First things first: if Booster Gold appeared in a new comic today, I remain unaware of it. But Batman Beyond #48 is due next week, so we've got that to look forward to.

Second things second: Jennifer wrote me to note that Booster Gold's cameo from Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #7 is not in the Boosterrific database. She's right. It's not.

I mentioned the cameo here on the blog the week it was released back in June, but I never added it to the database. As a reminder, here's what that cameo looks like:

Superman: Man of Tomorrow #7, words by Dave Wielgosz; art by Miguel Menonca, Yasmine Putri, David Baron

You might ask why I haven't gotten around to adding that yet. It's a good question. Four months is a long time. There have already been ten more issues of Superman: Man of Tomorrow already! How lazy can a guy be? While I can be pretty darn lazy, the exclusion of Superman: Man of Tomorrow #7 has been intentional.

As a matter of tradition, all the books in the Boosterrific database are the printed editions (you know, the old-school kind that you can read without LED screens and batteries). Therefore, I had been waiting for DC to reprint the Digital First Superman: Man of Tomorrow series before adding it to the site. That's what DC did in the past. Until lately, they have combined 2 or more of these digital comics into a single floppy available at your Local Comic Shop.

But 2020 is interesting times, and DC isn't the same company it was at the start of the year. They have yet to announce any printed editions of Superman: Man of Tomorrow. It might come eventually as a trade collection of the whole series, but these days who can tell?

So the question becomes: should I change the way I've done things in the past to start adding individual issues of digital exclusive content? Or should I hold fast to my old fashioned concepts of what a "real" comic book is? What do you think?

This week's poll question: Should the Boosterrific database include comics existing only in digital formats? Please visit the Boosterrific Polls page to view results for this week's poll.

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DC has been doing their part in COVID-19 pandemic messaging by including "social distancing" PSAs in their comics and shipping posters to comic shops. It's an admirable incentive to get important information to superhero fans, but I think their choice of spokespersons could use some improvement.

One poster features Superman and Wonder Woman playing tug o' war. As much as I admire their wisdom, they aren't the pair I would pick to pose for an anti-virus PSA. He's invulnerable and she's immortal. Their unique talents are better used preventing authoritarian armies from trampling peaceful protesters than preaching to the public about the dangers of airborne pestilence particles.

Another poster tries again with Batman and Robin. Two of the things that Batman is most famous for are 1) not being much of a hugger, and 2) never wearing a mask over his mouth. He might the world's greatest detective, but a reclusive man who dresses like a mouth-breathing flying rat is probably not the guy we need leading the charge of a public education campaign.

While I applaud all those heroes' good intentions, I think if you want to sell people on the importance of maintaining a six-foot halo to impair the spread of communicable disease, the spokespersons you need should be both vulnerable and relatable. And a healthy sense of humor would certainly help their delivery.

Hmm. Do we know any heroes who fit that bill? You bet we do!

Art by Kevin Maguire via Antonio Perianes at comicartfans.com, template by DC Comics

Fixed it for you, DC.

Do what Booster and Beetle say. They've only got your best interest at heart.

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Booster's not in anything this week that I'm aware of, which gives me another opportunity to address a book that came out last week. That book is Superman #23, and it has created quite a stir thanks to this panel:

As I type this, that panel of the world's worst photographer has been liked and retweeted on Twitter more than 200,000 times. Artist Kevin Maguire tweeted, "This is probably the biggest reaction to a panel I've done since 'One punch'."

(If you don't know "One Punch," you've got some good comics to look forward to. Russ Burlingame has a quick explainer of the events of Justice League #5 over at comicbook.com.)

But what gets me about that panel is why all those people in the lobby of the Hall of Justice would want a picture of Superman when Booster Gold is standing right there!

Silly tourists. They might as well be outside taking pictures of birds and planes.

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What makes a hero super? The super powers! From awesome strength to zero-to-sixty speed, great superpowers are the most useful tricks in every famous costumed crime-fighter's tool kit. Michael Jon Carter knew this, and that's why he started his career with high-tech goggles.

Energy blasts, impenetrable force fields, flight: Booster Gold's best known powers are also the ones that show up the best on action-oriented comic book panels. But Booster's arsenal contains more than just power gauntlets and powered tights. He's also got a fancy pair of glasses which, while less flashy, can be just as useful.

Booster's goggles have been a part of his costume from the very beginning. Using components he stole from the Space Museum in the 25th century, Booster and Skeets integrated the goggles into the hood of his power-suit and fueled them with the same "little power rods" that supplied energy to his other technological abilities, as detailed in Booster's very first chronicled adventure detailed in Booster Gold volume 1 #8.

Though their technology isn't traceable to any particular hero or villain, their powers were clearly inspired by the incredible range of abilities of a certain Man of Tomorrow's Kryptonian eyes.

Booster has used the goggles' infrared filters to help him defeat the mad bomber Mister Twister in Booster Gold #5 (1986) and infiltrate the 1000's waterfront stronghold in Booster Gold #12 (1987). The magnifying ability came in handy when the Justice League needed to find a weak point in the otherwise indestructible hull of the alien Klaarsh spaceship in Justice League Quarterly #7 (1992), and the telescopic function was useful when traveling into the Old West to help Jonah Hex bring the warped Hootkins Gang to justice in All-Star Western #20 (2013).

Super strength is great if you want to break through walls, but a hero always knows which walls can be broken safely. Knowledge is real power, and nothing is better at gathering information than high-tech magnifying infrared goggles, just like the pair Booster Gold wears.

If you'd like to read about other powers in Booster Gold's arsenal, check out previous spotlight posts on his Force Field Belt, Booster Shots, and Flight Ring.

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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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