While my attention was focused on turkey and apple pie last week, DC sneaked a Booster Gold by me!

As you can see, the Earth-22 version of our hero (and Skeets!) makes a very brief appearance in Batman Superman World's Finest #21, now on sale at Local Comic Shops everywhere:

The events of this issue take place prior to the events of Kingdom Come, so this is chronologically Earth-22 Booster's first appearance!

It seems likely that we'll see Booster again in the next issue, currently scheduled for a December 19 release. You can be sure I'll be paying attention to that.

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In Justice League International #16, a crack team goes undercover on a mission of international espionage.

Maybe "crack team" is a bit of an overstatement, especially when Booster Gold and Blue Beetle are involved.

Page 6 is chock full of references to classic movies in television. Peter Lupus was a bodybuilder and actor in the original Mission: Impossible television series. And Beetle has assumed the identity of George Bailey, famous worldwide as the protagonist character from the classic film It's a Wonderful Life.

Interestingly, Beetle looks less like Wonderful Life actor Jimmy Stewart and more like silent film comedy star Harold Lloyd. I don't think this is an accident.

This often-silly issue explicitly namechecks the comedy duo of Bud Abbot and Lou Costello, and unless I am very wrong, that's Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel (in a fez) watching Booster fumble the luggage in the fifth panel of page 6. Those two were experts in mishandling packages, as hilariously recorded in 1932's The Music Box.

Having Beetle dress as the clock-dangling star of 1923's Safety Last! is a nice nod to the silent era of Hal Roach Studios comedies as much as it is to Clark Kent's famous glasses disguise... which Superman's creators Jerry Siegel and Joel Shuster modeled on Harold Lloyd. That's a full circle disguise!

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Last weekend, I read online rumors that a director had been hired for the previously-announced Warner Bros Booster Gold television show, and that James Gunn himself would be writing. I did not post about that here because I was waiting for some confirmation from Warner Bros.

I don't like unfounded rumors. Founded rumors are fair game, but those unfounded ones... I can't stand those.

Here it is, nearly a week later, and we still don't know if the rumors are true. But James Gunn may have addressed them when, according to BleedingCool.com, he responded to a question about the rumor on X.com Threads.net by posting:

"Don't believe the Internet." ^[1]

Is that in reference to the announcement of the director? Or that Gunn will be writing any episodes? Or should I not believe what Gunn is saying now because I only read that online?

Or, heck, since I only know that Warner Bros is supposed to be working on a television show because I saw the announcement WB released on the Internet, maybe I shouldn't believe that either.

Or maybe the James Gunn on X Threads isn't really James Gunn? If that quote was made by an imposter, does that mean I should believe the Internet? Come to think of it, I've only ever seen James Gunn on the Internet; how can I know he really exists at all?

"Down, down, down. Would the fall never come to an end?" ^[2]

Anyway. I think the point here is that we still don't have any concrete news about what to expect from a Booster Gold television series, so don't get too excited — or bent out of shape, whichever your proclivity may be. James Gunn will tell us when he wants to know.

Assuming he's real, that is.

^[1] I'd link to the original post if I could find it, but X.com now requires a login to see its content, and I'm not going to do that. So I'm just going to have to take Bleeding Cool's word that this happened. Does that make me part of the rumor mill? Yes, yes it does. Probably best if you just forget that I posted any of this. As a wise man once (maybe) said, don't believe the Internet. UPDATE: See the comments! It wasn't on X but Threads, which is EXTRA why I couldn't find it.

^[2] This quote comes from a book. Since it was written on paper in the age before digital screens, the source can be trusted as the gospel truth. Which is how I know that all Cheshire cats can grin... and most of 'em do.

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This week is Thanksgiving, the American holiday when we count our blessings. Unfortunately, Booster boosters are going to have to look somewhere other than their Local Comic Shops for their bounty this season, as DC has released their February 2024 solicitations with nary a Booster Gold in sight.

But one cover does get oh-so close.

As you can see, the Terry Dodson cover for Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville #6 homages the Adam Hughes cover to Justice League America #34 with Fire and Ice lounging for some rest and relaxation in the way that Blue Beetle and Booster Gold did on the original.

But since Fire was in the role of reluctant serving wench on the original cover, it seem the tables should have been fully turned, and Booster (or Beetle) should have had to serve the ladies this time around. Instead, poor alien robot L-Ron gets the chore as Club JLI Smallville burns behind them.

Is no Booster better than an amusingly subservient butler Booster? I'll let you be the judge.

In the meantime, you can see pictures of all the covers for DC's February 2024 solicitations at ComicsBeat.com.

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Despite the fact that Captain Atom spends most of the issue running away from the New Gods' Black Racer on the astral plane, somehow Booster Gold and Black Racer never come face to face in Captain Atom #17.

So instead, I have to settle on page 5 as my favorite page of the issue.

Yes, Booster plays a more important role on page 8 when he identifies a nearby hero who can help the situation (future enemy Brainwave!), but what I like specifically about this page is that it's Booster Gold who carries the wounded Captain Atom to safety.

For one thing, while armored, the good Captain weighs three-quarters of a ton (according to the Captain himself in Justice League: Generation Lost #6), so Booster is the only hero present who could lift him.

More importantly, in years to come, it will be Captain Atom who cradles Booster Gold after the Devastator leaves our hero for dead in Justice League America #89. That's some good symmetry.

Both Booster and Atom joined the DCU at almost the same time following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and both have always represented different, competing aspects of American culture that are just as relevant today as they were in the 1980s. I always like seeing them on panel together.

Still... one of these days, I really would like to get a showdown between Booster Gold and the Black Racer. I also always enjoy seeing Booster Gold cheat Death.

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