The fifth Booster Gold adventure, Booster Gold volume 1, number 5, is the first time in this series that I really struggle to pick just one favorite page.

I love the confrontation on page 4 in which Booster Gold arrives like an angel only to have the Metropolis cops reject him because he "ain't Superman."

I also love the nearly wordless (but imperfectly rendered) emotional sequence with those same cops in the snow after Booster's apparent death on page 11.

And the panels on page 16 perfectly sell Booster's personal regrets about his mysterious past and give us a sweet Back to the Future-inspired emotional transition.

But forced to choose, I have to say that my favorite single page in Booster Gold #5 is Booster Gold driving the Boostermobile for the first time like those two parking attendants in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Drive it like you stole it, Booster!

In a story built to compare and contrast Booster to Superman, this page is all about Booster enjoying himself doing something no responsible hero would (granted that the always responsible Skeets is in a position to take the wheel if necessary), in a for-profit licensed product no less!

He jumps a car over an ocean liner. I'd like to see Superman do that.

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OG Booster booster Shawn Baston recently notified me that he had spotted Booster Gold someplace I'd never thought to look: in the pages of DC Super-Pets Character Encyclopedia (Picture Window Books, 2013)!

written by Steve Korte, illustrated by Art Baltazar

Skeets... classified as a pet? I don't think he'd like that.

I've updated the Other Media > Books section of the site with this and a few other books that Shawn was able to confirm, but he suggested still others that *might* have Booster Gold (or Skeets!) appearances that we have not been able to confirm. I thought I'd put the word out to see if any of Booster's other loyal fans could provide any additional insights.

All of the following were published by DK. Links are to the titles on Amazon.com for reference.

LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes Character Encyclopedia: New Exclusive Pirate Batman Minifigure (2016)

LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes Visual Dictionary: With Exclusive Yellow Lantern Batman Minifigure (2018)

DC Comics Year By Year, New Edition: A Visual Chronicle (2019)

DC Comics Cover Art (2020)

The DC Book: A Vast and Vibrant Multiverse Simply Explained (2021)

If anyone can confirm or definitively rule out a Booster Gold (or Skeets!) appearance in any of those — or any other books that may not be listed on Boosterrific.com, please drop a note in the comments below.

Thanks, Shawn!

UPDATE: Logan Peterson has confirmed Booster's inclusion in DC Comics Cover Art, The DC Book, and DC Comics Year By Year. Thanks, Logan!

UPDATE February 20: J adds that Booster Gold is name-dropped in the Kingdom Come novelization that I didn't have in the books section, so I've added that, too. Thanks, J!

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It is always worth remembering that if you work hard and don't give up, you will find second chances in life. For example, after a 23-year wait, Dan Jurgens got a second chance to write a series named for the character he created.

Booster Gold had been a peripheral team player ever since his first volume was cancelled following Millennium in 1987. But after the character's star turn in the wake of Infinite Crisis and 52, he got a second chance at stardom in a second Booster Gold series.

The new title was written by the pairing of fan-favorite writer Geoff Johns and movie producer Jeff Katz who quickly established a new paradigm for the "Greatest Hero You've Never Heard Of." When the time came — in the series' second year — for Johns and Katz to move on to greener pastures, the reins were finally turned back over to Booster's original scribe.

Jurgens' first Volume 2 issue was Booster Gold #15, released on this day in 2010. It didn't take him long to re-establish the sibling rivalry he invented decades earlier.

Just like old times!

Eleven years later, Jurgens is now working on yet another Booster Gold title. Perseverance pays off, kids.

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For those of you who do not follow Boosterrific on Twitter, you need to see this:

click to see more pictures on Twitter.com

Isn't that impressive? And nearly two feet tall! (Blot says 1/4 scale, but Booster is 6' 5" tall. So it's really closer to 1/3 scale.)

As Blot makes clear, this is technically an unauthorized bootleg statue, and it will not be available on the open market. Boosterrific as this piece is, it is not something the average Booster booster is likely to get our hands on. Drat!

But we can always look.

Thanks for sharing, Blot!

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You know most CBR.com listicles just annoy me, but every once in a while, they say something I agree with.

For example, take "DC Comics: 10 Sidekicks Who Need To Break Away From Their Mentor" by Derek Faraci.

8. Skeets Plays Second Fiddle To A Goofball

Of all the sidekicks in comics, Skeets may get the least respect. A super-intelligent robot that holds all of human history up to the 25th century in its databanks, Skeets works alongside Booster Gold to help the hero from the future become the greatest hero of today. But Skeets only shows up when Booster bothers to turn him on. When Booster was a member of the Justice League International, he boxed up his sidekick up and left him in storage, which is just plain rude. With its smarts, its lasers, and its sense of humor, Skeets is more than ready to branch out and do its own thing.

Yes! In Skeets' case, striking out on its own might even seem like *less* work.

Booster Gold #37

If you're paying attention, DC: yes, I would buy a Skeets solo comic.

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