Today Judd Winick is 50 years old, and he has spent many of those years creating comic books. (Technically, he's spent most of the past decade creating best-selling Hilo graphic novels for middle schoolers, but c'mon. We all know graphic novels are just longform comic books.)

Though Winnick has rarely worked on stories involving Booster Gold, there is one notable exception:

Justice League: Generation Lost is the story of former Justice League International members efforts to bring their former mentor, Maxwell Lord, to justice for his subsequent crimes against humanity.

The series began in 2010 and for the most part took into account nearly two decades worth of shared-universe heroic adventures. To Winick's credit, if you'd never read a single issue of Giffen and DeMatteis's Justice League International or Johns' Countdown to Infinite Crisis and Blackest Night, I'm sure you can still enjoy Justice League: Generation Lost. It's as much a traditional superheroic action/adventure story as it is a revenge story.

And for Booster Gold, it was very, very personal.

art by Keith Giffen, Aaron Lopresti, Matt Ryan, Hi-Fi, Sal Cipriano

In fact, Booster's key role in this story is a huge part of why I included the series in my 2020 list of the 12 Best Booster Gold stories ever.

Unfortunately, the story's impact was promptly devalued as the established DCU was discarded for the New 52. That means there are a decade's worth of new DC readers who are unlikely to be familiar with this great tale, which is a real shame.

As a birthday present to Mr. Winick, how about re-reading this great series. Better still, recommend it to someone you think would like it. It'll be like Winick gave *them* a present for *his* birthday.

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Like my favorite super hero, I'm planning to start the year watching my alma mater play football. In the meantime, I present for your nostalgic enjoyment the 5 most-read Boosterrific.com blog posts of 2020, presented in ascending order of hits:

5. Monday, April 6: This Day in History: Without Great Power
In which we revisited Booster Gold's participation in Justice League Europe #50, his first taste of superheroic action after losing his powersuit to Doomsday. Say what you will about his motivations, but Booster Gold's got guts.

4. Friday, March 13: That Time Booster Gold Defeated a Disease
In which we took at look at the events of Booster Gold Volume 1 #17 in light of the pandemic that was sweeping the globe. Conclusion: an impenetrable force field is better than a vaccine.

3. Monday, October 26: The Strong and Silent Type
In which I improved Superman & Batman Magazine #8 by cutting out most panels that don't include Booster Gold. Sorry, I couldn't do anything about that bulky 1990s power suit.

2. Monday, November 9: Two of a Kind: Shattered and Forged
In which we clear up the confusion surrounding DC's announcements of Generations: Shattered and Generations: Future State comic books. Hint: they're the same book. Or, at least we think they are. We'll be more certain when we finally have the book in our hands next week.

1. Friday, December 18: The Best of Booster Gold: Action Comics 995
In which we conclude our year-long series of the 12 best Booster Gold comics. (Maybe those clickbait comic book listicle sites are onto something.)

Let's make 2021 another Boosterrific year!

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Because Booster Gold is a comic book character, Boosterrific.com is usually pretty much alone in its field reporting on his copious public appearances. If Booster was a real person, there would be, like, hundreds of sites stumbling over one another to repost paparazzi photos of him eating a burrito while headed to the gym wearing sweatpants in a desperate ploy to seduce your valuable click.

I might be a niche site, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to use those other sites' playbook! I'm the Internet, too, guys.

On October 4, former Justice League International artist Kevin Maguire tweeted an image promoting social distancing that he created in an intentional homage to his own 1987 cover to Justice League #1.

On October 7, former comics news website that now specializes in clickbait listicles, CBR.com, reposted the image with only the bare details necessary to inform the uninitiated of its visual significance without adding any significant commentary. (Shame on me. That was snarky. CBR doesn't deserve to be made fun of like that. To be fair, there must be plenty of people encountering the image for the first time who are unaware of the JL cover. "CBR: the best comics website for people who don't read comics!")

On October 8, the comics gossip tabloid that Booster Gold creator Dan Jurgens recently called "disreputable," BleedingCool.com, also reposted the image. They went a step further than their click competitor and added a gallery of other images Maguire has drawn that also homage the aforementioned Justice League #1 cover. Reputable or not, that seems like at least some value added in return for your click.

Now, on October 9, I will repost the same image because, like the other sites, I don't really have anything better to post. And I'm adding nothing of value other than the unenlightening observation that my doing the same thing as everyone else does nothing to advance the human condition in any meaningful way. And heck, I'm not even getting paid. (#nihilismnow!)

Hopefully, if you saw the following image on Twitter or CBR or Bleeding Cool, you'll still enjoy seeing it again as much as I do. Personally, I never get tired of Maguire's art.

No, sir, Mr. Gardner.

Footnote: I'm a little surprised I haven't yet seen Maguire's image posted at the former Newsarama, but it seems they've been too busy posting bigger news to resort to reposting social media pics. Check out their latest "feature" piece, "Marvel characters who have wielded Captain America's shield." (Double shame on me. There's always the weekend.)

