I have a dilemma, and I could use your feedback, Booster boosters. Let me explain.

When I first started the Boosterrific! Database in 2007, I intended it to track every Booster Gold appearance in a DC Comics comic book. At that time, I made no allowance for non-unique Booster Gold appearances, by which I mean advertisements, mostly DC house ads and other promotional backmatter.

Eventually figuring that few people ever collect every instance of an advertisement (and realizing that it's impractical for me to track down and buy hundreds of comics just so I can look through them for ads), I decided about a decade ago that it would be this site's policy going forward to not track non-unique appearances in the database but to indicate them, when known, as part of the Boosterrific! Advertisements page. That system works well enough, and I'm happy with it.

However, as a result of my original oversight and prior to my decision to intentional exclude them, some comics which contain only non-unique appearances have been included in the Boosterrific! Database, most visibly in cases featuring the 1985 advertisements of Booster Gold's debut appearance such as DC Challenge #4.

And now I find that discrepancy bothering me.

The solution seems binary. Either A) I change my position again and add books with just non-unique appearances to the database, or B) I remove the existing books with only non-unique appearances from the database.

Which brings me to you, the loyal Boosterrific visitor. Before I make my decision and make some pretty big changes to the database, which do you think I should do? A or B?

Please let me know in the comments below or via the Boosterrific! Contact page.

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DC Comics surprised yesterday with a Thursday announcement of books to be released in two months, and I'm happy to report that Booster Gold was indeed seen in the mix, specifically on the A cover of Action Comics #1102.

The remaining question is whether, as a Booster Gold collector, you can consider your comic collection complete if that's the only issue you buy in September.

See, in addition to Action Comics #1102, Artist Lucas Meyer also provides the A covers of Supergirl #17, Superman #42, and Superman Unlimited #17. They're all part of the "Kingdom of Zod" storyline, and those all link together to form a single quadriptych:

Does that mean they all count as a single image? If I buy only Action Comics #1102, am I'm missing 3/4 of what will likely be a single fold-out cover in the inevitable collected edition? Better to be safe than sorry, I guess.

Speaking of collected editions, the solicitations also announce that Superman: Action Comics: Vol. 2: Reign of the Superboys – Future Shock, collecting Action #1096 through #1100, should arrive in your Local Comic Shop just in time for your Black Friday shopping this November. Plan accordingly.

You can find more details for all the above issues as well as larger cover images at AIPTComics.com.

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Writes Joe C.:

Booster gold sighting!!!! Check out the 2024–25 upper deck DC annual trading cards. Card number 86 is booster gold (and Skeets).

Joe's right. The Upper Deck 2024-25 DC Annual trading card set debuted last month, and Booster (and Skeets!) is card 86 in the Base Set. As you can see, the card reuses the Daniel Sampere art from page 22 panel 1 of "Alpha" from DC All In Special #1.

And here's the back (apparently written by someone who is not particularly familiar with Booster Gold or the events of DC All In Special #1):

If you want to get yourself a copy of card 86, you're in luck! It's pretty easy to come by. Pictured above is the most common Base Set edition. There are a total of 100 cards in the Base Set, and each pack of 5 cards contains 3 Base Set cards, which means there's an almost 6% chance of drawing a Booster Gold Base Set card from any single pack. Assuming a truly random distribution, you've got a 50-50 chance of pulling a Booster Gold Base Set card from as few as 22 packs. You're all but guaranteed one in 152 packs.

There are 16 packs in a $95 Hobby Box. You've got a better-than-a-coin-flip's chance of finding a Booster Gold Base Set card in 2 Hobby Boxes, but you'll need 10 to be sure. Or you can do what I did and go buy it on eBay for less than $5. Whatever makes you happy.

It's worth noting at this point that Upper Deck thinks they can get you to buy more than 10 Hobby Boxes. Many, many more.

Each of the 100 Base Set cards, Booster Gold included, has variants. The most common of those variants is the Blue Parallel, which adds a blue foil background. But you can't find those in Hobby Boxes. Blue Parallels only come in Blaster Boxes, which contain one Blue Parallel card and 6 packs for $25. You'll need 459 of those (cost: $11,475) to be sure of getting a Booster Gold Blue Parallel card.

The Blue Parallel is the most common variant, but it's hardly the only one. There is also a Variant Cover Parallel which features different Daniel Sampere artwork from DC All In Special (page 4 panel 1) on the front. Variant Cover Parallels are distributed at 1 per 3 boxes, so you should expect to get one of those out of every 1,394 boxes you open.

Then there's the Silver Sparkle Parallel found in every 4 Hobby Boxes (one in 1,840) or every 5 Blasters (one in 2,301). These look a lot like the Blue Parallel but with silver foil in the background.

By now you're probably thinking that you should just buy Blasters. You only need 4 of those to have a 51% chance of a Booster Gold card and a small chance of pulling either a Blue Parallel, Variant Cover Parallel, or Silver Sparkle Parallel. But those are just the tip of the iceberg of variants. All the rest are inserted exclusively into Hobby Boxes and are much, much rarer. With only 3 rare inserts in each Hobby Box, good luck finding any of the following in the wild:

• Green Parallel (print run of 499 cards)
• Gold Linearity Parallel (print run of 88)
• Hologram Parallel (print run of 25)
• Crystal Clear Parallel (print run of 25)
• Cyan Printing Plate (one of a kind)
• Magenta Printing Plate (one of a kind)
• Yellow Printing Plate (one of a kind)
• Black Printing Plate (one of a kind)
• Cyan Hologram Printing Plate (one of a kind)
• Magenta Hologram Printing Plate (one of a kind)
• Yellow Hologram Printing Plate (one of a kind)
• Black Hologram Printing Plate (one of a kind)
• Pure Diamond Parallel (one of a kind)

But wait, there's more! If you're a real completist, you'll want to know that Booster Gold also appears on card N1S-4, which is the cover to DC All In Special #1. The most common N1S-4 card is the #1 Spot version, about as uncommon as a Silver Sparkle Parallel from the Base Set. The #1 Spot Sparkle Parallel is limited to 199, and the #1 Spot Retro Wave Parallel is limited to 25.

Gee whiz. Next time I complain about how many covers DC is printing, remind me about Upper Deck's business model.

Thanks for the lead, Joe. Happy hunting, Booster boosters.

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