Tales of the Human Target #1 (of 1) will be available tomorrow at your Local Comic Shop. According to the solicitation text:

Chance teams up with fan-favorite members of the JLI in four connecting mysteries that lead them to that fateful day when one them will kill the Human Target.

Taken literally, that means that the Big Bad of the series is one of the JLI characters featured in the issue, either Fire, Ice, Guy Gardner, or Booster Gold. DC played this same "one of these heroes is a murderer!" with Tom King's Heroes in Crisis in 2018 and have done nothing but bend over backwards to undo it ever since. Glad to see they've learned a lesson from that debacle.

(To be fair to King, he doesn't write the solicitation text. He just, you know, makes heroes into murderers.)

As usual, the stars of a Tom King project are the amazing visual artists DC teams with him. In this case, it's Kevin Maguire and Alex Sinclair on the Booster story, but you can see Greg Smallwood also gets a chance to draw Gold in the issue preview at AIPTComics.com.

As if that wasn't enough great art, keep in mind that a piece of Booster appears on the David Marquez open order variant Cover B.

Yeah, I'm certainly not going to complain about that.

Buy this issue and make Skeets happy.

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When I started this website to track all adventures of the superhero Booster Gold, I didn't think I was going to have to spend so much time typing about vampires. I mean, I thought Blue and Gold had defeated the DCU's last vampire in 1989 (in the "immortal" Justice League International #25).

But who can predict the future? (Especially in the DCU. Its reboots have reboots.)

Anyway, DC Vs. Vampires: All-Out War #2 is at your Local Comic Shop now. Booster Gold is definitely in it, as you can see in the preview at AIPT.com.

Booster's also on the cover. One of them, anyway. As noted back in May, Booster is prominently featured on the 1:25 James Stokoe retailer incentive variant cover. You might have to find that one on eBay.

But wait! There's more!

Booster booster Logan Peterson dropped me a line to say, "it looks like Booster appears in this week's Aquaman and the Flash: Voidsong #3." On page 30, to be specific.

That is not an appearance I would have spotted without assistance, Logan. Thank you!

Buy a Booster Gold comic and make Skeets happy.

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We have inevitably arrived at the final Boosterrific.com blog post of the year. While I'm watching football, perhaps you'll enjoy revisiting these, the 5 most-read Boosterrific.com blog posts of 2021:

5. Wednesday, October 13: Old Friends Are the Best Friends
In which we welcome back Booster's first 20th-century friend, the original Goldstar, Theresa "Trixie" Collins to the pages of Blue and Gold #3!

4. Wednesday, June 16: This Day in History: Black and Gold
In which we take a look back at the time Booster Gold took Black Canary to Paris in Justice League Annual #1 (1987).

3. Tuesday, October 19: Coming Soon: Blue and Gold 6
In which we reveal the advance solicitation for Blue and Gold #6 with Blackguard on the cover. In hindsight, that cover was used on Blue and Gold #4. What will be the cover actually be on issue 6? I guess we'll find out on February 15, 2022.

2. Monday, April 26: The History of Blue and Gold, Part 1
In which we investigate how a comic book series first announced in 1988 took 33 years to actually reach readers. (This was the first in a three part series. Follow these links to Part 2 and the Dan Jurgens interview in Part 3.)

1. Tuesday, July 20: New Release: Blue and Gold 1
In which we celebrate the release of the long delayed debut of Booster Gold/Blue Beetle team-up book Blue and Gold #1! This was the highest hit count Boosterrific.com had received in a single day in the history of the site! (Second place isn't even close.) People sure do love them some Blue and Gold!

Here's to another Boosterrific year in 2022!

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For the second issue in a row, Booster Gold makes a flashback cameo appearance in Human Target #2.

If there's a negative to Greg Smallwood's art, it's that the book has the feel of a 1960s style despite taking place in the modern era. It's a small negative. Smallwood's work here is inspired, especially the title pages.

And speaking of retro styling, the best thing about Booster Gold making an appearance inside the first two issues is that it means that I didn't buy both issues for the variant covers alone.

If its is a game for 8 players, shouldn't there be 8 Justice Leaguers on the cover? Is Mister Miracle trapped inside the box?

Buy this issue's alternate cover and make Skeets happy.

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Up front, let me say that I bought two copies of the first issue of Human Target, one by Greg Smallwood — showing Booster Gold's fist! — and one by Hairsine, Miki and Beredo — showing Booster Gold's leg! (I like to think of them as parts of a "Build-A-Figure" cover.) Having read the issue, I do not regret that decision.

However, that should not mean that I'm ready to endorse the story based on the first issue alone. I am on record as no fan of Tom King's storytelling, especially in reference to the way he handles Booster Gold. It is very clear that King and I have very different interpretations of the character (and most of the other inhabitants of the DC Universe).

Earlier this week, King was interviewed by Jenna Anderson for comicbook.com, and he explained why he chose the Justice League International for his story:

"What Giffen and DeMatteis put into these characters, they all feel very fleshed out," King added. "They all feel very real. When you picture them in your head, you just see that Kevin Maguire face looking up at you. They're very easy and very fun to write. The thing I most love to do in comics is to take silly ideas seriously and find the depths in them, and that concept was all over this — the idea that these little silly flaws that are implanted in these characters actually show real heart and real depth. Like I wrote this thing for Booster, why Booster's good. And the idea is, Human Target expressed my opinion on Booster as 'Booster is a joke. He makes mistakes all the time, but he doesn't hide them. He shows himself. He is himself. Booster is Booster. Yeah, he's a joke, but everyone is. At least Booster's funny.' That kind of stuff is incredibly fun to do. These characters have such potential — each one of them could launch their own series."

Ahem. Almost all of them have launched a series. Or two. Or more.

I have to admit, I can kind of see where King is coming from calling Booster "a joke." Yes, he has some terrible ideas, and yes, he takes advantage of his friends, and he even occasionally misjudges his own abilities. But those traits could just as easily describe Batman.

Maybe it's my incredible dissatisfaction with the way King depicted Booster Gold during his run on Batman or my anger at the horrible handling of the promotion and resolution of Heroes in Crisis that make me suspicious that Booster will be treated badly by Human Target. But at least I can rest assured that this will be the last time King will use Booster in a story, right?

King continued. "Booster Gold [is] my favorite character to write in all of fiction — who is always trying to do good, and always slipping on the banana peel."

Grr. You can't always get what you want. Sometimes, you can't even get what you need.

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