In general, Dan Jurgens is tight-lipped in interviews. He rarely if ever gives away any secrets about his upcoming stories. That's great if you want to avoid spoilers, but frustrating as the firmament of the DC Universe appears to be reshaping itself beneath our feet. In the past few days, Jurgens has given interviews to both Comic Related and Newsarama that may contain clues to the future of Booster Gold.

From "Dan Jurgens on life after Flashpoint " by Russ Burlingame at Comic Related:

CR: This is probably a conversation for another time, but Booster Gold has been the protector of the timeline. What happens here, a massive shift in history and continuity and all that, seems to suggest that he fails rather spectacularly. Was mitigating that impression part of why Booster was allowed to be "the guy who gets to see Flashpoint"?

DJ: I don't think this change suggests that at all. With a lot of this, you have to wait until you read the end of the story.

CR: Of all the characters in the JLI, it appears as though Booster Gold is the character who got the most radical redesign of his costume. That seems to dash the theories that a lot of us had about his being the "Psycho Pirate" of the new universe--the one guy who remembers the way it used to be. Will we get a real, solid ending for Booster, Rip and company since their role in Flashpoint lends it to one more than any other title?

DJ: I'll be happy to answer questions about the end of Booster Gold and Flashpoint... once it appears in print. No writer gives away his ending!

Bad news first: Jurgens appears to be confirming the cancellation of Booster Gold Volume 2. However, Jurgens is a crafty interviewee, so we can only take his responses at face value. It's always best not to read too far into his responses. (Keep hope alive!)

From "Jurgens Brings International Flavor to DCnU in Revamped JLI" by Vaneta Rogers at Newsarma:

Newsarama: Dan, what attracted you to writing the Justice League International?

Dan Jurgens: It's the Justice League! International style, yes, but it is still a vehicle for some of DC's best heroes, which as part of this new launch, is tremendously appealing.

I've always been drawn to books that allow for a wide range of stories that have a chance to be big in scope, and the JLI certainly fits that description. Plus, it's a chance to continue to lift Booster Gold's profile, which we've been working on the past few years.

Nrama: Is this the whole team?

Jurgens: This is the whole team for this issue! After that... things can change.

The good news is that Jurgens is committed to raising the profile of Booster Gold. This means there will be plenty of Booster in the upcoming Justice League International series. Better still, if things are really so flexible in the future, maybe Booster won't be stuck with that terrible costume for too long!

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I cannot believe how much buzz I keep encountering about Booster Gold's appearance on Smallville. There was some interest when Geoff Johns said it was coming last summer. Then there was some excitement when Eric Martsolf was cast in the role in January. Pictures of the costume two weeks ago blew the doors off the internet. And now there's Firday's trailer promo (which I posted here) that is literally everywhere.

You expect that sort of thing on Newsarama.com or SuperHeroHype.com or even a fan site like Kryptonsite.com (from whence I found the nifty screencap above among many others), but when an obscure comic book character like Booster Gold is showing up on E! Online, something boosterrific must be happening!

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Newsarama.com has posted Vaneta Roger's latest Flashpoint interview with Geoff Johns that includes a brief but interesting tidbit about Booster Gold.

Nrama: Solicitations have indicated that Booster Gold knows the Flashpoint world isn't his own. The concept behind an altered timeline goes right along with his series. Did you think of him all along as someone who could be involved in Flashpoint?

Johns: Yes, that was the one book that I knew would be tied into the mini-series. I knew [Booster Gold creator] Dan [Jurgens] was coming back [to write and draw Booster Gold], and I talked to him a lot about this story. It just felt like he's the natural person to have be involved in this, and that his book would just fit right along with it. If you're going to tie in anything, that's the book to tie-in.

Kudos to Rogers and Johns for managing to talk at length about the hows and whys of producing Flashpoint without giving much of the story away, maintaining the mystery of Flashpoint. You can read the whole article here.

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Justice League: Generation Lost #22 is scheduled to hit stands today, with Power Girl, Batman, and one other "former-JLI member" joining the fight against Max Lord. This aspect of the story is covered in Vaneta Rogers' interview with Judd Winick over at Newsarama.com (part 1 and part 2). (It's a worthwhile read, but tread carefully, readers, there may be some spoiler-ish material over there.) Buy this issue and make Skeets happy.

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As Russ Burlingame pointed out yesterday in the forums (you are reading the forums, aren't you?), Vaneta Rogers has a new article up at Newsarama discussing Booster Gold's enduring popularity. Rogers has interviewed Dan Jurgens, Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Jeffery Katz -- writers for a combined 264 comic stories featuring Booster Gold! -- on their opinions about what makes Booster Gold great.

"I think it's pretty amazing that fans like him so much today because, if you think about the character and the way Dan [Jurgens] introduced him, he's a character you really shouldn't like, because he's so self-serving," said Keith Giffen, who has written the character several times during Booster's 25 years in comics. "And even though he's learning his lessons and growing as a person, there's still a little self-serving core in there. "But for some odd reason, fans just respond to it."

You can find the whole article, "Why They Endure: BOOSTER GOLD - the Self-Serving Superhero," at Newsarama.com.

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