The unfortunately named Justice League of America: Vixen Rebirth #1 was released last week. Telling the story of how celebrity supermodel Mari McCabe returned to her superheroic persona, Vixen, it's a solid book with some great art by Jamal Campbell.

However, it's not clear how this Vixen relates to the New 52 version, Booster Gold's teammate who was nearly killed in Justice League International #6.

The New 52 incarnation of the Justice League International appears to have existed in the Rebirth Universe, at least according to Green Lanterns #9. Yet Justice League of America: Vixen Rebirth gives the impression that Vixen is a new superhero on the scene. How can both of those stories be true in a shared universe?

In an interview with Matt Santori at Comicosity.com, Vixen Rebirth co-writer Steve Orlando said that so far as he's concerned, "All of [Vixen's] appearances happened." That's a great thing to say to the press to ease Vixen's worried fans, but unless you make it explicit in the comic itself, it doesn't matter. For example, an artist could claim that he thinks Booster Gold is a Canadian citizen, but until he commits that idea to continuity, Booster's published history as an American citizen must still take precedence. (Once again: no comic DC has ever published indicates that Booster Gold is any nationality other than American.)

I appreciate that from a marketing and story-telling position, it can be an advantage to ignore what came before — especially when what came before is a confusing mess after years of unending and unexplained continuity revisions. The down side of any reboot is that it damages existing fans' relationship with a character they thought they knew.

"Continuity" is really just another word for "character development." Without it, we might as well be reading about different characters with similar tastes in fashion.

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Newsarama.com has the latest solicitations from DC Comics. They don't give us much hope that we'll see our hero in any new comics this February, but Booster won't be entirely invisible. Booster will play a supporting role in the trade paperback Wonder Woman and the Justice League of America.

Over the past year, DC collected several Justice League International stories as Superman and the Justice League of America Volumes 1 and 2. They must have been a success.

The Wonder Woman collection will pick up where Superman left off. (It wasn't his fault. He died.) The trade will reprint Justice League America #78 through #85 and Guy Gardner #15. Booster is in a lot of those issues.

This is the first time some of these issues have been reprinted. If you missed these the first time around, you might want to consider picking this up when it is released on March 15, 2017.

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If you thought Monday's post was old school, take a look at this blast from the past!

That's a promotional header card distributed to comics retailers in 1992. Both halves, left and right, were the covers to Justice League Spectacular (by Dan Jurgens and Ron Randall).

DC heavily promoted the comic at the time, putting the image on posters and buttons in addition to house ads and header cards. And you can Buy It Now for $25 at eBay.com!

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Cryptozoic Entertainment released their DC Comics Justice League trading card set months ago, and somehow I've failed to mention it here despite the fact that there is a Booster Gold card.

Maybe I've failed to mention it because it features Booster's New 52 costume. But the artwork by Alejandro Germánico Benit is too good to ignore. It looks great, especially when the cards are assembled into the nine-slice collages, like this one of the short-lived New 52 era Justice League International.

Booster Gold is card #61 in the base set of 63, which means you have pretty good odds of getting one if you buy a box at your Local Comic Shop or wherever fine trading cards are sold.

(I owe a thanks to dcinthe80s.com, whose recent review of Batman trading cards reminded me to post this.)

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Today is a "skip week" for DC Comics, so instead of your regular titles, you'll be seeing a lot of annuals and trades at your Local Comic Shop. One of this week's trades is Superman and the Justice League of America Volume 2.

The book is reported to collect Justice League America #69 through #77, which is kind of a weird run to include in a collection with "Superman" in the title. The Man of Tomorrow makes only a cameo appearance, dies in another title after the first issue, and doesn't come back. Perhaps they should have titled it Justice League of America Minus Superman.

These issues were originally published in 1992. My, how different comics looked 20 years ago. Clean line work! No gradients! Boots and red briefs! (Sigh. I really hate you, New 52.)

Obviously, I'm not complaining to see these issues back in print. Everyone needs to know that Booster gives Doomsday his name. It's important to remember that DC's resident time cop has some history himself.

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