52 (Volume 1).
February 11th 2008 05:17
Category: Graphic Novels/Comics
Publisher: DC Comics.
Production team: Writers – Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka & Mark Waid, Art Breakdowns – Keith Giffen, Pencils – Eddy Barrow, Chris Batista, Joe Bennet, Ken Lashley, Shawn Moll & Todd Nauck, Inks – Marlo Alquiza, Draxhall, Jack Jadson, Ruy Jose, Tom Nguyen, Jimmy Palmiotti & Rob Stull, Colours – David Baron & Alex Sinclair, Letters – Phil Balsman, Pat Brosseau, Jared K.Fletcher, Travis Lanham, Rob Leigh & Nick.J.Napolitano, Original Covers – J.G.Jones with Alex Sinclair.
Cost: US $19.99.
Fifty two, definitely an unusual title for a graphic novel and one that gets you thinking about what it actually signifies, and then you take a gander at the back cover and you realise what exactly its all about. At first it didn’t hit me until I did that, but let’s face it there are fifty two weeks in a year and this particular line was based around DC’s publication of a weekly comic which detailed a ‘missing’ year in the DC universe, each comic detailing a particular week in this missing year. By adopting this kind of ‘real time’ format DC have pursued a similar kind of operation to the television series 24, though rather than opting for an hourly time frame they have gone for a weekly one. Each week gradually builds up the tension, introduces the various story arcs and set that protagonists into place, the various players all working towards a particular goal though as they do they are not aware that there stories and actions are all about to converge.
Ah yes, I hear you say, that’s all well and good but what exactly is going on here? Glad you asked. It seems that 52 takes place after some fairly catastrophic events within the DC Universe, the first of these being the control of Superman by the chief of an ultra secret organisation known as Checkmate. This individual, Maxwell Lord, was eventually forced by Wonder Woman to reveal how to reverse his mental control over Superman, the solution was simple, Wonder Woman would have to kill Lord. Perhaps Lord should have given a bit more thought to his suggestion as Wonder Woman did precisely this. Such an action whilst diverting potential disaster only served to create a rift between the Amazon princess, the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight, the latter two heroes believing that their might have been another solution. Unfortunately for the trio their moral discussion would have to wait as a crisis of literally infinite proportions occurred soon after this incident.
During this Infinite Crisis Superman lost his powers in the attempt to stop a rampaging Superboy from an alternate reality; Earth Prime. Batman took a leave of absence from his crime fighting crusade after realising that he was becoming more and more paranoid and loosing the plot whilst the Amazon princess; Wonder Woman also retreated from the world in order to engage in some soul searching of her own. This in the wake of the Infinite Crisis and the Checkmate incident the world’s three greatest superheroes effectively faded from the public view. Of course the world still kept turning, life went on and though Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman were no longer around to fight the good fight other heroes emerged to take up the slack in their own way and to continue to stand up against the super villains and criminal organisations that felt the time was ripe for their own schemes and agendas.
Thus 52 is the story of this ‘brave new world’ where the mighty heroes are apparently no longer active and a new breed emerge to take up the slack. Booster Gold, Black Adam, Isis, the Elongated Man, Green Arrow, the Question, Renee Montoya, Batwoman, Supernova, Starfire, Adam Strange, Animal Man, along with the Green Lantern corps and China’s Great Ten are some of the characters that are seeking to bring some kind of stability to the new world. The big problem is that they’re all working at cross purposes, forging their own particular agendas in their own particular turfs and not seeking to present some kind of united front to the dangers that are growing. Certainly there is definitely something strange going on in the world at large, Lex Luthor is promising to turn everyone into a Superman, mad scientists have begun to disappear like nobody’s business and the criminal syndicate known as Intergang looks set to take over Gotham City with the absence of the Dark Knight.
Thirteen weeks of drama in the DC Universe are covered within this first volume of 52 and it begins literally with a bang as within the opening few pages we see the seeming resolution of what was the Infinite Crisis and the emergence of the ‘new’ world, which judging by what is taking place this ‘new’ world is undergoing a painful birth and at least one of the protagonists look ready to quit this mortal coil. From that point on events move onto the various lives of the primary protagonists whose own agendas gradually unfold within 52, these protagonists being Steel, Black Adam, Renee Montoya, Booster Gold, Ralph Dibny the Elongated Man and the trio of Adam Strange, Animal Man and Starfire as well as the creator of the Metal Men; Doctor Will Magnus. At first it seemed as 52 was simply telling the story of how each of these protagonists is coping within this new and changed world, there seemed to be no particular feeling of the stories having any interconnection with each other, at least that is what it looked like on the surface yet as you read further into things there is something that links all the tales together, namely a sense of impending crisis a crisis whose precise nature is only hinted at and not revealed.
