And so the end is near…
One year later and 52 is finally over. We’ve got 3 writers MIA and only James Dodsworth and Mark Peyton are still standing as the 52 panel. This month we round up our coverage of the series with the review of the last 2 issues and then one overall series review. For that other side of the coin we have Adam Berry coming to 52 with a more positive review.
Issue 51
Mark - We start with a familiar scene. A few weeks back Animal Man got a vision of the future with his wife out with another man. Well here we are again, but this time with Buddy actually coming home. It’s a nice fun scene with the love of the family evident. Doesn’t make much sense given how the recent JLA relaunch seemed to indicate that Buddy was still missing, but continuity, who bothers with continuity.
James - It is a great opening to the issue, with some great comic lines - “Roger has a hairpiece, I just saved the universe. You know there’s no contest.” And the appearance of bizarre midget bounty hunters and Starfire wrap things up in a certain sense, although this would appear to be the last time we’ll get to see Buddy for a long time unless Grant has a sudden urge to crank some more Animal Man out.
Mark - Then we’re off to a memorial for World War III. Watch as they try and crowbar in all the One Year Later references they forgot to do during the last 50 issues. Clark and Bruce meet up to chat whilst Wonder Woman assumes her new disguise.
James - This issue does look like a bit of a cramming session, and really optimises how far the intention of the series seems to have drifted. I obviously missed the issue where Donna became Wonder Woman, how the hell does that work? I thought she had the knowledge of all time and space, or something?
Mark - In amongst it all is one good line about why Robin has changed his costume. That’s the sort of character moment I’ve missed during all this.
Mark - Onto Rann and Adam Strange gets his eyes back. Yes, good to see we got an explanation of all the missing eyes and good to see that they hampered him so much. We have a new mini series coming out focused on the space crew and even at the end they can’t sell me on why we spent so much time on them. Lobo kills some more people, Lady Styx doesn’t get explained and apart from some very nice lines and scenes with Animal Man it’s all been a waste of time.
James - Good to see those amazing guardians the Green Lanterns standing around doing bugger all whilst they wait for Adam to get new eyes, well done there. Unless they had medical knowledge, get outside a little quicker and fight those Flame Monsters. Honestly. The Lobo bit is rubbish, but I guess it establishes his stance in the new DCU. Well, until a writer forgets and uses him a humourless joke of a character again.
Mark - Onto the end and after being mostly missing for 14 weeks Booster and Rip are back. Skeets is revealed to be Mister Mind. It’s almost bizarre enough it works, but the character design doesn’t work. Still they are finishing with the most interesting story so there was hope for the last issue.
James - I think the Mister Mind reveal is quite good, and is something that has been there all the way through. I think it was quite nicely played, the character design is a little busy though. The issue really is intended to wrap up a number of elements so we can have Booster and Rip try to stop Mister Mind in the last issue.
Mark - A quite nice origin of the JLA completes the issue. It’s days like this when continuity on this New Earth is so messed up that it would be nice to have Secret Origins back so they could explain how this all fits together.
Issue 52
James - And here we are after 52 weeks of ups and downs with the final double-sized issue. The opening scene is Rip and Booster as Rip finally decides to explain to Booster (and the readers, of course) what the heck 52 is. The whole thing still smacks of trying to cram a lot of unanswered questions in though. And, sorry, Supernova’s costume not only deflects the phantom zone, it also restores it to its “proper dimensional plane”. Yet another plot point that we just have to go along with.
Mark - You have to remember James, that all toys must be put back in their proper place when this is done.
James - I have to admit it is quite good to have all the different versions of Earth, even though I’m not convinced about the ongoing use of them as the DCU. Mind you, have a look at the crappy attempt to do Kingdom Come universe. And the name dropping of the Megaverse.
Mark - It would be quite good if we are going to see stories set elsewhere. It is the attempt to take the cake and eat it. Involving Wildstorm in this is the bit that makes it out to be nonsense.
James - The majority of the issue is obviously dealing with stopping Mr Mind from wreaking havoc across the multiverse, and to be quite honest it’s all a little to much to fit into the pages they have. There is no real sense of tension, the threat has only been visible for a week or so, and as such I don’t really care about what’s happening. I know it can all be retro-fitted together, but it’s still a giant moth thing. And the depiction of actually stopping him is very badly handled, it’s too wordy and the action is badly laid out on the pages. A complete mess.
Mark - If this had been the plan all along why did this threat appear out of nowhere and why did this plot disappear for 15 weeks?
James - And to finish off, we get a load of epilogues. Batwoman is decidely too alive for my liking, the Question is no longer the Question everyone actually wants. Ralph is reunited with his wife but not in the way anyone expected, and Steel is still crap.
Mark - If the purpose of the book was to sell us on these characters as ones we’d like to read then of the spinoffs coming out - Crime Bible by Rucka, Infinity Inc by Milligan, 4 Horsemen by Giffen, Countdown to Adventure by various, Booster Gold by Johns and Black Adam by Tomasi - then they failed. I’m less interested in these characters, particularly Montoya and the Question (two great characters separately). Booster Gold I liked beforehand and it was the only plot I enjoyed almost without reserve. It reminds me of the possibilities that Chronos (a much lamented time travel series) had for the DCU.
James - Overall, it was a bit of a mess. But, DC did extremely well in getting the damn thing out every week. There were certainly bits throughout that I enjoyed, but when you get down to it, I just can’t get over the sheer sales-driven event it became, and I’ve seen a lot of comic marketing ploys. I also think having the One Year Later jump was pointless, but DC painted themselves into a corner with that by actually having this series. I hope Countdown manages to tell a half decent story without dragging to many DC titles along with it.
Mark - For me I felt the format became the main problem with the story. There are some good stories hidden under all this, but the multiple writers stripped of their standard storytelling techniques pushed through one story, whilst a completely separate story was put in place in the form of One Year Later. The fact that we’ve seen so much jury-rigging in the last 3 weeks, especially in World War III, to try and get in place the elements that should have been set up seamlessly. DC desperately needs a continuity editor to stop looking so amateurish on things like this. There were moments when it was really fun, but at the end I’m left with the feeling it could have been done better in a different format and probably shorter as well.