Nothing about 2020 is normal, and that includes the annual Comic-Con International convention being held this weekend. The in-person event was canceled for public health reasons, but it is now being held in "the comfort of your own home" courtesy of the magic of the Internet. (I hope you have a big couch.)

In honor of the convention's Masquerade cosplay contest, being held virtually tonight on comicconathome.tumblr.com, I present Kevin Bo...oster Gold, aka BoosterGoldNY, who was recently spotlighted in a Q&A at CriticalBlast.com.

I recommend that you check out his Instagram, where you'll see him posing with Dan Jurgens among many other great pictures. I think they're pretty Boosterrific.

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As many, many people have told me, Booster Gold appears in the October 2020 DC Comics solicitations. This is — as all Booster Gold appearances should be — Big News, big enough to be covered by many of the usual comic book news websites.

Compare the headlines "Batman vs. Batman Beyond Is Happening - And It's Booster Gold's Fault" and "Batman Will Finally Fight Batman Beyond Thanks to Booster Gold". The former belongs to CBR.com, who never misses a chance to troll Booster Gold fans. The latter belongs to ComicBook.com, where the Internet's foremost Booster Gold reporter, Russ Burlingame, adds a lot more context and a bit of speculation based on his past experience with the character. I'll leave you to your judgment which of those two links you should read.

Or, if you're in a hurry, you can just read the original solicitation below:

BATMAN BEYOND #48
written by DAN JURGENS
art by SEAN CHEN
cover by DAN MORA

"First Contact" begins! Something is very, very wrong with Bruce Wayne, as he lashes out in anger and tries to kill Batman Beyond! Who else can save him but...Booster Gold?! The greatest hero history never knew is going to take Batman Beyond back in time to the Gotham of old, where Bruce Wayne is Batman—which means Batman and Batman Beyond will meet at last!
ON SALE October 27, 2020

No matter whose fault it is, Batman must be getting tired of Booster Gold interfering with his destiny.

Though Batman Beyond #48 was the only solicitation to mention Booster Gold by name (and the only one to get promoted in the comic book press), our hero also appears in the announced reprint collections of Heroes in Crisis, plus lesser appearances in Batman/Superman Vol 1, Justice League Unlimited: Time After Time, and Underworld Unleashed: The 25th Anniversary TP.

You can find the complete list of DC October 2020 solicitations at GamesRader.com.

Keep your piggy banks nearby, Booster boosters. You're going to need all your pennies this October.

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Not even a pandemic can keep Cort Carpenter's Booster Gold sketchbook closed. Take a look at his latest additions:

Sami Basri

Aaron Lopresti

Sean Galloway

George Perez

Rod Reis

Travis G. Moore

Not a stinker in the bunch! (I could probably use that last one as one of my corner box images.) You can see all these and more at imgur.com.

Stay safe, Cort. No matter what else happens in 2020, the sketchbook must survive!

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When I first made my list of the twelve best Booster Gold comics, I decided that the Formerly Known as the Justice League mini-series belonged at number 7. But I wasn't sure which issue to spotlight.

Frankly, the entire mini-series is worth a read. It's a great call back to the best of the humorous yet heroic "Bwah-Ha-Ha" era of the Justice League International by the very creators who made that series such a hit.

Ultimately I've chosen to highlight issue #4 in part because it does such a good job of making the badly threadbare plot of a hero-vs-hero fistfight into a truly delightful read.

The issue sees the newly formed "Superbuddies" super team abducted by the villanous Roulette and forced to fight one another to the death. The joke is that no one takes the Superbuddies seriously or expects them to win. This is in keeping with the reputation of the JLI itself, which was at something of a nadir when the issue was published. Of course, fans — and team creators Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis — knew that the JLI was far more competent than their reputation (even if the team itself didn't).

In addition to the ton of jokes and familiar characterization of a bunch of friends who also happen to be teammates, this issue really highlights the strengths of original Justice League International artist Kevin Maguire's storytelling ability. His expressions, body language, pacing... it's all perfect.

(And the cover's not bad either!)

If there's any complaint to be made about this series, it's that the comedic roles of Booster Gold and Blue Beetle have been swapped. Back in the day, Booster was the straight man. Here he's the fool. Some might find that offputting, but Booster boosters know it's only an act. Booster will do anything to be the center of attention.

Besides, you know it's only a comic book.

As far as comic books go, it's a pretty good one. It easily deserves to be counted among the The Best Booster Gold Stories Ever.

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Booster's not in anything this week that I'm aware of, which gives me another opportunity to address a book that came out last week. That book is Superman #23, and it has created quite a stir thanks to this panel:

As I type this, that panel of the world's worst photographer has been liked and retweeted on Twitter more than 200,000 times. Artist Kevin Maguire tweeted, "This is probably the biggest reaction to a panel I've done since 'One punch'."

(If you don't know "One Punch," you've got some good comics to look forward to. Russ Burlingame has a quick explainer of the events of Justice League #5 over at comicbook.com.)

But what gets me about that panel is why all those people in the lobby of the Hall of Justice would want a picture of Superman when Booster Gold is standing right there!

Silly tourists. They might as well be outside taking pictures of birds and planes.

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