Last week, Booster Gold appeared in the one-shot anthology DC's Very Merry Multiverse special, and the book immediately started selling for three times its cover price!

Okay, so the aftermarket mark-up has less to do with seeing Booster Gold inside Kingdom Come's Planet Krypton restaurant than the issue's being the first appearance of Kid Quick, the Flash of the upcoming Future State event. DC has promoted Kid Quick as a non-binary character, and even the "mainstream media" has taken notice.

While I'm always irritated by short-term comic speculation — especially these days, as the numbers of printed comics continues to fall — I'll not begrudge the introduction of a new non-binary hero. As I understand it, non-binary means the Kid will exhibit behavior outside the traditional binary male/female gender roles. I've consumed enough American pop culture to recognize that non-conforming gender characters have almost always represented as villains. For example, it's no accident that many of the designs of the troublemaking meta humans locked in the Gulag prison in the aforementioned Alex Ross and Mark Waid's 1996 Kingdom Come are the ones most outside the norms of what our society expects from "good" boys and girls.

(That was no accident. Ross painted such outsiders as Magenta from 1975's LGBTQ-friendly Rocky Horror Picture Show among the crowd to emphasize the point. In case I've given you the wrong idea, let me point out that one of the major themes of Kingdom Come is that the salvation of a fractured society lies in putting aside individual differences to embrace our shared humanity. It really is a great comic.)

Meanwhile, since I've wandered onto the subject of Kingdom Come, let's take a look at Booster Gold's only "appearance" in that mini-series:

A quarter-century later, that name drop led to "Twas the Night" in DC's Very Merry Christmas, which is a pretty cool legacy. Who can guess what we'll see in the next quarter century? Only your friendly neighborhood time-traveler knows for sure.

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When DC released the solicitation for today's DC's Very Merry Multiverse holiday anthology back in September, they completely failed to tell us that it contains a story featuring the greatest restaurant manager the world has never known!

"Twas the Night" is a short story taking place in the Planet Krypton restaurant of the Kingdom Come continuity of Earth-22 which is not to be confused with the Planet Krypton restaurant of the mainstream DCU as seen in The Kingdom. (And they say comic books are too convoluted. Pshaw!)

The 8-page story was written by Brittany Holzherr, the associate editor for both "The Gift" and Heroes in Crisis. My opinions of those stories are well known, but I'm not holding them against Holzherr, who seems to have learned all the right lessons: once again she's working with some great artists in Todd Nauck, Hi-Fi, Andworld Designs!

There's a preview of the anthology's first story (Harley Quinn in "It's a Horrible Life") online at CBR.com, but do yourself a favor and just buy this very Boosterrific issue anyway. You'll make Skeets — and yourself — merry indeed.

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I didn't expect to find Booster Gold in any of today's comics, so imagine my surprise when I spotted this fine looking group:

That's Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Wonder Woman: War of the Gods #1, the "Dark Multiverse" version of the 1991 "War of the Gods" crossover event. Ironically, Booster appears in three panels in this self-contained one-shot issue, which is two more panels than he appeared in during the original 25-part story!

For the record, it was this panel in War of the Gods #4:

As you can see, the original story had layouts by George Perez. It is a dark multiverse indeed without George Perez in it.

If you'd like to see more of Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Wonder Woman: War of the Gods before you decide whether you want to spend $6 on a Booster Gold cameo appearance, CBR.com has the preview.

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Hey, kids! Today's your first second chance to buy November's Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Infinite Crisis #1 one-shot, as it is included in Tales form the Dark Multiverse hardcover collection. Better late than never.

Speaking of reprints, if you're the sort of person who reads comic book related news sites — either for fun or because you run a website devoted to a comic book character who only sporadically appears as a background character in other books and you're always looking for new content — you may have heard that today's Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #3 went to a second printing two weeks before the issue was ever released!

Believe it or not, that post-Final Order Cut-off/pre-New Release sellout happened because DC failed to mention in the solicitations provided to the stores that a certain super-popular character appears in it.

That character is sadly NOT Booster Gold.

Per DC's February 11 press release at dccomics.com:

The debut of Punchline, the Joker's deadly new henchperson, has led to pre-on sale sellouts of both Batman #89 and Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #3—and now, DC announces that these issues, both written by James Tynion IV—are rushing back to press for second printings!

Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #3's second printing covers the confrontation between Lex Luthor and The Joker, with help from Punchline and Mercy, as the conflict between the forces of Perpetua and the Batman Who Laughs reaches the boiling point. Written by Tynion IV with art by Steve Epting, this issue will arrive in stores with a recolored version of its original cover by Epting.

The second printings of Batman #89 and Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #3 will both be published on March 4. If the comics aren't already on your pull lists, contact your local comic book shop and let them know you're looking for these issues to be added!

For the record, no one knew this milked cash cow "Punchline" character would be in these two books until DC announced it... on February 7. Hint to DC: if you want people to buy your comics in the specialty shops dedicated to your product, maybe you should tell us about them before those stores have to place their orders from you. Otherwise, you're kind of shooting yourself in the foot. You won't make a single penny on the two or more (or much more) times cover price I'll now be paying for a first edition printing of a new Booster Gold comic book, so you end up losing money and angering fans. That's good business, he says sarcastically.

Sigh. Oh, well. I guess it's just one last thing I can blame on newly ex-publisher Dan "don't let the door hit you on the way out" DiDio. (Double sigh. Now who am I going to blame for everything I don't like about DC Comics?)

If you can find it for a reasonable price, buy this issue and make Skeets happy.

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On Monday, I mentioned that Booster Gold: The Big Fall is released today. But that's not the only place you'll spot Booster Gold in your Local Comic Shop this week. Take along an extra $6 for the Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Infinite Crisis #1

This one-shot issue is essentially an Elseworlds tale, re-imagining the unfortunate events of Countdown to Infinite Crisis (2005) and its aftermath which took place in Scott Snyder's Dark Multiverse. The advance solicitation text (available at CBR.com) promises a prominent role for Booster Gold:

DC's mega-event "Infinite Crisis" saw the destruction of the Trinity, the rise of Alexander Luthor and Superboy-Prime, and the rebirth of the Multiverse...but it all started with Ted Kord, the Blue Beetle, who saw it all coming and died with secrets that could've saved the world. But...things happened differently in the Dark Multiverse! Not only does Blue Beetle survive- he thrives! And after killing Maxwell Lord himself, Ted sets off a chain of events that irreversibly alters the lives of the Justice League and his best friend, Booster Gold. In trying to prevent a crisis, Blue Beetle becomes the Crisis...and the Dark Multiverse will never be the same.

There are no happy endings in the aptly named "dark" universe, so don't expect this What If...?-style story to be a positive for Booster or his buddy. (Think "Blue & Gold" from Booster Gold #0 to #1 Million but grimmer and grittier.)

If you have the stomach for it, buy this issue and make Dark Skeets happy.

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