When I was running the rare art pieces last week, I excluded the following piece because it was not strictly commissioned by DC comics. That doesn't mean it isn't worth mentioning.

The above image of Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Guy Gardner, and Fire at the beach by Neil Vokes and Rich Rankin was published in the fanzine Amazing Heroes Swimsuit Special #1 (June 1990). This image may seem a little odd now, but remember that swimsuit specials were all the rage in the 90s. The highlight of the image is probably Beetle's swim trunks, though your mileage may vary.

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And so it begins. DC releases the first issue of the summer-spanning alternate-universe tale Flashpoint today. Booster Gold will certainly be playing some role in the Flashpoint story, though right now, what that role is or how far-reaching it is, is anybody's guess. After the recent slate of title cancellations, Booster Gold is now near the bottom of the sales heap. The success of Booster's tie-in to Flashpoint may very well determine his title's future.

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Yesterday DC announced in The Source that exclusive first looks at Flashpoint would be in USA Today. The first four pages of issue #1 are already online accompanying Brian Truitt's article here. I have mixed feelings about this.

On one hand, it's great that DC is getting some mainstream exposure for their summer event. You can't expect people to want to read comics unless they know about comics. So if a mainstream audience finds out that they exist, it can't be a bad thing for sales of Flashpoint and maybe even the tangentially related Booster Gold.

On the other hand, USA Today references comics like they are for people other than readers of USA Today. It sounds to me that USA Today is trivializing Flashpoint, and I would expect that works counter to what DC would want to be promoting.

I'm not new to this cycle of comic book event hype. I'm sure that condescending articles in USA Today are better than no articles at all. So I'll take what I can get, but I'll keep hoping for more.

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As pointed out in Friday's comments, Booster Gold has made it into the list of the top 100 comic book heroes. Booster is sandwiched between Fone Bone and Beast and ranked far higher than some long-running DC big names like Supergirl and the Spectre.

The list was compiled by the editorial staff at IGN.com, a website primarily devoted to video games (in their own words, they are "obsessed with gaming, entertainment, and everything guys enjoy") and appears to be ordered by the opinion of the editorial staff (clearly not in alphabetical order).

I'm not saying that the editors at IGN aren't qualified to decide what comics they like and put them in order. In fact, I'm a bit impressed that Booster Gold, who has never been a playable character in a video game, would make it onto their list at all. What I am saying is that if I were to make a list based on my opinion of the top 100 comic book heroes, Booster would be ranked number 1. Skeets would be number 2.

You can read the whole list starting from the top at IGN.com here.

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Once upon a time, DC Comics used to publish yearbooks for the direct market spotlighting their planned titles for the upcoming year. Looking back, the best things about these books are what didn't come to pass. This image appeared on page 239(!) of the DC Comics 1993 Editorial Presentation: The Year of Change promotional book.

This pin-up image signed by cheesecake artist Bill Lux and Rick Burchett with its unusual cast of characters (Fire, Maxima, Wonder Woman and Oberon?), was never used in the series itself.

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