Yesterday, DC announced solicitations for the month of September, making it official that September 2012 will be the first month since November 2006 in which DC publishes no book including Booster Gold as a featured character. Even the best heroes need some time off every 69 months or so.

[Be aware that sales data in the graph above is not entirely accurate. In addition to unreported digital sales, sales priort to issue #9 were likely under-reported by up to 10% to account for estimated retailer returns. Therefore, it is unlikely that there was any significant sales upturn for issue #9. Unadjusted numbers for months prior to May can be seen at Comicbeat.com.]

It is important to remember that Justice League International wasn't canceled for poor sales alone. Many New 52 series are selling far, far worse. (For example, even with a guest appearance from the Booster Gold, Firestorm #9 sold almost half as many issues as JLI #9 did, and it still isn't canceled.) While expectations are certainly higher for Justice League titles, Justice League Dark has been selling only slightly better (+/-2,000 issues) than JLI, and it still isn't canceled. The evidence seems to indicate that DC has something else in mind for either the JLI or its star, Booster Gold.

Whatever the reason, I'll be saving an extra $4 come September.

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The cliffhanger story from Justice League International #9 is continued in today's The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men #9. Bombers are on the rampage in Paris! Firestorm has transmuted the Eiffel Tower into rose petals! New Firestorms appear on every page! With so much going on, how does DC tease the issue in their solicitation text?

Don't miss this crossover with JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #9!

Oooh, Doesn't that sound exciting! At least it doesn't give much away since the JLI is on the cover and all. Certainly, it sounds better than "we care so little about Firestorm that we're going to promote it with a tie-in to a book we've already canceled."

For those of you interested in the events of this issue despite the fact that it will have Firestorm in it, you can read a 4-page preview at IGN.com. You gotta admit, Ethan Van Sciver's Yildiray Cinar's Booster Gold looks pretty darn good. (My fault. Van Sciver is only drawing the cover. Cinar handles interior art.)

Buy this book and... well, just buy it. There's no consoling Skeets right now.

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A rotating roster, shifting mandates, even headquarter relocations. Sometimes, it seems the only thing that's constant in the Justice League is the once-a-decade need for reinvention.

Not even two years earlier, the Justice League International concept had given way to the three-headed Justice League America / Justice League Task Force / Justice League West (aka Extreme Justice) teams, yet by 1996 the winds of change were already swirling again. In order to clear the board for the imminent Magnificent Seven of Grant Morrison's JLA, the bulk of the Justice League America team was shot into deep space in Justice League America #112, the next-to-last issue of the series.

As Wonder Woman and the Flash grasped at straws to save their team, the other two Justice Leagues did little more than idly stand by. Maybe because he's a time-traveler with knowledge of what's to come, or maybe because he's a student of history with perspective of what's been before, Booster Gold doesn't bother to open his mouth in the current emergency. Our hero leaned against a wall, coffee in hand, as Blue Beetle represents the Extreme Justice team in the Justice League America's final story. (Booster's not the only character to be seen but not heard: the rest of Extreme Justice poses in an awkwardly mid-1990s fashion. Firestorm in particular appears to hover around the ceiling like a human candelabra.)

Justice League America #112 is no better than an average comic and is probably representative of why the series was being rebooted for a more iconic line-up. The book is ugly, confusing, and chock full of characters today's audience wouldn't even recognize. It is, however, a great reminder that every once in awhile, reboots are necessary to reinvigorate even the most high-profile comic books. Take comfort in knowing that it has happened before, and it will happen again.

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DC promises that today's issue of Justice League International #9 will crossover with The Fury of Firestorm: the Nuclear Men #9, planned for a May 23rd release. Lately the growing international league of Nuclear Men and Women -- Firestorm Fan records at least 10 unique Firestorms in the DCnU so far -- have been dealing with terrorist bombings in France while the JLI have had their hands full with bombing terrorists in New York. Could these similar plots be more than a coincidence?

With crossover environments already established between the Bat-titles (via Batman and Batwing), the Green Lantern titles (via Guy Gardner), and OMAC, is the JLI becoming the keystone in the continuity of DC's New 52 Universe? The only way to find out is to buy this issue and make Skeets happy.

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Word on the street is that next month Firehawk will be joining the cast of Justice League International. This situation could set up an intriguing love triangle as Booster Gold reignites his old flame with Firehawk despite the jealousy of a hot-headed Godiva. But DC's solicitations for today's The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men #8 throw some cold water on that smoldering scenario:

Introducing the all-new Firehawk, France's own atomic defender, and Hurricane, Great Britain's officially sanctioned Nuclear Man! Meanwhile, out of the ashes of last issue's shocking climax, Ronnie Raymond and the Russian Firestorm, Pozhar, begin a long, mutual descent toward the dark underbelly of the Firestorm Protocols.

Oh, never mind. Good-bye American Lorraine Reilly, hello unknown French girl. Thanks, Flashpoint. I hated character development anyway.

Doesn't this seem a bit sudden? Every other member of the DCnU Justice League International had appeared in at least 2 other comics somewhere before joining the team's roster. Are the Firestorms of the DCnU such jerks that their supporting cast hates to stick around? Or could it be that Firestorm has no need for a woman in his own book after (*ahem*) "last issue's shocking climax" with Pozhar? Maybe Firehawk would just be in the way as Firestorm and Pozhar (*cough*) "begin a long, mutual descent toward the dark underbelly of the Firestorm Protocols"? (Not that there is anything wrong with that.)

The best way to find the answers to these and many other burning questions is to pick up The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men #8.

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