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52! Week Fifty-Two

Eric P. I.Leave a comment
By Johns, Morrison, Rucka, Waid, Giffen, McKone, Justiniano, Barrows, Batista, Olliffe, Robertson, Lanning, Wong, Ramos, Geraci, Sinclair, Baron, Hi-Fi, Lopez, Richards, Schaefer, and Siglain. Cover by Jones and Sinclair.

52 was a weekly series published by DC Comics starting in May, 2006. Because I had my 52nd birthday in late 2020, I thought it might be interesting (fun?) to examine this series for its 15th anniversary. I plan to post once a week about each issue. To read previous posts, click the link (52!).

Synopsis

“A Year in the Life”

Week 0, Day 0

Rip Hunter, Booster Gold, and Red Tornado travel back in time one year to the dawn of the new multiverse. Rip tells Booster that 52 identical universes were created after the Infinite Crisis. Mr. Mind confronts them, regurgitating the Phantom Zone in order to trap them within it, but Supernova appears, deflecting the Phantom Zone energy and restoring it, as Rip explains to Booster, “to its proper dimensional plane”.

Mr. Mind retreats and Rip follows it to Earth-17, where Mind is “eating years and events from this universe’s history,” eventually transforming it into the Earth of the Atomic Knights.

Rip chases Mind from one Earth to another as the creature “eats” and alters more Earths:

  • Earth-3 now has the Crime Society
  • Earth-10 is now a world where the Freedom Fighters are still fighting against the Axis powers
  • Earth-50 is now the Wildstorm universe
  • Earth-5 now has the Marvel Family
  • Earth-22 is now the Kingdom Come universe
  • Earth-2 now has the Justice Society of America
  • Earth-4 is now the Charlton universe

Rip tells Booster that they need to trap Mind before he spawns hyperflies and devours every living creature in the multiverse. Booster tells him, “There has to be someone better qualified to fight” Mind. Skeets, barely “alive”, tells Booster that it has faith in him. Booster then time travels to obtain an energy source that will help trap Mr. Mind. Booster appears the day after the first Crisis and encounters Blue Beetle. After a brief discussion, Booster leaves, with the scarab that Beetle was looking for.

Sivana calls for his children to follow him into his suspendium globe where they’ll be safe, but Rip Hunter appears, shoots Sivana in the knee, and takes the suspendium.

Back in the time sphere, Booster places the scarab into Supernova’s suit, and Rip takes them to his time lab. Mind has followed them and attacks. However, Rip has reinforced Skeets’ shell with the suspendium, and Booster traps Mind within Skeets. Rip then explains that they need to make Skeets into a “‘time bomb’ that will end the threat of Mr. Mind”. Booster hurls Skeets into a time vortex, followed by Supernova, and they travel back one year, where, on Week 1, Day 6, Supernova catches Skeets/Mind, and on Week 1, Day 1, he spikes Skeets into the ground.

Sivana finds a devolved Mr. Mind and puts it into a tube, telling it, “Don’t bother to struggle. You’re trapped. Forever.”

Supernova returns to the time sphere. Booster declares that the world should know it was Skeets who saved everyone. Rip informs Booster that he had copied Skeets’ “mem-self into a leftover responsometer”. They travel through the multiverse to New Earth, their home.

Week 52, Day 6

Checkmate prepares to form a task force to locate the depowered Black Adam. Natasha wonders what happened to the members of Infinity, Inc. In Kahndaq, someone reaches for the amulet of Isis. In Alabama, the ghosts of Ralph and Sue Dibny begin their investigation of a pit that opened in a school classroom.

Booster asks Dr. Magnus for help in restoring Skeets. Magnus tells Booster that he had made a backup of Skeets when Booster brought it to Magnus nearly a year before. Magnus is able to restore Skeets, but without the knowledge of the last year. Skeets asks Booster if it has missed anything, and Booster tells him, “It all started 52 weeks ago…”.

Week 52, Day 7

The Question restores the bat overlay to the bat-signal and shines the light at Kate Kane’s apartment, where she is recovering from her stab wound. Question then asks, “Are you ready?”

Thoughts

I remember when I first read this issue 15 years ago and I was SO excited for the return of the multiverse. I even went on an online forum (maybe DC Comics’ website or perhaps the CGS forum?) to express my excitement, while others — inexplicably — were denouncing it. Alas, as I recall, the promise of the new 52 remained only that — there didn’t seem to be much, if any, playing around with the concept with an exception being the “Thy Kingdom Come” story in Justice Society of America.

