When I go into my Local Comic Shop today to pick up Wonder Twins #3, there's something else I'll be taking a look at.

For the second week in a row, DC is releasing a reprint of an event story that contains some Booster Gold. In fact, Booster has very important role in The Death and Return of Superman Omnibus. He named Doomsday.

Justice League America #69 (1992)

But perhaps you already own one of the previous Death of Superman reprints? Well, DC has given you another reason to buy this one. Says Dan Jurgens on Twitter.com:

It's good to know that these omnibuses are reprinting the comics as they were originally intended to be read. That's cool, DC. Good for you.

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Via Twitter.com, Dan Jurgens finally has confirmed the identity of the mysterious woman we saw on the originally solicited cover to the 2012 New 52 relaunch of the Justice League International #1.

To refresh your memory, here is the originally solicited cover, with the woman in Black, on the left and the published cover, with Godiva, on the right:

Art by Aaron Lopresti

Alexandra Gianopoulos was introduced in Booster Gold #45 when Booster quite literally fell into her bed in the "Flashpoint" timeline. Her power was the ability to "borrow" the power of anyone she touched, similar to Rogue of the X-Men. Despite also appearing on the published cover of Justice League International #5, Gianopoulos has never actually made the transition from the Flashpoint timeline to mainstream DCnU continuity.

Thanks to @Cyberjaeger for asking the question that finally resolved this longstanding mystery.

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Booster booster CDN writes in to say:

Hey! Not sure if you saw, but WhatCulture posting an article about comic characters that people hate but shouldn't, and Booster is number 10 on the list.

Hrm. He sure is. According to Neil Gray, who wrote the article "10 Comic Book Characters Everyone Hates (And Why They're Wrong)":

A loud-mouthed braggart with ideas well above his station and a constant need for self-promotion, it's not difficult to see why people have a huge dislike for Booster Gold. Ever since Michael Jon Carter burst onto the scene in 1986 this one man showboating machine has just rubbed fans up the wrong way, and let us not forget here, the guy is nothing more than a thief.

Gray isn't wrong. While Booster obviously has a dedicated fan club — you're all lovely people — modern Internet forums do seem to be full of people who have never cared for the Corporate Crusader. And they do make a good case against him. Creator Dan Jurgens admitted as such while announcing the series' cancellation in the letter column of Booster Gold Volume 1, #25 way back in 1987.

One of the problems we always had with BOOSTER GOLD was the fact that he was really an unlikable character in some respects.

Jurgens softened Booster's origin somewhat in 1988's Secret Origins #35, but at the heart of it, Booster was still someone with an abrasive personality and a history of making some very poor decisions. Some people will never get past that. If Booster can live with that, so can I.

I have a bigger problem with the fact that the article includes Superman at number 7. (Show me someone who doesn't like Superman, and I'll show you someone who doesn't like Coca-Cola or apple pie. Blasphemers!) At least Gray tries to set those misguided miscreants' minds straight.

You can find the whole list at WhatCulture.com. Thanks for the link, CDN.

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Superman #66 was released on February 18, 1992. It's a big issue featuring the conclusion of the battle between Earth's heroes and Brainiac's Warworld. The whole story was called "Panic in the Sky!" and has been reprinted in a collection by the same name twice.

The "Panic in the Sky" event is notable for several reasons, the biggest being that it filled a bit of a gap in Justice League history. At the time, the league was on something of a hiatus following the "Breakdowns" storyline. It would be rebooted the following month with an infusion of more members from the classic roster in Justice League Spectacular #1 (also written by Dan Jurgens), but in the meantime, it was up to Superman to gather the heroes when Brainiac threatened the earth.

(It also happens to share a title with a classic 1953 episode of television's Adventures of Superman. The theme of that episode, in which a heavenly body is hurling towards Earth, and our planet's imminent destruction can only be stopped by Superman, is echoed here.)

Booster plays a small role in the ensemble cast. In this issue he has not a single line of dialogue. He doesn't even make it onto Dan Jurgens' paired covers for this and the previous issue.

But that's not to say that Booster plays no role. Teamwork and trust are at the heart of this event, and Booster Gold has always made an effective team player thanks to his impenetrable force field and desire to earn the respect of his peers. This event introduces him to Maxima, his future Extreme Justice teammate, and Infinity Man, a criminally underused member of Jack Kirby's Fourth World. Count on Booster Gold to use Earth's impending destruction to build his social network.

"Panic in the Sky!" isn't groundbreaking. In many ways, it is the very definition of a mainstream American super hero comic. That's not always a bad thing.

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Mike Cecchini interviewed Dan Jurgens at San Diego Comic-Con for Den of Geek. Of course, the topic of Booster Gold came up, including Jurgens' reaction to Tom King's "The Gift" story in Batman.

Den of Geek: You are also known as the creator of Booster Gold, and Booster has been absent from the DC Universe the last couple of years until that story that came towards the end of your run on Action Comics. What was it like revisiting Booster yet again, and are we ever going to see him again, or see you working on him again?

Dan Jurgens: Well, it's always fun to work on Booster Gold, and it's sort of like he comes up for a while, then he fades and comes back. Working on him in Action was a lot of fun. Watching Tom King use him in Batman was a lot of fun, and obviously Tom is using him in a new series that's coming up, called Heroes in Crisis. And, after that we'll see. Booster is, I think, this fun jovial character who is very complicated on one level, and at the same time very direct. In comics we have characters with secret identities, and all sorts of secrets they try and protect. Booster just wears it on his sleeve, and it's all out there for everybody to see, both the good and the bad, and he has plenty of faults. I think that's what makes it fun to work on Booster Gold, so yeah, hopefully out there we'll see something.

"And, after that we'll see." Booster will need something to do after Heroes in Crisis ends in March. And Green Lanterns is being cancelled in October, leaving Dan Jurgens working on only one book (Batman Beyond ). Wouldn't it be nice if we could get a creator/creation reunion in 2019?

You can read what else Jurgens had to say about his past work with Superman and his current plans for Green Lantern at denofgeek.com.

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