Web-surfing Booster boosters might have noticed an article at ScreenRant.com this week titled "Batman's Still Keeping His Saddest Secret From The Justice League" in which Tristan Benns writes about events from Blue and Gold #1.

(Spoiler Warning: If you still haven't read Blue and Gold, be aware that spoilers follow. But, c'mon. You're reading a Booster Gold blog, and the book came out three weeks ago. Please try to keep up.)

As I was saying, per ScreenRant.com:

Pretty much every member of the team berates Gold behind his back, except for Batman — the hero that fans and Leaguers would expect to like Booster the least....

It's not entirely clear whether Booster's status as master of time has been restored in Infinite Frontier, but Batman's silence when the rest of the League rejects Booster speaks volumes, as does the knowing look he gives the Blue Beetle.

Sure, I noticed Batman's silent treatment, and I agree it speaks volumes. But to decipher what's going on here, it might be helpful to clarify Batman's historical relationship with Booster Gold.

Contrary to what might be presumed given his famously dour personality, Batman has always been among Booster's earliest supporters. In fact, Booster even made The Batman smile with his performance during his original audition for Justice League membership in Justice League #4 (1987):

Batman and Booster as written by Keith Giffen and J.M DeMatteis

Two decades later, in the pages of in the pages of Booster Gold #1,000,000 (2008), The World's Greatest Detective would reveal another reason he had always stood up for Booster: he knew Booster would become a Time Master before Booster ever did.

Batman and Booster as written by Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz

The events of Flashpoint changed much of the history of the DC Universe, but Batman was among the least affected, and his staunch support of Booster Gold was still on display in Justice League International #1 (2011). So it should come as no surprise that Batman would remain among Booster's allies in the Infinite Frontier-era Blue & Gold, even if he and Ted Kord are the only ones.

Knowing all that, if there's anything to be read into Batman's silence in Blue and Gold, it's that Booster is definitely still a Time Master, and Batman still knows all about it.

Batman and Beetle (about Booster) as written by Dan Jurgens

Footnote: "Pretty much every member of the team... except for Batman" is a very correct description of the scene in Blue and Gold because while Batman stays silent, one other Leaguer actually speaks up in defense of Booster Gold. That hero is Black Canary, who not coincidentally is the only other current team member who was present at Booster's debut in the aforementioned Justice League #4. (You can see her blond hair behind Captain Marvel in the panels above.) Old school is the best school.

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Booster Gold rides in with the cavalry in this week's Justice League #66!

It's a cameo appearance, sure, but the book ends on a cliffhanger that promises more action to come. Maybe Booster will have a bigger part in the next issue? (If he's lucky, he may even get a whole line of dialog!)

And while we're on the subject of brief appearances, perhaps you'll recall that last week Booster's Gold's hair made a cameo in Teen Titans Academy #5? DC must have liked that, because this week they put Booster's hair in all of their books:

Director Bones enjoys running his fingers through Booster's hair.

This is the fourth weekly variant "Multiversal Monitors" house ad promoting the "Infinite Frontier" era. Each consecutive edition has retained and shuffled some images from the week before. In this case, Booster Gold and Blue Beetle are still on screen, relocated behind Director Bones where only Booster's hair is visible.

Booster should move quickly to capitalize on all the exposure his scalp is getting. If Dirk Davis was still his manager, I'm sure he'd be in television commercials for Mane 'n Tail by now.

Buy a comic book and make Skeets happy.

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DC chose not to release any comic featuring Booster Gold appearances this week. I like to think that's because they'd rather you spend some time re-reading classic Booster Gold adventures.

May I suggest Justice League Annual #1, released 34 years ago today?

This 48-page issue, essentially a zombie story titled "Germ Warfare," is Booster's first adventure as an accepted member of the Justice League. (And you don't have to take my word for it. The editor's note on page 4 explicitly places the story immediately after Booster's JL audition in Justice League #4 (which also happens to be the single best Booster Gold story ever).

The action unfolds in the traditional Justice League style. To combat a global menace, the team splits in to pairs. Interestingly, Booster Gold's first Justice League partner isn't Blue Beetle but another legacy character with origins in the Golden Age of comics: Black Canary.

With rapport like that, it's no surprise that the "Black and Gold" team didn't outlast Canary's oft-maligned 1980s aerobics instructor-inspired costume.

As might be expected of such a new member, Booster plays a relatively minor role in the issue's resolution. And though it may come as a surprise to modern audiences, neither does Batman. The honors go to the Martian Manhunter, a true hero who will go on to teach many an up-and-comer a thing or two about the relationship between great power and great responsibility.

As I said, if you're looking for something to read today, you could do much worse than the first Justice League Annual.

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As all Booster boosters know by now, DC has announced a new Blue Beetle/Booster Gold mini-series coming in July 2021. What you may not know is just how long it has taken to get to this blessed event. What follows is the second in a series of three posts that originally appeared here on Boosterrific in June 2011:

Just a few months after Dan Jurgens teased the impending release of The Blue and the Gold in August 1988's Direct Currents #8 (as posted in part 1 of this series), the news was confirmed in the Justice Log letter column of Justice League International #25 (April 1989).

These letter column responses are presumably written by series editor, Andy Helfer, or more likely his assistant, Kevin Dooley. They should be in position to know the accuracy of the following news they printed a few months later in Justice League America #32 (November 1989).

I don't know where the news of the new publication date was was released first, but it doesn't much seem to matter. That "semi-regular" series hint seems to suggest that by this time, DC had decided that the ideas behind The Blue and the Gold series had been rolled into what eventually became Justice League Quarterly at the end of 1990. More news about The Blue and the Gold series wouldn't appear until writer/artist Dan Jurgens and editor Brian Augustyn took over the series in 1992. The news wasn't good, but at least it was honest. From Justice League America #64 (July 1992):

Jurgens was the go-to man for many of DC's major event series in the early- to mid-1990s, and his schedule was always full. Worse, just a few issues later, Booster would be powerless, and Beetle would be in his second coma, both thanks to Doomsday. Months passed before both were back in fighting condition, and this storyline seems to preclude the opportunity for a spin-off mini-series focusing on the pair. The letter column for Justice League America #71 (February 1993) seems to confirm this being the end of the road for the long-planned series. This is the last mention of The Blue and Gold in the series.

Five years after Dan Jurgens called it "the one project I'm really excited about," The Blue and the Gold looked like another missed opportunity.

Next time, we'll revisit my 2011 Q&A with Dan Jurgens about the fate of The Blue and the Gold series.

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If you've been keeping track of my list of the twelve best Booster Gold comics, you know that we've reached number 9. More importantly, we've reached a turning point in the history of Booster Gold.

By 2007, Booster Gold was widely recognized as a laughingstock, has-been as a former member of the long-derided Justice League International. Booster Gold Volume 2, Number 1 begins the story of how Booster started his second act as The Greatest Hero The World Has Never Known!

As it happens all too often, the real trouble starts when Booster finally gets what he has sought since his earliest appearances in Booster Gold Volume 1: the acceptance of his peers.

As you can see, this issue is a great jumping on point for new Booster Gold fans. Never read a comic with Booster Gold before? No problem. Writers Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz make the issue accessible to casual Justice League fans and longtime Booster Gold fans alike.

It's not an exaggeration to say that without the changes to Booster's status quo that were begun in this story, significantly fewer readers would even care which comics should be considered The Best Booster Gold Stories Ever!

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