Once a week, Brian Cronin asks Twitter for silly superhero suggestions for random artists to draw for his "Line it is Drawn" column at CBR.com. Last week, the topic was

That delightful exchange got the world this drawing, from artist Caanan Grall:

Brilliant! I think this is a masterful expression of everything I want in a comic book.

Thanks to Eskana for pointing this out.

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Booster booster Eskana writes in to say:

Not sure if you saw it, but in your quest to account for every appearance of the Corporate Crusader, I found one out of the ordinary... My comic shop's "Comic Shop News" had a FCBD special with what seems to be original art on the cover, showing Blue and Gold (alongside the Hulk, Black Panther, and Invisible Woman) by Fred Hembeck. Just thought I'd let you know!

Most comic shops that carry Comic Shop News pamphlets give them away for free, especially on Free Comic Book Day, which is next Saturday, May 7.

But if your Local Comic Shop doesn't have any, you may be able to find copies for sale online at ebay.com, which is where I found this image:

sold by comrus1

Thanks, Eskana! Happy hunting, completionists!

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Booster booster Eskana dropped me this note last week:

I don't know if you've seen these yet, but the Comicstorian channel on YouTube has been posting videos that contain some major Booster Gold. The host, Benny, has been holding "Dungeons & Dragons"-style role-playing games for the DC universe, and in each one the two guests are playing as the characters of Booster Gold and Blue Beetle (Ted.) I've never played D&D, but the videos are pretty entertaining as the guests do a pretty good job of acting out their roles as Ted and Booster. The episodes seem to feature the two working with the new Blue Wally West to fix anomalies in time and the multiverse, so you see them acting out storylines such as DCeased.

I'm not a frequent consumer of YouTube videos, but I have played my share of D&D. More than my share, if the truth were known. (Full disclosure, an rpg campaign I ran in 2001 is the basis for a series of novels I wrote in 2016. *plug, plug*)

These guys at Comicstorian seem to know what they're doing, and, more importantly, they're obviously having a pretty good time role-playing as our favorite heroes. Given the current health crisis, a podcasting video might be as close as many of us will get to a real gaming session in the near future.

If you're interested in such things, you can find the video at YouTube.com.

Thanks for the link, Eskana.

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DC will be releasing Harley Quinn #72 tomorrow whether your Local Comic Shop is open or not (and whether your shop is accepting non-Diamond shipments or not).

Some of you young 'uns with your newfangled digital devices may want to forego buying a floppy and instead opt for the digital edition somewhere like Comixology.com.

In any event, know that the issue will soon exist in the wild for you to hunt down at your convenience. And I know that you'll want to, because Booster Gold is definitely in it, as the preview at DCComics.com proves.

Golly, does everything have to be about death these days? I mean, COVID-19 trigger warning, people.

Hey, wait a second, are they holding hands? Gasp! They're not social distancing!

No, seriously, Booster. I'm doing you a favor, man. Stay away from her. She's bad news. She literally tried to kill you. Multiple times. And not with a disease, with a mallet. That's a relationship red flag, buddy.

Buy this issue (sooner or later — but safely!) and make Skeets jealous.

Thanks to Michael Stalans for the preview link.

UPDATE 2020-05-11: Eskana put this link in the comments below, but I'm going to repost it here so everyone can see it. From CBR.com: "Harley Quinn's Sam Humphries Explains Her Budding Romance With Booster Gold". Just say no, Booster!

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Boosterrific Note: the following was sent to me in response to my April 10 post asking for Booster Gold fans to write in and tell us a bit about themselves.

Everyone, please welcome Eskana.

Just letting you know that I really enjoy this blog! I found it by accident once when I was searching for Booster Gold... I was so excited to read that there was a Booster Gold blog. I've never seen another blog like it for any other character, and I think it's the best superhero fansite I've seen. Like someone mentioned, you're lucky to have a chance to talk about something you're passionate about... so now I'm going to gush for a second...

I've been a Booster fan for a while... I remember when I was like a tween or early teen, I really enjoyed "Justice League Unlimited" because it would show the characters I already liked and then add in little ones I'd never heard of that I just called "little heroes." The Question and Booster were my favorites (even if Booster only really had one episode.) I really enjoyed Booster's episode because I loved how it showed behind-the-scenes of a superhero battle, and how not every hero gets credit, either from the people he saves or from his colleagues. And I liked how in the end, Booster didn't even tell his colleagues what he did. Just saving people was enough.

I can't remember when I started reading Booster- possibly with Flashpoint or New 52? - but eventually I started getting a hold of issues from his series. I loved everything I read. I loved the idea of a hero who does EVERYTHING but still isn't appreciated, and in fact has to sacrifice even the respect of his peers in order to really do his job. Most heroes, even when the chips are down, still have their friends they can count on. Booster mostly doesn't, and he really can't afford to have that many confidantes if he wants to do his job right. That makes him more than a "little hero." That makes him one of the best.

Over the last couple of years, I got to go even farther back. I knew Ted Kord's fate before I even knew who he was, but it was great to go back to the old JLI and see how they got to be great friends. (I love classic JLI and personally I'd love to see a JLI movie and/or show as a way to introduce these characters.) Then I read "Infinite Crisis" and saw it happen. It left the best for last, in a way... one of the last sets I read was "Generation Lost." All this just showed something unique about Booster that sets him apart.

Unlike the "bigger heroes," Booster Gold grows, and you can see it. He's very different now than when he started. He's also luckily not held back by company mandates, like Batman or Superman. Also, as you've pointed out before, even if in the past it was partly about the fame for Booster, he was always willing to put his life on the line to help people, super-suit or no. It just took him a while to shed the fame-seeking exterior and show the real gold underneath. ;)

Part of me even loves that people IRL don't know who he is... because then you know he's out there, doing his job. Who's Booster Gold? The Greatest Hero You've Never Heard of, that's who.

Thank you, Eskana.

If anyone else would like to share and/or self-promote, please drop me a line through the Boosterrific.com Contact Portal or directly at walter(at)boosterrific.com.

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