So Convergence is now over, and it represents a paradigm shift for our hero. We shouldn't be surprised; the first time DC tried a weekly, eight-issue event series, it, too, rewrote the book for Booster Gold.

By the conclusion to 1988's Millennium, Booster Gold was penniless and disgraced thanks to the machinations of his manager, Dirk Davis. It was revealed that Davis had all along been a sleeper agent for the evil Manhunters, and he had manipulated our hero into a corner. As a result, Booster lost his solo series and very nearly quit adventuring altogether.

Davis' personality was hard to nail down throughout Booster Gold volume 1. Some issues he was Booster's friend, and some issues he was in league with Booster's enemy or trying to steal Booster's girl. That might make readers wonder what creator Dan Jurgens might have intended for Davis if Millennium hadn't resulted in the series' cancellation.

Naturally, I put the question to Jurgens himself.

I was merely trying to write Dirk as a more complicated individual-- multifaceted, as so many people are. So, yes, he was a huckster. The MILLENNIUM crossover came somewhat out of nowhere and we were encouraged to use important characters as Manhunters. I plugged Dirk into that role as part of the story, but was never really thrilled with the concept of doing so.

In this case, it was more about the general notion that we use fairly important characters as the Manhunters. It was also thought that it would be more effective that we use someone who'd been there from issue #1, and I wasn't about to use Trixie.

When I would have started the series, there was no plan for Davis or anyone else to be a Manhunter because MILLENNIUM didn't even exist. All of it came later and in a situation like that, you do what you can do make things work.

Nearly 30 years later, Convergence reveals that DC is still flying by the seat of its pants. Would we want our comics any other way?

As always, thanks to Dan Jurgens.

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Believe it or not, there are several comics websites I enjoy that have nothing to do with Booster Gold. (Hard to believe, I know, but they do exist.) When those sites veer into Booster territory, no matter how tangentially, I'd be remiss not to promote them here. Today's link falls into that category.

Bully the Little Stuffed Bull spends a great deal of time entertaining the web on his website, Bully Says: Comics Oughta Be Fun. One of his regular weekly features is "Ten of a Kind," in which he posts 10 comic book covers sharing a common theme. This week, the theme is anger, and -- guess who? -- Booster Gold is included from the cover of Extreme Justice #6.

This issue, you'll recall, is the one in which Booster reclaims what was left of the fortune stolen from him by the Manhunters in Millennium. This comic is also the last recorded appearance of Dirk Davis, Booster's former manager and among the first character casualties of DC's emerging, line-wide annual crossovers strategy. DC editorial mandated turning established supporting characters into sleeper-agent villains for Millennium, resulting in some very confusing continuity and permanently truncated story lines. Good to see that DC has learned their lesson on that front (he says, sarcastically).

So go, enjoy Bully's gentle, loving mockery of comic books. I know I do.

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Matt Brownell has posted a list of "8 Career Mistakes of Superheroes" at Mainstreet.com. Booster Gold makes the list for selecting Dirk Davis as his manager. Sure, Davis turned out to be a sympathetic agent of a race of evil alien robots, but Booster should have known he was no good when his earlier clients were professional wrestlers. Wrestling managers specialize in betraying their clients, usually with folding chairs.

Booster is in good company on the list. Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Superman are among the others making mistakes. Isn't it just like Micheal Jon Carter to emulate his heroes, the A-list super heroes?

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