Russ Burlingame has already seen Justice League: War, the animated movie based on the first story arc of the "New 52" Justice League title. (His first report on that movie is online at comicbook.com.)

But what should interest Booster Gold fans isn't the movie itself, but the extras. The Blu-Ray includes the bonus documentary Creating Heroes: The Life and Art of Jim Lee. The documentary shows some quick shots of sketches that Jim Lee drew in preparation for the launch of the New 52. And one of those sketches is this:

This is presumably Jim Lee's vision of Booster Gold's New 52 costume. It's mostly similar to what saw print in Justice League International, with two significant differences.

1: Head. Although Booster projected holographic panels as early as issue #2, they weren't curved. Note also that the helmet looks almost boxy, more Tron Legacy and Iron Man than ski mask. Was that intentional or was it another unintended effect of so much piping, a pervasive aspect of all of Lee's New 52 designs?

2: Stripes. As you can see from the sketch of the back, Lee considered linking the blue stripes on the biceps to the blue "w" on the chest. That little detail did not make it into the final New 52 design, where they are very definitely two separate lines.

If you want a better look at this and Lee's other sketches, get you hands on Justice League: War, out today.

Thanks to Russ for sharing this with us.

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When I asked, 11% of you said you've dressed as Booster Gold for Halloween. Poll respondent Pat Nestor went further, putting his camera where his mouth is.

Says Pat:

This is from October of 1990. The water blaster was from my friend's costume... He went to the bathroom and left it with me.

It was a total homemade costume. It took me a while to get it close to something I liked. Surprisingly there were a few people who knew who I was supposed to be, but overall I got like four dozen "who are you?" Questions.

I was a second runner up in the costume contest. (There was a group dressed like the band DEVO who won first prize.)

Thanks for sharing, Pat. I think we'll all agree that costume is the definition of Boosterrific.

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The conclusion of the Boosterrific.com interview with cosplayer Pyynk, aka Brian Wilder.

Boosterrific: Please describe your costume.

Pyynk: From that first costume in 2008, I've made pretty constant upgrades, updates, and tried a few experiments. Some worked while some didn't. ProTip: Attached gloves are a bad idea. Trust me.

In 2011, Sean Patton of SMP Designs [ smpdesigns.com ] and I completely overhauled the costume in preparation for Dragon*Con 2012. Previously, I'd kept pretty close to Dan Jurgens' original design for Booster as a more traditional super hero costume. This time around we decided to re-think a few critical elements, both design and character wise. To Sean, Booster's costume didn't really make sense. If Booster had cobbled together his costume from items in the Space Museum, should it really look like a traditional spandex superhero costume? Did Michael Jon Carter know how to sew? After deciding jointly the answer was, "Probably not" we looked outside of comics for inspiration. Taking elements from modern spacesuit design, we gave those elements a 25th-century spin overhauling Booster's look, but still keeping enough of the traditional design elements so that it was unmistakably Booster Gold.

We used a variety of fabrics and textures in the costume's construction; everything from athletic mesh to leather to vinyl to... okay, some spandex. It's impossible to COMPLETELY escape spandex with a superhero costume. That said, the diversity of fabrics still does emphasize the "not of this time" origin for his costume, while still rounding the costume in some flavor of reality.

As for the "hard" props, most spacesuits have a locking mechanism around the wrist for gloves and the new design for Booster's wristbands definitely took some inspiration for that look. Finally the blasters on the new suit are actually the obverse of the build I used for the classic blasters in my older suit. Yeah, hoarders and prop/costume makers really DON'T ever throw anything away. For some reason that fifteenth time I looked at them, the unfinished nature of them looked more "techy" than the original blasters did. The goggles? Well, those are actually FROM the future, you see. ;)

As for Skeets — I've had a few ideas for putting together a Skeets prop, but nothing has ever quite worked out. My primary costuming convention has been Dragon*Con, an event not known for an abundance of walking space. While I've seen some folks who can pull Skeets off, the solutions I've come up with for him just aren't workable in a super tight space. It doesn't mean he's completely off the table, just that at the current time I don't have a resolution.

Boosterrific: What response has your Booster Gold elicited?

Pyynk: Of all the costumes I've done, from the Joker to Weather Wizard to Vigilante to Union Jack and even Captain America, none have quite gotten the reaction Booster has gotten. From the shouts of "Hey! It's Green Lantern!" from fans that have seen Justice League Unlimited's "The Greatest Story Never Told" to folks who are genuinely excited to take my picture or take a picture with me because "Someone else knows who Booster Gold is!" My experiences with Booster have far and away been positive. My friends take it all pretty much in stride — those who aren't cosplayers themselves are used to it since most of my friends are in the Goth / Industrial scene and we're frankly the kids who never wanted to let go of dressing up for Halloween.

