Last week, ComicBook.com got a first look at a couple of variant covers to upcoming Action Comics that tease the outcome of the "The Oz Effect" storyline.

art by Neil Edwards and Jeromy Cox

Hmm. The back of that head looks kind of familiar.

Article author Russ Burlingame noted the similarities between Mr. Oz and one of his favorite heroes.

The reader cannot see Oz's face, although from behind he appears to have a headband and exposed hair -- a descriptor that could apply to Ozymandias, Jor-El (in most continuities, including the current version), or numerous other characters, including Booster Gold.

Say it ain't so, DC!

You can read the whole article, including Burlingame's guess at who the hooded man might turn out to be, at ComicBook.com.

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Whew! Most of you agree that Booster won't be Mr. Oz. What a relief.

Last week's poll question: Will Booster Gold play any role in the unveiling of Mr. Oz? (59 votes)

The real question here might be if Booster Gold was a prisoner of Mr. Oz, will we be seeing more of him after "The Oz Effect"? At least we can't see him any less.

We'll find out what role — if any — our hero will be playing in Mr. Oz's schemes when "The Oz Effect" goes on sale in Action Comics this September.

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DC has released solicitations for books shipping in October. None of them give any hint that we'll be seeing DC's brightest star anytime soon.

But all hope is not lost! This weekend is Comic Con International in San Diego. DC has to be holding something back to tease their fans, right? I'm not saying that Booster Gold will be front and center, but maybe DC will demonstrate that he's not entirely forgotten, either.

Speaking of "front and center," I started the week with a plea that Superman antagonist Mr. Oz not be revealed as Booster Gold in the upcoming "The Oz Effect" story in Action Comics. Many of you had something to say about that. Let's run a quick poll and see what the group consensus is.

This week's poll question: Will Booster Gold play any role in the unveiling of Mr. Oz? Please visit the Boosterrific Polls page to view results for this week's poll.

Enjoy your weekend, Booster boosters!

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Pop culture website 13thdimension.com posted an "exclusive first look" at upcoming issues of Action Comics this weekend. Running throughout the title in September and October will be a five-part story by Dan Jurgens called "The Oz Effect," in which we will finally discover the true identity of Mr. Oz.

Reading the advance solicitations included in the article, all I could think was "please don't let Mr. Oz be Booster Gold."

The popular theory is that the mysterious Mr. Oz, introduced three years ago (!) in Superman #32, is Ozymandias from Watchmen. Personally, I think that seems a little too "on the nose" to make a very satisfying reveal after all this time. And even if the fans were right and it was supposed to be Ozymandias, I would expect DC to change Mr. Oz's secret identity mid-story to maintain the surprise. (Anyone out there still remember the last minute Captain Atom/Hawk swap in Armageddon 2001?)

Many of the things Mr. Oz has done and said over the past three years indicates a fixation on Superman. Therefore, I assume that Mr. Oz is someone aware of Superman's past in Smallville, Kansas. (I think Mr. Oz takes his name from the original manipulative "man behind the curtain," the Wizard of Oz, who also has ties to Kansas.) While those clues might point to familiar Superman foes like Conduit or Ruin, I begin to worry that it might be a time traveler with historical ties to the Man of Steel.

Which is fine, just so long as it's not Booster Gold.

I mean, if Mr. Oz is revealed to be a nearly omnipotent time traveler seeking to unify a fractured universe (post-"Crisis", "Flashpoint", "New 52", "Rebirth", "Watchmen," etc.), it would certainly explain why fan-favorite Booster Gold has been M.I.A. since Convergence. And we can't deny that Booster has beef with Superman that goes way back. And Dan Jurgens does like to recycle his favorite characters . . . .

As I said, I don't want this to be the case. I don't want Booster to be a "villain." (And I certainly don't want to have to add all 30+ appearances of Mr. Oz to the Boosterrific database after the fact.) But it could be worse. After three years of waiting to find out who Mr. Oz really is, it might turn out that he's the Black Beetle.

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