I’ll freely admit, I had my doubts over DC’s year-long experiment known as 52, which aimed to tell a “real-time” story, week by week, about a post-INFINITE CRISIS universe that has to go without Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman for 12 whole months.
It sounded more like a marketing gimmick than a viable story. And did we really need another heavily hyped “event” superhero series? Judging from 52: VOLUME ONE, which collects the first quarter issues, we so totally did. We just didn’t know it. In short, 52 is an awesome achievement in long-form comic-book storytelling.
52 tells many stories, all of them intriguing. Ralph Dibny, aka Elongated Man, is still despondent over the death of his beloved wife; Black Adam, an archenemy of Captain Marvel, is a power-mad, country-conquering tyrant; a newcomer named Booster Gold hopes to take Supes’ place by performing planned feats of derring-do and reap corporate-sponsorship gold; Renee Montoya teams with The Question to investigate a rather beastly conspiracy; the scientist known as Steel tries to free his niece from the clutches of Lex Luthor; a blinded Adam Strange is stranded on an alien planet with Animal Man and Starfire.
Support is lent from second-string heroes such as Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Wonder Girl and Metamorpho, not to mention a few surprise appearances best left unspoiled. How all these threads come together – if they will at all – remains to be seen, but that’s beside the point. If a work can engage the reader in so many stories at once, it’s clearly doing something right in spades.
Kudos to the writing team of Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid for keeping all these balls in the air without dropping a single one. So many cooks should spoil the soup, but somehow the collaboration yields magic. The writing also is cohesive; I can’t tell a difference from page to page, story to story, or issue to issue. Equal accolades are deserving for Keith Giffen and his stable of artists. Their dense, detailed and colorful panels help keep the pages bristling with life.
A page of supplemental notes from one or more creators bridges each issue, enlightening you about any characters you may not have been familiar with beforehand, and reminding you of nuances you may have missed. These are to great relief for anyone unsure of wanting to delve into such a multichaptered series.
My only complaint is that VOLUME ONE doesn’t include any of the backup origin tales that appeared in 52’s original run. My guess is DC is saving these for a separate volume entirely down the road. Either way, I eagerly anticipate the remaining three collections of this mammoth undertaking. Beyond all expectations, I’m happily addicted. –Rod Lott
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THESE AUTHORS:
• PRIVATE WARS by Greg Rucka
• SEVEN SOLDIERS OF VICTORY: VOLUME ONE by Grant Morrison
• SEVEN SOLDIERS OF VICTORY: VOLUME TWO by Grant Morrison
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Have you read the new Bruce Golden novel “Better Than Chocolate”? I can’t decide if it’s cutting edge satire or just a scifi mystery romp, but it’s worth a look.