Congratulations to Blue and Gold artist Ryan Sook for finally giving me reason to sign up for an Instagram account with this very inventive announcement over the weekend on instagram.com/rsookart:

rsookart: So, yeah, this is my own personal gag about supply chain issues. But really, next issue will be there Sept. , 7! Support your LCS, retailers, publishers, and the titles you love during the snafus because even superheroes have set backs from time to time. And Booster and Beetle will be back in action ASAP!! #blueandgold #dccomics #dcuniverse #boostergold #bluebeetle #superheroes #newcomicbookday

Well, that makes it almost worth the delay, Ryan. Thank you. (Additional thanks to Rob Snow for calling this unusual Boosterrific comic strip to our attention.)

Click any of the above images to visit Sook's Instagram to see the comic in its native, one-panel-at-a-time format.

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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.

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For the second week in a row, I went to my Local Comic Shop to buy books that DC says via their website should be available now only to discover after arriving that they were not actually released. Obviously, I'm making a mistake expecting DCComics.com to give me an accurate assessment of what they are making available each week.

So I'll consider this a lesson learned. From now on, I'll only trust release information reported by the website of DC's sole distributor, lunardistribution.com, (which only reports books shipping a few days in advance) and even then probably only after I have a book in my hand.

What that means for you, loyal Boosterrific.com visitor, is that release dates I have listed for upcoming new releases may not be accurate, even when I have taken that data from DC Comics itself. These sorts of scheduling problems shouldn't be a big surprise to any of you who have been buying comics for any length of time, but it's still worth a reminder.

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If you happened to pick up Wonder Woman #777 earlier this month, you may have recognized her gender-swapped Earth-11 counterpart, Wonder Man. What you may not have realized is that Wonder Man and Booster Gold have history. Sort of.

For the rest of that story, let's turn back the dial to Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer: Superwoman/Batwoman #1, the first appearance of Dane of Elysium, aka Wonder Man.

written by Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti; art by Kalman Andrasofszky, Kanila Tripp, John J. Hill

Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer: Superwoman/Batwoman was released in 2008 as a tie-in to the year-long Countdown (to Final Crisis) series, and it re-introduced readers to Earth-11, an alternate universe first visited in 2005's Batman/Superman #23 — though it wasn't called "Earth-11" at that time. The reconstitution of the DC Multiverse in the wake of Infinite Crisis wouldn't be revealed until roughly two years later at the conclusion of 52. (And they say the DC Multiverse is too confusing. Pfft!)

As you can see from these panels, Earth-11 shares much of the history of Earth-1, including familiar events of Identity Crisis (2004), Wonder Woman #219 (2005), and Amazons Attack! (2007).

All Booster Gold fans will remember Maxwell Lord's killing of Blue Beetle in the accurately titled Countdown to Infinite Crisis. Well, on Earth-11, those events played out somewhat differently.

The Maxine Lord executed by Wonder Man didn't kill the female Blue Beetle. She killed Beetle's best friend: Booster Gold.

Thus, in a way, Wonder Man avenged Booster Gold's death!

A guy like that can't be all bad.

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Take heart, Booster boosters! Cort Carpenter has filled the gap of new Booster Gold art this week by sharing with us his latest sketchbook commissions.

Soo Lee

Bob McLeod

Ryan Kelly

By my count, Cort has now shared with us more than 67 pieces of commissioned Booster Gold art (many of which you can see larger on Cort's Twitter and imgur accounts). I don't know how he affords them all. Maybe he's a secret billionaire. All the best superheroes are, you know.

In his email, Cort teased the possibility that he may have as many as five new commissions to share with us before the end of the year. I think you'll agree that gives all Booster boosters something to look forward to.

Thanks, Cort!

Comments (4) | Add a Comment | Tags: bob mcleod commissions cort carpenter fan art imgur.com ryan kelly soo lee twitter.com