I mentioned that this was coming back in April, and now it's here.

Popularly known as the New 52 Booster Gold, this variant is called "Booster Gold (Futures End)" by McFarlane Toys. But neither of those names is quite accurate.

For one thing, there are actually two Booster Golds in Booster Gold: Futures End, and the one who should be considered the primary protagonist of the issue wore an Advanced Research Group Uniting Super-Humans costume instead. It's never explained why he was wearing it. Maybe it was just so readers could to tell the two Boosters apart?

The other Booster Gold in that issue doesn't really wear this costume either. That character is wearing the Jim Lee design that first appeared on and in the New 52's Justice League International #1. (Here at Boosterrific.com, I call that the Mark XIII Booster Gold powersuit because it was the 13th costume Booster wore.) It has square goggles and a tight-fighting cowl that covered the cheeks with gold piping but left the forehead mostly exposed. As you can see, this figure's head is wearing something more similar to Booster's traditional Mark I costume.

(Since we're on the topic of McFarlane and inaccurately costumed action figures, the A.R.G.U.S. suited Booster Gold from Booster Gold: Futures End is the same character who became Waverider in Convergence. So if you want a complete collection of Future's End Booster Golds, you'll need this one and that one.)

If you're so interested, you can find links to purchase this action figure on mcfarlane.com.

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Over at Newsarama/GamesRadar+, Michael Doran has started speculating about what DC might have in mind for January/February 2021 in regards to the mysterious "Generations" event teased in Detective Comics #1027.

I don't agree with all of Doran's theories, and he altogether avoids guessing how we'll reconcile getting both the original 1985 Booster Gold (seen on the solicited Generations: Shattered cover) and the 2007 time cop Booster Gold (hinted at in the dialogue of Detective Comics #1027) in one event. But his general conclusion seems reasonable enough. I quote:

In summary, 'Future State' won't be a precursor to a reboot (which DC really wants you to know isn't happening), but a lead-in to coordinated refresh/line-wide jumping on point the publisher can market heavily without alienating existing readers and throwing the continuity baby out with the bathwater as it did with 'The New 52.'

Not a reboot but a "refresh"? Sure, okay. Whatever. I don't have any problem with that. I didn't have any problem with that when DC tried it with Convergence or 52 or Zero Hour or any of the many, many other non-reboot reboots DC has attempted over the past four decades or so. If you read superhero comics long enough, you'll get used to publishers trying new initiatives to bring in new blood, which they should. Children are the future, after all.

(Trivial digression: We didn't call Crisis on Infinite Earths a "reboot" back in the day, either. Interestingly, Google and Wikipedia sources credit the term "reboot" in its modern, "continuity reset" meaning to fan discussion of Mark Waid's 1994 re-imagining of Legion of Super-Heroes continuity in the wake of Zero Hour, which was itself the second major overhaul of LSH continuity. Those fans were computer-savvy users of the World Wide Web-precursor Usenet, so the adoption and retasking of the computer term came naturally. Therefore, DC's own history of recreating their properties over and over again was the reason the term was created in the first place. You brought this upon yourself, DC!)

To make your own informed guesses about what the future might hold (and get a glimpse of the issue's alternate cover, which also includes Booster Gold!), you can read the whole article at gamesradar.com.

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Booster Gold is finally back in comic stores after a two year hiatus! And we finally have a definitive answer to last month's debate over what piece of art Dan Jurgens, Norm Rapmund, and Brian Miller were working on.

Gee, that star sure looks familiar.

Those wonderful people over at CBR.com have an 11-page preview. Eleven pages! Fortunately, it's a 48-page comic.

The preview certainly raises plenty of continuity questions for our favorite Chronal Crusader, but that's to be expected for any character who has missed two continuity reboots. Before anyone freaks out (and I'm probably talking to myself here), keep in mind that this is our first look at post-Rebirth Booster Gold.

What are you doing still reading this? Go buy your copy of Booster Gold/The Flintstones Annual Special #1 now! Heck, there are two covers, each featuring Booster Gold, so buy two!

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So you're still happy, even without Booster, huh?

Last week's poll question: More than six months in, how satisfied are you with Rebirth overall? (59 votes)

Generally speaking, I do think that the Rebirth DC Universe is an improvement over what came before. That said, I'll never be satisfied until I get my Booster Gold back.

On an unrelated note, for those of you like me who missed Booster Gold in the Justice League Action debut in December, TV Guide tells me that Cartoon Network is scheduled to rerun the episode "Night of the Bat" tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM Eastern. Don't miss it twice!

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Surprise, surprise. The most visited post in 2016 was one of Boosterrific.com's few polls on the year. This one originally ran the week of June 10, when I asked you "How satisfied are you with Rebirth so far?"

I had cut back on polls in 2016 because I felt they weren't generating much interest. Well, this one sure did. There have been polls with more voters, but few have gathered so many views.

Since we're on the subject, I might as well follow up. When last I asked, Rebirth was only 3 weeks old. Has your opinion changed in the past seven months? We'll take a look at your response next year!

This week's poll question: More than six months in, how satisfied are you with Rebirth overall? Please visit the Boosterrific Polls page to view results for this week's poll.

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