While re-reading this issue brought back that feeling of renewal for the DC universe, I found myself feeling a bit … cheated. Perhaps 52 was always building towards this big reveal (we saw Mr. Mind in Sivana’s lab in issue 1) or maybe it evolved into it (which, metatextually, is appropriate), but I feel cheated because this ending doesn’t feel as earned as may of the other stories. Plus, this issue ties up some loose ends but are really just teases, such as the Dibny’s as ghost detectives (I know, retaining the status quo is the most important aspect of corporate-driven comic books…).

However, if there was a theme for this series, it is transformation. The DC world is transformed by the absence of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman (the ticker on the cover even announces “The year without [them] is over…”). Many characters have changed as well:

  • The Irons’ relationship that was split and then mended
  • Animal Man and Adam Strange have returned to their families and have been physically transformed as well (powers and sight)
  • Renee became the new Question
  • Ralph died and is reunited with his wife
  • Booster Gold matures, becomes more than the glory hound he had been

But probably the most transformative storyline was Black Adam’s. He started out as the ruthless ruler of Kahndaq; met Adrianna Tomaz and fell in love with her, causing him to ask that the powers of Isis be given to her and they later wed; gave some of his power to Adrianna’s brother, making his own Marvel family; became a political force for change in the world; but then, after the deaths in his new family, remade himself into the evil Black Adam once more (see my earlier note about the status quo…). His story was the most successful for me.

The series itself evolved over time. My recollection of the series when it was announced was that we were going to get stories about the Trinity during that one year later gap, but instead we got the stories about the characters that we did. However, according to the DC Nation article by Dan DiDio in issue 1, “Our original plan was to create a series of specials designed to answer all the questions posed by the ‘One Year Later’ changes”. Paul Levitz challenged them instead to “tell the story of the missing year in a real-time weekly comic”. Then, according to an interview with Mark Waid at Ain’t It Cool News in 2009 (quoted here because that original article has disappeared),

Dan Didio, who first championed the concept, hated what we were doing. H-A-T-E-D 52. Would storm up and down the halls telling everyone how much he hated it. … and there’s one issue of 52 near the end that was written almost totally by Dan and Keith Giffen because none of the writers could plot it to Dan’s satisfaction.

DiDio also reportedly called the follow-on weekly series, Countdown, as “‘52 done right'”, but I think the fans and critics generally disagreed. After 15 years, I think 52 is looked upon as a successful property and a blueprint for weekly comic book series at DC Comics for some time after that. It was an ambitious project, and the co-creators should be applauded for their efforts.

This final issue, while overly concerned with the reemergence of the multiverse, also gives us pointers to follow in other comic books and resolves the final fate of Ralph Dibny, but these feel tacked on and overshadowed by the big reveal. Finally, I find it curious that everything ends with the Question/Batwoman scene. It seems that the coda of “Are you ready?” is for the fans, but it suggests to me something more for those characters specifically, but I don’t know if that panned out.

If you’ve been reading these (mostly) weekly posts, you know I didn’t care for some of the these storylines or how they were executed and some of the art was not to my liking, so I would rate the series as a whole with a B+. However, it was fun to examine a comic book series in this way, though, I don’t think I’ll do something like this again. That is, unless you think I should… (and what should I do?). What was your overall impression of 52, either when it was first published or re-reading now with me? Leave comments below!

52! Week Fifty

Eric P. I.Leave a comment
By Johns, Morrison, Rucka, Waid, Giffen, Justiniano, Wong, Sinclair, Lopez, Richards, Schaeffer, and Siglain. Cover by Jones and Sinclair.

52 was a weekly series published by DC Comics starting in May, 2006. Because I had my 52nd birthday in late 2020, I thought it might be interesting (fun?) to examine this series for its 15th anniversary. I plan to post once a week about each issue. To read previous posts, click the link (52!).

Synopsis

“World War III”

Week 50, Day 2

The Marvel family battles Black Adam in Egypt.

Week 50, Day 3-5

The JSA search the world for Black Adam, and discover he’s in China.

Week 50, Day 6

Members of the Great Ten discuss what to do about Black Adam, because “he knows the part our leaders played in his betrayal”. August General-in-Iron orders the Great Ten to stop Black Adam.

Week 50, Day 7

The JSA, JLA, and other superheroes gather at the Chinese border. They have been warned by the Chinese government to not enter the country or the “missiles start flying”. Alan Scott tells them to be ready, “I’m betting they’ll need the Justice Society soon enough”.

Black Adam defeats the Great Ten one by one by, and August General-in-Iron reluctantly allows the assembled superheroes in to help.

