Long ago in a galaxy far, far removed from COVID-19, DC Comics released a comic book called Year of the Villain Hell Arisen #3.

What DC failed to mention when retailers were making their orders two months in advance was that this new book would introduce the first on-panel appearance of the Joker's new henchman, someone called Punchline. And because far too many people think a smiling homicidal maniac is cool, Year of the Villain Hell Arisen #3 sold out in most stores before it even hit shelves.

It just so happens that book also contains an appearance by Booster Gold, which means that many Booster Gold completists now have a hole in their collection. (Not me, though. I know a guy and pulled a few strings. I may not have rights to a first-born son anymore, but sometimes that's the price you have to pay.)

Anyway. If you missed that book, DC gave you a second chance when they reprinted it in March. However, that run (of over 11,000 books) also sold out. So here comes printing number three.

I sure do like that gray on this third edition. It reminds me of the time that Quentin Tarantino had scenes in Kill Bill: Volume 1 processed in black and white to abstract some violence. Martin Scorsese used a similar trick when he desaturated the climax of Taxi Driver. (True story: with no new comics to read, I've watched 56 movies in the past three months.)

The only way to make that cover better might be to put Booster Gold on it. That just might convince me to give away rights to my second-born as well.

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I'm reminding you to visit to your Local Comic Shop today, because I know you're going to want to get your hands on Harley Quinn #71 with Booster Gold (and Skeets!) on the cover.

What do you think about that old-school Booster Gold logo? I like it, 'natch.

BleedingCool.com has the preview. Your LCS has the issue.

And while you're there, consider grabbing a copy of Flash #750. Logan Peterson has gotten an early look and says Booster makes an appearance there, too. Thanks, Logan.

Buy these issues and make Skeets happy!

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Introducing Booster Gold to a whole know audience, 52 transformed our hero from a much-maligned B-list wannabe into The Greatest Hero The World Has Never Known.

Thanks to the talents of J.G. Jones and Alex Sinclair, the series has a bunch of great covers, some of which don't even feature Booster Gold. However, one stands above the others in my lists of favorites: the cover to 52 Week Fifteen (2006).

Art by J.G. Jones, color by Alex Sinclair

The cover is deceptively simple, conveying a very complex situation with a minimum of content. Too many modern comics eschew character dialog on their covers and as a result look like nothing more than out-of-context pin-up splash pages. However, this issue leans into the photographic trend by emulating the cover of photo-news magazines like Newsweek. The effect adds realism (and thusly viewer engagement and empathy) to the apparent tragedy it shows. What's happening here? Inquiring minds want to know!

Though it makes good use of the modern "no speech balloons" aesthetic, it also calls back to the Silver Age of DC Comics when covers were created first and the writers had to solve the challenges they teased. Booster Gold's broken goggles, blood, Supernova floating above the Metropolis skyline... the cover promises volumes before you ever turn a page. In addition to good art, it's also good storytelling.

And the best part is that the context of this image changes once you've finished the whole series and look back at it.

Now that's Boosterrific!

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If the 1980s was about anything, that thing was big business. Greed was good, deal making was an art, and Capitalism finally conquered Communism. Corporate interests dominated politics, and commercialism owned everything else. Into that environment came the original superhero salesman: Booster Gold.

No cover of the era exemplifies that aspect of our hero more than Booster Gold #11 (1986).

Pencils by Dan Jurgens, Inks by Jerry Ordway

This image is a delightful snapshot of time when J.R. deserved to be shot, and Micheal Knight was a lone crusader in a dangerous world. Booster does his best Don Johnson impersonation in his square-shouldered white linen blazer. He winks at us over his Max Headroom shades, reassuring us that he knows what cool is. If this guy is selling, you're buying.

It might look like an ad for the most 1980s car ever, but what Booster is really selling here is comic books. You can't own a Brysler Boostermobile, but you can own this comic. I'd buy that for a dollar. And I did. Because I was cool, too.

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Legion of Super-Heroes: Millennium #2 is in stores today. Not only is Booster Gold in the book, he's on the cover!

This is the second half of the Bryan Hitch diptych. The first half was on issue #1 last month, but Booster Gold isn't on (or in) that one. You can see what the two of them look like when put together here.

If for some reason you need more incentive to pick this one up — I mean, hey, you're already visiting a Booster Gold fan site — ComicsBeat.com has a preview of the issue's entire Booster Gold chapter. Yes, the entire chapter. And it looks great.

words by Brian Micheal Bendis, art by Nicola Scott'

Okay, I admit. If you like Booster Gold but you don't want to participate in *another* Legion of Super-Heroes reboot, ComicsBeat has taken away your reason to buy. But you'd like to see more Booster Gold comics, right? So you're going to pick this up anyway to send a message to DC, right? Right?

Buy this issue and make Skeets happy.

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