Yesterday, DC announced on The Source that Flashpoint #5 and Justice League, Volume 2, #1 will be released at 12:01 AM on August 31. DC encourages you to "check your local comic book store for any special events that may be occurring." So the post-Flashpoint era begins with a yawn.

Locally, the last Wednesday of August has been a school night for decades, and I'm sure we're not the only area. That means the teenage and younger target audience that DC says it wants will be largely excluded from events that start after midnight in many, many locations. Sounds like DC is after a different audience for this launch.

If DC calculates the kids will just be downloading the books anyway, maybe the company hopes that this stunt will appease the rest of us who like going to comic shops. Most of the comic book readers I know have full-time jobs and the schedule to match. Some will be unable to attend, and others that do will be sacrificing sleep to do so, all for a few books most of them will be having their local comic shops pull for them anyway.

Keep in mind that this is no "Death of Superman" event: it's just an early on-sale date for a book that most Americans are going to completely ignore. But DC doesn't have to pay the employees who are going to hang around for those long hours, so what do they care? No, this burden is on the comic shop owners, very few of which would typically be open after midnight on an early Wednesday morning.

All of these facts seem to indicate that this artificial event is designed to fail. I had assumed that DC wanted comic retailers to be able to compete with Comixology.com, but I wouldn't have expected this to be the way they planned to do it.

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While we're on the subject of things that I didn't know existed, let's add the Justice League International Postcards set released in 1988. I had seen the Kevin Maguire/Joe Rubenstein/Steve Oliff art on several occasions, but I was unaware of its source until I stumbled upon this 2006 blog post at roadkillbudda.blogspot.com.

The text on the back of this card reads "Born in the 25th century, Michael Jon Carter longed for a life of adventure in our own time. Using a stolen time machine and the advanced technology of his day, he traveled back to '80s Metropolis where, through self-promotion and shrewd investments, he became the celebrity super-hero Booster Gold!" That's about as succinct a description of Booster Gold as you're likely to find, fitting for the back of a postcard.

This 15-card set of cards cost $5.00 in 1988. Given the rate of inflation, a new set of cards would cost you $10.00 today. Likewise, postcard postage has doubled from 14¢ in 1988 to 29¢ today. That's still less than $1.00 per card, but not by very much.

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Oh my, there are a lot of products on the market that I've never heard of before. This weekend, I discovered that last year Moose Enterprises licensed DC Comics characters for their Mighty Beanz line of toys. I know this is going to make me sound like an old man, but what the heck is a Mighty Beanz?

Just because I don't understand it doesn't mean that I'm opposed to it. Hey, the more Booster the better, even if it's bean-shaped.

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Frequent Boosterrific.com commenter Eyz recently reviewed the Eaglemoss Booster Gold figurine on his blog G33k Life. (Most of you probably know Eyz from his Heroes! parody comic strips.) The statuette was produced in September 2009 as the 20th in a series of licensed DC Comics characters especially for the European market. Eyz was kind enough to share some information about the accompanying DC Super Hero Figure Collectible Magazine for inclusion on Boosterrific.com:

"The DC magazines that come with the figurines all use the same template, that is 20 pages in full colors of bio and various information. Basically, it's sort of what you'd find on Wikipedia but only illustrated by various scans. (Well, more like Boosterrific itself in that regards!)"

"Then there's a 3 pages spread 'Classic Storylines' narrating important moments of the character. For Booster it concerns the original arc against the 100 and then 52!"

"After that, there are 3 pages on allies & enemies -- Max, Ted Kord, Jaime, Rip Hunter, etc. -- with pictures and all as well. This is followed by a double page spread on his costume and powers."

"The last two pages are the same for all figurines/characters. It's the 'DC Comics Timeline', narrating the whole DC Universe from the creation of the universe, medieval times with Etrigan, the old west, etc. [The timeline section] in Booster's magazine is 'Part 11: 10,000 to 9,000 Years ago'."

Big thanks to Eyz for the details.

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Maybe you remember 1989's Justice League America #26? You know, the issue where Blue Beetle tried to kill Max Lord? It's understandable if you don't remember; the issue is notably absent any mention of Booster Gold. However, what I want you to remember about the issue is this letter by Eugene Hoyle:

Well, it turns out that Gene Hoyle is still interested in seeing Blue Beetle and Booster Gold get their due. He has started a Facebook page urging DC to revive Ted Kord in the DCnU and make him the new Oracle. Hey, if incredible character development and new legacy characters didn't stop DC from reverting Barbara Gordon to Batgirl, there's nothing keeping Ted Kord from getting better, too. You can give Hoyle's vision your support on Facebook here.

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