Booster Gold is fast approaching 40 years of age! This time-traveling, self-aggrandizing fugitive from the future made his debut in early 1986, the first new character with a new solo series after the Crisis on Infinite Earths mega-event.
And while he became known as the "greatest hero you've never heard of", his fame and his place in the DC Universe continues to slowly rise. He has long had fan-sites like Boosterific and the Gold Exchange, created by dedicated fans who have always seen the fun and potential of the character.
Now, as part of the DC Cinematic Universe reboot coming in 2025, Booster Gold is scheduled to receive his own TV show!
Other characters with a similar pedigree - B-list or C-list powers, maybe their own ongoing series for a time, followed by membership in a team of heroes and occasional cameos or guest appearances - gradually fade to the fringes. But Booster Gold keeps coming back. There is something compelling in his bio and character that a subset of fans loves and some writers can't resist.
It led to Booster Gold getting a second solo series. His first one lasted just two years in the late-80s; volume 2 started in 2007 and lasted for 47 issues, wrapping up between Flashpoint and the New 52 reboot of the DC world.
The issues of this second solo series are now being collected into new trade paperback editions, the first of which hit store shelves this past spring, with the next volume scheduled for early 2025. It's all building the excitement toward that upcoming TV series, I'm sure!
To celebrate the growth and maturation of this intriguing character, over the next few weeks we will review several of the prominent moments of Booster Gold's nearly 40-year history. Since these reviews are for graphic novels and trade paperback collections, we will not be talking about the original 1986 series as it, to my knowledge, has never (yet!) been collected into a TPB or omnibus - Update: indeed they do exist! Two hardcover volumes were published in 2019 to collect the entire 1980s run of Booster Gold's original solo series! Booster Gold: The Big Fall collects issues 1-12 and Booster Gold: Future Lost includes issues #13-25 and excerpts from key other appearances. If and when I get a hold of copies, I will post reviews of them, and they are available in Kindle editions now if you just must have them right away!
Instead, we will start with Booster's time in the Justice League, with some late-80s and early-90s Justice League of America and Justice League International collections.
Then we'll jump into the early 2000s and Booster's involvement in some of the major crossover events of the day in the DC Universe, leading us into the 2007 ongoing series that is being newly collected and reprinted.
And we will peek at significant Booster Gold appearances in other titles, such as Action Comics and Batman.
For Booster Gold fans like me, it will be a fun few weeks! If you are more indifferent or a Booster detractor, please join us anyway, we will be visiting several other books and characters along the way, from Superman and Batman to Blue Beetle and Elongated Man!
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