Daring, Inventive, Addictive, Amazing: Weekly Comics Experiement Collected!

books:

	• 52, Vol. 1 Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, ... DC Comics, 2007 - 202 pages average customer review:based on 24 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The aftermath

To say that DC's 52 is ambitious is saying it lightly. While fast forwarding the rest of the DC universe a whole year after the cataclysmic events of Infinite Crisis, DC launched this weekly, real time comic series (hence the title). 52 finds the DC universe minus Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and those that have fallen in the events from Infinte Crisis as well. The series mainly revolves around what could be considered minor heroes, including Elongated Man, Booster Gold, Steel, Adam Strange, Animal Man, Starfire, and the Question among the many others that populate the DC universe, as well as Captain Marvel nemesis Black Adam. In this first volume that collects the first thirteen weeks, Elongated Man finds the grave of his dead wife Sue desecrated and soon learns of a cult seeking to resurrect the fallen Superboy, Booster Gold defends Metropolis seeking fame and fortune for his deeds, Steel finds himself transformed as Lex Luthor reveals a devious plan, Adam Strange, Animal Man, and Starfire are trapped on an alien planet with a bounty on their heads, and the Question teams up with burned out Gotham City cop Renee Montoya, and Black Adam takes over the nation of Khandaq, meets the love of his life, and seeds are planted for future events that could spell doom for all involved. Also here are the debuts of Batwoman and the mysterious Supernova, who becomes the new defender of Metropolis much to the delight of reporter Clark Kent. We also learn the fate of the rest of the space team from Infinite Crisis (Green Lantern Alan Scott, Hawkgirl, Firestorm, Cyborg, Red Tornado, etc.) who return to Earth in vastly different states. Featuring a bevy of talent in terms of writers (Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, and Mark Waid) as well as artists (Keith Giffen, Joe Bennett, Ken Lashley, and Jimmy Palmiotti among others), 52 manages to be compulsively addicting as well as confusing for new readers. Despite all that though, 52 has more going for it than some reviews may make you think, and as a follow up to Infinite Crisis, it succeeds mightily. All in all, 52 is an ambitious project that surprisingly works well for what it is, and it's definitely worth picking up if you missed out on the single issues.

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Daring, Inventive, Addictive, Amazing: Weekly Comics Experiement Collected!

I bought each issue of this weekly comics as it came out and now I've shelled out for the trade paper back. Why? Because 52 is an amazing soap opera read and is like NOTHING you've ever read before from DC. It's landmark, genre-fusing, crazy, and one of a kind.

It really reads well when strung together like this: all the foreshadowing, all that hard work by four of the most talented and creative writers in the business, it's all there from issue one, page one. To complain about the odd pacing issue on a book that came out week-in, week-out for fifty-two weeks is churlish, but as you may or may not now, hard core comics fans can be ridiculously cantankerous. Give em Citizen Kane, they'd moan that it is in back and white, give them The Godfather and they'll bitch that it's not as violent as Scarface.

All the blurbs on the book's back jacket, from almost EVERY major press outlet, is there for a reason. 52 is an amazing accomplishment, a bird's-eye view of the DC Universe that takes us through one year in the life of some of its fascinating second and third tier characters.

The commentary section after each issue is a very nice bonus and offers insights into how the story changed from it's original conception, how it took on a life and momentum all its own, and how the writers and editors came up with many off their brilliant ideas.

In terms of mainstream superhero comics, this is THE series of the last ten years, and it sets a standard of achievement and excellence that will be hard to match! So do believe the hype: this is a rolicking, fun, entertaining read.

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best enjoyed on its own terms

Other reviewers will invariably take 52 to task for a perceived neglect in achieving what they have taken to be the purported goal of this series. And while there is a certain legitimacy to these gripes, they do a disservice to the series which, on its own terms--which is to say, outside of reader expectations--mostly succeeds in weaving together a diverse collection of narrative threads and character arcs, and eventually coming to some rather clever and exciting, if occasionally confusing, conclusions.

It is true that the extent to which it speaks to the One Year Later stories seems almost an afterthought...but oh well. What it does do is introduce new readers (or reintroduce them to comics veterans) to an assortment of lesser-known but otherwise strong characters from DC's B-list and put into motion events that, by the end, allow each of those characters to shine in a way that a universe dominated by the Big 3 seldom allows. DC never entertained the idea that characters of the ilk of Booster Gold and Elongated Man could someday be A-list headliners of flagship titles. That's just silly. Instead, 52 is an ensemble drama that rewards readers for their attention.

If it has a weakness, it is that the real-time gimmick doesn't always bear out very well, as some plot lines seem absurdly protracted in order to coordinate story and thematic climaxes. But thankfully, this only begins to plague the series about two-thirds of the way in. The first collected volume, which only contains the set-ups, still manages to pack a good deal of narrative punch as it puts all of our protagonists into situations within which they are the decided underdogs:

Booster Gold discovers that he may in some way be responsible for breaking time. Animal Man, Adam Strange, and Starfire are stranded in deep space with a bounty on their heads. John Henry Irons stands as the only moral counterbalance to the hollow promises and Machiavellian intent of Lex Luthor's Everyman program. Ralph Dibny (Elongated Man) is living on borrowed time after a near suicide attempt while he attempts to put his final affairs in order. And so on. You may not care for all of these mysteries or all of these characters, but the chances are good that at least one of these plotlines will suck you in.

At its best, 52 is rousing. At its worst, plodding. Though never particularly bad, in my opinion. And the early installments were all fairly well-paced.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, page 5

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