Insiders have been teasing future plans in the lead-up to next week's Comic-Con International 2025, and it looks like after the Summer of Superman concludes, readers will next be treated to the Fall of DC.

Marvel Comics' new 12-issue maxi-series The Secret War will be "one of the most significant events in Marvel history ever" promises Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter. Shooter will write the book, in which a number of permanent and temporary changes will be made in many of the major Marvel super-heroes and super-villains.

Oh, wait. Sorry. That was the announcement of was eventually published under the title Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars as it originally appeared in The Comics Journal #85 in 1983.

What I meant to post was the story that The Hollywood Reporter broke this past Wednesday.

Scott Snyder, the writer behind best-selling sensation Absolute Batman, and Joshua Williamson, who writes Superman, are the co-architects of what is being called DC K.O., the story initiative that will debut this fall and run through a main book as well as ripple out through various titles across the DC Universe. Javi Fernández (Batman & Robin, King Spawn) will draw the main series that is being described as a slugfest to end all slugfests. “DC K.O. is a knock-down, drag-out fight between all your favorite DC super heroes in a cosmic tournament to save the universe from Darkseid,” said Snyder in a statement.

Just heroes fighting heroes, then? It's not Marvel's 1984 Secret Wars; it's DC's 2007 Countdown: Arena (or 2015 Convergence). At least no one has actually read those.

Over at BleedingCool.com's article on this announcement is this description of the upcoming event:

While the battles are epic, the emotional center lies with Superman. "Metal was a Batman story, Death Metal was a Wonder Woman story—and DC K.O. is a Superman story," said Williamson. "I wanted to tell a story about Superman looking into his own heart of darkness," said Snyder. "It's a very personal story wrapped in nine layers of candy exploding in your face."

Call me a grumpy old man, but I really do not ever want any layers of exploding face candy.

As this is a Booster Gold fan site and not a general comics blog, I wouldn't be snarking at this groundbreaking news at all if not for the graphic that accompanied the article. See if you can see what I saw. Hint: he's inside the golden circle (fighting Blue Beetle).

AIPTComics.com has identified that art as a crop of the Scott Koblish wraparound variant cover for DC K.O. #1. (Koblish has been doing a lot of those sorts of crowd scene covers lately. They must sell well. I admit I'm buying them; I'll buy any comic with Captain Carrot or Red Bee on it. What can I say? I'm a nature lover.)

Despite not actually being mentioned in the text of any of these articles (by accident or design?), Booster Gold also appears on a couple of other covers in the AIPT Comics article. The first is an alternate cover for Superman #31, which presumably concludes the storyline beginning in next week's Superman #28 as was teased back in May.

The second is the main cover for the one-shot special Justice League: The Omega Act #1. (Booster and Skeets also appear on a variant.) The cover by Pete Woods homages the classic cover of Crisis on Infinite Earths #7, you know, the one where Superman cradles a dead Supergirl, this time with Booster Gold in place of Supergirl. Uh oh. If I may quote SLW:

I mean, you can't be a fan of Booster's without acknowledging the fact that he's kind of the DCU's punching bag, but come on.

So be sure to tell your Local Comic Shop to hold at least one of each of these for you when DC K.O. and its many tie-ins begin arriving in stores this October. They may be your last chance to see Booster Gold alive.

(Thanks, Tiffany. Despite my cynicism and crushing event fatigue—maybe I really have been reading comics for too long—it really will all be worth it if Booster gets a match against "Apokolips Now" variant Superman. That guy sent Booster to an alternate universe and forgot about him! Grr.)

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