I don't think it's any secret that I don't care for the New 52. I know I'm not alone.

I often hear or read others with long-term DC Comics buying habits express disappointment with the change to the DC Universe. When we malcontents get together, someone invariably invokes sales numbers to prove that most people hate the New 52.

That sounds comforting, but is is true? I looked at the numbers to see for myself.

The naysayers have a point. The New 52 is dying a slow death, kept alive largely through increasingly regular injections of "events."

The graph above charts the sales since the launch of the New 52, and the trend lines make it clear that DC is losing ground to their Marvelous Competition. (Let's not pretend that DC's recent changes are anything other than an attempt to close the gap with Marvel, which is more successful in all ways, but especially in the one that counts: sales revenue).

Those spikes in the graph are the initial reboot and last year's "Villains Month" 3D covers. Those 3D covers really seemed to work. Expect to see them more often if this September's Futures End covers are anywhere near as successful. (Living from event to event? Why does that market strategy seem so familiar?)

But before I celebrate the proof that the New 52 is loosing steam, I should put that in perspective and look at what DC was doing before their re-branding:

Here I've extended my timeline backwards. We have sales data for 32 months of the New 52 universe, so I decided to look backwards the same distance before the relaunch. Frankly, they don't look so bad. (I can't even blame the sales dip for January 2011 on Flashpoint. That month saw a change in Diamonds' distribution practice, and was a low volume month across the board.)

Ah, but when I put the two timelines together, look what happens:

Look at that upswing! And it's probably better than it looks. All of my data comes from ComicChron.com and is based off Diamond Comics Distributors' coded sales charts. That means that my numbers are estimates that do not include digital sales. That probably means that the modern numbers are bigger and better than we can see (at least in months without fancy 3D covers).

It's true that a rising tide floats all boats, and the comics industry is currently experiencing something of a sales renaissance as the economy has rebounded from the Great Recession. However, DC is hitting sales numbers they haven't seen in over a decade. It would be foolish to credit most of that change to anything other than the excitement generated by the launch of the New 52.

Creatively, I still refuse to call the New 52 a success. I can still argue that rebooting to something that I might want to read — such as keeping Wally West as The Flash or reverting Superman to Silver Age godhood — may have produced better, longer lasting gains. What I cannot do is deny that the New 52 gave DC sales momentum unlike any in recent memory. The only question now is when DC will do it again.

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Yesterday, I asked you what series you would base a Booster Gold television show on. I didn't tell you what DC Comics wants, but according to author Brian Keene, DC wants "Quantam Leap meets Doctor Who."

No doubt you remember that earlier this year author Brian Keene announced that he had turned down the opportunity to work on a Booster Gold comic book for DC Comics. Now Keene has given us his pitch:

THE PROBLEM: Booster Gold doesn't fit in the New52. The most prominent reason for this is because readers don't yet have a sense of history for the New52. They've seen only glimpses of its past and future. Booster is a time-traveler. That rich sense of history is what should inform him and drive him, allowing readers to identify with him. All of that is missing. I propose that Booster and the readers discover that history together.

THE FIX: So far, Booster has been seen uncontrollably phasing in and out of time. (It's been hinted this might be the doing of Rip Hunter). What if, each time he jumps from one time period to another, Booster loses a little more of his memory, to the point where he becomes an amnesiac? As his journey toward self-discovery then begins, so does the reader's connection with him — and thus, we have a broad tapestry in which to explore this character in ways we never have before, while simultaneously exploring the history of the New52.

That's just the synopsis. You can read the whole pitch, including plot outlines for the first six issues on BrianKeene.com.

Thanks to Morgenstern for sharing this news in the Boosteriffic Forum.

UPDATE June 2022: Since neither BrianKeene.com nor the defunct Boosterrific Forums still contain this information, here is the rest of the pitch, as archived by BleedingCool.com:

I envision each issue as self-contained, focusing on Booster in a different time period. But there is a deeper, more mysterious sub-plot running through all of the issues, ultimately culminating in Booster rediscovering who he is, and unraveling the mysteries of his past (the death of his sister, what's really going on with Rip Hunter, etc.)

THE FIRST SIX ISSUES:

1. Booster and Skeets materialize in Earth's Cretaceous period, and Skeets is eaten by a Tyrannosaurus. Booster must ultimately fight the beast. After defeating it, he decides to search the dinosaur's stomach for Skeets, but before he can, he phases out of time again and appears on the deck of a ship off the coast of 10th century "Vinland" (North America), where he is knocked unconscious and captured by Viking Prince.

2. Viking Prince interrogates Booster, believing him to be magic (which would account for his strange garb and sudden appearance). Booster tries to convince him otherwise, but in recounting his tale, is alarmed to discover that he can't remember certain things about himself. He breaks free of his bonds, but does not attack the Vikings, proving he means them no harm. He then accompanies them ashore, where they encounter Arak, son of Thunder, and members of his tribe. The Vikings and Native Americans are suspicious of each other, and a battle ensues, but Booster diplomatically brokers peace between them (reminding the readers that he's not just empowered by his suit and future weaponry, but also his charisma and showmanship). During a feast between the two groups, Booster phases out of time and appears in the ruins of Metropolis, where he is confronted by a walking, talking dog who introduces himself. "I'm Doctor Canus, and this is my boy, Kamandi." When Canus asks Booster for his name, he can no longer remember it.

