No title in recent memory has been as unpredictable as Justice League 3001. The title is the personal playground of Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis, and there are a whole bunch of players in their sandbox, all moving in apparently random directions. Even the covers tend to be something other than what you might expect.

The cover on the left is the cover to issue 6 that was solicited two months ago. The cover on the right is the cover you'll see at your Local Comic Shop today. If you take a good look at it, you'll see Booster Gold's legs on the upper left behind the creators' names. That makes it pretty likely we'll be seeing Booster in this book.

If you'd like to try before you buy, find a preview of the issue alongside an interview with Keith Giffen at Comicosity.com.

UPDATE 2015-11-28: No, there is no Booster Gold inside, only on the cover. The Booster-drought continues unabated.

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Today's featured comic book has nothing to do with Booster Gold directly. Booster does not appear appear in 1996's Superman: The Wedding Album", so it's unlikely that he appears in today's re-titled reprint, DC Presents Lois & Clark 100-Page Spectacular.

Still, I would hope that Booster Gold fans would support this issue. Not only was Dan Jurgens a big contributor, but support for this and Jurgens' Superman: Lois and Clark series indicate that there is still an audience for the continuity abandoned by Flashpoint.

If we ever want to see a continuation/conclusion of the stories in Booster Gold volume 2 — Who is the Black Beetle? Who is Rip Hunter's mother? Whatever happened to Ranni? — we need to show DC that we still care.

And, hey, if nothing else, it'll be a nice change of pace to read a comic about a likable Superman again.

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We haven't seen Booster Gold anywhere since Bat-Mite #4. Don't expect that to change with today's Justice League 3001 #5.

However, we do know from the issue preview available at GraphicPolicy.com that Booster Gold and Blue Beetle will at least get a name drop (from Fire and Ice!).

Given the latest Booster drought — 84 days and counting — that's a good enough reason for me to pick up the issue.

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Brady Kj recently found a Booster Gold cameo appearance in Harley Quinn #20. Naturally, I rushed out to my LCS to pick up a copy. Sure enough, Booster is on the first page as part of one of Harley Quinn's dreams.

I should have stopped reading there. Every character in these pages is, to put it lightly, a jerk. None are worse than the protagonist, Harley Quinn.

There are always problems adapting a villain into a story protagonist. Harley Quinn is implied to have a warped morality, but no morality is present in this issue other than her own. She murders a customer service representative in the busy Los Angeles airport, steals a police car as an officer watches, and pushes a company mascot in front of a bus on a crowded street. This isn't "cartoon violence," either; characters are shown clearly suffering from Harley's actions. Yet no one in Harley's world even attempts to stop her from committing these villainous acts. The only "heroes" present are prostitutes in costumes. Do heroes only exist in Harley's dreams?

Issue co-writer Jimmy Palmiotti liberally sprinkled the same sorts of violence throughout All-Star Western, and it worked there. Bounty hunter Jonah Hex lived in an Old West devoid of law and order. More importantly, despite his flaws Hex was an anti-hero devoted to bringing to justice the fiends who committed these types of atrocities.

By comparison, Harley Quinn is set in modern-day Los Angeles starring a mentally damaged villain. L.A. is not a lawless place located sometime in the distant and barbarous past. What good are Batman and Superman if they let a Harley Quinn run free to murder citizens of America's largest city? What's the point of using L.A. as a backdrop if there's no police or other public servant striving to enforce the rule of law?

I guess what I'm saying is that it damages the verisimilitude a shared comic book universe if inhabitants of that universe are allowed to kill, maim, and steal without recourse. I guess I'm also saying that murder isn't a very funny punchline. But what do I know?

Harley Quinn #20 sold more than 56,000 copies, more than any single issue of Booster Gold outside the "Blackest Night" crossover event. So the next time you question one of DC's decisions, remember that sex, violence, and death sell comics, not story or character. The market has spoken.

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If you've been trade-waiting for Booster Gold's Convergence appearances, your time has come at last.

Today sees the release of both the hardcover collection of the entire Convergence mini-series and the softcover Convergence Zero Hour Book One. The latter is a collection of several two-part Convergence mini-series, including Convergence: Justice League International #2 notable for the inclusion of Booster Gold wishing Blue Beetle a happy birthday.

If that's not enough Booster Gold for you, there's more coming. DC will be releasing Convergence TPBs all month. Both issues of Convergence: Booster Gold will be reprinted in Convergence Infinite Earths Book Two at the end of October.

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