crookedtreehouse's review against another edition
4.0
When it comes to brand alliance, I'm definitely more Team Marvel than Team DC. I think this has a lot to do with age, the era I got into comics (late 80s/early 90s), and political mores. (I don't think either company necessarily wants to court partisanship but as someone who has worked in comic retail for twenty years, the more progressive someone is, the more likely they are to prefer Marvel over DC. It's not an absolute but it's fairly accurate.)
Thanks to The Animated Series, I love as many Batman titles as I love X-Men books. The original Teen Titans show got me to read the 80s and 90s Teen Titan books. The events leading up to Blackest Night got me into reading all of Geoff Johns's Green Lantern run, his Flash run, and some of the older Green Lantern books. I've read most of The DC Event Books. Basically, anything with the word "Crisis" in it. I've read an assortment of Wonder Woman books. I tried to enjoy the New 52 but much of DC's universe just doesn't appeal to me.
This is part of why I hadn't read 52 until now. The other part is that when I was working in a new store, with a new coworker back in 2007, she recommended I read the weekly DC comic Countdown. And I read issues 52-50 (it started at 52 and eventually wound down to 0, followed by Final Crisis). I hated them. I asked why she recommended it, and she said "Oh, once you get to issue six, it gets really good." And when I said "You want me to read forty-sox bad issues to appreciate that one of them ends up being good?"
I never took her advice again, and I avoided 52.
The latter was a mistake. 52 is not at all in the same tone as the Justice League Unlimited series, but it's in the same scope, and has a similar appeal. In this series, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman have disappeared. So we follow other Justice League members as their stories intersect, veer away from each other, and intersect with even more stories. There's a noir story with Rene Montoya (from Batman The Animated Series, and Gotham Central), a capitalist comedy of errors with Booster Gold, a dystopian anti-hero tale with Black Adam, a mystery/supernatural/team building story with Elongated Man still reeling from the effects of Identity Crisis, and a space epic with Starfire, Animal Man and Adam Strange. They're all pretty good.
Between each issue one of the four main writers: [a:Geoff Johns|10305|Geoff Johns|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1403679910p2/10305.jpg] , [a:Grant Morrison|12732|Grant Morrison|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1587378296p2/12732.jpg][a:Greg Rucka|18327|Greg Rucka|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1192549912p2/18327.jpg], or [a:Mark Waid|5363|Mark Waid|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1281876586p2/5363.jpg] talk about how the series was evolving as it was being written. The breakdowns are only about a page long, so it's more interesting tidbits than exhaustive backpatting.
This volume has me really excited to finish the series, and might get me to tackle one or two of the many DC reads I've been putting off: the Batman Who Laughs continuity, rereading Blackest Night, or even tackling the 80s Teen Titans run.
I recommend this series to anyone who's deep into DC continuity, fans of the non-Justice League level characters in the DCU, and fans of Johns, Morrison, Rucka, and Waid (for real, that's an amazing lineup of writers) who are curious to see how they'd work together to put out a 52 issue series.
Thanks to The Animated Series, I love as many Batman titles as I love X-Men books. The original Teen Titans show got me to read the 80s and 90s Teen Titan books. The events leading up to Blackest Night got me into reading all of Geoff Johns's Green Lantern run, his Flash run, and some of the older Green Lantern books. I've read most of The DC Event Books. Basically, anything with the word "Crisis" in it. I've read an assortment of Wonder Woman books. I tried to enjoy the New 52 but much of DC's universe just doesn't appeal to me.
This is part of why I hadn't read 52 until now. The other part is that when I was working in a new store, with a new coworker back in 2007, she recommended I read the weekly DC comic Countdown. And I read issues 52-50 (it started at 52 and eventually wound down to 0, followed by Final Crisis). I hated them. I asked why she recommended it, and she said "Oh, once you get to issue six, it gets really good." And when I said "You want me to read forty-sox bad issues to appreciate that one of them ends up being good?"
I never took her advice again, and I avoided 52.
The latter was a mistake. 52 is not at all in the same tone as the Justice League Unlimited series, but it's in the same scope, and has a similar appeal. In this series, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman have disappeared. So we follow other Justice League members as their stories intersect, veer away from each other, and intersect with even more stories. There's a noir story with Rene Montoya (from Batman The Animated Series, and Gotham Central), a capitalist comedy of errors with Booster Gold, a dystopian anti-hero tale with Black Adam, a mystery/supernatural/team building story with Elongated Man still reeling from the effects of Identity Crisis, and a space epic with Starfire, Animal Man and Adam Strange. They're all pretty good.
Between each issue one of the four main writers: [a:Geoff Johns|10305|Geoff Johns|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1403679910p2/10305.jpg] , [a:Grant Morrison|12732|Grant Morrison|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1587378296p2/12732.jpg][a:Greg Rucka|18327|Greg Rucka|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1192549912p2/18327.jpg], or [a:Mark Waid|5363|Mark Waid|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1281876586p2/5363.jpg] talk about how the series was evolving as it was being written. The breakdowns are only about a page long, so it's more interesting tidbits than exhaustive backpatting.
