DC Comics January solicitations came out Friday and gave us our first look at Blue and Gold #6:

BLUE AND GOLD #6
story by DAN JURGENS
art & cover by RYAN SOOK
Peacemaker variant cover by SIMONE DI MEO
ON SALE January 18 · $3.99 US

Booster and Beetle are lost in space! After a disastrous first day on their new jobs as hero business owners and operators, the duo has found themselves kidnapped and stranded on an alien world. Who's to blame? Well, the Omnizon of course! Welcome to her home planet, Br'Honn, where a battle to the death between friends is just another Tuesday!

Um, are we not going to mention that's Blackguard on the cover?

And second question, will that Peacemaker variant cover have anything to do with the content of the issue, or will it be like The Suicide Squad variant for issue 2 that could only possibly have confused and/or disappointed unwary bait-and-switched readers who bought the issue expecting a blood-spattered orgy of cynical ultraviolence only to find the bromantic antics of Blue Beetle and Booster Gold inside instead? (Asking for a friend.)

Also in the January solicitations is Human Target #4, which has Blue Beetle on the cover. The solicitation is vague, but wherever Beetle is, Booster can't be too far behind. Will he be in this? I guess we'll find out for sure on January 25.

You can find all of DC's January solicitations on gamesradar.com.

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: blue and gold gamesradar.com human target solicitations

Two pieces of news today that are probably each worthy of their own post. But since they both came from the ghost of Newsarama at GamesRadar.com, I'm combining them into this one post.

Thing 1: "Booster Gold: Inside the social media superhero who was 35 years ahead of his time" by Vaneta Rogers is a retrospective of what Booster Gold has meant to the writers who have crafted his adventures.

Rogers' oral history includes interviews with Dan Jurgens, Keith Giffen, J.M. Dematteis, and Jeff Katz, all ow whom clearly have a great deal of respect for the character they helped craft.

In fact, Giffen said that, when he and co-writer J.M. DeMatteis were told by editor Andy Helfer they had to use Booster Gold in their new Justice League run in 1987, it was this 'things-never-go-right' element that defined Booster.

"I'll be honest: I had no idea what to do with the character when we first had him," Giffen said. "Booster really didn't gel in my mind until he had the first 'bwa-ha-ha' moment and Beetle was laughing at him. I knew then that this character is going to know life's frustrations and is going to get knocked down a lot, but is always going to get back up again."

That's just a taste of the insight the piece provides into what has made Booster Gold so durable for the past three-plus decades. Good work, Vaneta.

Thing 2: "New DC Human Target is a 12-issue 'whodunit'" by Micheal Doran is essentially a sales piece to encourage fans to buy the upcoming Human Target series featuring the Justice League International.

The report lays out the basic premise of the series and quotes writer Tom King telling us how this is going to be just like every other prestige mini-series he's written for DC in the past half decade. But the important part for Booster boosters is the news about the variant covers.

The [Trevor] Hairsine and [Danny] Miki #1 and #2 variants connect to form the cover of a 'Whodunit' board game. The back cover features a pin-up calendar, "leaning into the mid-century feel of the comic," says DC.

When placed side by side, those variant covers will look like this:

Mid-century? No. Boosterrific? Very.

Comments (2) | Add a Comment | Tags: covers danny miki gamesradar.com human target keith giffen micheal doran newsarama tom king trevor hairsine vaneta rogers

The full slate of DC December solicitations came to us over the weekend, and it looks like Booster Gold fans will have something new to read.

BLUE & GOLD #5
Written by DAN JURGENS
Art and cover by RYAN SOOK
ON SALE December 21
Blue and Gold Restoration is open for business! Only issue is, our duo is falling apart while their waiting room is packed to the brim with mostly illegitimate problems. Now Omnizon, self-appointed ruler of Earth, is here to sentence Booster and Beetle to death for disobeying her royal rule of the land. It'll take a friend from the future to save their present and prevent a PR nightmare that could close their operation for good!

If that teased, death-defying cover is any indication, it sure looks like our "friend from the future" is none other than Rip Hunter, Time Master! Hooray!

Also coming in December:

HUMAN TARGET #3
Written by TOM KING
Art and cover by GREG SMALLWOOD
ON SALE December 28
Christopher Chance is a man on a deadline and working to solve a crime that might be unsolvable. Despite his better judgment, he's falling for his lead suspect, and her violent ex-boyfriend isn't happy about it. Oh, and that ex? He's a Green Lantern.

I don't have any idea what Booster Gold has to do with this series, and I remain completely unenthusiastic about Tom King putting words in Booster's mouth again. (Keep your hands off my hero, Tom!) But I can't be mad at Greg Smallwood's cover. I promise to try to reserve judgement until I get it in my hands this December.

You can find a complete list of solicitations, including the previously discussed One-Star Squadron, at gamesradar.com.

Comments (1) | Add a Comment | Tags: blue and gold gamesradar.com human target solicitations

Two weeks after delaying Blue and Gold #2 with no notice, DC has finally admitted to supply chain issues causing slippage in publication dates. Per Chris Arrant's report at GamesRadar.com/Newsarama:

DC has now revised the release dates for 28 upcoming single issues, along with five collected editions. Although this is the initial list, DC's spokesperson says the company does "expect further shifts in the future. DC will communicate these moves clearly and quickly."

Two of those 28 issues are Blue and Gold. Issue 2 is now scheduled for September 7, and the release of issue 3 has been postponed to September 28. Given the language of DC's notice, I won't be surprised if those dates don't slip as well.

(Not appearing on that list of 28 issues are Infinite Frontier #5 or Teen Titans Academy #6, both of which were originally announced to be available this week but failed to make that date. So are those books slipping for other reasons? Or is the problem already worse than DC wants us to think it is?)

I'm prepared to be tolerant, DC. Just keep us posted, ok? As any marriage counsellor will tell you, communication is key.

Comments (1) | Add a Comment | Tags: blue and gold chris arrant gamesradar.com solicitations

Booster booster Rob Snow writes to say

I don't think there's a Blue and Gold coming out in November, according to the solicits.

A thorough search of gamesradar's listing of "November DC Comics revealed: A whole lot of Batman" — ain't that always the truth? — proves Rob right.

Last we heard, Blue and Gold #4 (of 8) is currently scheduled for a October 19 release, so we would have expected to see Blue and Gold #5 the third week in November. But as we learned last month, both Kevin Maguire and Dan Jurgens will be assisting on art duties for issue 4, and perhaps that's the reason for the delay on issue 5. This wouldn't be the first time a book's release schedule had to be revised to accommodate an artist (or three).

Oh, well. Better late than never. Thanks for the alert, Rob.

While Booster Gold shows up nowhere else in DC's November solicitations, he will be appearing in the upcoming new edition of the DC One Million Omnibus, which Amazon.com expects to be selling by May 3 (as reported by BleedingCool.com).

The 1,000+ page 2022-edition of the Omnibus will sell for around $100, which may seem a bit steep for a reprint of Booster Gold #1,000,000. But Booster Gold one million is the first appearance of Peter Platinum.

There's never enough Platinum to go around!

Comments (0) | Add a Comment | Tags: amazon.com bleedingcool.com blue and gold gamesradar.com peter platinum rob snow solicitations