Missing In Action No More: The New DC Universe Has a [Spoiler]!

If your'e a fan of Booster Gold, it's likely that since Booster's series-ending adventure in the Flashpoint universe and subsequent return to the new DC Universe, you've been wondering one thing: Did Skeets make it? For the uninitiated, Skeets is Booster Gold's floating robot buddy. Originally a security droid at the museum where Booster--ahem--obtained the various items that give him his "powers," Skeets tagged along with Booster when he traveled to the past and has been a key aspect of not only many of his adventures (providing intel in 52, saving Booster from a crazy cop from the future in the first Booster Gold volume in the '80s and becoming an offensive force during the second volume), but an important part of Booster's mythology, extending to his appearances on Justice League Unlimited, Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Smallville. During the adventure in the Flashpoint universe, Skeets was rendered inoperable during combat, and Booster had to carry him around for the next four issues in a backpack, which astute readers noticed DID return to Vanishing Point with him at the end of the story. Still, we didn't see Skeets, or even hear him mentioned, in the first issue of Justice League International. In the second issue, though, Jurgens promised the question would be addressed--and it was, as you can see in the image above. "Yes, Skeets is still around!" Dan Jurgens told comicbook.com today, and also confirmed that we would see Skeets in "person" eventually. This was, actually, a question that many fans had following a Smallville version of Skeets that was built into Booster's costume, rather than the free-floating version fans are used to. A lot of fans had been holding out hope that we'd see Skeets sooner than later, given DC Entertainment co-publisher Dan DiDio's declaration that Booster's best friend, Ted Kord, may not even exist in the new DC Universe. Not every character in the Justice League International is likely to get an immediate addition to their cast, though, said Jurgens. Asked about The Great Ten, a Chinese team of superheroes that the JLI's August General In Iron belonged to in the old DC Universe, Jurgens explained: "As we push forward, greater explanations will be supplied for each of the characters. I probably won't focus on the Great Ten a lot to start with as that tends to put even more characters into a book that already has quite a few." "Besides," he added, "rather than deal a lot with the past, I'd prefer to deal more with the NOW, their adventures and how they relate to one another." An expanded version of the interview, the second edition of The Outhouse's International Exchange, will be live at that site soon.