Some events in the DC Universe are so significant, they are revisited over and over again. How many times have you seen Krypton explode? Or Martha Wayne's pearls? Or the Martian Manhunter's funeral?

I mention that last one for a reason. Manhunter was the first hero to die in 2008's Final Crisis, and his funeral was seen in both Final Crisis #2 and Final Crisis: Requiem #1. And Booster Gold was there both times. (In fact, Booster Gold was seen at DC's most significant funeral of the 21st century again as recently as 2019's Harley Quinn #67. Take that, Krypton!)

Well, it's starting to look like Nightwing's memorial service for the fallen Justice League seen in Dark Crisis #1 is the latest in repeatable solemn events. That memorial service will be seen again in this week's Dark Crisis: Young Justice #1. And once again, Booster Gold is in the crowd, as you can see in the issue preview at aiptcomics.com.

Booster Gold sure must love funerals.

Buy this issue's alternate cover by Todd Nauck (with Snapper Carr in a Booster Gold t-shirt) and make Skeets happy.

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As you may have heard, Superman For All Seasons artist Tim Sale passed away yesterday, which means this panel from Challengers of the Unknown #5 (1991) is as close as we're ever going to get to his take on Booster Gold in a DC publication.

Obviously that's *not* Booster Gold. I can't even find a Booster Gold commission drawn by Sale. If you know of one, please leave a link in the comments. I hate to think that we've permanently missed a chance to get his distinctive take on our favorite hero.

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Today is a slow news day, so I'll take this opportunity to clean out my "images to post" folder and share this Special Director's Cut panel that didn't make the final edit in my annual April Fools Day post.

Booster Gold #2 (1986)

Yeah, that probably deserved to stay on the cutting room floor. Oh well. They can't all be winners, can they, CW?

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If you've seen any movie filmed in New York City during the 1970s and 80s, you know that town was an absolute cesspool overflowing with garbage and urban blight. Thankfully, one visionary man bucked the system, seized power, and began cleaning up the city in the mid 1990s.

Yes, Booster. That man was the dictator Monarch. And readers of Extreme Justice #7, released on this date in 1995, would have recognized him as a wolf in sheep's clothing. Therefore, the question at the heart of this story isn't whether or not the familiar Monarch had become a sheep, but just which wolf he was.

First, a bit of backstory. Debuting in Armageddon 2001 #1 (1991), Monarch was a corrupted hero who had grown so frustrated at how bad the world was being run, he was determined to take it over himself. The time-traveling would-be world dictator (co-created by former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Archie Goodwin with shades of Doctor Doom and Kang the Conqueror) had already had run-ins with almost every super hero on Earth.

What makes Monarch particularly unique in the DC Universe isn't the character's origins or motivations, but his very complicated relationship with Captain Atom. See, as originally planned, Monarch *was* Captain Atom. DC's writers and artists seeded clues to Monarch's true identity for months, but when news of the planned reveal leaked to the general public, editors made a last-minute change to his secret identity.

However, no one liked the change (perhaps because of all the strong clues already in print to the contrary), and thus would begin years of stories revising Monarch's identity and intentions. Stories like this one.

Those who remember Extreme Justice often remember the "extreme" art, which makes it easy to say that the strength of the series was writer Dan Vado's character-driven melodramas and morality plays. What is the cost of being a hero? What defines a villain? Who are we all, really? This issue doesn't answer those questions, but life is about the journey, not the destination.

Just remember to never, ever trust a tyrant like Monarch.

Especially not if your name is Booster Gold.

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Since Boosterrific.com is my site, it tends to reflect the aspects of Booster Gold fandom that I find the most interesting. That means there are elements at the edges of fandom that I rarely touch on but shouldn't ignore. Topics like buying and selling comics for profit.

Earlier this week, the website gocollect.com ran an article called "It's Time for Booster Gold" by Matt Tuck. The gist of the article is in its first line:

This year's Blue Beetle movie could pave the way for a sure-fire fan favorite, Booster Gold, and you can own his key issues for pennies on the dollar.

Tuck specifically suggests that comic collectors should go get their hands on Booster Gold #1, Legends #6, and Justice League #3 because they are cheap enough that the buy-in risk is low and the likelihood of their value increasing is high. I guess. I mean, sure, Booster Gold #1 floats to the top of the speculation chart every time there's a rumor that Booster might finally get the television/movie spotlight he deserves, but Legends #6 has nothing to do with Booster Gold or the Blue Beetle who is getting a movie. I can't imagine anyone will be knocking down doors to get a copy of it anytime soon.

While comics speculation obviously isn't my bag — which is kind of ironic when you consider that I obsessively track a commercially-motivated character who knows what items will be valuable in the future — I cannot deny there's a certain appeal to that the idea of turning $5 into $10. Therefore, if I were to speculate, I would choose to hoard books like Booster's origin story in Booster Gold #6 (also the first appearance of post-Crisis Superman) that currently sells for a paltry $40. Or how about the first appearance of the Conglomerate (also the first appearance of Booster's cool leather jacket costume) in Justice League Quarterly #1, which tops out near $50. Or any Extreme Justice issue. No one has ever asked for an Extreme Justice issue, so demand for those can only go up. They certainly aren't making any more of them, thank goodness.

On second thought, maybe you should ignore my advice. If I knew which comics were going to be worth real money, I wouldn't be running a Booster Gold website; I'd be paying someone else to do it.

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