The internet produces the strangest things. Case in point is a thread on the Gamespot Game FAQs message board for the Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 video game titled "So we get Rocket Raccoon, but not Booster Gold?". On one level, I feel the need to point out that Booster Gold is not a Marvel character. But on another level, I have an undeniable urge to say, "yes, please!"

As an aside, let me confess that I've been a Rocket Raccoon fan since his self-titled 1985 series. [Booster Gold and Rocket Raccoon? That was a good year for comics!] If I still bought Marvel Comics, I'd be buying Rocket Raccoon comics. Something about an interstellar raccoon with bubble helmet, laser guns, and an alliterative name really does it for me. Don't judge me.

Returning to the point, whether this poster was serious or not, this post reminds us that we still don't have any video games with a playable Booster Gold character. This is an oversight that must be corrected. Programmers, take note: Booster Gold, The Video Game, as soon as possible (Rocket Raccoon optional).

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This blog is really just an extension of the Boosterrific.com obsession of all things Booster Gold, a way to catalog things that would otherwise fall through the cracks. Bloggers at Tumblr.com, on the other hand, have no such mandate, and are free to blog about whatever they like. And what they like seems to be Booster Gold. Take a gander at these well-named Tumblr blogs:

• booster-gold.tumblr.com
• fyeahboostergold.tumblr.com
• askboostergold.tumblr.com
• askskeets.tumblr.com

If that's not enough Booster Gold for you Tumblr fans, you can always search the site for keywords "Booster+Gold". However, if you do you can't hold me responsible for the Boostle you will inevitably encounter. (One of these days, I'm really going to have to address the "Boostle" phenomenon on Boosterrific.com.)

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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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