Ever wonder how Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis work together to produce a classic Blue and Gold comic? Last week DeMatteis welcomed us behind the curtain, from plots to pencils to dialogue to finished product.

By all means, if you've any interest in the creative process that goes on behind many of Booster Gold's comic book appearances, you should visit J.M DeMatteis's website, Creation Point, and read all about it. Thanks to DeMatteis for sharing (and co-creating the greatest comic book duo of all time!).

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Matt Santori-Griffith has started "Super Buddies," a series of articles exploring "enduring comic book friendships" for Comicosity.com. Naturally, his first pairing is Blue Beetle and Booster Gold.

Matt invited Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis, the original writers of Justice League International, to have a chat about the origins of comicdom's favorite comedy duo.

Matt Santori-Griffith: So, you guys have been writing Blue Beetle and Booster Gold for a long time. Going all the way back to when they first met in Justice League, when do you feel they first started to click as a friendship for you?

Keith Giffen: I know when I felt it. It was the sequence when they first met Catherine Cobert. One of them made a fool of himself and the other just wouldn't stop laughing.

J.M. DeMatteis: Was that "Moving Day" [Justice League International #8]?

KG: I'm thinking it was. That was the issue where everything clicked.

JMD: Yeah. That also, if I'm not mistaken, was the first "Bwah-ha-ha."

That's true. The first appearance of Beetle's signature laugh was indeed at Booster's expense in JLI #8. That's the stuff that friendships are made of!

You can (and should) read the rest of the article (with pictures!) at Comicosity.com. (And don't forget to pick up the return of Blue and Gold in Justice League 3000 #12 next week!)

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Ok. We know for sure that Booster Gold and Blue Beetle will be reunited in the year 3000 in the pages of Justice League 3000 #12. But what does that mean, exactly?

Russ Burlingame discussed what to expect with Marlene of I Like Comics, Too! on Sunday:

Russ: One of my readers pointed out that he didn't understand why a future based on Giffen & DeMatteis's stories would be any different from the future of the pre-New 52 DC Universe. I figured it couldn't hurt to look at that a little bit.

I mean, there are some obvious differences, right? Dan Jurgens actually wrote a line into Booster Gold Vol. 2 to accommodate the whole "married a rich old heiress" thing (even if the line was that he was joking) but that's about it. There are plenty of other things that happen in the Keith and Marc stories that don't seem to have any bearing on the rest of the DC Universe, and/or conflict with existing stories.

Marlene: There are definitely some differences in how the characters are written, especially Booster. Though Jurgens created him as an unconventional, mildly air-headed superhero-for-hire, it was the original Justice League International run that really shaped the character as most fans know and love him. It's also where his relationship with Blue Beetle was fleshed out.

Compared to Jurgens' original design through Booster's self-titled series and his eventual modern adaptation with the New 52 reboot, Giffen & DeMatteis's version was far sillier and more immature. While he and Beetle certainly had their clever moments, they primarily served as the comic relief of the team.

You can read the rest of their discussion at ComicBook.com.

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At ComicBook.com, Russ Burlingame has a new interview with J.M. DeMatteis over DC Retroactive: Justice League America - The '90s. Burlingame doesn't disappoint, asking several Booster-centric questions of the former Booster Gold scribe.

ComicBook.com: You seemed—and this is listeners talking, and me too—a little put off by the way things went on Booster Gold. You were a good soldier about it, didn't say anything, but that's the general vibe that came through in that last interview a bit. After finding out what was going on, in terms of the relaunch, did it make you feel any better about the conditions of being bounced suddenly and surprisingly from Booster Gold? The idea that it was happening to everybody?

J.M. DeMatteis: Honestly, I thought we were yanked from the book very suddenly and—for me at least—unexpectedly. That said, it was really no big deal in the scheme of things. The real loss was that I no longer had a monthly sandbox to play in with Keith Giffen.

Among the questions that Burlingame doesn't ask is why the new Retroactive book has such a long title. If this DC reboot accomplishes anything, maybe it will get us some shorter titles. DC Retroactive: Justice League America - The 1990s is a mouth full.

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So far as I am aware, there are two internet journalists regularly writing Booster Gold-centric articles. One is Russ Burlingame, who most of you probably know from his "Gold Exchange" columns over at Comic Related. The other is Vaneta Rogers of Newsarama, who last week posted a new interview with some other familiar Booster Gold-related names, Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis, on their upcoming DC Retroactive: Justice League of America - The '90s #1.

Nrama: What Justice League characters are the focus?

DeMatteis: It's the classic team. Fire and Ice. Beetle and Booster. Max and Oberon. J'onn and Guy. If you're looking for any kind of character growth from these guys, look elsewhere. It's the usual idiocy and mayhem.

Giffen: If people are huge fans, it's the JLI they know and love. You'll recognize it right away.

Before DC heads into the digital future, they are celebrating their moronic past. Sometimes it's best not to ask too many questions. You can read the whole interview at Newsarama.com.

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