My Halloween treat was this email from Booster booster FZ:

Was just reading Manhunter #4 cover date Oct 88 and spotted a kinda sorta Booster Gold cameo on page 4. Wasn't sure if you knew about this. Happy Halloween.

Wow! Somehow, no, I did *not* know about that.

For reference, this is the panel that FZ is referring to:

FZ is right. That's not really Booster Gold. It's not even a flashback. The apparition appears only as a helpful illustration for the reader to reinforce Olivia Vancroft's speach about the power of masks. That sort of thing is kind of rare in modern comic books.

Rare or not, it is an appearance previously undocumented in the Boosterrific.com database. How could I have I overlooked that for all these years? Perhaps there was some sort of crisis that caused all of history to be re-written around me so that things I once thought I knew have changed in unexpected ways. Yeah, that's the ticket.

In any event, thanks to FZ, that oversight has now been corrected.

If anyone else ever spots an appearance they don't think I'm tracking, please reach out to correct me. Booster boosters everywhere will thank you.

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Justice League America #56 was released on September 17, 1991, thirty years ago next week. Its mawkish story takes place in the middle of the too-long "Breakdowns" event marking the denouement of the United Nations-sponsored Justice League International era.

This chapter focuses on the forsaken Leaguers struggling to adapt to life without a league. Among them, Fire and Ice struggle to join a modeling agency, and Blue Beetle finds that his poor physical health will prevent him from joining the Booster Gold-led Conglomerate. There aren't a lot of "bwah-ha-ha" moments here.

No matter how you look at it, "Breakdowns" was not a particularly good story, and this wasn't a particularly good issue. As much as we want them to be, not all comics can be masterpieces.

But this comic book is worth a look back today if for no other reason than for its cover by Chris Sprouse and Bruce D. Patterson. As pretty as it was at the time, it was made more poignant by events that transpired almost exactly ten years after the issue's publication.

#NeverForget

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DC chose not to release any comic featuring Booster Gold appearances this week. I like to think that's because they'd rather you spend some time re-reading classic Booster Gold adventures.

May I suggest Justice League Annual #1, released 34 years ago today?

This 48-page issue, essentially a zombie story titled "Germ Warfare," is Booster's first adventure as an accepted member of the Justice League. (And you don't have to take my word for it. The editor's note on page 4 explicitly places the story immediately after Booster's JL audition in Justice League #4 (which also happens to be the single best Booster Gold story ever).

The action unfolds in the traditional Justice League style. To combat a global menace, the team splits in to pairs. Interestingly, Booster Gold's first Justice League partner isn't Blue Beetle but another legacy character with origins in the Golden Age of comics: Black Canary.

With rapport like that, it's no surprise that the "Black and Gold" team didn't outlast Canary's oft-maligned 1980s aerobics instructor-inspired costume.

As might be expected of such a new member, Booster plays a relatively minor role in the issue's resolution. And though it may come as a surprise to modern audiences, neither does Batman. The honors go to the Martian Manhunter, a true hero who will go on to teach many an up-and-comer a thing or two about the relationship between great power and great responsibility.

As I said, if you're looking for something to read today, you could do much worse than the first Justice League Annual.

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There's not much Booster Gold to be found in your Local Comic Shop today. If you need a fix, you'll need to shell out $150 for the latest Final Crisis collection, Final Crisis Omnibus.

Booster appears in exact 2 panels in this 1,500+ page book, both taking place at — Spoiler Alert! — Martian Manhunter's funeral.

Here, I'll save you $150.

Final Crisis #2 (2008)

Final Crisis: Requiem #1 (2008)

You'll get a better look at the same event in Harley Quinn #67.

Of course, if you still want that omnibus, your Local Comic Shop appreciates your business.

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Martian Manhunter is getting a new mini-series in December that will rewrite the character as something a little more... alien than what longtime DC readers are used to. (DC's solicitation reads: "Back on Mars, J'onn was about as corrupt as a law officer can be, and when a reckoning comes for his entire society, he'll get a second chance he doesn't want or deserve!")

I can't say as I'm very eager about that. I happened to like J'onn J'onzz just the way he was.

Take, for example, the Martian Manhunter who appeared in "The Ghosts of Mars," a story running through JLA Classified #42-#46. Written by Justin Gray, the story focused entirely on J'onzz's internal struggle against his own inner demons. Demons that sometimes took the appearance of Booster Gold, as seen in JLA Classified #44, released on this date in 2007.

JLA Classified #44 by Justin Gray, Rick Leonardi, Sean Philips, I.L.L., John Hill

Each of the first four issues of "The Ghosts of Mars" shined a spotlight on a member of the Justice League who inspired Martian Manhunter to new heights of heroism. Ironically in light of recent events in the DCU, the hero of JLA Classified #44 is Wally West, aka The Flash.

Eleven years later, West is dead, Booster Gold is the suspect, and Manhunter is a corrupt cop. Is it any wonder I prefer to read back issues?

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