I've learned a fair amount from costuming and had a lot of things reinforced. First off, to set realistic goals. I've got the bandwidth and capability of one new costume a year along with a couple of tweaks to existing costumes. There are lots of folks who do way, way more and there costumes are gorgeous works of art. But I know what *I* can handle and what I have fun doing and that's what's important for me.

Another is that you can do it if you want to, period. It may not be perfect, it may not redefine the nature of the universe, but if you want to do something (at least costume wise) you can. The year I was going to debut Booster, I was all set to finish making my boots and suddenly just freaked out. If I screwed these up, I didn't have a backup plan. I contacted Brian Parsley, the most amazing Green Arrow you'll ever see and a really great guy on top, and begged him for help. He let me vent, calmed me down, and reassured me that I wasn't going to screw up, I could do it. And I did. They're not beautiful (he'd have done way way better), but I did it.

Finally, just like in every other part of life, networking is super important. My friends at the Superhero Costuming Group have been a fantastic resource whether it was a resource to cut and style a wig at the eleventh hour, information on creating my first pair of wristbands, or just a fun group of folks to eat Chocos with, the members of the Superhero Costuming Forum [ thesuperherocostumingforum.yuku.com ] have saved my bacon more times than I've probably COOKED bacon. And I've cooked a lotta bacon.

I cannot thank Brian Wilder enough for his response to my interview request. If you missed it, you can find the first part of this interview here.

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The Irredeemable Shag! of FirestormFan.com voted for Reverb, a very, very minor DC character who was a teammate of Booster Gold on the Conglomerate. That's why we call Shag "irredeemable."

Last week's poll question: Which supporting character is most important to your enjoyment of the adventures of Booster Gold? (56 votes)

Since we're talking cosplaying this week, let's give a little thought to what Booster Gold should be wearing to the Justice League Halloween party this year.

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As part of my continuing quest to spotlight those brave souls willing to wear the Gold at comic conventions nationwide, I asked cosplayer Pyynk, also known as Brian Wilder, if he would be willing to share his experiences cosplaying Booster Gold. This is what he had to say.

Boosterrific: Can you describe your relationship with Booster Gold?

Pyynk: While I'd noticed Booster before, it wasn't until the 52 maxi series though that I really "got" why he was awesome. Here was a normal guy, one who really doesn't have superpowers, thrust into extraordinary circumstances and attempting to make up for a somewhat checkered past. Being a fan of Westerns as well, that sort of formula is pretty much right up my alley.

Once Geoff Johns' Booster Gold solo series started up post 52, I was hooked. Wanting to know more, I sought out his earlier appearances in Justice League International and... wow. Superheroes on a team who legitimately liked each other, sharp and witty dialogue that almost bounced off the page, and a Batman who wasn't a jerk; great stuff that made me a fan of Booster, Blue Beetle, and Giffen, DeMatteis, and Maguire.

Not surprisingly, the same traits that made me a fan of Booster's made me follow similar characters, among them Union Jack, Bucky Barnes, Tara Chace of Rucka's Queen and Country, and Jonah Hex. All of them normal, flawed people in extraordinary circumstances. And yes, Booster's appearance in All-Star Western was fist pumping fun.

Boosterrific: What led you to costume as Booster Gold?

Pyynk: Well, remember earlier when I mentioned that one of the things that I loved about the JLI was the interactions between the team members? Sometimes real life is like that too. By 2007, I'd been costuming as the Batman: The Animated Series Joker for six years and at that time it was my only costume. One of my friends, Drew Palmer, noticed how much fun I was having and he told me considered costuming, but the only way he'd do it would be as the Blue Beetle. I told him that if he'd commit to Blue Beetle I'd make Booster Gold. He and I debuted our initial take on the Blue and Gold at Dragon*Con that next year. It surprised me then just how overwhelmingly positive fan reaction was. Sure, it helped that Drew is one of my best friends so our banter is real, but the love fans had for both characters was infectious for both us and for our friends.

Slowly, but surely we've added to our informal JLI team. While Drew is more likely to costume as the Elongated Man these days, I still costume as Booster, Drew's wife Heather put together Fire, we talked a couple into costuming as Guy Gardner and Ice, we've got a Power Girl and Blue Beetle. Thanks to even MORE friends with the Superhero Costuming Forum [ thesuperherocostumingforum.yuku.com ], we even managed to snare a few pictures with G'Nort one year.

As for why I do it, it's a good excuse for one thing to step out of yourself and have some fun. It's even more fun to do something like this with friends. And while I've got other costumes I really enjoy, I'd have to say Booster is my favorite.

Thank you, Brian. The second half of this interview will be posted later this week.

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