Today marks the observance of Veterans Day in the United States, a time to show our thanks and respect those who have served in the United States military. Since Boosterrific.com is devoted to comic books, it is only natural that we celebrate with comic books!

DC has certainly produced some fantastic titles in the war genre, resulting in an endearing legacy of memorable characters, including Sgt. Rock, the Unknown Soldier, and G.I. Robot. But since this is a website devoted to Booster Gold, one DC war hero springs to mind before any other: Enemy Ace.

While Enemy Ace may seem an unlikely character to champion on American Veterans Day, Hans von Hammer deserves our attention and respect. Known as the "Hammer of Hell" because of his iron will and ruthless diligence to duty, Enemy Ace served unquestionably in the German Air Force of World War I. Though thoroughly a warrior, von Hammer followed an unyielding code of honor that made him an ideal example of a fighting man, no matter which country's flag you salute.

Enemy Ace made his first appearance in Our Army at War -- the same series that also gave us Sgt. Rock -- in 1965. His stories by the legendary team of Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert are dark morality tales emphasizing the horrors of war and the courage of the men who fight them. War in the Enemy Ace stories isn't something to be glorified, but something to be survived. Unlike war, the stories themselves are something to be experienced.

Let us give thanks for the war comics that our veterans have inspired. And let us never forget those brave men and women who have committed themselves to serving their country.

(Thanks to Luke of Being Carter Hall for suggesting this idea.)

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Since I started the week with something borrowed from FirestormFan.com, I feel it is appropriate to end that way, too.

There's a lot to see in the piece, but the best part is no doubt Booster Gold and Godiva canoodling underneath the trees. Ah, l'amour.

The above digital print on canvas by Rey Taira, Saturday Morning in Front of La Salle De Justice, is clearly modeled on the classic 1884 Georges Seaurat painting A Sunday on La Grande Jatte. Taira created this and a companion piece of villains lounging before the Hall of Doom for DC's "We Can Be Heroes" campaign.

This picture was found at kicada.tumblr.com, but another view and links to more pieces in the exhibition can be found at The Idol-Head of Dibolu.

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More than 3 million people are watching Arrow each week, not a far cry from the numbers that Smallville was pulling in its final season. Given that the CW approved a full season of episodes, it would seem that the network is happy. But the only question that matters is how Booster Gold fans feel about the show.

Last week's poll question: How have episodes of Arrow influenced your expectations for a Booster Gold television show from the same producers? (40 votes)

Arrow has changed a lot while adapting Green Arrow for television. Some modifications are to be expected as the character moves away from his source material, but it's not like characters don't change over time even in their native comic book format. Even Booster Gold has changed a little since his 1985 debut.

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My favorite part of running Boosterrific.com is discovering things I've never seen before in comics that I thought I knew. For example, just this week Ariel Justel dropped by the Boosterrific Facebook page to point out something I must have missed in my two dozen or so readings of Booster Gold, Volume 1, #6:

That's Thor walking through Metropolis' Centennial Park in the background of page 2, panel 1! I thought I had looked pretty hard at these pages, but I never realized that the little blue blob was Marvel Comics' Mjonir-toting God of Thunder until I broke out a magnifying glass to confirm Ariel's sighting.

What other Easter eggs has Dan Jurgens hidden in the original series that I'd never spotted before? Now I have a whole new reason to read my Booster Gold comics! Thanks, Ariel.

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If you missed it, the big news from DC yesterday was the announcement that Justice League of America, the title that Geoff Johns has teased will feature the eventual return of Booster Gold to DCnU continuity, will hit stands in February alongside its own spin-offs, Katana and Vibe. Russ Burlingame has the info on the Booster Gold-Andrew Kreisberg-Vibe connection at ComicBook.com.

To ensure that this Justice League book -- featuring a team without a Flash, Superman, or Wonder Woman much like the now-cancelled Justice League International -- is a sales success, DC plans to cheat the market. In addition to the standard cover, the book will be published with 52 variant covers: one for each state in the union, plus the territories of the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. That's a total of 53 covers. Fifty-three! I pause here for emphasis.

Let's be frank: the purpose of variant covers is to promote sales via an artificial scarcity. If an issue has a variant cover printed in limited quantities, some collectors will buy an extra copy for the sake of maintaining a comprehensive collection. Some speculators will seek out the variants hoping that their relative scarcity will lead to a long-term increase in value. Whatever your opinion on the morality of this marketing strategy, it cannot be denied that variant covers do increase sales.

Is DC genuinely hoping that completists or speculators out there will try to acquire all 53 covers? Of course they are. By allowing retailers to order each of the 52 variants as a separate issue, the company is obviously hoping that each direct market retailer spends a small fortune trying to acquire at least a few of each cover to appease those collectors and speculators.

(It seems to me that DC is specifically targeting the direct market with this stunt. I've never seen any evidence that variant covers increase sales of digital editions, where "collecting" and "speculating" have little meaning.)

There must be a limit to the variant cover sales response, and I would expect it to be something less than 53. Consider that if you were to buy one of each at cover price, the total at the register will be $211.47 before tax. That's a lot of cash for just one issue. Compare that to the hardcover 52 Omnibus due out next week that will reprint all 52 issues of 2007's 52 series. Unlike the stack of variant covers for Justice League of America #1, the 52 comics included in the $150 Omnibus will at least tell a complete story.

There is no word yet whether Booster Gold will be seen in the series' first issue. If he is, I might consider buying 53 copies. But only if he is.

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