The DC Comics reading world of 1986 was not ready for the debut of Booster Gold. Who could blame them? Gambler-turned-thief-turned-celebrity sounds more like a traditional DC villain than a hero. Anti-heroes wouldn't become all the rage for a few more years yet. Creator Dan Jurgens was ahead of his time.

The letter columns of early Booster Gold books were filled with complaints that the hero was inherently unlikable. A typical letter, from Booster Gold #5 called him "egotistical, self-absorbed, conceited, self-hyping, and immodest," which even Booster boosters have to admit was a pretty accurate assessment. This situation was only made worse once Booster's origin was revealed in issue #6. No less a moral authority than Superman thought Booster was "nothing more than a 25th-century crook!"

Souring fan reaction to the character was a major factor in the cancellation of the original Booster Gold series. Jurgens resisted polishing Booster's rougher edges, and the Powers That Were decided to move Booster in a new direction with Justice League International where Booster's less palatable character traits were often exploited for comic effect. This worked out in Booster's favor. It was with the JLI that Booster really became a star.

As such things go, public demand for the Justice League led to the JLI team being featured in three consecutive issues of Secret Origins, giving Jurgens another opportunity to sell Booster's origin to the comics reading public. This time he did what he had previously been unwilling to do: he made Booster Gold sympathetic.

In Secret Origins #35, released on this day in 1988, it is revealed that Michael "Booster" Carter only started gambling on his own football games in order to afford an expensive operation for his sick mother. No longer was he a selfish lout. Now Booster was a good son!

"Child with a heart of gold breaking the law to help his family" may not be the most original origin, but it did the job burnishing Booster's tarnished reputation with readers. Booster's worst mistakes could now be chalked up to good intentions. I'm sure Superman would agree that even 25th-century crooks deserve a second chance.

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Booster booster Curtiss Schofield was reading comics over the weekend, and he noticed this "tweet" from the great Metropolitan newspaper, Daily Planet, on the first page of Action Comics #1014:

Who wrote that? Was it Action writer Brian Michael Bendis? You've got some pull with Warner, Bendis. Stop trolling us Blue and Gold fans and use your influence to get that movie made!

Thanks for the spot, Curtiss.

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Labor Day weekend is all about celebrating the hard work you've put in all year, and no one knows how to kick back better than Blue Beetle and Booster Gold!

Enjoy this fine fan art by Patricio Oliver (@patricioolvier on Twitter.com) as you prepare for your long weekend of barbecue and brews.

Happy Labor Day, everybody.

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With the latest Superman event, "Leviathan," now unfolding in your Local Comic Shop, it's interesting to look back at another Superman event story with a curious connection to real history.

The JLA: Our Worlds At War one-shot, released 18 years ago today, was a middle chapter in the 2001 Superman "Out Worlds At War" crossover event. Booster Gold plays only a very brief role in the event as he, Blue Beetle, Guy Gardner, and Rocket Red fight to defend Russia from an alien invasion. This is Booster's only appearance in the entire comic:

art by Garney, Morales, Horie, Horie, and Starkings

(Don't worry, Booster. Guy get's better.)

It isn't the inclusion of the Justice League International that makes this issue a historic curiosity.

As mentioned, the issue's story details a surprise attack by a malignant force that opposes everything Superman stands for. To frame the magnitude and severity of this invasion, writer Jeph Loeb uses the words of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to draw a direct, overt connection to a real tragedy in American history, specifically the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor 60 years earlier.

The irony here is that although this issue, with its focus on surprise attacks against America, was released on July 5, it has a cover date of September 2001.

And now you know the rest of the story.

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This weekend, I was reading about the CW's latest Black Lightning Boys and Girls Club public service announcement on ComicBook.com. Naturally, as webmaster of the Internet's premier Booster Gold fan site, I thought to myself, "Booster Gold could do that."

And he has.

It might seem weird to see Booster addressing AIDS awareness so bluntly in this 1993 PSA, but both entered the public awareness in the 80s and both have been largely misunderstood over time.

Booster wasn't the only hero spreading the word — the series of AIDS awareness ads featured appearances from heroes across the DC Universe, including both Hal Jordan and John Stewart reading from the same script — but only Booster Gold and his Justice League teammates Blue Beetle and Fire were so serious about the issue that they returned to it one year later A.D. ("After Doomsday").

Booster was man enough to learn his lesson so that you would, too. Knowing is half the battle.

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