As Kevin pointed out in yesterday's comments, Newsarama.com has posted an article, "Comic Book Crossover Couplings: Hook-Ups on Infinite Earths," romantically pairing Booster Gold and Squirrel Girl. I agree with them that this pairing makes more sense than it may at first appear.

Both of these characters are treated like walking jokes by almost all of their superhero peers, despite consistently proving themselves as more than capable. Booster Gold's regular gig is fixing the timestream and you may have heard that one time Squirrel Girl defeated Dr. Doom.

Both characters are a product of his/her time that has grown into something more, largely thanks to underground fan support. Booster Gold was spawned as satire of corporate culture in sports in the early 1980s, and has gone on to almost single-handedly save the DC Multiverse. Meanwhile Squirrel Girl was created as a pointedly absurd Spider-Man parody (by one of Spider-Man's co-creaters, no less) to highlight the darkness of the 1990s comic books. Like Booster, she is incredibly powerful, but her cheerful, naive demeanor keeps her from receiving the deserved respect of her peers.

I was introduced to Squirrel Girl about a decade ago by a co-worker. He had purchased her first appearance in 1992, and had kept the book for years as a symbol of silly comics. The antics of Squirrel Girl, in his opinion, was an insult to Spider-Man and Marvel fans everywhere. I remain certain that there must be comic book fans who think the same thing about Booster Gold -- wrongly, of course -- and that is what makes Booster Gold and Squirrel Girl such a compelling crossover idea.

You can read more about Booster and Squirrel Girl, as well as more about other unlikely pairings by Newsarama's Albert Ching and Vaneta Rogers, here.

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I know that I usually run "Gold Exchange" links on Tuesdays, but Russ Burlingame broke the news that Dan Jurgens will be returning to Booster Gold on issue #44 last night at Comic Related. I can't sit on news like that! As Burlingame himself posted in the Boosterrific.com Forum yesterday:

The Gold Exchange: So—as we've done once or twice before, last thing first: Back when it was announced you'd be leaving Booster Gold for a while to take on Time Masters: Vanishing Point, it became public knowledge after an issue of Booster Gold had "To Be Continued In..." tagged at the end. Now that story is finished and the last issue of Time Masters says "To be continued in Booster Gold #44." Will you be the one continuing your storyline in a new title here, as you did after The Tomorrow Memory?

Dan Jurgens: Yes. I'll be jumping back to Booster Gold as of issue #44, which I've just started drawing. It's good to be home!

It'll be good to have you back, Dan. You can read the whole article here.

UPDATE 02/05: FYI: Russ has posted a slightly longer version of the Comic Related "Gold Exchange" column at Newsarama that answers some questions specifically addressed here in the Boosterrific Forum. You can find that column here.

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If you didn't already notice Mr. Chaos' link in the forum (making this "Gold Exchange Tuesday" post somewhat redundant), Russ Burlingame has posted his latest "Gold Exchange" column at newsarama.com. In regards to questions about why Booster Gold #40 contained a re-telling of Booster's origin, writer J.M. DeMatteis is quoted:

"We were told this had to be a 'jump on' issue: That's why we did the recap."

DeMatteis also admits that the discrepancies in Booster's origin in that issue were intentional. Whether you believe him or not is up to you. (I run a website devoted to chronicling the most minute details of Booster Gold's adventures, and it didn't bother me. But I don't expect that fact to carry much weight with anyone else.)

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It's really starting to look like I need to make Tuesdays "Gold Exchange Day." Russ Burlingame released another "Gold Exchange" column at Newsarama.com last week with Dan Jurgens commenting on Time Masters: Vanishing Point #5. To pull a quote:

"Supernova and his wife will be addressed next issue." -- Dan Jurgens

I know that I can't wait.

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There was quite a drought of "Gold Exchange" columns for awhile there, and now it seems they are coming fast and furious. Russ Burlingame's latest "Gold Exchange" column was posted late last week at Newsarama.com. (Erin starlight has already commented on it here.) DeMatteis, like Jurgens before him, tends to give few concrete answers to Burlingame's questions, but his responses on how he views Booster Gold are enlightening. I can't ever have too much problem with anyone who clearly likes the character as much as he does.

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