Over the weekend on Twitter, Booster booster The Blot Says called our attention to the upcoming line of Heroclix Justice League Unlimited. It's a good looking set based on one of the best cartoons ever made. (Hard to believe that the last episode was broadcast in 2006!)

Of course, I wouldn't have much to say about it if it wasn't for one figure in particular. Feast your eyes on this:

As you can see, that's just a computer rendering of the figure. Perhaps we'll get a picture of the actual product closer to its release in April. I'll keep you posted, because I'm sure you'll all want to get your own JLU Skeets.

In the meantime, if you want a better look at what else you'll find in the set, check out wizkids.com.

Thanks, Blot.

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I mentioned on Wednesday that I was going to be picking up a copy of Young Justice #4. I've actually been buying all the Wonder Comics titles, and I like most of them. (Wonder Twins is my favorite.) A great deal of what I like is the lighter tone of the books.

I have a tendency to complain about the "grim and gritty" nature of the contemporary DC universe. That makes me part of the problem. DC has, in fact, published plenty of "lighter" fare in recent years featuring the characters that I know and love, and I've done a poor job of spotlighting those. The best was unquestionably Justice League Unlimited, based on the Cartoon Network cartoon of the same name.

The series ran for 46 issues from 2004 through 2008. Booster Gold appeared in many of those, including issue 20, released on this day in 2006, in which he helped welcome Mary Marvel to the Justice League.

Art by Rick Burchett

The issue is a great example of the series' traditional, family friendly super hero hijinx that got me into reading comic books in the first place. The story, "Just Us Girls" by Paul D. Storrie, borrows notes from Booster's mainstream DC universe history while introducing readers to Mary Marvel and "girl power" fisticuffs. It's a delightful read.

Advance reviews of the movie Shazam!, opening today and focused on Mary's big brother Billy, indicate that it aims to be in the same vein. I wish it was based on the original Fawcett Whiz Comics characters and not Geoff John's New 52 re-invention of them, but I applaud DC and Warner Bros for at least trying to reach an audience other than fans of the black-as-night Zack Snyder film universe. Beggars can't be choosers.

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Stone Arch Books has just released a new series of illustrated children's books based on the Justice League Unlimited franchise. If you ask me, these $5.95 books are worth the price for the covers alone.

(I admit it. I'm a sucker for Starro.)

But that's not the best part. The best part is that each book includes a "roll call" of Justice Leaguers. Guess who's on that list? That's right! It's everybody's favorite dynamic duo, Booster Gold and Blue Beetle!

The illustrations for the books were done by Tim Levins (who you may remember for illustrating 2012's The Man of Gold). Levins has been posting his drawings of the individual Leaguers on DeviantArt.com so you can see just how good his Booster Gold looks. Check it out:

Now that's Boosterrific!

You can find all four books in the series (Amazo and the Planetary Reboot, Darkseid and the Fires of Apokolips, Injustice Gang and the Deadly Nightshade, and Starro and the Cyberspore) at your Local Comic Shop and fine booksellers everywhere. And, of course, Amazon.com.

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Before Justice League Action blew my mind this weekend, I was thinking that I should start an occasional series of posts covering some of the higher points of Booster Gold fandom. After all, every day someone is probably encountering Booster Gold for the first time, and they need to know what the good stuff is.

Apparently, The A.V. Club was thinking along similar lines. Monday, the site ran an article by Noel Murray extensively praising the Justice League Unlimited series that ran on Cartoon Network from 2004 to 2006. Most of that praise was thrown at one episode in particular: "The Greatest Story Never Told."

There are few stories in the history of Booster Gold as good as "The Greatest Story Never Told."

Murray's commentary is insightful. He covers why the episode is great as well as why all comic book fans should love Booster Gold. His post's only weakness is that it fails to make it clear to any readers who have never seen the episode just how much fun it is to watch.

So if you're a Booster Gold fan (or even if you're just Booster Gold curious), you owe it to yourself to track the episode down and spend 23 minutes with the most underappreciated hero in the DC Universe.

And when you're done watching the episode, you can read Murray's whole article at avclub.com.

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I'm about to do something I never do. I'm going to gush about something I saw on television this past weekend, specifically the Justice League Action episode "Time Out."

"Time Out" gives us possibly the greatest on-screen Booster Gold ever.

Episode writer Jonathan Callan channeled Booster Gold perfectly. Like our hero, he stole from his past to make a better present. Sci-fi geeks may recognize that the primary antagonists in "Time Out" were lifted from old Doctor Who episodes. (And that doorway at Vanishing Point sure looked like something from Stargate.) I'm not complaining. Using familiar ideas like this allows "Time Out" to squeeze some high concept time travel shenanigans into a brief eleven minutes of action.

[UPDATE: On Twitter, Callan admits that in addition to Who, the time antibodies were also inspired by Stephen King's Langoliers and the chronovore to be a "lift from Grant Morrison's All-Star Superman".]

Callan makes another theft that is much more important. The plot of "Time Out" comes from another television show you've probably heard of, specifically Justice League Unlimited episode "The Greatest Story Never Told." Once again, Booster Gold is initially presented as an incompetent dudebro who only plays at heroism for fame. Once again, Booster Gold is the only hero who can save the world when an unexpected crisis develops, and once again, no one else gets to know about it. It's the small changes to this formula that make this episode greater than its predecessor.

Whereas "Greatest Story" dropped the crisis into the lap of an ill-prepared Booster, here the problem is a job a more mature Booster has accepted, trained for, and completed many times before without any hope of reward. "Time Out" really sells Booster's inherent goodness and loneliness, personality traits commonly obscured by his more obvious desperate need for attention. In this episode, Booster is fully aware of his faults and doesn't care to hide them because how others see him isn't as important as doing the right thing.

That's some good stuff right there.

I probably don't need to mention that the episode is greatly enhanced by voice acting from former Batman Diedrich Bader and current (and all-time best) Batman Kevin Conroy. They manage to convey a lot of humor and pathos in a very short period of time. Great job done by all.

If I have any quibble, it's that Skeets doesn't have any speaking lines. But given how much good stuff we did get ("Booster cave," Vanishing Point, Booster getting the last word over Batman), I'm more than willing to let that go. That Skeets was in here at all is good enough for me.

I hope any Booster boosters who missed the broadcast will have a chance to discover this gem in reruns. I look forward to many repeat viewings myself.

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