I walked outside late last night and heard... nothing. Usually, I can hear the hustle and bustle of traffic as trucks come and go from the nearby industrial warehouses throughout the wee hours of the morning. But now, with everything shut down due to shelter-in-place orders, not so much.

What's that got to do with Booster Gold? Not a thing.

The point is that nothing much new is happening these days, so there's not a lot of "news" to write about, especially in regards to the serialized adventures of a comic book hero. That leaves a content void here at the Boosterrific Blog that needs to be filled with something.

Sure, I could post another link to some of the many, many, many CBR.com clickbait lists that include Booster Gold, but who wants more of that in their life?

I could post more about me, your obsessive neighborhood Booster Gold blogger, but I know no one wants more of that in their life. (No, really. I've been running a personal blog at wriphe.com for 18 years, and it's read by a whopping 12 people a week. I get it. My life is boring.)

So I thought I'd try something new. I thought I'd ask you, the Booster Gold fan reading this text right now, why you've chosen to spend your valuable time visiting Boosterrific.com. What makes you a super Booster Gold fan, the kind who goes above and beyond and visits websites about your favorite hero? How did you find Booster Gold in the first place? What attracts you to the character? What brings you here?

Send me an email, either through the Boosterrific.com Contact Portal, or directly to walter(at)boosterrific.com, and tell me about your fandom. I'll share them with other fans in future posts. (If you'd like to take the opportunity to promote your own projects, go ahead. Booster Gold sure would.)

Let's take this opportunity to see how Booster Gold fans are alike across our super-specific community. Maybe we'll learn a thing or three.

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If you look at the top of this page, you might see something like this:

It has been 69 Days since Booster Gold last appeared in a DCnU comic book.

I thought that would be self-explanatory, but as Ithildyn recently noted in a recent post on Batman, Last Knight on Earth, it does open the question of what appearances count, especially in the wake of Flashpoint now that DC is expressly disinterested in even attempting to maintain a strict continuity of events between series. Therefore, let me explain my methodology.

First of all, the DCnU, or DC New Universe continuity, is what I call the "real" sequence of events of the DC Universe in the New 52 era. It's the history shared by all characters of the familiar universe, from Adam Strange to Zatanna. In comics, the "shared universe" concept is what allows the heroes established in various titles to cross over and team-up and form a Justice League. Establishing the shared timeline of the DCnU has been complicated by Convergence, Rebirth, and Doomsday Clock, but without it, there can be no "event" stories to begin with.

Obviously, not every story published by DC Comics takes place in DCnU continuity — nor would we want them all to. In years past, there have been many "imaginary" stories, sometimes called Elseworlds and sometimes Hypertime. Although they may involve "a" Booster Gold, that character isn't "the" Booster Gold. The events of those stories have no effect on the development of our hero, so those tales of alternate realities don't count against the appearance counter.

Another thing I don't count are appearances of Booster Gold within the DCnU that aren't clearly Michael Jon Carter himself. For example, even if Batman: Last Knight on Earth involved the mainstream DC timeline, the Booster Gold we get a brief glimpse of may only be a figment of Batman's guilty imagination. If that's the case, it doesn't really count as a Booster Gold appearance, does it? I put these sort of stories in my "out-of-continuity" category and the appearance counter remains unaffected.

Accurately tracking DCnU history may be an impossible task when it changes every few months, but it's still the core of what Boosterrific.com is all about. The appearance counter is a quick and easy way for Booster Gold fans to recognize gaps in Booster Gold's ongoing character development.

I hope that answers your question, Ithildyn. In short, it counts the stories I say it counts and ignores the ones I say it ignores.

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Danny Nielsen contacted me to say that he has been adding more Booster Gold comics to his collection but doesn't "feel the need to own everything that he ever appeared in (cameo's ect...) Is there a way to filter on 'Featured' appearances on the site?"

The answer, Danny, was no. Until today.

