At last we come to Justice League International #7, which happens to be the *first* issue of Justice League International because back in the day publishers didn't restart series every other week; they just retitled existing series and kept the previous numbering. Was it confusing? Sure. But that's comic books for you.

Taking the Justice League international was a pretty big deal at the time (heck, if you ask me, it's still a big deal), but Booster Gold didn't have much of a role in the events. Aside from (kind of) saving Batman's life in space on international television, Booster spends most of the issue as just another pretty face in a crowd.

Which explains why he's not on my favorite page of the issue. Superman is.

The Man of Steel enters the United Nations Security Council politely. By walking in the door. So many writers/artists would get that detail wrong.

Speaking of artists, Kevin Maguire's art for the oversized issue has always looked a little rushed, but it's especially sketchy in higher-definition reprints. I recommend reading this on the original blurry newsprint if you have the option. Newer isn't always better.

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Booster booster Jace sent me this report from Warner Bros World in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, a place I didn't even know existed. Warner Bros World, that is. I may not often leave my dungeon, but I have heard of Abu Dhabi.

Writes Jace:

"For The Hero in Every Man, Cologne in (en?) Gold," is seen above the Gotham City Transit in the Gotham City area of the park. (It's super dark and far away but I hope this was an ok image.)

Jace must have a pretty good camera, because the accompanying photo isn't bad at all:

The product being advertised on that billboard sure looks like the unidentified bottle we see in Booster Gold Vol. 2, #17 (released in February 2009), and the slogan is reminiscent of the several variations of Dusk slogans used in multiple issues of Booster Gold volume 1. But the product name is... well, I'm not sure what the product name is.

As you can see in the Boosterrific.com annotations for that issue, I called that a bottle of Dusk, since that was the name of the cologne that Booster endorsed in volume 1 of his self-titled series (even though the volume 1 bottles had a slightly different label). But the comic doesn't identify the brand name. Neither does Secret Six #8 (released in April 2009), in which Deadshot wears Booster's fragrance for a night out with his colleagues (at a club called Hypertime).

words by Gail Simone; art by Carlos Rodriguez, Bit, Sal Cipriano, and Jason Wright
appearance first brought to my attention by Peter Duling

(And yes, I assume that "old maid's bathroom" is a reference to Booster's apocryphal 65-year-old wife, Gladys, from 2003's Formerly Known as the Justice League.)

As it happens, the Boosterrific.com directory of Booster's businesses and endorsements lists the product I've associated with Deadshot as "Cologne de Gold" even though, so far as I can tell, it is never called that in any comic book. I have to wonder if I gave it that name myself, perhaps influenced by Booster's fragrance for women, "Perfume du Booster," introduced a few months later in Booster Gold #23 (August 2009).

In any event, thanks to Jace for sending us the photo. It's cool that Booster Gold's salesmanship has reached Abu Dhabi, wherever that might be.

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The previews at AIPTComics.com don't give the impression that Booster Gold will be in any of this week's new releases. That doesn't mean I didn't see Booster Gold while looking.

The plot of Multiversity: Harley Screws Up the DCU involves a time travel mishap that unintentionally allows Starro the Star Conqueror to take over the Earth. If that sounds like a familiar scenario, it's because it was also the premise of 2008's Booster Gold Vol. 2 #13.

And though modern audiences raised on Justice League Unlimited episodes and Tom King comics might be surprised to learn otherwise, it wasn't Booster's fault.

It was his 20th-century ancestor's.

Daniel's mistake allowed Starro to possess the original Time Master, Rip Hunter, himself. Two issues of hi-jinks ensued as Starro re-wrote the past and future to his own liking.

Booster ultimately solved his problem with the timely assistance of Chronos and Lady Chronos. Hopefully, Harley can find time-travelling love-interest/frenemies of her own to help. Seems to me she should give Booster Gold a call; he's not doing anything else.

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I'm thinking pretty seriously about abandoning Twitter altogether, especially in the wake of the company adopting the Dogecoin icon as its logo. I tire of the new management's shenanigans.

And I have to say I'm going to miss it when I go. Where else could I see something like this?

If you're not familiar with "Tom Sawyer," go listen to it on Youtube.com

This is pretty fitting from just about every angle. Rush's sci-fi loving, envelope-pushing progressive-rock sounds (and mysterious lyrics) encapsulate the spirt of Booster Gold, just as Booster himself embodies Mark Twain's literary archetype of the (usually) well-intentioned but mischievous All-American Boy. In hindsight, it's an obvious pairing.

If you need me, Twitter, I'll be in the garage listening to my 1981 Rush Moving Pictures album on 8-track. Newer isn't always better.

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Three things today:

Thing 1: Although I don't normally watch movie trailers — they lie! — I made an exception for the upcoming Blue Beetle, which for legal reasons isn't titled Blue Spider-Man. I was thinking to myself, "This isn't for me," when the trailer gave me this:

The Bug! That is definitely for me. I still doubt we'll be seeing Booster Gold onscreen in that movie, but the trailer now makes me think we'll definitely be some Booster Gold Easter Eggs. We'll find out more in August.

Thing 2: This is only tangentially related to Booster Gold, but Mark Russell, writer of Booster Gold / The Flintstones Special team-up, has launched a Kickstarter to sell his own book of cartoons, Bunkbed Mishaps. One of the reward tiers includes a signed copy of The Flintstones: The Deluxe Edition collection with reprints the aforementioned team-up.

Full disclosure: I'm a big fan of all of Russell's writing (everything from God Is Disappointed in You to My Bad), so of course I'll be buying Bunkbed Mishaps. If you're interested in learning more about his latest project (or getting your hands on a signed Booster Gold comic), you'll find info at Kickstarter.com.

Thing 3: While we're on the subject of things I will be buying on Kickstarter, I might as well go ahead and throw my public support behind Karl Kesel's latest Impossible Jones comic book. Maybe you know Kesel as the creator of the Connor Kent incarnation of Superboy, but Booster boosters should always remember that he inked the fantastic story "When Titans Date" in Justice League Quarterly #10 (where Booster Gold and his fellow leaguers spy on Ted Kord's dinner date).

In addition to being a lot of fun to read, Kesel's Impossible Jones character raises similar ethical questions about what it means to steal your way to being a "hero" as a certain Michael "Booster" Carter. You can read more about her latest adventure, Impossible Jones and American A.N.G.E.L., on Kickstarter.com.

Okay, that's enough shilling for today. You may now resume your regularly scheduled ad-free Internet browsing.

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