I went to my Local Comic Shop specifically to buy Blue and Gold #2, and they told me they didn't receive any copies. This despite the fact that I had checked DCComics.com before I left the house, and the website said the book was "Available Now."

I figured it was just a case of the distributor short shipping the title. That happens. Frequently. (Yeah, it still bothers me, but what am I going to do, stop collecting comics?)

So I come home, go online to pick up a digital copy of the book, and I see this:

"Available on September 7 2021"?!? The book has been delayed three weeks, and DC hasn't bothered to tell anyone — not even their own web developers?

What could have possibly happened for such a late scrub? Are the shippers on strike? Were editors late getting art to the publishing house? Did it fail to pass inspection by the Comics Code Authority? Are the printing presses in Afghanistan? Or Haiti? Or Florida?

Que sera, sera, I guess. Probably just about everyone in the world — including me — has bigger problems than whether or not I get my hands on any particular comic book. If I have to wait until September 7, so be it.

But how about a little warning next time, DC?

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If you venture to your Local Comic Shop today, you may find the collected Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen TPB among the new releases. Then again, you may not. Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #3 was so popular, it's already been through three printings, so it's not hard to imagine that the trade collecting the whole series won't also be popular.

If you didn't know by now, Booster Gold can be seen in three of the Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen mini-series' four issues. He doesn't have a single line of dialogue in any of those issues, so it's kind of like a series of glorified cameo appearances.

And since we're on the subject of cameo appearances:

Superman: Man of Tomorrow #7, words by Dave Wielgosz; art by Miguel Menonca, Yasmine Putri, David Baron

On the bottom left you'll see Booster Gold appearing in the digital first Superman: Man of Tomorrow #7, now available at Comixology.com. Those stories will presumably be printed on real-world paper one of these days, though DC has yet to announce a date. I'll try to keep you posted. Thanks to fabri24cr for calling our attention to that.

Booster Gold is on the left side of this panel, too, though which Booster Gold from which corner of the Multiverse, I can't be sure. That image of Greg Capullo art comes from this recent Tweet from Scott Snyder, the writer behind this summer's multiverse-spanning Dark Nights: Death Metal event. The panel doesn't appear in Dark Nights: Death Metal #1, which was released yesterday, but you still might want to pick that comic up so you'll have a chance at deciphering what's happening when Booster does arrive on the scene. (Again, thanks to fabri24cr for deciphering that the panel has to be Death Metal-related.)

DCEASED: Dead Planet #1, words by Tom Taylor; at by Trevor Hairsine, Stefano Gaudinao, Gig Baldissini

Booster Gold appears on the right for a change in the upcoming DCEASED: Dead Planet #1. Why not the left side of the panel? Maybe because he's a ghost. (Well, not a ghost, exactly. Booster didn't die in DCEASED: A Good Day To Die so much as he was erased from history. Therefore, this is really more of an hallucinatory flashback courtesy the tortured memory of Jon Constantine than it is an actual cameo appearance.) Dead Planet #1 is due out next week in two weeks, and I might have missed it if not for Booster booster Logan Peterson pointing it out. The preview is already available on CBR.com.

It's starting to look like the summer of Booster Gold.

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Looking for something to give thanks for this year? Look no further than your Local Comic Shop, where you'll find this beauty come Wednesday!

photo tweeted by @thedanjurgens

Booster Gold: The Big Fall is the first full color reprint of the first year of Booster Gold comics originally published in late 1985. It only took 34 years!

The 320-page hardcover book retails for $39.99, but for that price you get 12 issues in full color (presumably using the same art currently available online at DCUniverse.com) printed on quality paper.

To give you a better idea what you might expect, here's the splash page from Booster Gold #1 scanned from my original copy:

And here's the same page reproduced online at Comixology.com:

As you can see, the difference is striking. (Kudos to DC for not "correcting" Tom Ziuko's coloring of Booster's original star.) And that's not all you can expect from this reprint.

According to advance solicitations from Diamond Comics (the exclusive comics distributor for DC Comics), The Big Fall will also contain "design material, unpublished story pages and more." That's vague, but it may refer to art that Dan Jurgens teased on Twitter back in April showing Booster Gold paying a visit to the Fortress of Solitude originally intended for Booster Gold #6. Seeing unused art pages from the earliest adventures of our hero should be quite the enticement for Booster boosters everywhere.

Buy a copy and make Skeets (and yourself) very happy.

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The fourth issue of DC's self-promotional magazine, DC Nation, was released this week. A six-page article by Andrew Marino titled "The Sanctuary Files" is devoted to revealing "real-life" psychoanalyst John Foster Elliott's profiles of key characters of the upcoming Heroes in Crisis mini-series. Naturally, Booster Gold was included.

PSYCHOTHERAPY ASSESSMENT: Michael suffers from generalized anxiety, the "poser" syndrome, mainly because he is...just that. He has little respect for the law or the rights of others and believes that he is entitled to act because the end justifies the means. Yet he still has compassion for others and seeks to redeem himself, primarily through shortcuts that often fail. Michael needs to work on his morality, respecting the rights of others and accepting his limitations. Like most narcissists, he operates on double standards and is truly afraid of genuine intimacy.

NOTES: Axis I ICD F411 Sociopathic and narcissistic traits

I'm no expert on psychology like Mr. Elliott, so I had to look up the last bit of his assessment notes. As defined by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, "Axis I" is the classification for almost all psychological diagnostic categories of mental disorders. "ICD" is shorthand for the World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases system, in which "F411" identifies "Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)."

According to the National Institute of Mental Health website:

"People with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) display excessive anxiety or worry, most days for at least 6 months, about a number of things such as personal health, work, social interactions, and everyday routine life circumstances. The fear and anxiety can cause significant problems in areas of their life, such as social interactions, school, and work."

Symptoms for at least six months? Wow. Tom King has really f'd up our hero.

Booster Gold has certainly always exhibited sociopathic and narcissistic traits — that's what we love best about him! — but in recent years he had matured beyond his early days as a "poser." I guess DC's "Rebirth" is about taking everyone back to their roots, but I sure hope that doesn't mean we're going to have to rehash Millennium again. Or Extreme Justice.

You can read Elliott's diagnosis of other heroes, including how damaged Superman really is, in DC Nation #4 for free on Comixology.com. And, of course, you can find Heroes in Crisis #1 for sale in your Local Comic Shop on September 26.

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On Thursday, Cartoon Network announced the release of their latest mobile game, Teen Titans GO Figure!

According to their press release:

Teen Titans GO Figure! features nearly 100 exciting figures to battle and level up. Collect fan-favorites like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Black Lightning, Swamp Thing, Shazam and more, each customizable with new paints, abilities and accessories. You'll meet up with tons of iconic DC characters along the way, including Supergirl, Hawkgirl, Commissioner Gordon, Martian Manhunter, Space Cabbie, Rainbow Raider, Booster Gold, Condiment King and more.

Before you rush out to play, know that DC Comics also released a digital tie-in comic book. The comic's plot actually involves some time travel antics, so naturally Booster Gold has to drop by. His one-panel appearance revisits Rip Hunter's chalkboard from Booster Gold Volume 2.

Teen Titans Go! Figure (Cartoon Network Custom Comic) #1
Ivan Cohen, writer; Sandy Jarrell, artist; Kelly Fitzpatrick, colorist; Josh Reed, letterer

You can purchase the Teen Titans GO Figure! game for $3.99 by way of CartoonNetwork.com, and you can read the Teen Titans Go! Figure comic for free at Comixology.com.

(Yes, the exclamation point is in a different place in those two products. Why? Go figure.)

Thanks to J for letting me know about the comic.

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