Booster booster J has alerted me that Booster Gold is in the recently released Taste of Justice #20. But there's a catch:

I'm saying this based on the image on the webpage. I haven't actually read it, since DC stopped making Taste of Justice available for free.

J's right. Taste of Justice, previously a free read in the DC Go! line of webcomics, is now behind a paywall at dcuniverseinfinite.com. Just like Booster Gold's previously reported appearances in DC Go!'s Aquaman: Yo-Ho-Hold onto Your Hook, I can no longer confirm Booster's inclusion in DC's official web comics.

Yes, I could start paying $8 a month for access to these stories, but I'm not going to. For one thing, I've never much cared for comics made only of energy-dependent pixels that I cannot add to my long boxes. For another, has anyone seen the price of gas lately? I already pay too much for comics—I remember when DC raised cover prices to $1, and if young me could see what I'm paying now for an issue of Action Comics, he would have chosen an entirely different hobby. (My dad used to collect shark's teeth. The most expensive part about that was getting them out of the shark's mouths.)

All that said, if any Booster boosters want to send me screenshots confirming any future Booster Gold appearances in DC's digital exclusives, I'll be happy to update the Boosterrific! Database with appropriate information and credit.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention, J.

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I regret to say that my friend Michael Foster, longtime supporter of Boosterrific.com, has died.

Over the past decade, "michael foster" has been tagged in blog posts over a dozen times, but that was the tip of the iceberg for how much help he has been to this site. In the earliest days of Boosterrific.com, long before fandom.com was a thing, Mike helped me compile lists of Booster Gold comic book appearances and identify characters encountered. He more than earned his permanent place among the special thanks section of the Boosterrific.com FAQ.

But none of that was because Michael was a particular fan of Booster Gold. Yes, Michael bought a lot of comic books, many with Booster Gold in them. But Michael was first and foremost a Hal Jordan fan. A serious Hal Jordan fan. The kind of fan that makes you worry about their mental health.

I first met Michael when I worked in a comic book store in the 1990s. He was the store's resident Green Lantern superfan, buying anything—it would be more accurate to say everything— that was even peripherally relating to Hal Jordan, standing by his hero even when Jordan was turned into a mass murderer. (The 90s were rough on Mike.)

When he wasn't hunting Green Lantern action figures and Underoos, Mike might tell you that his second favorite things were Krull, Battlestar Galactica, or Battle of the Planets, but our decades-long friendship was built on the back of our shared appreciation of Star Trek, Glen Larson-produced television shows, Xanadu, and most especially DC Comics. If it seems like Mike liked a lot of things, he did. That was part of his charm. Mike had a great enthusiasm for the many things he liked, an enthusiasm he gregariously and generously shared with his friends, even grumpy sticks-in-the-mud like me.

When Michael broke the news to me of his terminal cancer diagnosis, I asked if there was anything I could do for him. His only request was for me to "swear to accept Hal Jordan as your lord and master." That guy was dedicated.

I'll miss you, bud.

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When I first started Boosterrific.com, DC hadn't rebooted its continuity in about two decades. At the time, volume number was a pretty useful way to tell what era a particular run of comics belonged to.

Obviously, times have changed. Publishers now restart numbering all the time—the current Superman title is volume 6!—for a variety of reasons (mostly to goose sales), and telling the volumes apart isn't as easy or as useful as it once was. So I'm thinking about changing the way this site handles volumes, eliminating the descriptor from the lists and simply going by year of publication instead, which is how I track my personal collection (which for some reason contains more than just comics with Booster Gold in them).

Don't worry too much: I'm certainly not planning to eliminate volume numbers from individual comics pages or URLs. Most visitors will never notice a difference.

Which raises the question of why I'm telling you this. Maybe it's to spur me into action. Maybe it's to warn you that what you see in the Boosterrific! comics lists might be changing as I tinker with formats. Maybe it's a request for suggestions for other usability improvements.

Maybe I'm just looking for something to talk about other than today's DC K.O. #5.

In any event, even though I don't say it often enough, thank you for visiting Boosterrific.com.

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I hadn't created a post for yesterday because I was hoping we might get some upcoming solicitations. But that hasn't happened, and looking at the calendar, I see that I'm off by a week. Oops. I'll blame the lingering holidays hangover for this oversight. Sorry about that.

As consolation, here's a reimagining of Booster Gold by French artist Franck Sabatier that made the Internet rounds last week:

I'm not sure about that hair, but turning the gold on the chest, shoulders, and back into a five-pointed star is a clever idea.

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Judging by the decline in emails and comments received since September, it seemed to me that Boosterrific.com must be receiving fewer visitors lately. But the analytics tell a different story: visits are actually up. I wonder if the current DC K.O. event isn't responsible for both driving new readers to learn a little more about Booster Gold while driving existing Booster Gold fans to duck and cover until Scott Snyder and Joshua Williamson's string of degradations to our hero finally blows over.

Whomever your eyeballs belong to, thanks for reading.

Now, who wants to play "Where will we see Booster Gold next"?

The way Booster's skinsuit appeared at the end of last week's DC K.O. Superman vs Captain Atom #1 has me expecting Booster to show up and throw a different character out of a window at the end of each round of the current "DC K.O. All Fight Month." This week sees Round Two (versus Hawkman) in Aquaman #12 and Round Three in Wonder Woman vs. Lobo #1.

If anyone spots Booster Gold (or a reasonable facsimile) there or elsewhere, please let me know.

UPDATE: Yep. "Booster" is in a couple of pages of both. Which means he'll have 2 pages in all of the superhero death matches. And this really might be the breaking point at which I will stop buying all comics with Booster Gold in then. As my Local Comic Shop Guy-turned-therapist said to me today, "We've really got to get you out of this abusive relationship with DC." When your pusher says you've had enough, maybe it's time to listen.

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