Booster Gold (Darkseid?) is front and center on the Kevin Wada variant cover to tomorrow's Justice League Unlimited #14.

I have no idea if Booster's in that book (UPDATE: one panel!), but there's a pretty good 100% chance that he will be in exactly two pages each of Flash #28 (Flash vs. Green Lantern), Superman #33 (Lex Luthor vs. Demon), and DC K.O.: Red Hood vs. The Joker, respectively rounds six, seven, and eight of the eight-round Kind Omega tournament. (Yes, I'm aware that I just typed "six, seven." I'm sorry. DC made me do it.)

And since tomorrow is Christmas Eve, I'd be remiss not to point out that DC Universe Infinite has adapted yet another Booster Gold story, "The Santa Copies," originally published in the 2023 holiday anthology DC's 'Twas The 'Mite Before Christmas #1, into vertical smartphone scrolling format as DC Go! Holiday Special 2025 #31. You can re-read it now for free at at dcuniverseinfinite.com. Thanks to J for pointing that out.

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Booster booster J writes to let me know about what would seem to be a small correction to a nearly 20-year-old comic book, 2006's 52 #7:

In the annotation for Page 17, panel 2, you say that an actor introduces himself to Lois as "Bob Castell", even though in the previous issue his name was Bill. I'm current reading the digital version of 52 Volume 1 (the one that collects issues #1-26). I just want to point out that, at least in the digital version, they corrected this error and he introduces himself as "Bill Castell".

Firstly, thanks for reading the annotations, J. I wrote them in 2007, and I apologize in advance that they're probably all awful and chock full of typos I'm sure you'll be telling me about later.

Secondly, issues of 52 were originally released weekly, which by all accounts was a real challenge for all involved, so it's no great surprise that a few errors made it through to the final product. I'm glad DC was able to make the corrections in the (many) subsequent collected volumes.

Here's the panel as it was originally published in 52 Week Seven:

And here it is as it appears in the corrected reprints:

The first name of a minor character may seem like small potatoes, but in context, it's a relevant clue to the mystery of the Last Days of Booster Gold, one of several main plots unfolding throughout the series.

Readers were introduced to Mr. Castell in 52 Week Six, where we discover that despite a recent return to the spotlight, Booster Gold has been burnishing his image as a superhero by paying an actor to portray a supervillain and allowing Booster to beat him in a public setting. Intentionally evocative of Maxwell Lord's scheme to force the Justice League to accept Booster Gold into its ranks (in 1987's immortal Justice League #4), this is particularly despicable behavior, even for Booster Gold.

And to make matters worse, Booster treats the actor like a real jerk, refusing to even get his name right.

As you can now see, in the original publication, the reader has (unintentional) cause to be suspicious of the actor's motivations and integrity when Castell changes his first name between issues and accuses Booster of writing a bad check. However, in the reprint, when the reader is more confident that the actor knows what he's talking about, the accusation against Booster is more credible and extra damning.

Why would Booster do such a thing? And why would he go out of his way to be such a jackass to his partner in crime, essentially encouraging him to be disloyal? At the risk of spoiling a great comic book mystery, all I'll say is that this behavior was no mistake, and may, in fact, rank among the most clever things Booster Gold has ever done.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, be like J. Go track down a reprint collection of 52 and read one of the greatest stories DC has ever published. You can thank me (and J) later.

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Been busy behind the scenes here at Boosterrific lately.

Booster booster J writes in to note that I had missed Booster's feature appearance in DC Universe Infinite's DC GO Edition of Taste of Justice #15. J is right. I had missed that. If you also missed it, know that you can go right now and read it for free right now at dcuniverseinfinite.com.

J also pointed out that I had missed Booster's appearance in June's Superman: The Ultimate Guide New Edition from DK Books. Again, J is right. (J usually is.) I have corrected oversight by adding the book to the Boosterrific! Other Media: Books list.

What J failed to notice (or was perhaps too polite to mention) was that I had also been omitting the Secret Six by Gail Simone Omnibus Volumes 1 and 2 from the Boosterrific! list of reprints. (To be fair to myself, volume 2 was just released yesterday.) These collections reprint a single Booster Gold cameo appearance apiece. But no matter how small, a Booster Gold appearance is still a Booster Gold appearance, and these books are now appropriately in the Boosterrific! database.

Thanks, J. Keep reading and let me know when you find more.

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Booster booster J points out that Booster Gold has a one panel cameo in the most recent issue of the free DC Universe Taste of Justice vertical scrolling webcomic that combines Justice League superheroics and cooking demonstrations.

Specifically, Booster is in panel (page?) 7:

Booster doesn't stick around until the end to taste the Atom's dish resulting from a combination of onions, carrots, water, bullion cubes, mulberries, and "chicken of the woods." I can't say I blame him.

You read the issue yourself (it's free!) at dcuniverseinfinite.com.

Thanks for calling this to our attention, J.

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Back in May, in response to a post on Joshua Williamson's substack, I wrote

You'll note that this doesn't actually say that Booster Gold will be in Superman #28, but it almost does. So I think Booster boosters should be prepared to pick up Superman #28 when it comes out on July 23.

Now that it's July 23 Eve, BleedingCool.com has spoilers for Superman #28, the first issue of the "Legion of Darkseid" story that's been teased for months. The spoilers reveal a surprise character appearance... who is not Booster Gold. Shoot. There is still no actual confirmation that Booster Gold is in the issue. I guess we'll find out tomorrow. [UPDATE: As you can see in the comments below, Rob Snow has found out, and the answer is "he is not." Big thanks to Rob for saving me $5.]

But!

"Here" being the DC Go! comic Taste of Justice #3 ("A Taste of Hope" co-written by and guest starring World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés).

Thanks to Booster booster J, I can report that the first three issues of the digital-only food-themed series from Andrew Aydin and Domo Stanton first announced back in January were finally released on July 16 and are now available and free to read at DCUniverseInfinite.com.

And yes, that is the costume Booster wore while romancing Harley Quinn in "California or Death" (beginning in Harley Quinn Volume 3 #70). I gotta be honest; I don't hate it. I'm a sucker for the high collar.

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