Now that the story is over and the numbers are in, I thought it would be fun to look at whether or not choosing to add Booster Gold to All-Star Western did anything to help its anemic sales. In short, the answer is "not really."

I've included the six months of sales prior to Booster's arrival (issues #13 through #18) in the graph for reference. It seems that Booster's arrival in issue #19 may have slowed the defection of readers briefly, but they resumed their flight from the title as the story wore on. If All-Star Western lives or dies based on sales numbers (and not Dan DiDio's favor), Booster's appearance might have bought the title one more issue.

Granted, the numbers in this chart are for print issues only and fail to account for any digital sales. Maybe the book sells like gangbusters online, although since All-Star Western appears in 407th place of ComiXology's "Top Titles" list, that seems unlikely.

Looking at the slope of sales decline, an unexceptional issue #19 should probably have been expected to sell about 16,400 copies. Instead, with Booster's help it sold 16,838 copies. Does that mean that adding Booster to a book boosts sales by 400 copies? If the sales of Smallville are any indication, we should probably assume that it was the "WTF" gatefold cover, not Booster's appearance, that drove up sales for the issue.

Booster's appearance in issue #13 didn't seem to move the sales needle. Sales continued on pace. Although these graphs show decreasing sales, remember that as a general rule, comic sales decrease in a gentle curve from month to month for every title everywhere. That's natural sales entropy, and it's why titles are constantly started over with number 1 issues; it moves the title back to the top of the ladder to start the slide over again.

Did Booster fail to make any mark on Smallville: Season 11's sales because Smallville takes place outside of continuity (whatever that word means in the New 52 Universe)? Was it because Smallville: Season 11 is sold in weekly installments online? Or was it because the people who would buy Smallville are buying anyway, and don't care who the guest star of the week is? Who knows. But whatever you do, don't blame it on Skeets!

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If you haven't been reading Smallville: Season 11, this is what you've been missing out on.

Smallville: Season 11 "Argo" part 8 of 9, by Bryan Q. Miller and Daniel HDR

Who needs technology or super powers to win a fight? Not my hero.

You can find Smallville: Season 11 online at comiXology.com now or in your Local Comics Shop next week.

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Only die-hard Booster Gold completists (you know who you are) may care about this, but Booster Gold will be making an appearance in today's Smallville Season 11 Special #1. The main story features Smallville's version of Martian Manhunter, but Booster will be making a brief cameo. Or at least his Fan Club t-shirt will.

Hey, I think I own that shirt! Now I can dress just like some kid in a comic book! Sweet! (If you want to be able to dress just like some kid in a comic book, you can get your own officially licensed Booster Gold Fan Club t-shirt from graphittidesigns.com. All the coolest comic book supporting characters are wearing them!)

The 48-page Smallville Season 11 Special #1 by Bryan Q. Miller, Axel Gimenez, and Diana Egea will set you back $4.99 at your Local Comic Shop.

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For the past three years, I've been keeping record of raw page requests from the Boosterrific.com server. (You'll note a break in the graph around Oct 2012; that was when the forum was being remotely spammed by bots. I have therefore eliminated that data.)

The high water mark was November 2011. The coming of the New 52 sure did generate a lot of buzz, didn't it?

This second graph is what Google says the Boosterrific.com page hits are. Google only tracks hits that activate the embedded Javascript code, so it completely ignores hits from bots and spiders, some mobile devices, and any pages which do have not the Google Analytics code embedded (which includes some of the deeper pages in the site, including the house ads and some forum pages). The numbers from Google are, understandably, considerably lower.

What a big difference automated spiders make! Note that so far as Google is concerned, the apex was in Spring 2011, when the coming of the New 52 was announced. So as the humans departed, robots took over? That sounds about right.

Many thanks to everyone who has visited the site in the past 3 years, especially those of you with eyeballs and fingers.

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Tomorrow is the birthday of the Carter twins, Michael and Michelle. Boosterrific.com is devoted to the adventures of Michael Jon Carter, at least the portion since he adopted the identity of Booster Gold in 1985. As a result, we know a great deal about his history and personality. However, his twin sister still remains something of a mystery.

The siblings were born on December 29, 2442. Although the pair are twins, Booster is considered the older sibling. We know little of the pair's upbringing, save that Booster found his way through life by way of his incredible athletic ability. Michelle was left in her brother's shadow, caring for their mother. By their own admission, the siblings were not close. This could in part be due to the fact that Michelle is every bit as headstrong as everyone else in her family. If nothing else, the Carters are all fiercely independent spirits.

When Booster's life fell apart in the 25th century and he retreated to the past, Michelle was left behind, surviving as a highly-lauded flying school bus driver. Whatever sense of disappointment or abandonment Michelle might have harbored against her brother, she did not hesitate to risk her own life to save his when Booster returned to the future and was facing a death sentence. Heroics also run in the family. When Booster again fled to the past, he this time took Michelle with him.

Michelle was excited to live in the 20th century, but had great difficulty adapting to the world around her. Her desire to understand her brother's motivations for being a hero led her to steal the Booster Gold International Goldstar costume. Unfortunately, wearing the costume caused her to be confused for a hero herself, and ultimately resulted in her apparent death. Fortunately for Michelle, her nephew is Rip Hunter, Time Master. Rip saved Michelle from the moment of her demise and transported her into the 21st century. Michelle at long last had access to travel anywhere and any time, allowing her to see the world, past, present, and future.

To date, Michelle has appeared in 33 different comics. All but 5 of those issues has been written by Dan Jurgens. Despite this consistency, Michelle has never been given the opportunity to express much of her individual character. We know that she often frowns on the Time Masters' methods but has an affinity for time tourism. She considers Skeets to be a soulless, high-tech appliance. She volunteered to step in and aid her brother in raising Rani. And like her brother, she has no idea that Rip Hunter is his son.

Unfortunately, we still may never get the opportunity to learn any more about her. Like Skeets and Rip, she has yet to seen in the DCnU. Like Rani, she has yet to even be mentioned. Does Michelle even exist in the post-Flashpoint DCnU? I'm sure I'm not alone in wishing for the return of Michelle Carter on her birthday.

Happy Birthday, Michelle! Here's to many more.

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