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52 enters its last stretch, the final three months before…uh, before it becomes Countdown and starts numbering #52-#1 again which is going to play havoc with my filing system. Allegedly.
Allegedly re the Countdown, not the filing system.
Anyway, 52 for me so far has been a qualified success, meaning that while I think overall it’s worked some aspects have me snoozing.
The Good
- Renee’s storyline has been great; her journey isn’t over yet but to be frank I’d pay money to see her in a Question ongoing. Unfortunately this has been tinged by the fact that I’d have paid more money to see Vic Sage in one.
- Black Adam’s rise and forthcoming fall have me really excited. I liked Adam way back leading the Suicide Squad in a War of the Gods crossover, and have been more than happy with the way he’s been portrayed over the last five years or so in JSA so his prominence here has really worked for me. That said, I don’t think his story will end well…
- Booster Gold/Supernova – if there’s been one thing that’s made me smile, it’s Booster’s return to stardom. Here’s a character that has been treated as a joke for years, and he’s really shone in this book. I am wondering what happened to his ancestor, though…I can’t see him being focused on for an issue just to vanish forever at the end of it.
- Guest stars – nice to see that the Teen Titans, Richard Dragon and all and sundry are still keeping busy!
- The mysteries: what’s going on with Skeets? What’s going on with Animal Man? What’s going on with Mr Mind? And why do I think that the last has more to do with the first than most have theorised?
The Bad
- Considering I love sci-fi as a genre, the Strange-Animal Man-Starfire subplot has left me cold, despite the fact that Animal Man is an old favorite from the early days of his last book – remember when his arm regrew him? Anyway, this is doing nothing for me, and I have an extreme distaste for Lobo outside of L.E.G.I.O.N. so that hasn’t helped. Although Lady Styx is kinda cool…
- Steel and Natasha bore the crap out of me. I have never liked John Henry and while I kind of liked Natasha as Steel, stripping her of that straight away never rang true. That said, the fall of the house of Luthor in #40 kicked all kinds of ass.
- Dr Fate. I dislike Dr Fate immensely. He’s more of a deux ex machina than Dr Strange, and that’s saying something, so seeing the helmet play a role has not made me happy – and seeing it play a role in the story of a character that I normally like a great deal (Ralph Dibny) has made me even less happy.
- Batwoman. Not that I have anything against her as such – I just think that given the big deal made about introducing her it would have been nice if she’d had a bigger part to play. Either that or introduce her in the main Batbooks. It would also have been nice if she had been a pre-existing character. Ah well.
- Monster Robot Island and a bunch of characters anyone would be hard pressed to care for? Give me a break.
- Inconsistencies – and I’m going to break out of bullet points for this.
I know that there are a few things that happened editorially that will have had some impact on this, but there’s a couple of things between the DCU and 52 that have bugged me a bit.
In the Batbooks, it seemed that the missing year had the three guys (Batman, Robin, Nightwing) together for the full year, building trust – except in Nightwing where it turns out Dick left early – and 52 where it turns out that Bruce ran off to the desert and then Dick left.
Harvey Dent is apparently running around Gotham in the missing year – but no sign of him at all in 52 despite quite a bit of action being set there.
The rain of the Supermen? No mention.
World War III? Can’t have been that big as nobody mentioned it, no clean-up necessary.
Clark was using his signal watch to call in Kara for Supersupport when needed in OYL – yet Kara has yet to return from the future in 52 (and assuming she does, how does she turn up in the upcoming Action #850 when she’s been running around post OYL in her own book? Time travel make head hurt…
I understand that some things haven’t been mentioned outside of 52 as story elements haven’t wanted to be shown but I think when read as a whole, if you move straght in to OYL then there will be big disconnects. I could be wrong. We’ll see.
Of course, my friend Palladin did have a theory that 52 was happening on an alternate Earth – and given that the return of the Multiverse has been pretty much guaranteed it’s not a bad theory except for the fact that that would feel like a bigger cheat than Bobby coming back in the shower.
No matter what, 52 has been a grand experiment and I’m glad I didn’t wait for the trade on it – although apparently that would have been a lot cheaper…
Good points, Rich; I found myself nodding in agreement with nearly every one of them.
I had originally planned to wait for the trade, but after reading the first five issues online at UGO, I can honestly say that it was Renee’s story that hooked me. I was so out of the loop, though, that I didn’t even really know who she was–I had to do some research to get up to speed.
Now I’m enjoying the whole ride (along with a lot of other folks, apparently), and I’m quite thankful I didn’t wait. It’s an absolute success in that I’ve really looked forward to each week’s story, with only minor disappointments here and there.
I’m with you on the Montoya/Question ongoing, if logistics of mortality allow that after ’52′.
But I think I’m enjoying the John Henry/Natasha storyline a bit more than you, mainly because I can see the beatdown coming and it’ll be worth it. (I’m only up to #39 though, so…)
I’m more or less neutral about Doctor Fate, but I can understand the misgivings about the presence of something that can ‘magically’ do just about anything it pleases. (Zatanna’s last spell in ‘Seven Soldiers’, anyone?)
And yeah, why the limited Batwoman role? Lack of space? The implentation of such a large, long project like ’52′ is like Mickey Mouse creating too many brooms to tote the water–at some point you’re up to your neck in it, which if I understand correctly, is one of the reasons the four WWIII one-shots have been announced–to tidy up essential continuity that couldn’t be shoehorned into the weekly.
(And by the way, thanks for adding me to your blogroll; I just finished volumes 3 & 4 of ‘Seven Soldiers’, and I need to update as soon as my addled consciousness will allow.)
Good write up. I have enjoyed the Steel story very much. I think the Black Adam story will be the real impact one. It has been the best done in many ways of getting us to care about a family only to know that something bad is coming.
I wonder if the talking croc is the fourth horseman. The Parrallel aspect works only if we look at some characters not seeming to interact with others. I am moving farther away from this. I do think that the Nightwing with Batwoman was Jason Todd. 52 has been good, but I am wary about this possible next wekkly book. It seems like it would be a less than special series after 52.
You pretty much summed up 52 for me, although I actually really like Steel and Natasha. My problem with their storyline was that the pacing was slow and they put Natasha through something that I didn’t think they needed to. But, reading it as a whole, it works for me…#40 rocked my world.
As for Dr. Fate, I’m also not a fan. Although, I have to admit that the Helmet of Fate books have been a lot of fun. I just picked them up to see if I’m missing something, but they’ve pleasantly surprised me.
GTS – You’re welcome; great blog! I found Seven Soldiers to be a bit of a letdown in the end; the Klarion betrayal made little sense to me. Still, I did like Shining Knight, Frankenstein and Bulleteer!
Palladin – Yes, I think the Black Adam story has been great! And actually having Croc as Death is an interesting idea…
Loren – Yes, #40 was GREAT. I’ve been hearing good things about the Helmet of Fate books so I may flick through the trade.
And I STILL think Mr Mind is piloting ‘Skeets’!