As all Booster boosters of a certain age know, when Michael Jon "Booster" Carter first came to the 20th century back in 1985, he started a company he called Goldstar, Inc. in honor of his originally intended alter ego (which he fumbled naming in front of the United States president).

The name "Goldstar" was used a lot in the first year of Booster's adventures, eventually becoming the name of Booster's sidekick. And then, after a trip back to the future, Booster renamed his company "Booster Gold Incorporated" with very little explanation why.

Which is not to say that there wasn't a reason.

The answer lies in Russ Burlingame's exclusive interview with Dan Jurgens in a book I'm sure I haven't mentioned around here yet, The Gold Exchange: The Boosterrific Deluxe Edition:

Burlingame: It's funny. I was talking to someone younger than me, recounting the story of how Booster was originally Goldstar. And I said that I always wondered whether that was because of Goldstar, the electronics manufacturer, and whether you had really made that change, rather than it just being a throwaway gag. But that person was younger than me, so they had no idea what the company was that I was even talking about.

Jurgens: Yes. Yeah, it was, by the way. That's exactly what it was: we were into it, I had done Goldstar, and Booster's sister as well, but ultimately, they said "We've got to work away from this," and it was because there was a company out there called Goldstar, which none of us were aware of when I first started using that name. So I was like, "Okay, we've got to roll with that one too."

So yes, that is 100% true.

To be clear, United States trademark law protects a "word, phrase, or design" that distinguishes a company's goods and services from its competitors' similar goods. Therefore, while it was in Booster's best interest to rename his licensing company to avoid confusion with pre-existing international electronics company GoldStar (which you can tell your kids became part of what is now known as LG Corporation), there's no reason DC can't keep using "Goldstar" as a character name.

And now you know... the rest of the story.

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AIPTComics.com has a preview of this week's Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #5. Booster Gold's not in that preview, but it doesn't really matter because he (and Skeets) is one of the many covers:

Is it just me, or does it look like Blue Beetle is wearing a 10-gallon hat?

For the record, when you go to your Local Comic Shop, you'll want to ask for the "Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #5 Cover B Ivan Reis & Danny Miki card stock variant."

Buy this issue and make Skeets happy.

UPDATE 2022-10-04: Yep. He's in there.

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Perhaps most famous for its uncharacteristically metaphorical opening splash page, I can't imagine that Booster Gold volume 1 #10 is anyone's favorite Booster Gold comic.

The issue's main story is almost entirely about positioning the pieces for the final act of Booster's first long story arc. But the slower pace does allow for building emotional development, especially as we finally see the motivation of Booster's foes, the desperation of Dirk Davis, and most importantly, the friendship (romance?) Trixie Collins feels for our hero.

Artist Dan Jurgens reinforces writer Dan Jurgens' theme of plumbing character depths with pages of panels that start with large establishing shots and tighten to small panels of specific details.

The story starts on page 2, opening in a claustrophobic alley and then ratcheting up the tension as panels shrink the scope down to a very threatening cassette tape. On page 5, we literally follow the villain down as he descends into irrational madness. Page 11 is another fantastic example as focus is narrowed from a crime scene to the relevant clue, and on page 19, panels keep cutting away to closer and closer reaction shots of Doctor Shocker's glee at Booster's decreasing power. Alfred Hitchcock would be proud!

All of those are great pages, but my favorite is the most serene in the whole book: just Booster and Trixie hanging out in a pizza place.

You can actually see these two growing closer! Call me sentimental, but I think that's Boosterrific!

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Booster Gold lends a hand in this week's Human Target #7!

Ha, ha. Get it?

For the record, that's Booster's only participation in the issue, which is about the least Booster Gold we've gotten on panel since we saw just a sliver of his arm way back in Justice League #2 (1987).

If you're in the market for a little more Booster, know that this week also saw the release of reprint collections of the first halves of The Human Target and DC vs Vampires mini-series, as well as the complete reprint of another mini-series called Blue and Gold.

If you do buy one of these books, you will make Skeets happy.

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I was looking through DC's December solicitations at ComicsBeat.com this weekend when I spotted the 1:25 retailer incentive variant cover by Jeff Spokes for Human Target #10 featuring the Justice League International:

That's the only revealed cover coming in December with Booster on it. And I might consider buying it... if I can't get the regular edition with stunning Greg Smallwood art showcasing G'Nort for 1/5 the price. (Sorry, DC, but I'm not made of money. Have you seen how much comic books cost these days?)

The solicitations don't make it clear if Booster is inside any of the books, but Dan Jurgens will be handling some art on the Dark Crisis follow-up, Big Bang #1, so maybe there. We'll find out when the book comes to your Local Comic Shop on December 13.

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