For you and people like you, I've add a new list to Boosterrific.com in which Booster's appearances can be sorted by how big a role Booster plays in the story. You'll find it on the Boosterrific! Featured Comic Book Appearances page.

Appearances are sorted into "featured", "supporting", and "cameo" roles based largely on my judgement. Featured roles are starring appearances. Supporting roles see Booster playing a smaller but necessary part of the story. Cameos are comics in which Booster appears for one page or less, usually gratuitously.

These categories are not always so clear, so be forewarned that my judgement may not be exactly the same as yours, especially in team and ensemble books. Take for example The OMAC Project mini-series and the 52 maxi-series. I classify Booster's role in the former as supporting but the latter as featured. You could make an argument in the other direction in both cases, if you were so inclined.

Good luck with your collection, Danny.

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Longtime Boosterrific contributor CDN writes:

Given there's not much Booster stuff going on, outside of HiC and the movie rumours, I was thinking maybe you could toss in some "fluff" pieces for slow news days.

I couldn't agree more. In order to stay relevant in this modern age dominated by micro-blogging and podcasts, this site needs more content to encourage people to take the trouble of visiting us on their old-fashioned tablets and newfangled smartphones. Something to entertain. Something to get people talking. Something to give people who love Booster Gold a few moments of enjoyment at least once every few days.

Traditionally, my focus has been pretty narrow: document what DC and its fans are doing in the name of comics' greatest character, Booster Gold. It was created as a way to track every Booster Gold appearance in comics, every character he has interacted with, and every artist who has ever contributed to those appearances. The blog was originally added as a place to catch the "other stuff" that deserved documenting that didn't quite fit elsewhere. I still use it mainly for that purpose.

In the past, I've always tried to avoid the "fluff" piece that you'll find on many blogs. I don't believe that I am any more of an authority on Booster Gold than any of you who have been reading his comics. While I haven't been afraid to offer my opinion when I felt it appropriate, I have generally tried to avoid creating content whole cloth based on my personal feelings or flights of fancy. I can't imagine that anyone would want to know how I would rank my 10 favorite Booster Gold artists or what I would do if I was an editor at DC. This site should be about Booster Gold, not me.

That philosophy coupled with a distinct lack of Booster Gold news in the "New 52" era — and, admittedly, more than a little complacency and laziness — have resulted in more than a few posts that were less engaging than they perhaps could have been. However, like CDN, I think I can do better. No blog dedicated to Booster Gold should ever be boring. I can use my resources and this blog to present a better spotlight on what has made Booster's adventures unique and desirable. I can write the occasional piece on characters and artists I like, especially as they relate to our hero. And I don't see how it could hurt for me to review some more comics.

Thanks for that feedback, CDN. (He has more to say. We'll get to that next week.) If you have any suggestions for how to make Boosterrific.com even better, don't hesitate to leave your comment below or email me directly with the Contact page.

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Once upon a time, comic book publishers used the corner box at the top corner of their front covers to showcase characters appearing on the pages inside. The illustrated corner box is most strongly associated with Marvel Comics, which introduced it in the early 60s and used it to great effect for decades. DC's corner boxes have traditionally been a less flashy affair, though they did adopt the practice for a few years in the 90s. As a result, Booster Gold has never had an illustrated Corner Box on any issue of either of his solo series.

When I redesigned Boosterrific.com, I made sure to correct that. Those of you who visit the new Boosterrific.com on a desktop have probably noticed that I use a rotating assortment of art for the corner box to the top left of the masthead. (Those of you who visit via mobile devices probably only see the standard "menu" icon linking to the site menu.)

Today I present you all with this link to every one of the images you might find above.Can you recognize where they all came from?

Most of them are cover images, though some were taken from interior pages and others were created as commissions. (Personally, I still feel that Extreme Justice is underrepresented, though I'm liking that most showcase that groovy high collar.) If you don't see your favorite, give a holler. I'll see what I can do.

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