Every day, I get a new email notifying me that someone on the Internet is talking about James Gunn's announced Booster Gold show. They don't have any new details, mind you, because there aren't any new details.

But I appreciate their enthusiasm. From their breathless clickbait, you'd think the character had never been on TV before. How soon everyone forgets Smallville.

To be fair to them, it has been over a decade since the CW cancelled that show after ten seasons. In fact, it's been exactly 10 years to the day since Booster's last appearance in the Smallville Season 11 comic book. Issue #15, to be specific.

At the time, Booster had been teleported to the 31st century to help the Legion of Super-Heroes save Metropolis. And Booster delivered as only he could.

I'm excited for a new Booster Gold television series, too. I'm looking forward to a new generation of audiences seeing a real hero in action again.

(While I'm on the topic of Smallville comics, I must admit that looking into this issue I realized that I had somehow failed to catalog Booster's cameo in Smallville Season 11 Special #5 and the reprint collections Smallville Season 11 Volume 8: Chaos and Smallville Season 11 Volume 9: Continuity. I think I've got all the Smallville appearances now, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.)

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Booster Gold makes only a small cameo in Millennium #4, and we only hear about him in Millennium #5 when we (and Mister Bones) eavesdrop on a conversation between siblings Jade and Obsidian.

Millennium #5, words by Steve Englehart, art by Joe Staton, Ian Gibson, Carl Gafford, Bob Lappan

It's not until Millennium #6 when we see our hero finally return to full-page action. Three pages of action, actually. And I have to say he puts on a pretty good showing for himself despite siding with the Manhunters.

Booster's rarely-seen Absorbing Field wins the day, temporarily incapacitating both Batman and a Green Lantern. Even if you are on the wrong side of this conflict, Booster, that's impressive.

And that's why this is one of My Favorite Pages.

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Argentinian comic book fan Pablo Stadelman, author of Cosa De Fans and Cosa De Fans 2, has written yet another book about comics, Decisiones Heroicas.

My Spanish is... well, very bad. So I had Google Translate translate the book jacket for me.

Heroic Decisions: history of the creation of the most important comics industries.

This book contains the beginning of the most significant editorial contest in the world of comics, of two of its most important exponents, such as DC Comics and Marvel Comics.

Through an extensive investigation, the period between 1960 and 1970 is analyzed, and it is shown how both publishers made decisions of different kinds to carry out their growth and achieve their well-deserved recognition.

It is a tribute to the actions of the different cartoonists, writers, inkers, and editors of both publishers, who had the difficult task of making the right decisions to be able to implement the stories of the characters most loved by readers.

This book is dedicated to all comic book lovers, as well as to all those who want to know the beginning of one of the most important events in the publishing industry.

Booster Gold wasn't around in the 60s or 70s, but he has always been a student of historical heroes. He's also a time traveler, a walking anachronism. Maybe that's why he's on the cover.

Or maybe he just couldn't resist the opportunity to be seen alongside so many members of both the Justice League and the Avengers. Our hero never could resist a good photo opportunity.

Good luck with the book, Pablo.

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It could be argued that self-interested corporate shill Booster Gold is the embodiment of the modern American Dream. But the DC Universe already has an embodiment of the American Spirit, and he's been around for a long, long time.

"In 1776, as a new, but tattered flag was hoisted over the thirteen free states, a new spirit was born, a spirit that grew until 48 states became united under one flag."

That's how National Comics #1 opened in 1940, thus beginning the comic book adventures of the personification of the American Spirit of Liberty, better known to comic book readers as Uncle Sam, eventual leader of the Freedom Fighters, first on Earth-X, then on the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths's only Earth, and now on Earth-10.

You might think that Booster and Uncles Sam, both being active, time-traveling, metaverse-hopping superheroes for decades now, would have worked together a bunch. But that's actually far from the case. As it happens, they've appeared on panel together in only two adventures.

The first time was in 2007's Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Superman-Prime, when the heroes of Earth came together in an attempt to put the rampaging Superman of Earth-Prime in his proper place: six-feet underground.

Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Superman-Prime #1, Page 4, Panel 1

The second time was a few year later, in the pages of Blackest Night #8, when the heroes of Earth came together in an attempt to put the rampaging Nekron in his proper place: also six-feet underground.

Blackest Night #8, Page 10, Panel 1

As you can imagine, there's not a lot of time for small talk when you're trying to save the world.

I like to think that once the smoke cleared, the two heroes got a chance to share a Coca-Cola and a slice of apple pie and argue about baseball. One might love money while the other loves freedom, but something tells me they have more in common than they have differences.

Blackest Night #8, Page 33, Panel 6

Happy Independence Day, everybody.

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No sooner was my local network restored than I got an email from Joe Carlo, who pointed me towards some big Booster Gold news coming to San Diego Comic Con this July.

To quote from the official press release at DC.com:

DC announced today their highly anticipated return to Comic-Con International: San Diego (SDCC) with a new DC Booth on the convention show floor from Wednesday, July 19, through Sunday, July 23. ...

On sale in DC's all-new booth will be a wide variety of comic books, graphic novels, and new merchandise from DC and DC Shop. While supplies last, DC will be selling limited printings of Superman "Big Blue" Edition, Silver Screen Editions of Batman #655, Booster Gold #1, Authority #1 and Supergirl Woman of Tomorrow #1....

The press release includes images of the "Silver Screen Convention Exclusive Variant Cover" editions of Authority, Batman, and Supergirl, which have monochromatic black and white cover-images repeated on the front and back of the issue. So we can expect that's what the (not pictured) Booster Gold will look like, whether they're referring to Volume 1 or Volume 2.

So, is anyone going to San Diego who can get their hands on one of those for me?

Thanks for the alert, Joe.

UPDATE: As Marty has pointed out in the comments, Dan Jurgens has tweeted what the book will look like.

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