I was sad to hear late yesterday that Keith Giffen has died.

In addition to many other significant accomplishment, Giffen, as all Booster boosters should know, is second only to Dan Jurgens in total number of Booster Gold adventures written. He's a big reason many of us love the character, and it's sad to think that he won't be creating any more.

Thanks for all the good times, Keith.

UPDATE 2023-11-28: DC has published a two-page tribute to Giffen in all books released today. Booster Gold appears in Kevin Maguire's art. You can see the image on the Boosterrific Comic Book House Ads page, and the whole tribute is online at dc.com/rememberingkeithgiffen.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: dc.com keith giffen kevin maguire

McFarlane Toys announced a new selection of 7" DC Multiverse figures this week, and their selection includes a familiar face, albeit one in an unfamiliar costume.

That's Waverider, but probably not the one most DC Comics readers remember. By which I mean that is not Matthew Ryder, the protagonist of the 1991 Armageddon 2001 event.

As devout Booster boosters can tell from the costume, that's actually Michael Jon "Booster Gold" Carter. Or one of them, anyway.

Here, I'll let the mcfarlane.com promotional text explain:

During the Convergence event, an aged Booster Gold (Michael Jon Carter) from an alternate Earth became the new Waverider when he was fed into the timestream by Earth-0's Booster Gold. This Waverider took on a career in the Multiverse, initially helping Telos and various Super Heroes convince Brainiac to realign the Multiverse. Waverider's ability to surf the timestream enables him to discover secrets hidden in the past and also gain knowledge of future events.

This is kind of a deep cut, even for McFarlane Toys. Booster-rider has only ever appeared in 2 comics: Convergence Booster Gold #2 and Convergence #8 both released on the same day in 2015. And the costume on that figure appears in only the first of those two comics!

I'm no fan of the ridiculously overworked "New 52" era design of Waverider II with its unnecessary armored leggings gold-plated abs, traffic-sign shoulder arrows, and call-back to NuBooster's hideously medieval gauntlets, but it looks positively svelte compared to the bulky McFarlane figure, which I can only assume is re-purposing re-colored pieces from previous steroid-abusing figures into an approximation of the comic book Waverider II costume. The economics of toy production is a bitch!

But if you (rightly) believe that any Booster Gold figure is a good figure, you can already pre-order your own for $19.99 at Target.com.

Comments (1) | Add a Comment | Tags: action figures mcfarlane toys mcfarlane.com merchandise waverider

I don't have to look at any previews to tell you that Booster Gold will definitely be in your Local Comic Shop this week... because he was there before.

This is page 8, panel 8 of 1991's War of the Gods:

A reprint of that comic, now called Wonder Woman War of the Gods Special Edition #4, will be available at fine comic shops everywhere this week. Given that panel is Booster Gold's only appearance in this otherwise mediocre event mini-series, Skeets will understand if you choose to buy it or not.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: new releases reprints wonder woman

I keep an eye on the Google search queries that lead people here to Boosterrific.com. Most of them are usually what you might expect: "best Booster Gold comics," "Booster Gold powers," "why do people like Booster gold?" But last month I spotted something odd: searches looking for information on "Rani."

As it happens, we haven't seen Rani in a comic book since 2011, so I can't guess what would have anyone searching her out in 2023. But mine is not to question why.

Instead, in order to help out whoever out there might be curious about Booster Gold's "daughter," let me re-run a post that I originally presented in 2019 as part of my "People in His Neighborhood" series on supporting characters in Booster Gold comics.

The life of any comic book hero would be a lonely one if not for the many characters who have made up their supporting cast. Just as Superman has Lois Lane and Batman has Alfred, Booster Gold has also shared his adventures with quite a few people over the years. Today we look at one of those, Rani.

In the 30th century, when the evil god Darkseid will take over the planet Daxam in what will become known as "The Great Darkness Saga," time-traveler Booster Gold will do what he can to save innocent lives (as seen in Booster Gold Volume 2, #32). Unfortunately for everyone, Booster is no match for an army of billions of super-powered Daxamites, and he manages to save only one child, little orphan Rani.

With Rani's foster parents having fallen victim to Darkseid's invasion, Booster has little choice but to take the poor girl home with him to 21st-century Arizona where she could be cared for by Time Master Rip Hunter, who unbeknownst to Booster is his real son. Rani nicknamed Rip "Boppy" after her own grandfather (Booster Gold #33). Hunter is concerned that Booster had damaged the space-time continuum by bringing Rani back into her past, but Booster's twin sister, Michelle, refuses to allow them to send the little girl back to a death sentence in the future (Booster Gold #34). Just like that, Rani became part of Booster's family, having free rein of Hunter's Arizona Time Lab compound.

Despite her young age, Rani has an advanced knowledge of technology (Booster Gold #35) and a drive to join the family business. In Booster Gold #38, she pilots a stolen time sphere to 1943 to confront Maxwell Lord's parents before he was born, and would later "borrow" Michelle's Goldstar costume (Booster Gold #39). In response, Michelle grounded her for two whole days.

Rani was mature for her age, but she would understandably continue to be traumatized by her experiences on Daxam. For example, when Doctor Nishtikeit and his time-traveling Nazis attacked Hunter's Time Lab (in Booster Gold #41), Rani suffered a prolonged PTSD episode that only resolved when Booster returned to "rescue" her. As seen in Booster Gold #42, Rani cried for the entire duration of Booster's 25th-century prison sentence (though Booster was away for only 10 minutes of her relative time in the 21st century). So far as she is concerned, Booster is her new daddy, and he treats her like the daughter he never had.

In the last days before Flashpoint changed history and destroyed everyone's memories of the history of the world that was, Rani was fittingly last seen in Booster Gold #43 on 30th-century missing child poster.

"The Great Darkness Saga" is still in Booster Gold's future. Will Rani be there? Will Booster Gold save her? Only time will tell.

Other People in Booster Gold's Neighborhood:

Comments (3) | Add a Comment | Tags: people in his neighborhood rani supporting characters

Spoiler Alert: Do not let Booster Gold touch your computer!

In honor of Booster showing up for a whole page in this week's Blue Beetle #2, I *finally* bit the bullet and bought an SSL Certificate for Boosterrific.com, as Google has been urging me to do for a decade, so that Booster boosters can feel secure when they... um, leave comments.

I didn't really think that this site needed an SSL Certificate yesterday, and I'm not convinced that today is any different. But I had the money, and... well, you know what they say about fools and money.

Quick aside here about buyer's remorse: in the year 1997, I impulsively spent all my savings on a used '95 Jeep Wrangler with 47,000 miles on it. That could be considered a dumb decision, and I berated myself quite a bit about it for a while. Fast forward to 2023: I still have that Jeep, and I am very, very attached to it. Which goes to show that not all decisions that seem in the moment to be a waste of money are.

(Although, it should be noted that not 30 minutes after I pressed the button to commit to purchasing the SSL certificate, the Jeep overheated and shut down in the middle of the road; it's now sitting in the mechanic's lot waiting for parts. Isn't that always the case? Just when you think you have enough money to upgrade a hobby website, you have to take out a loan for the mechanic.)

I still can't say as I see much value in an SSL certificate for Boosterrific.com given the kind of content I deliver — should I start charging ya'll for something? — but if it makes even one person more comfortable contributing to our community and celebrating Booster Gold, it's probably worth it.

Anyway, it's now installed, and I think everything is working correctly. Please let me know if you see anything that seems to be malfunctioning.

I'm sure it'll be fine.

Comments (4) | Add a Comment | Tags: website update