This volume has me really excited to finish the series, and might get me to tackle one or two of the many DC reads I've been putting off: the Batman Who Laughs continuity, rereading Blackest Night, or even tackling the 80s Teen Titans run.
I recommend this series to anyone who's deep into DC continuity, fans of the non-Justice League level characters in the DCU, and fans of Johns, Morrison, Rucka, and Waid (for real, that's an amazing lineup of writers) who are curious to see how they'd work together to put out a 52 issue series.
rebus's review against another edition
3.25
Taking over the X Men was the beginning of the end for Grant Morrison. It's not that that was necessarily bad--the series had been moribund for over a decade and needed an injection of talent--but it was a move toward the mainstream and the big money success that I would guess had eluded him when he was producing much better work (that didn't really sell). The bald, Hunter S. Thompson crossed with Mr. X (and maybe the faux leftist musician Stuart Davis) look he had adopted by this point is a sure sign of his narcissism.
The sell out was complete by the time he returned to DC. Upper middle class privilege permeates the book, with characters like Dibney celebrating the travel that is causing our extinction. There's a great deal of pro forever war propaganda here as well, with tons of anti-Islam, Korea and China rants. He's also perhaps the first to join the mass movement that led to Trans ideology, the now cliched trope of "everyone a Super Man" that was finally exploited well by Garth Ennis and taken to its logical conclusion (that all of these narcissists would bring about the end of the world).
It's not terrible, and it's certainly not helped by the fact that he has to collaborate with 3 other very bad writers, but it's not his 80s and early 90s greatness.
I full expect it to get worse with each volume.
The sell out was complete by the time he returned to DC. Upper middle class privilege permeates the book, with characters like Dibney celebrating the travel that is causing our extinction. There's a great deal of pro forever war propaganda here as well, with tons of anti-Islam, Korea and China rants. He's also perhaps the first to join the mass movement that led to Trans ideology, the now cliched trope of "everyone a Super Man" that was finally exploited well by Garth Ennis and taken to its logical conclusion (that all of these narcissists would bring about the end of the world).
It's not terrible, and it's certainly not helped by the fact that he has to collaborate with 3 other very bad writers, but it's not his 80s and early 90s greatness.
I full expect it to get worse with each volume.
gohawks's review against another edition
4.0
I'm re-reading this series after having picked it up when it first came out. I remember very little, and it is much more fun to read now that I have more background into Infinite Crisis and who some of these characters are. I quite enjoyed this first volume. There are many plots moving back and forth, and it's easy to get sucked into them. Montoya and the Question storyline is the one that was most engaging because it is the most realistic and believable. The dialogue and relationship of the characters make it much more engaging than anything else. It's also interesting to see how all the writers worked together. The notes at the end of each chapter detailing the process are just as entertaining as reading the comic.
rants_n_reads's review against another edition
4.0
So many great things in this collection! First, it features the DC heroes from the backgrounds. We have Ralph Disney processing his wife’s death, Black Adam stepping up as a hero after the “death” of the Justice League, Booster Gold facing criticism for selling out, and John Henry Irons facing against Lex Luther’s scheme to make his own team of superheroes.
polarmouse's review against another edition
4.0
So this is the year-without-the-big-three book. I'm enjoying it so far, there seems to be far too many storylines, but hey, that's how they get you addicted to the billion different books, so can't really blame DC for doing this. One thing I don't like about books like this is you know that the big three are coming back, because hey, they are the kind of the cornerstone of the DC universe. I guess at least the series acknowledges it since it calls itself 52.
testpattern's review against another edition
1.0
The only reason I picked this up was that it was used, okay! It's a terrible thing, the worst kind of fanboy crossover nonsense. Too many storylines crammed into no space whatsoever. A couple of fun Grant Morrison ideas tossed in. I'm embarrassed to have read it.
sherpawhale's review against another edition
4.0
My main interest in reading this series was that it was a definite continuation of the Renee Montoya character post-Gotham Central, written by Greg Rucka. Coming out of this book, I can say that she, the Question, and Booster Gold are the main highlights for me. Also, the part where Clark jumps out of a window as bait, that was pretty fantastic as well.
I like the Elongated Man, I like Steel, and Black Adam is okay, but they're not my main interest. However, that was quite the cliffhanger, and I eagerly anticipate tearing into Volume 2.
I like the Elongated Man, I like Steel, and Black Adam is okay, but they're not my main interest. However, that was quite the cliffhanger, and I eagerly anticipate tearing into Volume 2.
amck's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
zent26's review against another edition
4.0
Uneven, but unexpectedly good. DC never made this weekly format work again (although Lord knows they tried)