Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Shortly after being ambushed by Devastator in 1994's Justice League America #89, Booster Gold was pronounced dead in Justice League Task Force #13. A decade later in 52 Week 15, Booster Gold was killed (again!) following a jealous struggle with Supernova. It seems that no supervillain wants Booster Gold dead as much as Mark Waid, the author of both comic books.
Waid made up for his transgressions by writing for Booster a rousing call to action. Booster delivered the following speech to the Justice League at the foot of Mount Everest in Justice League Task Force #14 (seen at left).
It's fourth and goal... and the fate of the world rests on this drive.
There's five and a half miles of mountain between us and the end of the world...
...so I'd suggest we get a move on.
While that's no "Saint Crispin's Day" speech, it is pretty good for a comic book. It's also not the only thing for which Booster Gold fans have to thank Mark Waid. Waid was the editor of Secret Origins #35, and wrote the informative article "Secrets Behind the Origins" detailing Booster Gold's unused pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths origin (where he stole not from the Space Museum but the Superman Museum!).
Thanks, Mark Waid. Boosterrific.com wishes you a Happy Birthday!
| | Tags: birthday mark waid
Morgenstern posted on Mar. 21, 2012 at 10:10 AM
The art doesn't even look that bad on this one pic..for Extreme Justice. I mean it is till far from good, but much better than what else I saw of that title.<br /><br />Also..uh speaking as someone who is not from the Colonies, that speech would have left me rather confused than roused, at least the first part. Than again..at least Aquaman was not singing.
Grimmy posted on Mar. 21, 2012 at 11:07 AM
Happy birthday Mark, thank you for not putting Booster in "Kingdom Come".
Boosterrific [Official Comment] posted on Mar. 21, 2012 at 2:58 PM
Morgenstern: That image is from JUSTICE LEAGUE TASK FORCE #14 and is by Sal Velluto and Jeff Albrecht. Their art is pretty good, mainly because they have some knowledge of how to lay out panels. The art by Marc Campos is much worse in the regular JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA title and would be even worse in EXTREME JUSTICE, which wouldn't start its run for about 6 more months later.
Grimmy: Booster is mentioned but not seen in KINGDOM COME #1 as the manager of Planet Krypton. We finally meet him in that role in KINGDOM COME THE KINGDOM: PLANET KRYPTON #1. Both of those books, obviously, were written by Mark Waid.
Grimmy posted on Mar. 21, 2012 at 3:49 PM
Boosterrific, you mean "The Kingdom" #1? Same Earth22 universe, different series. Sorry, my OCD is kicking in today.<br />My "thank you" was sincere, the 4 issue "Kingdom Come" series is too dark a place for Booster IMHO. I should correct myself tho, that series was Alex Ross's baby and Mark Waid was teamed with him due to his strong familiarity with the history of DC superheroes.<br />I haven't read any of "The Kingdom" books.
Boosterrific [Official Comment] posted on Mar. 21, 2012 at 5:20 PM
Oops. Yes, I had the name wrong. I knew better. Can I blame a typo?
If you really want to get into a discussion about sharing credit for KINGDOM COME, you have to mention Alan Moore. KC was clearly based on the unpublished Alan Moore proposal TWILIGHT OF THE SUPERHEROES. (Those unfamiliar can find a basic summary of that story on Wikipedia.) Yes, it is the art of Alex Ross that really made KINGDOM COME a smash hit, but the story shares too many elements with TWILIGHT to for me to comfortably give sole credit to Ross and Waid. (I don't mean to suggest that DC didn't have the right to rework the proposal. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't: I'm in no position to adjudicate that decision. However, if we can't mention WATCHMEN without giving credit to the Charlton characters as it seems everyone has to do all the time now, it seems that KINGDOM COME shouldn't be discussed without crediting the TWILIGHT proposal.)
Grimmy posted on Mar. 21, 2012 at 6:23 PM
Yep I completely agree, sorry I forgot the TWILIGHT connection. Can I blame old age?<br /><br />I was referring to the KINGDOM COME Wiki entry to refresh my memory on that series development. And YES Alan Moore is GREAT. I especially enjoyed his ABC books.
Russ Burlingame posted on Mar. 22, 2012 at 4:36 PM
You know, there's someone ELSE with a Booster Gold connection who had a birthday yesterday, too...!
Boosterrific [Official Comment] posted on Mar. 22, 2012 at 10:56 PM
Happy belated birthday, Russ! When it's your 50th birthday, I'll run a spotlight column on you!
