The internet age is certainly finding new ways to tax individual morality. If Les Misérables were written today, would Jean Valjean be going to jail for downloading mp3s?

Last week's poll question: How do you feel about Rip Hunter being replaced by John Constantine as chronicler of the secrets of the DCnU? (47 votes)

Yesterday at ComicBook.com, Russ Burlingame explored the possible meanings of the scribblings seen in Justice League Dark #14. While Burlingame may be concerned about what they mean, I'm far more interested in who wrote them!

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Back in 2006, in the pages of 52 Week 6, we learned that Rip Hunter was spending his time tracking the anomalies of the DC Universe by scribbling notes, usually on a chalkboard. The board gave cryptic hints of current and future events in the DCU. This gimmick lasted for several years, until Rip Hunter disappeared in the Flashpoint cataclysm.

Well, now there's a new obsessive scribbler in town.

Justice League Dark #1 hit stands last week, and it included this two-page spread of John Constantine's notes. Isn't it just like that limey bastard to steal Rip Hunter's gimmick? Even Johnny's "handwriting" looks like Rip's. At least it's nice to see that someone in the DCnU hasn't forgotten about Booster Gold.

For a complete list of Rip Hunter's chalkboard appearances in the pages of Booster Gold Volume 2, see here.

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Today marks the 1 week anniversary of Booster Gold having no ongoing title for the first time since 2006. As we all know, Justice League International was cancelled for failing to meet "greater expectations." Yes, for a variety of reasons the stories failed to spark widespread excitement with comic book readers. However, that doesn't mean that the book shouldn't be considered a success.

Calvin Reid noted earlier this week at Publishers Weekly that many of the collected trades of New 52 series have sold well enough to make the New York Times Graphic Bestseller list in recent months. Among the 11 New 52 titles to break into the Top Ten since May is Justice League International Volume 1: The Signal Masters. It charted at #5 for the week of June 5, 2012. While that was the only week that the book made the bestseller list, it's a pretty good showing for a book about to be cancelled.

The rest of the article crows DC's recent reboot success, but was published too early to include DC's newest addition to the New York Times list: Showcase Presents: Rip Hunter, Time Master, Volume 1 (#9 for the week of August 12, 2012). It's not likely that we've heard the last of the New 52, but so long as DC and its fans haven't entirely forgotten the past, there's hope yet for Booster Gold recovering a series.

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Russ Burlingame and Dan Jurgens have their monthly Justice League International debriefing in the article "Dan Jurgens and Guy Gardner Prepare for the End in Justice League International #11" at ComicBook.com. I found Jurgens' answers to Burlingame's questions to be particularly un-enlightening this month, but even I will be quick to blame that on my own dissatisfaction at the issue and DC Editorial's obvious interference in the story.

Burlingame: It seems here that you're setting up the idea of Godiva and Booster as an official couple. Is that something you had hoped to pay off down the line, or just kind of beginning to wrap up your plot threads before you move onto your next project?

Jurgens: It was something I hoped to develop down the road.

Burlingame: For old times' sake, I just have to ask: Is Godiva Rip Hunter's mother?

Jurgens: Oh, c'mon. It's not like we've ever seen Rip with Elasti-hair.

I'm very frustrated by the cancellation of this series. I guess if there is an upside here, it's that Dan Jurgens still considers Booster Gold to be Rip Hunter's father, for whatever that's worth. It seems unlikely that Dan Jurgens will be investigating the Time Master when he takes over his new role as writer/penciller of The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men this October.

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David Uzumeri covered the "DC ALL ACCESS: Justice League" panel at New York Comic Con for Comics Alliance and turned in the following quote about Booster Gold:

[Dan] Jurgens and [Geoff] Johns confirmed that Booster Gold doesn't remember the pre-New 52 DC Universe.

However, Vaneta Rogers also covered the panel for Newsarama, and her article implies a starkly different conclusion:

Jurgens said Booster's experiences from Flashpoint seem to be relatively intact, but he said the fact that he has those memories in his head somewhere doesn't necessarily mean he can remember them consciously.

Johns said, "If Booster remembers anything, he's not going to tell anyone."

Johns: "Does Skeets remember?"

Jurgens: "No, Skeets does not."

Johns: "Does Rip Hunter remember?"

Jurgens: "That's a story still waiting to be told."

(Is it just me, or does Johns' response to Jurgens' announcement that Booster remembers sound like something a super villain would say to a hero who has just discovered his world-ending plot?)

Josie Campbell's article for Comic Book Resources verifies Rogers' report.

[DC Senior Vice President Bob] Wayne then asked Jurgens on behalf of the online fans about Booster Gold's continuity and whether Booster remembers the timeline from before Flashpoint. "Booster's experiences are still relatively intact," said Jurgens before continuing, "But it's one thing to have those memories, it's another thing entirely to recall those memories."

"Is Rip Hunter coming back?" Johns asked him.

"There are still stories to be told," said Jurgens, before dashing Johns hopes that Skeets would reappear anytime soon.

Funny that three reporters covering the same event would hear three different stories, isn't it? In any event, it seems likely that Booster does remember Flashpoint, even if his lips are currently sealed. This isn't the first time that history has been changed around Skeets (or Booster, for that matter). It is interesting to speculate how Rip Hunter, DC's resident Time Master since the Silver Age, is dealing with the changes to history. Certainly, that's a story I'm looking forward to reading.

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