Labor Day weekend is all about celebrating the hard work you've put in all year, and no one knows how to kick back better than Blue Beetle and Booster Gold!

Enjoy this fine fan art by Patricio Oliver (@patricioolvier on Twitter.com) as you prepare for your long weekend of barbecue and brews.

Happy Labor Day, everybody.

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With the latest Superman event, "Leviathan," now unfolding in your Local Comic Shop, it's interesting to look back at another Superman event story with a curious connection to real history.

The JLA: Our Worlds At War one-shot, released 18 years ago today, was a middle chapter in the 2001 Superman "Out Worlds At War" crossover event. Booster Gold plays only a very brief role in the event as he, Blue Beetle, Guy Gardner, and Rocket Red fight to defend Russia from an alien invasion. This is Booster's only appearance in the entire comic:

art by Garney, Morales, Horie, Horie, and Starkings

(Don't worry, Booster. Guy get's better.)

It isn't the inclusion of the Justice League International that makes this issue a historic curiosity.

As mentioned, the issue's story details a surprise attack by a malignant force that opposes everything Superman stands for. To frame the magnitude and severity of this invasion, writer Jeph Loeb uses the words of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to draw a direct, overt connection to a real tragedy in American history, specifically the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor 60 years earlier.

The irony here is that although this issue, with its focus on surprise attacks against America, was released on July 5, it has a cover date of September 2001.

And now you know the rest of the story.

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This weekend, I was reading about the CW's latest Black Lightning Boys and Girls Club public service announcement on ComicBook.com. Naturally, as webmaster of the Internet's premier Booster Gold fan site, I thought to myself, "Booster Gold could do that."

And he has.

It might seem weird to see Booster addressing AIDS awareness so bluntly in this 1993 PSA, but both entered the public awareness in the 80s and both have been largely misunderstood over time.

Booster wasn't the only hero spreading the word — the series of AIDS awareness ads featured appearances from heroes across the DC Universe, including both Hal Jordan and John Stewart reading from the same script — but only Booster Gold and his Justice League teammates Blue Beetle and Fire were so serious about the issue that they returned to it one year later A.D. ("After Doomsday").

Booster was man enough to learn his lesson so that you would, too. Knowing is half the battle.

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I've got a busy week, so today all you'll by way of a blog post is... several totally Boosterrific sketches!

Booster Gold by Harley Quinn artist Sam Basri (via Comics and Other Cool Stuff on tumblr.com)

Booster Gold by The Infinite Loop artist Elsa Charretier (via @e_charretier on Twitter)

Booster Gold by Teen Titans artist Mike McKone (via @theaginggeek on Twitter.com)

Blue Beetle and Booster Gold by Astro Hustle artist Tom Reilly (via Comics and Other Cool Stuff on tumblr.com)

Thanks to all the artists for making our hero look so good, and congrats to anyone who commissioned these or any other Booster Gold sketches for giving those artists a chance to shine.

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Now that the final chapter of Heroes in Crisis has been written, I'm of the general impression that the less said about it, the better.

(Right now, I never want to read a DC comic book again. Maybe by Monday, I'll be in a better mood.)

While I'm recovering from my own personal trauma, enjoy this delightful sketch of Bing Crosby and Bob Hope as Booster Gold and Blue Beetle drawn by Joe Phillips in the style of Al Hirschfeld tweeted by @DrPopCultureBG.

Sigh. I still love you, high collar. (And I'm tickled pink by the thought of Booster wearing one of Bing's rugs.)

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