At ComicBook.com, Russ Burlingame has a new interview with J.M. DeMatteis over DC Retroactive: Justice League America - The '90s. Burlingame doesn't disappoint, asking several Booster-centric questions of the former Booster Gold scribe.

ComicBook.com: You seemed—and this is listeners talking, and me too—a little put off by the way things went on Booster Gold. You were a good soldier about it, didn't say anything, but that's the general vibe that came through in that last interview a bit. After finding out what was going on, in terms of the relaunch, did it make you feel any better about the conditions of being bounced suddenly and surprisingly from Booster Gold? The idea that it was happening to everybody?

J.M. DeMatteis: Honestly, I thought we were yanked from the book very suddenly and—for me at least—unexpectedly. That said, it was really no big deal in the scheme of things. The real loss was that I no longer had a monthly sandbox to play in with Keith Giffen.

Among the questions that Burlingame doesn't ask is why the new Retroactive book has such a long title. If this DC reboot accomplishes anything, maybe it will get us some shorter titles. DC Retroactive: Justice League America - The 1990s is a mouth full.

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Thanks to site commenter Anonymous, we have known for a few months that the Jim Pesl referenced in Booster Gold Volume 2 was a high school friend of Norm Rapmund who now works in a restaurant in Northern California.

Thanks to Russ Burlingame's recent "Panel Discussions" podcast, we now know why Norm Rapmund puts Jim Pesl's name (pronounced "pē-zuhl") in his comics:

It was actually kind of funny that it took until Booster Gold for people to notice because [Rapmund]'s been doing this for years. He started slipping Pesl's name in back when he was doing X-Men [beginning in 2000] and he's put it in ... not every issue he's ever inked but pretty much every title he's inked in one way or another.

The pair of them have been friends for 20-odd years. Back in high school Jim was the only other person besides Norm who read comics. When Norm started working in comics and Jim was still reading, he threw the name in there. They live in the same general area, and [Norm found that] Pesl was very excited about having been referenced in X-Men. So Norm started tossing it in and occasionally bringing free comics to Pesl's restaurant. In exchange, Pesl gives Norm food. So there you have it.

Free food sounds like a pretty good reason to put someone's name in your comics, but maybe higher cosmic forces are at play. As fate would have it, the pair graduated from El Dorado High School. El Dorado is the name of the infamous South American City of Gold.

From El Dorado High School to Booster Gold. And now you know the rest of the story.

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Sorry to pull a bait-and-switch on you for Gold Exchange Tuedsay, but it seems that there will be no more "Gold Exchange" columns now that Booster Gold has been canceled. The successor to the "Gold Exchange" will be announced during Russ Burlingame's "Panel Discussions" today on Comics Related. The "Panel Discussions" podcast will also feature Burlingame's call-in interview with Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund that was recorded on Friday. Tune in to Comic Related to hear what Dan and Norm have to say.

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Sadly, Booster Gold has been unavoidably detained, but writer Dan Jurgens and co-artist Norm Rapmund will be available in his stead.

Jurgens has written and drawn more Booster Gold appearances than any other writer or artist. Rapmund has inked far more Booster appearances than any other inker. Combined, the pair have worked on over 177 Booster Gold stories! If you've got Booster Gold questions, these are the guys to ask.

The pair will be interviewed by Comic Related contributor Russ Burlingame and broadcast in the near future as part of Burlingame's Panel Discussions podcast. Burlingame will be recording his call in show at 3PM EDT. If you've got something you'd like to say to Jurgens, Rapmund, or Burlingame but a conflicting schedule, call early and leave them a message at (315) 464-0046.

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Booster Gold, Volume 2, has seen its last issue. Does that mean that Russ Burlingame's most recent "Gold Exchange" column at ComicRelated.com is also his last? Here's hoping for more. I don't know how many more endings I can take right now.

As usual, Burlingame asked Dan Jurgens all the right questions, and Jurgens replied by decisively answering the most pressing question of all: the fate of Skeets.

GX: What's in the backpack that Booster brought back with him from the Flashpoint Universe? Looking at #45 I can't seem to find him filling it before he leaves the cabin.

DJ: Skeets! He puts Skeets in the backpack previously, right as he left the cabin in the woods.

What a relief! Loosing Skeets to Flashpoint would have been a terrible insult to a great supporting character. Skeets, we're looking forward to seeing you in the DCnU.

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