After a good run, it looks like Booster will be taking June off. He is almost nowhere to be found in DC's June solicitations.

I say "almost" because:

SUPERMAN BLUE VOL. 1 TP
Written by DAN JURGENS, KARL KESEL, DAVID MICHELINIE and LOUISE SIMONSON
Art by RON FRENZ, SCOT EATON, STUART IMMONEN, JON BOGDANOVE, TOM GRUMMETT, SEAN CHEN and others
Cover by DAN JURGENS and JOE RUBINSTEIN

When the sun temporarily goes out, Superman temporarily loses his powers...but when they return, they are not what the Man of Steel expects! Clark Kent is suddenly transformed into a being of crackling blue energy, complete with new abilities and a totally new look! And before long, the villainous Cyborg Superman splits the Man of Steel into two beings: Superman Red and Superman Blue! Will Metropolis have two protectors?

Includes stories from SUPERMAN #122-125, ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #545-547, ACTION COMICS #732-734, SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL #67-69 and SUPERMAN ANNUAL #9.
On sale JULY 11 • 376 pg, $24.99 US

You'll see that trade collection is scheduled to include a reprint of Superman #124, which all Booster boosters will recognize as the last appearance of Booster's very briefly worn Mark X power suit, and the first appearance of Booster's slightly less briefly worn asymmetrical Mark XI power suit!

Words by Dan Jurgens; Art by Frenz, Rubenstein, et al

I'm sure you all have that one in your collections already, so you'll be able to pick up a backup reprint when this trade is released in July.

You can see all of DC's June solicitations at Newsarama.com.

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Behind the scenes, Boosterrific.com is undergoing a long-delayed server upgrade.

For me, that means a lot of work migrating flies and databases from one server to another. I'll also start the process of cleaning out some of the dead links and other cobwebs around the house.

For you, that means that there is the possibility of disruptions in site performance in the next few days/weeks as I rearrange and try to prepare the site for the modern, mobile web. (I also have to decide what I want to do — if anything — about Google's requirement that all websites have SSL certification. I'm not made of money, Google!)

Please be patient with me during this overhaul.

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I received two emails over the weekend pointing out potential holes in the Boosterrific.com database. Thank you both so much for trying to make this website better.

Logan's email pointed me to Superman/Batman Secret Files 2003. I checked my back issues, and sure enough, there was Booster. Now the Boosterrific database is more complete than ever!

The other issue isn't quite so clear. Here's the original email from José:

Hi, I would like to ask if costumes count as appearances, like number 12 of JL 3001, where there is no appearance of Booster, but the costume does. Now, if they do, I would like to add Guy Gardner #18-21, appearing a prototype of the Booster costume.

José is talking about the power armor that Guy Gardner wore for the brief time in 1994 between the loss of his Qwardian power ring and the development of his Vuldarian shape-changing powers. That armor was designed by Ted Kord with the intention of using it to replace the power suit that Booster Gold lost to Doomsday.

Guy Gardner: Warrior #18 by Chuck Dixon, Mitch Byrd, Dan Davis, Stuart Chaifetz, Albert DeGuzman

While I certainly can see where José is coming from, I'm not sure I should be tracking these. As a rule, I always track Booster Gold appearances when he is seen on panel in a comic. Those include comics that clearly show Booster's costumes whether he is wearing them or not. (The only on-panel Booster Gold "appearances" I intentionally don't track are when he is mentioned in dialog between other characters when he doesn't actually appear in the book.) Therefore, the question here is whether Guy Gardner's armor really ever belonged to or can be identified as belonging to Booster Gold.

Evidence to support José's case can be found in Justice League America #80 when Beetle says Booster's bulky Mark II armor is based on the Rocket Red armor. Beetle says the same thing about Gardner's armor, but that doesn't make them the same armor. In Guy Gardner: Warrior #18 Beetle himself calls this suit a glitchy prototype, and there is no visual evidence in any comic book that Booster Gold ever wore it.

So is José right? Should I be tracking this costume? What do you think?

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I've seen references to Booster pop up on quite a few sites this week. Rather than spotlight any one of them and leave the others out, I'll just share what I've found and let you visit whatever you think sounds good.

Nick Kazdan has a gallery of their picks to play Booster Gold on the big screen. (HeroicHollywood.com)

Shaun Manning speculates on whether Booster Gold is now "One of DC's Most Important Heroes." (CBR.com)

Tim Adams speculates on Booster's role (and Hal Jordan's death) in upcoming issues of Batman. (CBR.com)

Edward Wallace counts Booster's force field among the "Most Powerful Weapons in the DC Comic Book Universe."(FortressofSolitude.co.za)

Russ Burlingame is careful to include a Booster Gold appearance in his list of essential Dan Jurgens' Superman reading as Action Comics approaches issue #1000. (Comicbook.com).

Booster Gold returns in the latest chapter of Injustice 2 (Chapter 40) now available digitally for 99¢. (Comixology.com)

Now you've got something to read between your green beers tomorrow, Booster boosters! Enjoy your St. Patrick's Day weekend.

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Not so long ago, Erin of Exploring the Time Lab was ruminating on some older comics she wanted to read. Included in her list was Blasters Special #1, which just happens to have been released 29 years ago today.

Art by James Fry, Robert Campanella, Carl Gafford

The Blasters were a space-faring group of super heroes spinning out of the Invasion! event. (I always think of them as a second-rate Omega Men.) Their biggest claim to fame was the inclusion of cast-off JLA mascot Snapper Carr, who had gained the ability to teleport by snapping his fingers. Snapper's inclusion in the Blasters was short lived (as were the Blasters themselves: their entire career was limited to Invasion, this one shot, and a couple of issues of Valor). Snapper would eventually move on to support the DC One Million-incarnation of Hourman in his own title.

So far as Booster Gold is concerned, his brief cameo in Blasters Special is limited entirely to the two-page spread pictured above. Of special note is the fact that this is the only time to date Booster has appeared on-panel with lesser known DC Comics heroes Brother Power the Geek or Shade the Changing Man. Oddly, Booster Gold wouldn't appear on panel with any of the Blasters until 2007, when he finally crossed paths with Snapper Carr at the wedding of Green Arrow and Black Canary.

There you go, Erin. Now you know what you've been missing.

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