I come across a lot of unusual things in pursuit of all things Booster Gold. Perhaps the most unusual in 2019 is the discovery that there is a thoroughbred racehorse who shares our hero's name.

According to Equibase.com, the gelding Booster Gold raced in the September 27 Maiden Special for two-year-olds at the Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races in Charles Town, West Virginia. Maidens are races for horses who have not won before. Booster Gold still qualifies. He finished last in a field of 8.

The rules for naming thoroughbred horses are extensive. According to the The American Stud Book Principal Rules and Requirements, Section V, Subsection 6, Part F.6: "Names clearly having commercial, artistic or creative significance" are not eligible for use. For example, "Superman" and "Batman" are off limits. Apparently, the arbiter of names, the Jockey Club, thinks that "Booster Gold" has no "commercial, artistic or creative significance." Given how well the horse has raced so far, they might be right.

To be fair, it's not clear whether the horse is actually named for the super hero. "Booster" and "Gold" are common enough words that do bump into one another occasionally — as I'll attest after seeing countless promotions for make-up, card games, and shoes — and certainly horse breeders must always be struggling to find new 18-or-less letter phrases that the Jokey Club will approve. There are only so many ways to work "winner" into a unique phrase.

So to the owner of Booster Gold, may I say that if you're looking to spur your horse to greater success, maybe you should consider getting him a partner. I suggest naming your next horse "Blue Beetle". Blue and Gold probably won't win you many races, but I promise you'll get a kick out of their shared misadventures. Blue and Gold forever!

UPDATE 10-18-2019: Booster Gold ran a second race today on the same track, this time with blinkers on, and came in fifth... out of five horses. Official scorekeeper comment: "was never a factor." Maybe that's just what he wants us to think.

UPDATE 11-08-2019: Booster Gold's third race was held in Laurel Park, Maryland in a Maiden Claiming race, which means he is now for sale, and it's easy to see why. This time he came in tenth in a field of ten horses. Note I didn't say "finished." He stopped at the turn. I'm sure he had a good reason, but I don't know what it is.

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It seems that in my glee over Bootser's cover appearances on Legion of Super-Heroes: Millennium #2, I missed a second Booster Gold appearance last week. Fortunately for us all, Booster booster J directed me to Harley Quinn #66 which included panels of Booster Gold and Harley hooking up in the Coney Island Wonder Wheel Ferris wheel.

words by Sam Humprhies, art by Sami Basri, Hi-Fi

Wow. Heroes in Crisis sure made some strange bedfellows. (Amusingly, earlier in the issue, Harley's mother tells her that she has "terrible taste in men.")

Given that the panel appears in a comic book within a comic book (and therefore isn't the "real" Booster or Harley), does this count as an example of in-universe 'shipping? Is such a thing possible? Maybe it's better if I don't find out.

Thanks to J for the spot.

If that's not enough Booster Gold for you this New Comic Book Day, consider taking a listen to Mike Avila's interview with Dan Jurgens for SyFy Wire's Behind the Panel podcast. As you might expect from the episode title, "Dan Jurgens on Booster Gold and the Death of Superman," about half of the 22-minute interview covers the creation of Booster Gold. Enjoy listening.

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Friday afternoon, The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that DC finally plans to release their comprehensive Rebirth continuity in 2020. That's a mere 9 years after they threw out decades of character development in a bid to boost sales.

"We're starting to figure out how continuity works," [DC Comics co-publisher Dan] DiDio said about the process, noting that reboots and complicated retcons are what happens when "things stop making sense."

I'm glad that DiDio, who has overseen DC Comics' output since 2004, has finally realized the value of continuity to the types of stories that his company sells. Better late than never, I guess.

Anyway, I'm sure that what you want to know, as a visitor to a Booster Gold fan site, is "how will this affect Booster Gold?" The answer looks to be: Pretty significantly.

DiDio made the announcement at the "DC Nation" panel of this past weekend's New York Comic Convention accompanied with an illustrated graphic. Bleeding Cool spent most of the weekend pouring over the visible bits of that timeline. I can't make out anything, but Rich Johnston seems to think it restores most of the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity as the third generation of DC heroes.

If that is to be believed, it looks like Booster Gold's history once again includes his joining the original "Bwah-ha-ha" Justice League International alongside Blue Beetle. Also restored: Infinite Crisis and Justice League: Generation Lost. Is there time for 52 to have happened in there somewhere? One can only hope.

Will any of this ever make it to print? Will the short-lived New 52 continuity be abandoned? How can Convergence be shoehorned into this new chronology? Who knows. Maybe we'll find out after Doomsday Clock finally ticks down in December.

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If you're the sort of person who enjoys Internet listicles, you may have noticed a recent trend. To the delight of Booster boosters everywhere, our hero may finally be getting the respect he deserves.

First we present CBR.com's list of "5 DC Heroes Deadpool Could Defeat (& 5 He Couldn't)" by Chris White. Number 3 on the tougher-than-Deadpool side of the equation is Booster Gold.

He can harness super strength and fire powerful force blasts thanks to his gauntlets, and not only that, his force field belt would stop Deadpool's physical attacks in their tracks and launch him into the air with great force. Booster Gold withstood an attack from Doomsday, so he'd easily repel DP's advances.

I pause only to point out that Booster has actually survived Doomsday twice! See Superman #74 and Booster Gold #45 for details.

Elsewhere, ScreenRant.com offers "The 10 Most Powerful Heroes on Justice League Unlimited, Ranked" by Scoot Allan. Booster makes that list, too! At number 10:

Booster Gold appeared in a number of team fight scenes and missions, he really displayed both his heroism and dedication to the team in "The Greatest Story Never Told." While Booster is working crowd control for the League, he manages to save the world from a separate catastrophe, although he receives none of the credit.

That's a pretty good showing for The Greatest Hero You're Never Heard Of.

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Legion of Super-Heroes: Millennium #2 is in stores today. Not only is Booster Gold in the book, he's on the cover!

This is the second half of the Bryan Hitch diptych. The first half was on issue #1 last month, but Booster Gold isn't on (or in) that one. You can see what the two of them look like when put together here.

If for some reason you need more incentive to pick this one up — I mean, hey, you're already visiting a Booster Gold fan site — ComicsBeat.com has a preview of the issue's entire Booster Gold chapter. Yes, the entire chapter. And it looks great.

words by Brian Micheal Bendis, art by Nicola Scott'

Okay, I admit. If you like Booster Gold but you don't want to participate in *another* Legion of Super-Heroes reboot, ComicsBeat has taken away your reason to buy. But you'd like to see more Booster Gold comics, right? So you're going to pick this up anyway to send a message to DC, right? Right?

Buy this issue and make Skeets happy.

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