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).

Comments (1) | Add a Comment | Tags: andy kubert dccomics.com flashpoint house ads j scott beatty scottbeatty.blogspot.com speedforce.org

Don't expect to see Booster Gold in any of this week's books. Don't expect to see him in any book in August, either.

DC released their August solicitations last week with nary a Booster in sight. Nor even a Dan Jurgens credit, which is important because Jurgens has historically been the one to sneak Booster back into the spotlight.

To be fair, most of the August books tie-in to the Knight Terrors event, and I can't say I'm sad that Booster looks to be missing out on that. (Perhaps he'll show up as a cameo appearance in someone else's nightmare?)

August does have a one-shot G'nort's Illustrated Swimsuit special. Could we see Booster in that? G'nort was Booster's Justice League International teammate for a while, and no hero in the DCU looks better in a swimsuit than our hero, as demonstrated in 2020's DC Cybernetic Summer!

And even if we don't have new comics coming, we've still got plenty of old comics to read. Comics like 2014's Scribblenauts Unmasked: A Crisis of Imagination #7. I didn't know about that one until J told me last week. Thanks, J.

Keep your eyes peeled, Booster boosters. You never know where you'll find Booster Gold next!

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: beefcake j scribblenauts solicitaitons

Bad news first: DC's June 2023 solicitations are out at aiptcomics.cpom, and there's not a Booster Gold to be seen. That's 4 months and counting of no predictable appearances. This new "Dawn of DC" is looking less and less golden.

(Over the weekend, TwinCitiesGeek.com reported that Dan Jurgens has "started writing another Black Label project for DC" that "will be coming a little later yet this year." Seems unlikely that it'll be a Black Label Booster Gold story, but who knows?)

On the brighter side, while Booster is on hero hiatus, Boosterrific.com is better than ever thanks in no small part to J, who has spent an inordinate amount of time hunting down errors in the annotations and book details. Together, we're making things right that once went wrong.

Why, just this weekend, J discovered that the site was missing (count 'em!) two different Justice League Unlimited reprint volumes that contain Booster Gold adventures. Oops!

Shame on me for missing those, but hearty thanks to J for all the hard work. Booster boosters everywhere owe you a debt of gratitude. Keep up the good work!

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: aiptcomics.com black label dan jurgens j justice league unlimited solicitations twincitiesgeek.com

It's a big month at Boosterrific.com for Doomsday fans! (Or fans of Dead Superman. Either way.)

We all know that Booster Gold was on multiple covers of Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special #1 a few weeks back. (And, as it happens, he'll be on the cover of a few more when the second printings arrive after Christmas.)

Whether or not the 30th Anniversary Special was the inspiration, Booster booster J got to reading other Doomsday stories and discovered the following Booster appearance was missing from the Boosterrific.com database:

That's from Superman's nightmare sequence at the beginning of Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey #1. I'm sure I've seen that before, but somehow I failed to track it. Oops. (I wonder if I decided once upon a time that it didn't count because it's not really Booster Gold? Oh, well. Whatever. Never mind.) Fixed now.

And, as it happens, that's not the only Doomsday-related Booster appearance that's been added to the database this week. The cover to Justice League America #69 showed up in this week's Superman: Kal-El Returns Special #1:

Superman and Doomsday (and Booster Gold) together forever!

Thanks to J for setting me straight.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: doomsday j new releases superman

I've been innundated by great tips lately, and I do mean that in the best possible way. The latest tip comes from J, who writes:

I don't know if you're aware of the children's book "I am Superman", by Brad Meltzer and Christopher Eliopoulos. (I couldn't find it when I searched this website.)

Near the end of it, there's a two-page spread of superheroes, and Booster has a cameo at the top of the right-hand page. At the back of the book, there's also a guide, listing all the heroes in the spread, and Booster is marked as #55.

This is the second half of that two-page spread, where you can see Booster Gold hanging out with Superman's best friend, Krypto!

Thanks for letting us know, J. I have already updated the Boosterrific Books! page with your find.

Keep your eyes open, everybody. Booster Gold is everywhere!

Comments (1) | Add a Comment | Tags: books brad meltzer christopher eliopoulos i am superman j