While Booster boosters were occupied with last week's announcement and pre-sale of the McFarlane Toys Blue and Gold action figure 2-Pack, DC Comics tried to sneak another announcement past us:

That's the "Gatefold Main Cover" by Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding of The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special #1, coming to a Local Comic Shop near you on November 8. And, as you can see, Booster Gold is on it.

According to the press release at DCComics.com, Jurgens and Breeding are just part of the all-star cast of writers and artists from the original "Death of Superman" reuniting for this special. The issue also brings back Roger Stern and Butch Guice, Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove, and Jerry Ordway and Tom Grummett. Yes, please.

This is obviously a big deal for DC, so obviously there are multiple covers. Nine, in fact, if you count the "Premium Polybag Variant." What you see above is the main cover. That means it'll be the cover you'll find if when you open the polybag to get your updated armband.

(Personal side note: for many, many years, I've worn a black leather jacket modeled after the Tom Grummet cover of The Adventures of Superman #501 with a Superman #75 black arm band. That armband is not a particularly durable fabric [2015 pictures here], and I look forward to replacing it.)

Anyway, while not every cover has been revealed yet, DC's announcement does include the "Funeral for a Friend" variant cover by Ivan Reis and Danny Miki. Like the Dan Jurgens variant for Justice League #75 a few months back that homaged "Funeral for a Friend," this cover also pays tribute to the Superman #75 poster, also with Booster Gold:

(Yes, that *is* Blue Beetle behind Booster on that cover. I'm sure I don't need to remind you that Beetle was not present for Superman's funeral because Doomsday put him in a coma. But if I'm going to nitpick, I probably should say something about Martian Manhunter/Bloodwynd. And let's just not go there.)

So if you're counting, that's at least *two* copies of The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special #1 you're going to need to keep your Booster Gold comic collection complete.

I'll let you know if that number goes up.

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Look who's on another cover!

cover art by Travis Moore

Dreamer might be the "breakout" guest star here, but Booster Gold (and Blue Beetle) sure know how to crash a party. Look at how Booster's placement overlaps the title; what an opportunist. No one photobombs better than Booster Gold.

Booster was seen in a different "fractured glass" motif in the final pages of Flashpoint Beyond #3, but I like the cover of Superman: Son of Kal-El #13 better... because it's a cover. Gotta keep Booster in front of his adoring public, you know!

Does Booster appear inside the issue? He's not seen anywhere in the issue preview on AIPTcomics.com, but that's only the first 5 of a 22 page issue. The only way to find out if there's more will be to buy it and make Skeets happy.

UPDATE 2022-07-12: Booster is seen nowhere between the covers of Superman: Son of Kal-El #13. Sorry to get anyone's hopes up. Better luck next week.

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Source: "The Greatest Story Never Told," Justice League Unlimited (by way of every episode of The Adventures of Superman, because Booster Gold only steals from the best!)

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For years and years, artists believed that the best way to show what a comic strip character was thinking was to put their internal dialog in fluffy, bubbly word balloons. According to comics historian Brian Cronin, credit for that innovation belongs to Rudolph Dirks' Katzenjammer Kids newspaper comic strip in the early years of the 20th century.

However, at the dawn of the 21st century, this method began to fall out of favor in mainstream American superhero comics. Old-fashioned, abstract thought balloons were gradually replaced by the more "realistic" approach of putting the same internal dialog in square boxes, as though characters are narrating their behaviors after the fact.

Since this transition happened incrementally over time, it passed largely without comment. Which made me wonder, "When was the last time that Booster Gold used a thought balloon?"

The answer to this question is Superman #124, cover-dated June 1997.

So far as I've been able to tell, Booster Gold never thought again.

It just so happens that this issue also marks the last appearance of Booster's clunky late-90s armor, so it also represents something of bookend to his 1990s adventures. If loosing thought balloons is the price we had to pay to get Booster Gold back in tights, I think I can live with that.

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This week, DC is killing off the Justice League, which is bad for them but good for us because Booster Gold is on the third variant ("CVR D") card stock cover by Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund!

Yes, this cover is the rare self-homage, as Jurgens references his own work (inked by Brett Breeding) on the poster accompanying Superman #75 in 1993. (Superman dies once every thirty years, I guess.)

I have no reason yet to suspect that Booster Gold will actually be *in* the book, but *on* a book is good enough for me. Consider buying this comic and making Skeets happy.

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