It's a big month at Boosterrific.com for Doomsday fans! (Or fans of Dead Superman. Either way.)

We all know that Booster Gold was on multiple covers of Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special #1 a few weeks back. (And, as it happens, he'll be on the cover of a few more when the second printings arrive after Christmas.)

Whether or not the 30th Anniversary Special was the inspiration, Booster booster J got to reading other Doomsday stories and discovered the following Booster appearance was missing from the Boosterrific.com database:

That's from Superman's nightmare sequence at the beginning of Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey #1. I'm sure I've seen that before, but somehow I failed to track it. Oops. (I wonder if I decided once upon a time that it didn't count because it's not really Booster Gold? Oh, well. Whatever. Never mind.) Fixed now.

And, as it happens, that's not the only Doomsday-related Booster appearance that's been added to the database this week. The cover to Justice League America #69 showed up in this week's Superman: Kal-El Returns Special #1:

Superman and Doomsday (and Booster Gold) together forever!

Thanks to J for setting me straight.

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Grant Morrison became a fan favorite writer by tweaking threadbare superhero genre tropes to breathe new life into the JLA, Superman, and Batman mythos.

But before Damian Wayne or All-Star Superman or "Mageddon," Grant honed a talent for thinking outside the four-color corner box with often bizarre deconstructionist experimental comics like The Invisibles, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, and The Doom Patrol. That last one was especially fitting, as the Doom Patrol had billed itself as "The World's Strangest Heroes" since it's earliest appearances in 1964.

Booster Gold would find out just how strange they were in Doom Patrol #29, released on this day in 1989. The Justice League International confronted Morrison's brand of psychedelic madness head-on after Mister Nobody and his Brotherhood of Dada displayed a stolen painting that eats people (and also happens to contain the Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse, "Extinction") under the Eiffel Tower and... well, see for yourself:

art by Richard Case, John Nyberg, Danny Vozzo, John E. Workman

Just another regular day on the job for Morrison's Doom Patrol.

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We've reached the halfway point of my list of the twelve best Booster Gold comics, and number 6 is arguably the darkest story in the list. As you can see from the cover of Superman #74, Doomsday has arrived.

This story is a tragedy. An alien monster has crashed on Earth and is marching his way towards Metropolis, leaving a trail of unimaginable destruction in its wake, including the broken body of Blue Beetle, as we see in the first panel.

Unfortunately for Mitch and his family, Doomsday's path leads straight through their house. Unfortunately for the Justice League, they are Mitch's only hope.

Dan Jurgens is at his best as a writer when he scales his stories down to a human level. That skill is on display here, as several early pages are devoted to the introduction of Mitch and his family. (Angry teenage Mitch is so very 90s, but that's when this comic was created.) They put a face on the danger, giving the audience a reason to care about Doomsday's rampage and creating a dramatic tension often missing from these sorts of super-heroic fisticuffs. We see the stakes driving the heroes to fight and win. If the heroes fail...

Well, heroes can't fail, can they?

The following page contains 8 consecutive panels of Booster Gold taking a beating unlike any he's seen before or since. It's not just brutal --

The issue makes it clear that Booster's sacrifice is a heroic one. Booster Gold is giving his life so that others may live. That's the definition of a real hero.

And that's why I include it among the The Best Booster Gold Stories Ever.

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For decades, the biggest knock against Booster Gold has been that he's only a hero because he stole his powers. His fans know that's not true.

With or without powers, Booster's always been a hero, as he proved on this day in 1993 in the pages of Justice League Europe #50, when he quite literally jumped into action with nothing but his wits and a sharp-looking pair of tights to protect him.

Justice League Europe #50, art by Ron Randall, Randy Elliott, and Gene D'angelo

This 54-page spectacular is the sixth and final chapter of the "Red Winter" storyline in which Green Lantern's old foe Sonar used his upgraded sound powers to disable the Justice League Europe and stage a successful coup of the former Soviet Bloc counties.

With their comrades down, the remaining active members of the Justice League International spring to the rescue. This includes Booster Gold — despite the fact that the same Doomsday that had recently befallen Superman had also destroyed Booster's 25th-century power suit and gauntlets, leaving him functionally no more powerful than a blind doctor.

Full credit to Booster for having the courage to campaign against a mind-controlling dictator with only his fists. However, it does leave him severely disadvantaged whenever a super-powered melee breaks out, as they often do in these sorts of situations. That means Booster spends most of the story on the sidelines, pointing out the obvious.

A real hero helps out however he can.

Another bit of trivia about this issue: it's the first story in which Booster Gold and his future teammate Godiva appear together. They don't share any dialogue, but they do get some great sound effects.

Ouch. Take care of yourself, Booster. Courage is great, but a man's got to know his limitations.

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In case you missed Booster's cameo appearance in Doomsday Clock #9 the first time around, you're getting a second chance with the second printing in stores today.

Or you could just look at these panels.

According to Chomicchron.com, the first printing of that issue — the ninth in the mini-series — sold 120,079 copies, which is more than any but the first issue of Heroes in Crisis. That means more people have seen Booster blasted by Doctor Manhattan than Booster accused of killing the Flash. I'd say that's a good thing.

Meanwhile, if you are in your Local Comic Shop today, let me recommend everything in DC's Wonder Comics line, especially Mark Russell's Wonder Twins. I wish Bendis paced his stories to let more happen in an individual issue, but Young Justice and Naomi are also pretty good reads. Skeets won't have a problem if you buy any of those issues.

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