Wannabes," was written by Keith Giffen and penciled by Christopher Jones. All Booster Gold fans know who Giffen is, and Jones will be familiar to fans of DC's Cartoon Network-inspired Unlimited Universe comics. Recently, Jones posted his pencils of the last page on his website, gallery.christopherjonesart.com, and the difference between the final product and his rendering is rather remarkable.

The penciled page has considerably more detail on the bulletins around the edges of the panel and a far more engaging design of the main flyer itself, including hand-written tear-off tabs! Though the essence of the panels remains the same, the change to the fonts and layouts make for a less whimsical finish that deprives the page of most of its humor.

In addition to changes on this page, Jones' hand-lettered sound effects throughout the issue have been replaced in the published edition. Why were these changes made? Why would an artist bother to do so much extra lettering if it wasn't to be published? To answer this question, I asked Jones himself:

As I indicated on my blog, I turned in the pencils for this story and then the whole thing was put on hold for a couple of years. Other than hearing that the story was finally being printed, I never got any more information on any behind-the-scenes details on the inking, lettering or the rest of the production.

I like to letter sound effects, logos and things on pages myself, but one thing that can often happen is that the inker won't touch it figuring that it's the purview of the letterer, and then the letterer never sees what I'd indicated with the pencils.

Jones has posted his pencils to the entire story, including a larger version of this page and two other full pages that were part of the original 22-page commission in 2004 but cut from the 20-page final printing in 2008, in his gallery here. If you would like to read more about the behind-the-scenes trials and tribulations of creating comic books, be sure to stop by Jones' blog, blog.christopherjonesart.com, where Jones is very open about sharing his work -- lately on the comic book adventures of Cartoon Network's Young Justice (which is pretty good save for the glaring omission of Booster Gold).

Thanks to Christopher Jones for being so gracious in responding to questions. Also thanks to site-contributor Morgenstern, for calling attention to Jones' penciled artwork.

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It's pretty clear that the fans need some Skeets. Hopefully he and Rip Hunter are working overtime, if not to restore the DCU's history, at least the pre-Flashpoint costumes.

Last week's poll question: Why hasn't Skeets been seen yet in the DCnU? (39 votes)

With the first full adventure of the new JLI barely in the books, is it fair to start comparing it to the JLI of old? Who cares, we're doing it anyway!

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Eagle-eyed, longtime Booster booster Shawn Baston notes that Booster Gold and the Justice League International appear in today's Legion Lost #5 reacting to a global plague. Unfortunately, it seems that the JLI's skill set isn't the best method for dealing with heart attacks:

Buying this issue won't make Skeets happy, but it could teach you how not to treat heart attack victims.

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Russell Burlingame's latest "International Exchange" column ran yesterday morning on comicbook.com. Burlingame and Jurgens are really developing a rapport after all these years: this month's column is the most entertaining, most informative one yet. You know it's going to be good when Burlingame goes straight for the jugular:

International Exchange: I'll start with the hard, and obvious, question: Who's that girl on the far right side of the cover? It doesn't look like Lady Godiva.

Dan Jurgens: There's a very good answer for that.

It's a mistake. A screw up.

She shouldn't be there as she wasn't yet due to appear in the book. Given the amount of people who look at these things, I have no idea how it ever made it all the way through to print.

Note that Jurgens says the mysterious Woman in Black wasn't "yet" in the book. So when will we be discovering the true identity of this woman who is not Godiva, Wonder Woman, or Donna Troy? Inquiring minds want to know.

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