3. It is revealed that while Booster knows he's a time traveler and can remember periods of history, he can no longer remember his name or any of his past, nor how he came upon his suit and equipment. He knows, for example, that he's in the era of The Great Disaster, but doesn't know how he knows that. Canus and Kamandi offer him shelter within the confines of a Tiger-controlled city ruled by Prince Tuftan. Both Kamandi and Canus are intrigued by Booster — talking humans are a rarity in this era. Booster is soon drafted into helping them repel an invasion by intelligent rats. One of the rats seems to have superpowers similar to that of a Red Lantern. The tiger army is helpless against this foe, and it is up to Booster to tackle this new menace. But then Booster sees a young human female killed and has a flashback to the death of a similar woman. Unbeknownst to Booster, this flashback is the death of his sister, for which he was responsible. As Booster struggles with this memory and is incapacitated, the rats regain the upper hand and breach the city's defenses.

4. Still struggling to make sense of his flashback, Booster is on the run with Canus, Kamandi, and Tuftan. But as the Red Lantern rat lays siege to the city, Booster fights back. He defeats his foe, even as the others repel the rats once and for all. It is revealed that the rats seek an artifact—a mythical golden lasso—which the tigers supposedly hold. Tuftan doesn't know what they are talking about, but mention of the lasso inspires another flashback for Booster — a powerful woman and a super man, whose love doomed the world... but before he can unravel this new memory, Booster fades from reality again, and appears in a World War II foxhole with Sergeant Rock and the men from Easy Company.

5. Booster's grip on reality is slipping further. Now he can remember nothing, including how to work his futuristic equipment or suit. Panicked, confused, and terrified, he finds himself fighting alongside Rock and the members of Easy Company who are surrounded by German forces. Outmanned and outgunned, things look grim for them, but the men of Easy Company refuse to fall. Just as the German forces close in on them, Booster fades from view again... and this time finds himself floating in a black void.

6. In the void, a voice speaks to Booster, saying it's all his fault. He cries out, desperate to understand what is happening to him. Then he finds himself in the cockpit with Enemy Ace. Throughout this issue, his time jumps increase in rapidity, as he pops in and out of reality and history like a cork bobbing on the surface of a fast-moving stream. He encounters the Justice League 3000, the Lady Johanna Constantine, Hiroshima as seen in Superman Unchained, the Demon Knights, Anthro, Bat Lash, Big Anvil, and many more. Bewildered, frightened, and bordering on the edge of a complete mental and emotional breakdown, Booster then appears in a futuristic looking chamber. As he lies trembling on the floor, curled into the fetal position, Rip Hunter, Skeets, and a future version of himself appear and loom over him. The time for explanations has come.

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On this day in 1994, Zero Hour concluded with issue #0. (The mini-series counted backwards from #4 to #0.)

Booster Gold had been erased from time through the events of earlier issues, and this issue doesn't actually show Booster return. However, he's around for Extreme Justice #0 a few months later, so I think we can safely assume he got back just fine. Here's hoping he can repeat that feat by 2014!

Over the years Zero Hours has been much criticized as a mediocre event used to justify rewriting the convoluted history of the DC Universe. In that way it was similar to Flashpoint.

Where Zero Hour is drastically superior to Flashpoint is in the fold-out timeline on the back cover that shows explicitly what history had been changed by the event. Two years into the New 52, we still don't have any such guide for whatever nebulous changes Flashpoint made.

It isn't surprising that history repeats itself. It's just interesting to see the new wrinkles as it does so.

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When the Justice League fights the Justice League and the Justice League, who will win? (Hint: it's the Justice League.)

The prelude to Trinity War officially kicks off today in Trinity of Sin: Pandora #1. Pandora is the mysterious character inexplicably seen (but never explained) in the final panels of Flashpoint. Are we finally going to learn what caused her to create the post-Flashpoint DCnU? Will her story make Flashpoint make any sense? Will this event justify the existence of three Justice League titles? And most importantly, what role will Booster Gold play in the Trinity War?

Booster appears in the two-page spread teaser for the issue that DC released last month, so he will be in this issue, at least as a flashback to Justice League International, Volume 3, #1. Will this be the start of Booster's big return to the DCnU? Or will he be relegated to the same limbo as Captain Atom, Resurrection Man, and Voodoo?

The answers to these questions and more begin in Trinity of Sin: Pandora #1, on sale today!

[UPDATE 2013-07-03: False alarm. Although dccomics.com explicitly described "this incredible spread from the series' debut issue," the pages DO NOT appear in Trinity of Sin: Pandora #1.]

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If you missed them the first time around, Booster Gold and the now-defunct Justice League International's appearances in The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men issues #9 and #10 will be collected in today's The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men Volume 2: The Firestorm Protocols.

To be clear, The Firestorm Protocols collects issues #7 through #12 and #0 of the series and contains none of Dan Jurgens' work on the title. This volume represents the second half of Ethan Van Sciver's year on the series. Van Sciver's art was well received, but his story not so much.

Come to think of it, it has been about a year since these issues were published, and already Jurgens' New 52 reinterpretation of the JLI and Van Sciver's New 52 reinterpretation Firestorm have already been largely forgotten. Firestorm looks and acts much like his pre-Flashpoint self as a member of the Justice League, and Booster is rumored to be returning to his own title again.

It's beginning to feel like old times again at DC!

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