UPDATE 2020-10-09: ComicBook.com is getting in on the action! Hi, Russ!

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You may have noticed that Modinda dropped by the comments in Wednesday's post to chastise me for my omission of a six-year-old comic from the Boosterrific.com database. Could I really have been ignorant of a Booster Gold comic appearance from as long ago as 2014? The answer is yes.

Set your eyes on this panel, from Scribblenauts Unmasked: A Crisis of Imagination #6:

That's obviously Nu52 Booster Gold (and original Skeets) partaking in a reference to the famous "one-punch" from Justice League #5. How could I have missed that?

That panel is just a small fraction of a delightful two-page spread, by the way. (It did my heart good to see the Dibnys back together!) A very belated kudos to issue artist Adam Archer.

Rest assured that the now-more-complete-than-ever-before Boosterrific.com database has been updated to include both Scribblenauts Unmasked: A Crisis of Imagination #6 and the series collected edition. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, Modinda. And if anyone else spots anything they think I've missed, please do not hesitate to let me know.

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DC took advantage of Fandome to release their 2020 December solicitations. These are the places we should expect to see Booster Gold in coming months:

DEATH METAL: THE LAST 52: WAR OF THE MULTIVERSES #1
written by SCOTT SNYDER, JOSHUA WILLIAMSON, MAGDALENE VISAGGIO, JAMES TYNION IV, KYLE HIGGINS, MARGUERITE BENNETT, MATT ROSENBERG, JUSTIN JORDAN, REGINE SAWYER, and CHE GRAYSON
art by DANIEL SAMPERE and others
cover by DAN MORA
variant cover by GARY FRANK

What would it take to get every being left in the Multiverse to side together in the ultimate, final showdown? Total decimation and the complete undoing of all existence? The Batman Who Laughs has made his final move, bringing the most horrifying opposition to the battleground, and now every hero and villain left alive will stand and fight together. This epic battle book details every side of the last war across the Multiverse—Wonder Woman leading the heroes, Superman leading the villains, and Batman leading the dead—everyone has to play their part. Everyone and everything is at stake...so join here for the last of the DCU as we know it! $8.99 PRESTIGE FORMAT ONE SHOT, ON SALE December 29, 2020

I know the text doesn't explicitly mention Booster Gold, but he appears on *both* covers seen above. Am I willing to shell out $17.98 for the pair? I'll see how I feel about that decision when I complete my Christmas shopping.

UPDATE 2020-09-14: BleedingCool.com reports that the second cover by Gary Frank was original intended for the abandoned 5G event, so it doesn't have anything to do with the book's contents. I wish that made my math easier, but it is a beautiful, cheerful cover.

(By the way, there are four other Dark Nights: Death Metal books and three new Tales of the Dark Multiverse being solicited — because Eddie of Iron Maiden makes all of DC Comics' publishing decisions in 2020. Booster Gold could conceivably cameo in any of these books, so if anyone notices our boy, please pass word along. Thank you.)

Next up is the book DC teased last week:

GENERATIONS SHATTERED #1
written by DAN JURGENS, ANDY SCHMIDT, and ROBERT VENDITTI
art by IVAN REIS, BRYAN HITCH, KEVIN NOWLAN, AARON LOPRESTI, FERNANDO PASARIN, PAUL PELLETIER, and others
cover by IVAN REIS and JOE PRADO

A threat of cosmic proportion to DC's newest (and oldest) universe compels one of the most unusual groups of heroes ever assembled to take on the most mysterious foe they have ever encountered. What started in Detective Comics #1027 explodes out of Dark Nights: Death Metal to tell the story of the generations-spanning history of the DC Universe! Join the original Batman, Kamandi, Starfire, Sinestro, Booster Gold, Dr. Light, Steel, and Sinestro in their quest to save the universe before time runs out...
$9.99 PRESTIGE FORMAT ONE SHOT, ON SALE January 15, 2021

There are two covers for this one, too, but so far we've only seen the one I showed on Generations Shattered on Friday. Will the second one have Booster Gold on it also? That'd be useful information, DC, as my Local Comic Shop only orders for me exactly what I tell them to, and I don't need to buy two copies of the interior pages.

Note that the solicitation above text name checks Detective Comics #1027, which is due in my store tomorrow with a $9.99 cover price. What is up with all these $9-$10 comics, DC? Haven't you heard that there's a pandemic-inspired economic crisis on? Why are you making me choose between skipping meals or comic books? I feel I should warn you that food is pretty darn important to me.

Also in the solicitations is the news that Booster Gold will also be appearing in the JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL BOOK TWO: AROUND THE WORLD TP reprint collection coming in January. I recommend it highly for fans of Blue and Gold, though I have to admit that I won't be buying it on release. Its cover price is a very reasonable $29.99 for 20 comics, but it'll be March before I recover from buying all those other Booster Gold books.

You can find all of DC's December 2020 solicitations at GamesRadar.com.

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