I've got a busy week, so today all you'll by way of a blog post is... several totally Boosterrific sketches!

Booster Gold by Harley Quinn artist Sam Basri (via Comics and Other Cool Stuff on tumblr.com)

Booster Gold by The Infinite Loop artist Elsa Charretier (via @e_charretier on Twitter)

Booster Gold by Teen Titans artist Mike McKone (via @theaginggeek on Twitter.com)

Blue Beetle and Booster Gold by Astro Hustle artist Tom Reilly (via Comics and Other Cool Stuff on tumblr.com)

Thanks to all the artists for making our hero look so good, and congrats to anyone who commissioned these or any other Booster Gold sketches for giving those artists a chance to shine.

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Now that the final chapter of Heroes in Crisis has been written, I'm of the general impression that the less said about it, the better.

(Right now, I never want to read a DC comic book again. Maybe by Monday, I'll be in a better mood.)

While I'm recovering from my own personal trauma, enjoy this delightful sketch of Bing Crosby and Bob Hope as Booster Gold and Blue Beetle drawn by Joe Phillips in the style of Al Hirschfeld tweeted by @DrPopCultureBG.

Sigh. I still love you, high collar. (And I'm tickled pink by the thought of Booster wearing one of Bing's rugs.)

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Newsarama.com reports that Heroes in Crisis #9 will be delayed a week until May 29. They insinuate that this was an editorial decision to coincide the release with that of the much-delayed Doomsday Clock #10. Is Doctor Manhattan now to blame for the events of Heroes in Crisis, too?

(Side note: when reading Tom King's work, I so often feel like I understand what he was trying to say while simultaneously being terribly frustrated by how he has chosen to try to say it. In that vein, Heroes in Crisis could be one of the most irritating stories I've ever bought. King clearly wants to say some real things about a real public health crisis, but his message gets lost in a murder-mystery with a reveal that is impossible to see coming — the story admits that there are literally no clues — and makes the misguided decision to turn a beloved hero into a super villain [re-writing his powers in the process] in a manner that only serves to reinforce the initial public perceptions that King ostensibly wants to break down. Grr.)

Any-way.

Speaking of Heroes in Crisis, you may have noticed that Booster Gold appears only in flashback in issue #8. At least that's what I thought when I first read it. It was only on re-read that I realized that Booster's looming presence is probably foreshadowed (pun intended) in these panels set in the present.

See that big, round shadow? The big shadow. Not the little shadows within that shadow. (Does the Speed Force cast shadows now?) It sure seems to me that big round shadow is the Blue Beetle's Bug airship arriving to witness this pivotal scene.

A recent tweeted by Tom King of the splash page for Issue #9, showcasing the Bug streaking across a breathtaking sunset, looks to confirm my theory.

Art by Clay Mann & Tomeu Morey

Great Caesar's Ghost, that's amazing. My complaints about shadows (and Tom King's style) aside, this series really does have some of the most sublime art ever seen in a mainstream comic book.

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My two favorite muppets as my two favorite heroes, as sketched by illustrator Neil R King, aka BoldFacedComics on DeviantArt.com.

For the record, that's Waldorf wearing Booster's gold and Statler in Beetle blue. Those two old grumps have never dressed better.

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It is a cliche in superhero comic books that characters die and then get better. The trope was well established by the time Superman's funeral ignited the general public's imagination, but ever since 1992, you simply aren't a real super hero until you've returned from "the other side" at least once.

Booster Gold joined that not-so-elusive club on this day in 1994 between the panels of Justice League Task Force #13.

At the time, the Justice League had been fractured into three groups with incompatible philosophies about what constituted "justice." Wonder Woman's "international" faction was most in line with the historic methods of the team as the strong arm of traditional, established political authorities. Martian Manhunter's task force was also aligned with the United Nations, though it preferred less direct means of diffusing problems. Captain Atom, on the other hand, championed more unconventional and forceful means of "extreme" justice, fighting fire with fire, so to speak.

These internal differences were exacerbated by the threat of the alien Overmaster, who had returned to Earth (after a previous encounter with the Justice League a decade earlier) in order to eradicate humanity. He had the power to do it, too. The dysfunctional Justice Leagues America, International, and Task Force have to put aside their differences to stop him. The crossover event, titled "Judgement Day," reads better than many of DC's official "Crisis"s.

Usually, comic book deaths are used as a cheap trick to ramp up the stakes, tug at the heartstrings, or inflate the threat posed by the bad guy. Booster was lucky. He died in a good story that respected established characterization. Specifically, his death was a side-effect of his overconfidence that history couldn't ever be changed, a misunderstanding with tragic consequences.

Of course, that wouldn't mean much unless Booster recovered to learn from his mistake. Spoiler alert: he did.

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