It's been a few weeks now, but do you recall the last page of Summer of Superman Special?

Here, let me refresh your memory:

Pay careful attention to that big glowing symbol on the wall over the head of our chained hero. That is omega, the final letter of the Greek alphabet. As the last letter in its alphabet, omega is often used symbolically to represent the last element in a set, as in "the ultimate," or "the end." Naturally, this has led omega to become associated with death, the end of life itself.

Omega's symbolic relationship with death is why it was adopted by the New God now widely known as Darkseid. Darkseid came to power by stealing the Omega Force and using the Omega Effect power it grants (via his Omega Beams) to take total control of Apokolips and aid his relentless quest to discover the Anti-Life Equation.

In the DCU, wherever an omega appears, Darkseid and death aren't too far behind, as teased in this panel from this weekend's Free Comic Book Day DC All In 2025 FCBD Special Edition #1:

Between the contemporary Absolute Universe and the Dark Legion of the future, it sure seems that Darkseid and Omega Energy are corrupting the entire Multiverse. And the symbols of their evil influence are everywhere!

Even, it seems, on the Sunday broadcast of the CBS Nightly News:

CBS Weekend News, Season 2025, Episode 118, CBS, May 4, 2025

Darkseid over present-day America? That would explain a few things.

Comments (4) | Add a Comment | Tags: cbs darkseid free comic book day news omega superman

Reminder to everyone: After moving to Tuesdays during the pandemic, DC is back to Wednesday releases starting today.

This would be bigger news if there was a Booster Gold comic coming out today, but today also marks the official start of DC's annual event, "Absolute Power," and unless our hero puts in a cameo in one of the many, many tie-ins (34 and counting so far!), we're not expecting him to make his appearance in that until Wonder Woman #13 in September. ["We" were wrong. See update below.]

So you'll have to find something else to enjoy this New Comic Day. May I suggest those sweet Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez turnaround alternate artist spotlight covers on Batman and Shazam? Or the Kevin Maguire variant cover for Kurt Busiek's new comic? Or Geoff John's long awaited JSA #10?

But I don't need to tell you. If you're reading Boosterrific!, you love comics. I'm sure you will find yourself something to read.

UPDATE: As Rob Snow has pointed out to me, Booster Gold is seen on multiple pages in today's Absolute Power #1. Hooray!

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: absolute power new releases news rob snow wonder woman

Internet comic book "news" is often like a children's game of telephone: Someone says something, someone else hears what they want to hear and passes that along to someone else, and the next thing you know, Blue Beetle will be co-starring in HBO's announced Booster Gold television series.

If you saw that news reported somewhere in the past week, know that at this point it's nothing more than wishful thinking.

The original report that many sites are referencing ran in The Hollywood Reporter. "Marketing 'The Flash': No Ezra Miller, But Lots of Batman and TV Spots" ruminates on the James Gunn-controlled future of the DC Cinematic Universe thusly:

Both executives have said some actors from the current universe could persist, and one who seems most likely is Xolo Maridueña, whose character Blue Beetle has close ties in the comics to Booster Gold. Gunn and Safran are planning their own Booster Gold show, and it is possible Blue Beetle could appear in it, depending on Beetle's reception this summer.

"Could persist"? "One who seems most likely"? As you can see, that's a lot of speculation on the part of the article's authors. Which is fine, so long as we recognize that for what it is.

It's not like we haven't had high hopes before. Once upon a time, people were similarly predicting that Booster Gold would show up on CW's The Flash or early seasons of DC's Legends of Tomorrow. He didn't.

Which is not to say that we shouldn't be hopeful. Blue Beetle could appear in a Booster Gold show. Assuming we ever actually get a Booster Gold show, I sure hope he does. All I'm saying is that we should all be careful not to confuse rumors with reality.

Comments (2) | Add a Comment | Tags: blue beetle hollywoodreporter.com news rumors television

In case you missed it this week (and I don't blame you if you did), Newsarama.com has gone to that great comic book news website in the sky.

As you can see from that screenshot, it looks like the remains of Newsarama have become yet another casualty of the Dark Side of the Internet's never-ending hunger for listicles.

Newsarama editor Chris Arrant tweeted that Newsarama's staff survives intact behind the scenes, but as that screenshot shows, "Newsarama" content is only a single landing page for the few comics-adjacent articles on a website dedicated to video games.

Like the once great ComicBookResources before it, all of Newsarama's archives have also been wiped from servers as though they never existed. That means if you come across any Newsarama.com links on this site, such as I tended to provide for DC's monthly solicitations, they now link to the front page of a video game website. Sorry about that. Think of it as rickrolling, 2020-style.

(You young 'uns do know what rickrolling was, right? It was a meme your parents enjoyed. I'd link you to a website explaining it, but most of them have shut down by now.)

So continues the cycle of the commercial niche-interest press. Comic book journalism, such as it is, will survive, I'm sure. What form will it take? Only time-traveling super heroes from the future know for sure, though if I had to guess, I'd say it'll probably look like this.

UPDATE 2020-6-6: And now The Hollywood Reporter breaks the news that DC and Diamond have parted ways. That's a big comic book industry story that may affect where and how you can buy future Booster Gold comics. What's next, 2020?

Comments (3) | Add a Comment | Tags: news newsarama.com website update

You don't have to be French to be disheartened by the collapse of Notre Dame's center spire during Monday's fire. The building means a lot to students of art and history the world over.

For over 850 years, Notre-Dame de Paris has played a significant role in French history. It has seen countless weddings and funerals. Napoleon was crowned Emperor there in 1804. Its statues and stained-glass rose windows have inspired novelists, poets, and painters. Needless to say, it has seen better days.

It doesn't take a time traveler to know that Notre Dame will rise again. Godspeed, Our Lady.

Comments (4) | Add a Comment | Tags: history news notre dame