Heroes in Crisis #7 arrives in your Local Comic Shop today, but it's already had a bit of controversy. The originally solicited, "unfinished," cover by Clay Mann was pulled back in December at the request of Tom King. It was replaced by this, the final cover by Mitch Gerads:

I have to say that I like this new cover much better, not the least because this one shows Booster Gold! (Sure, he's getting thrown around by Superman, but Superman throws everyone around. Jerk.)

You can find an issue preview online at DenOfGeek.com in which Blue Beetle and Batgirl have a conversation! (Brace yourself: Batgirl continues to be written like no incarnation of the character I've ever read before. Maybe she's the killer?)

Buy this issue and make Skeets happy!

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I'm on record as saying I'm no fan of what Tom King has done to Booster Gold in issues of Batman and Heroes in Crisis. However, I cannot deny that my dissatisfaction has been softened considerably by some pretty fine art by King's collaborators.

Artist Tony Daniel is selling his original inks from Batman #45 on ComicArtFans.com. I'm not nuts about the story, but doesn't Daniel's Booster Gold look dashing as he crashes through that window? It can be yours for $700!

Also on ComicArtFans.com is the single greatest page in Heroes in Crisis #4. This Clay Mann piece isn't for sale, but it is definitely Boosterrific. "Bros before heroes" forever!

Keep up the good work, everyone.

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You may recall that when first announced, Heroes in Crisis was originally intended to be a seven issue series with a couple of stand-alone tie-in books. Plans changed, and those stand-alone issues were folded into the series.

The first was issue #3, which focused in part on Booster Gold's actions just before the story started. The second, issue #6, comes out today. Judging the book by its cover, I think we can expect it to show what Harley Quinn was doing when the Sanctuary killings began.

Note that Mitch Gerads is the credited artist for the issue, replacing Clay Mann. Mann's art has been the strength of the series so far, but Gerads shouldn't be considered a step down. Gerads worked with series writer Tom King to create their acclaimed Mister Miracle mini-series.

Also note that neither the issue's solicitation text nor the preview, available on SuperheroHype.com, guarantee Booster Gold will actually appear in the issue. I'll be buying it anyway.

[UPDATE: Booster appears on exactly one page. I think. (It's getting increasingly hard to tell what "reality" is in this series).]

Buy this issue and make Skeets happy!

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We're less than a week away from Heroes in Crisis #6 of 9, which means we're pretty close to learning the truth behind who killed everyone at Sanctuary. It seems like a good time to talk about Booster Gold's mental health.

Clearly, Booster has been mentally struggling with fallout from his incredibly stupid actions in Batman #45. I had complained at the time that Booster's reaction to Green Lantern's graphic on-panel suicide was inappropriate — and it was — but I'm willing to concede that Tom King was trying to make a point in his own way about how the human brain reacts unpredictably to such trauma.

And how is Booster Gold reacting to that trauma? His symptoms as exhibited in Heroes in Crisis look like an aggravated case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which is exactly what press reports advertised King wanted to address in this series. PTSD is triggered by extreme trauma with common symptom including avoidance of repeat stimuli, willful memory loss, and hallucinations. Booster has spent most of the series hiding from just about everyone, so check one. And he claimed he couldn't remember exactly what happened, so check two. But hallucinations? Maybe those too.

As Frankie Hagan pointed out in blog comments last month, so far in Heroes in Crisis, no one seems to have noticed Blue Beetle other than Booster Gold, which certainly suggests that the Blue and Gold reunion may be all in Booster's head. I don't know what that says about Booster Gold, but if it turns out to be true, it may be even more disappointing for Booster Gold fans than if our hero turns out to be a mass murderer.

Speaking of murder, that's the real question, isn't it? Is Booster's mental illness severe enough to drive him to kill? Statistical evidence indicates that there are indeed links between PTSD and increased rates of outbursts of anger and violence. However, the odds that PTSD would unbalance a hero enough to engage in a spree killing remain remote.

Experts say that the biggest indicator of how an individual may respond to PTSD is that person's pre-trauma personality. It's true that Booster Gold has always had his own set of foibles, yet he has never killed anyone, even when given the opportunity. At heart, he's no murderer, no matter what Tom King wants to imply.

We'll find out more about Booster Gold's health when Heroes in Crisis #6 is released February 27.

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I'm not sure what to make of this Tom King tweet from Friday:

We've known since New York Comic Con back in October that King has been planning on pairing Blue and Gold for Heroes in Crisis. This tweet, presumably, is the proof that it is indeed coming. But how?

The Booster Gold in Heroes in Crisis has never been a partner of any incarnation of the Blue Beetle (so far as we know), so is their first meeting? Or a reunion of a previously unseen, shared past in the DC Rebirth Universe? Or a vision in Booster's head generated by Sanctuary?

For answers to these (and many other questions), we'll just have to keep reading future issues of Heroes in Crisis.

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