As we learned in last week's Dark Crisis: The Big Bang, the DC Vampire-verse of DC Vs. Vampires is now officially Earth-63.

Judging by the events of that mini-series, it doesn't look like the remaining human heroes have much of a chance of surviving it. It's doubtful that Earth-63 will have a Booster Gold for much longer, so enjoy him while he lasts in this week's DC Vs. Vampires: All-Out War #6, the series' final issue.

If you're so inclined, a preview of the issue is available at AIPTComics.com.

And if you do visit AIPTComics.com, you might want to take a peek at their preview of Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #7, the final issue of that mini-series. Booster Gold is in that, too. How big a part will it be considering that he, um, got hurt in issue #6? There's only one way to find out.

Buy a comic or two and make Skeets happy.

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Booster Gold #18 is pure crime noir. The issue protagonist isn't Booster, but dogged policeman-out-of-time Broderick, who discovers almost too late that his concept of Justice may not be absolute. It's genuinely heartbreaking.

It helps that Jurgens the Artist masterfully supplements Jurgens the Writer with cinematic chiaroscuro shadows and and smooth panel transitions accompanying the world-weary narrative voiceover. It's almost a shame that the comic is printed in color! (Although Gene D'Angelo's midnight blue alleys, florescent green store interiors, and emergency-vehicle reds really are all perfectly executed.)

All of which makes it really hard to pick just one page to be my favorite.

I sure like the acrobatic routine on page 1. And if I didn't care to spoil the ending, I might say the best page is the last one. But better than those is this slow-burn close up establishing shot on page 6:

Most Booster boosters would say that Booster Gold #18 is the single best issue of Booster Gold volume 1. And I'm not going to argue with them. That's why I chose it as one of my Twelve Best Booster Gold Stories Ever.

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I figured if we were going to see Booster Gold anywhere this week, it would be in Dark Crisis: Big Bang. After all, the whole issue is a trip through the new DC Multiverse drawn by Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund.

But no. No Booster anywhere.

To be fair, that makes sense. The issue revisits the concepts of the original Crisis on Infinite Earths, and Booster Gold wasn't in the DC Universe then. (Flash Fact: Booster Gold was the first new character to appear on the sole Earth to survive into the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths DC Universe!)

However, just when I was prepared to write about something else today, Booster booster Logan writes in to tell me that about a Booster Gold appearance I missed last week!

Set your eyes on this panel from Wildstorm 30th Anniversary Special #1:

art by Will Conrad and Romulo Fajardo Jr.

You might be surprised to learn that this is the first time Booster Gold has appeared on panel with Apollo and Midnighter in mainstream continuity. Granted, Apollo and Midnighter didn't leave the Wildstorm Universe and join the mainstream DCU until the New 52, but that's still been over a decade. About time, guys!

So if you do go to your Local Comic Shop this week, be sure to check the shelves for last week's comics. Thanks, Logan!

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Hungry? Eat up!

Flakies, Booster Bits, Sugar Packed Boosteros, Booster Puffs, Booster Cereal, and now Golden Flakes?! Pretty soon Booster is going to need to invest in a dairy just to provide milk to everyone eating one of his breakfast cereals.

That panel (first brought to our attention by Booster booster Dallas) comes from the Webtoons.com online comic Red Hood: Outlaws episode 19, "A Handy Dandy Mirror."

Red Hood: Outlaws is written by Patrick R. Young and drawn by Nico Bascunan. But the image on that cereal box is by Dan Jurgens, Joe Rubinstein, and Tom McCraw as originally published in Who's Who in the DC Universe #2 (1990).

I still haven't committed to adding digital-only comics to the Boosterrific database — because I'm a grumpy old man, and pixels aren't real! — but I have added Booster Gold Golden Flakes to the Boosterrific list of Booster's businesses and endorsements.

Thanks to everyone who pointed out this appearance. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm suddenly in the mood for a bowl of corn flakes.

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One of the biggest cliches in American superhero stories is that the superheroes are often, by default, champions of the status quo. But what if the status is not quo? Should superheroes be using their powers to build a better world? That question is at the heart of Booster Gold #17.

The issue themes will be familiar to fans of Roger Moore's James Bond: A mad scientist plans to improve the world by killing a bunch of people, and the Americans and Russians stand on opposite sides advocating for their own interests while a lone hero struggles against all odds to save the day.

The Russian agent is the amoral mercenary Cheshire. The issue's interesting twist is that the American agent is also a villain; the superhero Hawk's good intentions have become warped by his political ideology. Caught in the middle is Metropolis' own Corporate Crusader, Booster Gold, who is just trying to mitigate the collateral damage.

When it all builds to a head, Booster is forced to play his opponents' hardline games against them with a bluff that only an unknown wildcard could hope to pull off, as seen in this very dramatic sequence of panels:

Can superheroes make the world a better place? Booster Gold is still fighting to find out.

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