The Irredeemable Shag posted on Mar. 26, 2012 at 11:19 PM
Happy Belated Birthday to Mark Waid! He's phenomenal! His Flash run is still my favorite of the speedsters series.<br /><br />So let me get this right... Booster was killed by one of the Overmaster's henchmen? Overmaster?!?? Seriously? The guy Justice League Detroit beat? That's like losing to some guy that was defeated by the Inferior Five.<br /><br />Next you'll tell me Booster was killed by someone pathetic like Giganta. Oh wait...<br /><br />The Irredeemable Shag
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Yesterday, the CW Network released a pic of Green Arrow from the Arrow pilot. This is bad news. Follow my logic:
- The CW and SyFy request scripts for Green Arrow and Booster Gold respectively from Berlanti Productions
- Berlanti makes a Green Arrow script that CW likes enough to turn into a pilot and publicly promote.
- Berlanti focuses on the project that is most likely to make them money.
- Therefore, the Booster Gold television project slides into development hell.
Pilot season for Fall 2012 is almost over, and there has been no new news about a Booster Gold pilot. In Hollywood, no news is bad news. It is beginning to look like we won't be seeing Booster Gold on TV this fall. Maybe next year?
| | Tags: berlanti productions syfy television
russburlingame posted on Mar. 20, 2012 at 10:59 AM
I think part of the issue is that Arrow's script was already written and sold to the studio, whereas they basically picked Booster's name out of a hat and had to hire someone to write it. I could be wrong.
Morgenstern posted on Mar. 20, 2012 at 12:14 PM
This had me worried a while back and tried to find more info about the...well..lack of infos. What I found was a comparison to the Syfy show Alphas, where between ordering the first script, announcing cast infos and actually airing the pilot a year passed each.<br /><br />For Booster this would mean (using the same time-scale) that we would get the first infos about casting & crew in fall and the pilot would air the next. Now I am not claiming that this means that the pilot is safe, but rather that there is still some chances for it. (Further CW is in dire need of new Pilots quickly. Syfy not so much)<br /><br />Also..uh..has anyone tried to simply ask Kreisberg or Berlanti Productions if they have any updates on Booster Gold?
Boosterrific [Official Comment] posted on Mar. 20, 2012 at 2:19 PM
Sorry. I wasn't trying to say that the show was never going to happen. I was just trying to suggest that it is unlikely to happen this year. I still hope.
deusex2 posted on Mar. 20, 2012 at 2:55 PM
GAH! I can't believe they picked Green Arrow over Booster Gold! CURSE YOU SMALLVILLE! And curse Smallville fanboys!<br /><br />*breathes in and out*I'm calm-ish.<br /><br /> I guess it's tolerable, so long as there's still a chance. I mean hey-I've waited several years for BG to appear on Smallville! Waiting another year shouldn't be much of a challenge.<br /><br /> But still, darn...Who in his right mind would pick a dude in a green costume with a bow over Booster Gold?! I mean even Booster's comics were always more entertaining than GA.
Jesster posted on Mar. 20, 2012 at 6:03 PM
All I have to say is that at no time in Booster Gold's history has he ever been blown up and replaced by his illegitimate son, and that alone makes him 100% more marketable. Plus Booster has the superior supporting cast with Rip and Michelle, not to mention the greatest partner any hero or TV show could ever want in Skeets. Really the possibilities are endless and it just goes to show that Hollywood doesn't know a great idea when it time travels their into their lap. Maybe we should all get together and produce our own pilot to sell.
Grimmy posted on Mar. 21, 2012 at 11:05 AM
I actually hope that we don't see Booster by this fall (don't everyone shoot me just yet), considering how little (none) information we've had since the order for a script. Which I take to mean no significant action has occurred on the project yet. So if a Booster pilot does make it to the screen by this Fall it will probably be a hastily assembled low quality project, not good for anyone. My plan is to wait patiently for further updates through the Summer and hope for some good news by Thanksgiving. <br />I think the news that "Arrow" is far enough along for a Fall release is actually good news for Booster, it just means that Kreisberg is probably freer to work on a "Booster" script.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Eyz of Geek Life (and a Solid Gold member of the Booster Gold Fan Club) reminds us that no matter how much we may miss our Booster Gold title of yesteryear, our favorite supporting cast is alive and well, safe in our back issues boxes.
Ah, Rani. We barely knew you. Literally. Who was that kid?
(Click on the picture or the link above to find a larger copy of the image at Eyz's site.)
| | Tags: blogspot.com eyz fan art rani
Morgenstern posted on Mar. 19, 2012 at 10:24 AM
"Who was that kid?"<br /><br />Black Beetle's daughter? I mean come on, they only had ca 15 issues to flesh her out! That is not nearly enough to get anything done obviously!
