While reading some recently acquired 1997 back issues, I came across a DC Comics house ad for DC Comics Online via AOL. ("Keyword: Chat DC" because that's how the World Wide Web worked back in your parent's day, kids!) The ad includes the cover of Adventures in the DC Universe #1 showcasing the animated Justice League, including Booster Gold. (He's obscured, but he's there.) So I added the ad to the Boosterrific! Advertisements page here.

That wasn't the only ad I spotted while reading back issues. I'd long been aware of this 40-year-old one for subscriptions (featuring Jose Garcia-Lopez art) but had never added it to Boosterrific.com before because it only mentions Booster Gold (twice!) without ever showing him.

from Super Powers Volume 3, #3, November 1986

Oversight corrected.

What do you think, Booster boosters? Should I add this one to the rest of the house ads, even though Booster is unseen? I'm not as opposed to that idea as I once was, but I still think that comics where Booster is mentioned shouldn't be cataloged with the rest. (Who collects books for mere mentions of other characters?) Maybe it's right that I still only include ads where Booster is seen.

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Over the weekend, I was bagging and boarding some comics I recently acquired, and I discovered a DC house advertisement from 2003 that I had not previously indexed: "DC in Demand 07.03" from July 2003 which includes a "Hot List" of titles specifically including Formerly Known as the Justice League #1.

Honestly, I'd forgotten Empire was ever released by DC.

Now, I'm not particularly surprised that I missed that ad. I was no longer working in a comic shop by July 2003 so I wasn't reading every comic that hit the stands. I wouldn't think to start Boosterrific.com until 2006, and I didn't even begin indexing house advertisements until 2010.

I tell you this not to make excuses but as an admission that I'm fallible. (Just ask J, who has been on a tear lately editing many grammatical errors on this site, some of which have existed for decades.) As complete as I have tried to make Boosterrific.com, there may be — and likely are — many other Booster Gold appearances out that I have overlooked.

So if you happen to spot Booster somewhere unexpected, please don't be shy about bringing it to my attention. I'd rather be told about the same appearance over and over again than miss one.

Thanks in advance, Booster boosters.

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Booster booster J writes in to say:

I'm writing with additional information about the house ad memorial for Keith Giffen. This ad also appears in the issue DC's 'Twas The 'Mite Before Christmas #1.

The ad J is talking about is this one which ran in books released a year ago this week:

J's tips are usually pretty reliable, but as it happens, I have the issue open in font of me right now, and it most definitely does not have the ad in it.

But I'm not calling J a liar.

What I suspect happened, and I am unable to communicate with J directly to confirm this because J never sends a reply address, but what I suspect happened is that J was looking at a digital release of the issue. DC has often had different house ads in digital releases than what they print in their books. I'm sure this is largely because they have to print physical books far in advance of publication, but digital assets can be manipulated up to the moment of release (and often after).

Because I do not trust that digital files have not been manipulated, I resist listing digital-only Booster Gold appearances in the Boosterrific Database, and I'm going to resist it in this case, too.

This is not the first time J has pointed me towards digital assets that the Boosterrific Database willfully ignores. See also: "A Thing I Do Not Know What To Do With," posted on Sept 18, 2023.

Thanks for the notes, J. Keep those corrections coming.

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Late last week, Booster booster J sent me a bunch of new sighting of old ads to update the list of Boosterrific Advertisements. However, one of his finds is this:

That house advertisement comes from Flashpoint Companion, a collection of promotional material — mostly cover art — supporting the Flashpoint event.

So far as I can determine, Flashpoint Companion was a digital only release originally published online in 2012 at read.dccomics.com. Although DC discontinued that subdomain URL in 2013, you can still read it free online via DC Infinite, Google Play, Apple Books, or Amazon (and probably many others).

Other than this two-page spread — essentially a glorified reading list — the only actual "story" inside the book is a two-page "The Origin of the Flash" written by Scott Beatty (which, according to his blog, scottbeatty.blogspot.com, was originally created as a Converse shoe promotion, probably sometime around 2008-2009, as I believe it was included in the DC Universe: Origins collection of the 2-page origins published in 2010 Never mind. It's not in there).

In fact, it's probably worth mentioning that all the art for this promo was pulled from other sources. The central image of Flash comes from an Andy Kubert drawn house ad at the end of 2010's The Flash Volume 3 #1 (as you can see at Flash fansite speedforce.org). The background behind the Flash (a callback to the sublime wraparound slipcase cover for the Crisis on Infinite Earths hardcover by George Perez and Alex Ross) was taken from Flashpoint #5 (also drawn by Kubert).

The crackle section with Booster and Professor Zoom are the covers of Booster Gold #45 by Dan Jurgens, Norm Rapmund, and Hi-Fi Designs and Flashpoint: Reverse Flash #1 by Ardian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes.

I don't find print copies of this thing documented online in any of the usual places, but it's possible it has been overlooked given its slight content. Does anyone know if Flashpoint Companion was ever officially published (i.e., committed to paper)? Perhaps as an in-store giveaway?

As a general rule, I confine mention of digital-only content to here on the Boosterrific Blog and leave it out of the larger tracking Boosterrific Database, in large part because digital content is so ephemeral, even by comic book standards. Should I make an exception here given the ubiquity of the free copies floating around online ten years after its original release? Oh, the headaches of being an obsessive comic book chronicler!

Hearty thanks to J for your ongoing efforts to make Boosterrific better than ever.

UPDATE: J adds via email

A few years ago, DC had booklets advertising various characters, such as Batman 101 and JSA 101, where they'd print a list of essential stories, a some two-page origin stories, and comic covers.... In the "Justice League 201" booklet, they'd reprinted the Origin of Booster Gold from 52 #24. But unfortunately, it seems to no longer be available.

Like the Flashpoint Companion, I believe those also only existed digitally, and my bias against tracking digital media applies. For years, DC made those 2-page origins available for free on their website as part of their character guides; that content seems to have evaporated as well.

And that's why I prefer physical floppies: DC can't take the paper away from me (unless they back a moving truck up to my house).

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If you buy a new DC Comic this week, congratulations! You've struck Gold!

...Because Booster appears twice(!) in the line-wide house ad for the final chapters of the "game-changing two-month epic" Lazarus Planet series.

I expect we'll find out just how much Lazarus Planet changes the game for Booster Gold when Lazarus Planet Omega arrives at Local Comic Shops on February 21.

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