If you've ever read Captain Atom #16, you can probably guess my favorite page, but here, I'll save you the trouble of guessing:

Booster Gold busting through trees like a super man! Blue Beetle swooping out of the sky to rescue a buxom damsel from drowning like some kind of dark knight! And in place of a Wonder Woman, we get a Mister Miracle! It's like a Justice League International roll-call.

Can't you just imagine this animated and set to the Superfriends theme with Ted Knight calling out their names? I sure can.

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The art of Justice League International #14 almost feels like it was a rush job, and perhaps it was. Regular series penciller and master of facial expressions Kevin Maguire took (or was given) a vacation, and Steve Leialoha's very loose style is a poor substitute for this issue that heavily features character moments. The layouts, as usual, are by Keith Giffen, so part of the problem here could be that Leialoha wasn't a great match for Giffen's distinctive style of closeups. (It gets a little better in the next issue, as we'll soon see.)

Which is not to say that JLI #14 isn't worth our time. For one thing, this is the issue that sees Green Flame and Ice Maiden officially join the team. (They'll not become Fire and Ice until issue #19.)

For another, there's football!

If there's anything better than superheroes and football, I don't know what it is.

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Injustice 2 #31 comes out today. Although Lobo and Atrocitus are on the cover, I'm sure that most people will be reading it for the same reason I am: Booster Gold's awesome space jacket!

(For the record, Injustice writer Tom Taylor declared via Twitter that credit for the design of Booster's space jacket belongs to artist Bruno Redondo. So thanks, Bruno!)

Buy this issue and make Skeets happy.

UPDATE: Booster is also in today's Mister Miracle #10. Gotta catch 'em all!

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While I was busy getting my pantaloons in a bunch last week over Batman #45, Booster Gold sneaked his way into 3 — count 'em, 3! — other comic books.

1. Booster was a small face in a crowd of well-wishers in Action Comics #1000, courtesy none other than Dan Jurgens. (SuperPat pointed this out in the comments last Wednesday.)

Three cheers for Superman!

2. Booster had a slightly larger part alongside Blue Beetle in Injustice 2 #24. This one we knew was coming. I originally mentioned it when it was published digitally at the start of last month. Booster has been showing up quite a bit in the Injustice 2 as of late, with more appearances coming soon.

Booster's mom should wash his mouth out with soap.

3. However, I had no idea bout Booster's appearance in Mister Miracle #8 until Shawn slipped notification into Friday's comments. Booster doesn't appear in person, but his face is on one of the many, many shuperhero t-shirts that Scott Free wears throughout the issue.

Who knew Mister Miracle a fan club member?

Whew! Four issues in one week ties a record! (Can we go for five, DC?)

So no matter how Booster boosters feel about Batman #45, we can't be disappointed that it was the only place for us to find our hero last week. Booster Gold is everywhere in April 2018!

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Eleven years ago today, DC released JLA: Incarnations, an anthology mini-series focused on telling the "untold" stories set a various points in the prior history of the Justice League. Most of the fun and frustration of this series was in seeing how writer John Ostrander would mangle characterization and history in order to squeeze his new stories into pre-existing continuity. Issue #6, published 11 years ago today, was no exception.

This issue contains two stories set about 7 years apart, and both stories generously feature Booster Gold. Booster and Blue Beetle are the protagonists in the issue's lead story, "Buddies." The pair invent the villainous identities of Bloodspot and Deathmetal in order to sneak into the rogue nation of Bialya. As entertaining as the story is, at times almost everything seems to be an anachronism. Errors stretch from DC Universe chronological impossibilities (Mister Miracle's inclusion in events would have been impossible in the time period) to real-world industry conventions (the ultra-violent "grim and gritty" comics that would feature characters with ridiculous names "Bloodspot" and "Deathmetal" wouldn't be published for several years after the era in which this story was set). Even the relationship between the protagonists is blatantly misrepresented (Booster Gold should be playing straight to Blue Beetle's zany ideas, not the other way around).

The other story, "Authority," doesn't do much better. "Authority" details the untold and much-needed story of the dissolution of Extreme Justice, mostly from the point of view of team leader Captain Atom. Booster naturally plays a part in this story as well, although artist Eric Battle doesn't seem to realize that Booster wore more than one costume between the founding of the Justice League International and the conclusion of the Extreme Justice debacle. Again, Ostrander doesn't let history get in his way, as he, like Geoff Johns in the more recent retcon seen in Justice League International Annual, ignores that the United Nations washed its hands of the JLI long before the end of the team. As we all know, DC's writers never let facts get in the way of telling their stories.

That's not to say these stories aren't enjoyable, because they are. Objectively, they are entertaining reads that add to our knowledge of the period they represent. Subjectively, however, they don't quite live up (or in Extreme Justice's case, down) to the era that inspired them. Without hesitation, I recommend reading the issue, but like any story of historical fiction, I'll leave leave it up to the reader to decide how much truth they contain.

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