Grimmy posted on Mar. 19, 2012 at 1:49 PM
Was Rani meant to be a reference to the old Dr Who villainess? We may never know...
russburlingame posted on Mar. 20, 2012 at 10:57 AM
I believe that DeMatteis told me during a conversation (not an interview, and therefore a little more candid) that there were no specific plans for her to be anyone special. I'll have to touch base with him again to see if I'm remembering correctly, but I think Rani was just meant to be Rani.
Grimmy posted on Mar. 20, 2012 at 5:38 PM
Thanks, you're probably right. I'm sure it's just my devious "fanboy" mind working overtime.
Eyz posted on Mar. 21, 2012 at 6:07 AM
Come on guys! She was just a "supporting character", something that is quite missing a lot from current modern comics. Nowadays, we just have action scenes one after the other. A supporting cast serves to develop the hero and give some character interaction. Like Dirk or Trix' in the good ol' classic Booster Gold series!
Grimmy posted on Mar. 21, 2012 at 7:59 PM
Yeah, I know but that's what we thought Max was before he became EEEEEvil Bwahahah<br /><br />Seriously Eyz, Great pic. Love the color :)
MadR posted on Mar. 22, 2012 at 12:45 AM
I was always a bit terrified that they were going to pull the 'Rani grows up to be Booster's Wife/Rip's mother.' on us.
Eyz posted on Mar. 22, 2012 at 5:39 AM
(I was honestly getting the same vibes, but I guess that's because of the lack of purpose that was around Rani, we started interpreting things as such..)
Friday, March 16, 2012
I've put off watching this video from Exploring the Multiverse for weeks, because it bothers me to listen to people who have no idea what they are taking about talk. It's almost painful. However, I ultimately do have to support anyone who is willing to devote an hour of his time to discuss Booster Gold.
Spoiler: in the end they agree to dislike the new Booster Gold costume. Whatever I might fault Mike, Victor, and Bill for their lack of preparation (they seriously didn't know that Booster Gold had his own title before 2007?), they deserve full credit for their super hero fashion sense. Good job, guys.
| | Tags: exploringthemultiverse.com podcasts video
Jesster posted on Mar. 18, 2012 at 10:28 AM
Why would you talk about something without doing your due diligence? Sure dedicate an hour of your lives to talking about something you don't know a lot about. But yes they deserve credit for good fashion sense.
Grimmy posted on Mar. 22, 2012 at 8:37 PM
Finally broke down and watched, not "too" bad. Mike, the guy in the middle is a Booster fan and really carries the show (even if he forgot about Booster's original book). I like the surface comparison they make of Booster Gold to Captain Amazing from the Mystery Men movie.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Honestly, I expected the opinion pieces to be among the least favorite blog topics. Boy, was I wrong. (And who would have guessed that "25th-century erotica" would receive more votes than non-Booster comics news?) I guess I shouldn't be shy about giving you a piece of my mind.
Last week's poll question: What type of content would you most like to see more of on the Boosterrific.com blog? (38 votes)
Death. It happens to all of us sooner or later. In real life, it always marks "The End" of our personal stories. In comics, that's not necessarily the case.
Comic book characters suffer death much like real humans suffer the common cold. It's an inconvenience, but it will pass. This condition jades audiences, and the resulting difficulty to maintain suspension of disbelief then requires something unusual or spectacular to make an audience pay attention, as recent events in Justice League International #7 and DC Universe Online Legends #24 highlight.
Counting alternate realities, Booster Gold has now "died" at least four times, but as expected he keeps getting better. That makes you wonder: what would it really take to kill off Metropolis' greatest hero?
| | Tags: death polls website update
Morgenstern posted on Mar. 15, 2012 at 10:12 AM
The continuation of dc's current editoral policies and writing styles?
CDN posted on Mar. 15, 2012 at 10:57 AM
Seeing Nuclear Explosion, all I could picture was Atom going boom. Damn you Nate!
Jesster posted on Mar. 15, 2012 at 6:25 PM
My first thought was STD but he could simply travel to a time where there was a cure.
Eyz posted on Mar. 16, 2012 at 8:38 AM
As dark as it seemed, for a character like Booster, I liked his time-altering-discease from the end of DeMatteis/Giffen run.<br />Booster traveled so much through time his body couldn't take it anymore...<br /><br />Hey that's more fitting, for the man who started out by stealing devices from the future and going back to the past for fame and glory, than say an explosion or some random new event-crisis.
Grimmy posted on Mar. 19, 2012 at 1:58 PM
All of the above... <br /><br />Nah, nothing can kill Booster!
The Irredeemable Shag posted on Mar. 20, 2012 at 12:27 AM
As depressing as it is, I voted for a disease/plague. Since Booster Gold is larger than life, it seemed fitting from a storytelling perspective that he would go out with a whimper, rather than a bang. Again, depressing, but I can imagine a very moving sad end for such a colorful character.