Booster Gold certainly makes an interesting protagonist, a hero who is seemingly attempting to fight the good fight against the forces of villainy, except in reality Booster Gold seems to be more focused on all the fantastic endorsement deals he’s been getting as well as all the media attention from his actions. Then there is Renee Montoya, a character originally from the Batman animated series, a former officer with the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD) who is spending her time getting drunk and partying. Her story is told in the vein of the hard boiled detective complete with mean streets and internal monologues, the fact that she gains the attention of the Question just makes it all the more interesting and dangerous. It was a story that really captivated my interest, out of all the other stories the only other one that came close to really engaging me was Dr Magnus’ continued conversations with a former colleague and convicted mad scientist Professor Morrow who has been pointing Magnus towards questioning why so many mad scientists have recently been disappearing and what, if any, motive their could be behind such disappearances.
A world without the Man of Steel, the Dark Knight and Wonder Woman certainly seems to be a fairly interesting one, but then again as the ancient Chinese curse says “May you live in interesting times”. Fifty Two certainly fits that concept nicely and with a great production team made up of the big names in DC Comics it’s certainly a finely honed example of the material that they keep producing. Well worth getting your hands on and reading.
Production team: Writers – Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka & Mark Waid, Art Breakdowns – Keith Giffen, Pencils – Eddy Barrow, Chris Batista, Joe Bennet, Ken Lashley, Shawn Moll & Todd Nauck, Inks – Marlo Alquiza, Draxhall, Jack Jadson, Ruy Jose, Tom Nguyen, Jimmy Palmiotti & Rob Stull, Colours – David Baron & Alex Sinclair, Letters – Phil Balsman, Pat Brosseau, Jared K.Fletcher, Travis Lanham, Rob Leigh & Nick.J.Napolitano, Original Covers – J.G.Jones with Alex Sinclair.
Cost: US $19.99.
Fifty two, definitely an unusual title for a graphic novel and one that gets you thinking about what it actually signifies, and then you take a gander at the back cover and you realise what exactly its all about. At first it didn’t hit me until I did that, but let’s face it there are fifty two weeks in a year and this particular line was based around DC’s publication of a weekly comic which detailed a ‘missing’ year in the DC universe, each comic detailing a particular week in this missing year. By adopting this kind of ‘real time’ format DC have pursued a similar kind of operation to the television series 24, though rather than opting for an hourly time frame they have gone for a weekly one. Each week gradually builds up the tension, introduces the various story arcs and set that protagonists into place, the various players all working towards a particular goal though as they do they are not aware that there stories and actions are all about to converge.
Thus 52 is the story of this ‘brave new world’ where the mighty heroes are apparently no longer active and a new breed emerge to take up the slack. Booster Gold, Black Adam, Isis, the Elongated Man, Green Arrow, the Question, Renee Montoya, Batwoman, Supernova, Starfire, Adam Strange, Animal Man, along with the Green Lantern corps and China’s Great Ten are some of the characters that are seeking to bring some kind of stability to the new world. The big problem is that they’re all working at cross purposes, forging their own particular agendas in their own particular turfs and not seeking to present some kind of united front to the dangers that are growing. Certainly there is definitely something strange going on in the world at large, Lex Luthor is promising to turn everyone into a Superman, mad scientists have begun to disappear like nobody’s business and the criminal syndicate known as Intergang looks set to take over Gotham City with the absence of the Dark Knight.
Thirteen weeks of drama in the DC Universe are covered within this first volume of 52 and it begins literally with a bang as within the opening few pages we see the seeming resolution of what was the Infinite Crisis and the emergence of the ‘new’ world, which judging by what is taking place this ‘new’ world is undergoing a painful birth and at least one of the protagonists look ready to quit this mortal coil. From that point on events move onto the various lives of the primary protagonists whose own agendas gradually unfold within 52, these protagonists being Steel, Black Adam, Renee Montoya, Booster Gold, Ralph Dibny the Elongated Man and the trio of Adam Strange, Animal Man and Starfire as well as the creator of the Metal Men; Doctor Will Magnus. At first it seemed as 52 was simply telling the story of how each of these protagonists is coping within this new and changed world, there seemed to be no particular feeling of the stories having any interconnection with each other, at least that is what it looked like on the surface yet as you read further into things there is something that links all the tales together, namely a sense of impending crisis a crisis whose precise nature is only hinted at and not revealed.
Booster Gold certainly makes an interesting protagonist, a hero who is seemingly attempting to fight the good fight against the forces of villainy, except in reality Booster Gold seems to be more focused on all the fantastic endorsement deals he’s been getting as well as all the media attention from his actions. Then there is Renee Montoya, a character originally from the Batman animated series, a former officer with the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD) who is spending her time getting drunk and partying. Her story is told in the vein of the hard boiled detective complete with mean streets and internal monologues, the fact that she gains the attention of the Question just makes it all the more interesting and dangerous. It was a story that really captivated my interest, out of all the other stories the only other one that came close to really engaging me was Dr Magnus’ continued conversations with a former colleague and convicted mad scientist Professor Morrow who has been pointing Magnus towards questioning why so many mad scientists have recently been disappearing and what, if any, motive their could be behind such disappearances.
A world without the Man of Steel, the Dark Knight and Wonder Woman certainly seems to be a fairly interesting one, but then again as the ancient Chinese curse says “May you live in interesting times”. Fifty Two certainly fits that concept nicely and with a great production team made up of the big names in DC Comics it’s certainly a finely honed example of the material that they keep producing. Well worth getting your hands on and reading.
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