Captain Marvel crashes into the Rock of Eternity after being expelled from the Egyptian gods’ presence: they refused Marvel’s plea to take away Black Adam’s powers. He’s asked, “And there’s no way to force the change?”

Steel is about to launch a nanite-filled missile at Black Adam when Booster Gold appears and takes it. He tells Steel, “it wasn’t gonna work anyway, trust me…”.

One by one, the American superheroes fall to Black Adam. Green Lantern declares that they need help and see members of Infinity, Inc. He implores them join him, but they flee in fear.

Zatanna contacts Flash with a plan, who then tells Green Lantern to haul Adam up in the air. Captain Marvel flies to intercept, calling the lightning, which he grabs and hurls it at Adam. There’s a massive explosion of light and Black Adam transforms into Teth-Adam and, as he falls, he yells “Shazam!” multiple times. He is caught by Atom Smasher.

The JSA search for Black Adam. The Flash yells, “Tell me we didn’t lose him after all that!”, and Atom Smasher says, “The light … the shockwave … no one saw exactly what happened”. Captain Marvel tells them that Adam is no longer a threat. He reveals that as the guardian of the magic, he was able to change Adam’s magic word and that Adam will never guess it. We see Adam walking the streets, saying one word after another.

T. O. Morrow arrives at a base in the Rocky Mountains and begins to examine Red Tornado’s head. He sees what Red Tornado saw “in the great beyond” and exclaims, “Oh God”. Then Booster Gold and Rip Hunter arrive, with the latter telling him, “Get your ass in gear, Prof. ‘Cause we’re already way outta time”.

Thoughts

Minor note: this cover is the only one of the series that does not have the “news ticker” at the bottom.

For much of this series, I have been on Black Adam’s side: he’s a reformed “bad guy” who fell in love, built a family, and tried to accomplish some good in the world. Then one bad day changes all of that and he slaughters a country (later, he’s referred to by one of the Great Ten as a “suffering, dying bull destroying everything in his path”).

While most of the superhero community would like nothing more than to lock Adam up forever, some are still trying to help him. On page one, Captain Marvel implores with Adam, “Stop this. Let me help you.” Marvel doesn’t yell or command, he is sympathetic despite Adam’s sins. Atom Smasher continues to defend Adam believing that Adam wouldn’t kill innocent children when we know he did. There’s also a two-page spread showing all of the superheroes charging Black Adam in the forefront — I tip my hat to the creators on this image because I have been conditioned to root for the underdog and this shows a defiant Adam waiting to confront his adversaries.

How are we as readers supposed to judge Black Adam based on all that has happened? While I think the creators and DC failed to adequately show the destruction and pain Black Adam caused on a human level (we see lots of structures being destroyed), I enjoy the narrative dichotomy of this character’s path, and god help me, I’m still rooting for the guy at the end! In fact, there’s a panel of him saying “Eternity” before he disappears into the crowd and that just elicited pangs of sympathy within me (good job creators!). It’s not that I want him to guess/discover the magic word and continue with his rage-filled vengeance but eventually find some peace. I’m very curious what happens next to this Black Marvel.

52! Week Forty-Seven

Eric P. I.Leave a comment
By Johns, Morrison, Rucka, Waid, Giffen, Camuncoli, Ruggiero, Pantazis, Leigh, Richards, Schaeffer, and Siglain. Cover by Jones and Sinclair.

52 was a weekly series published by DC Comics starting in May, 2006. Because I had my 52nd birthday in late 2020, I thought it might be interesting (fun?) to examine this series for its 15th anniversary. I plan to post once a week about each issue. To read previous posts, click the link (52!).

Synopsis

“Revelations”

Week 47, Day 1

Tim Drake waits outside a cave in Nanda Parbat for Bruce Wayne and is challenged by a monk to solve this riddle:

There’s a goose inside a bottle. … How do you get the goose out without injuring it or breaking the bottle?

Week 47, Day 2

Diana and Tim discuss Bruce’s undertaking of his “spiritual purification”.  She tells Tim, “Something vast and grand is happening and it brought us all here. I hope he finds what he’s looking for. And you, Tim”.

In Gotham City, Whisper A’Dair sacrifices a man trying to divine who Batwoman is. Later, she and Bruno Mannheim discuss the failure, and Brother Abbott criticizes Mannheim’s interpretation of the Crime Bible. They fight, and Whisper comes to a realization: the twice-named daughter of Cain can be found because her name is “Cain”.

Week 47, Day 3

Dr. Magnus works on his new Metal Man as he listens to the tortured screams of Black Adam. When he activates the golem’s responsometer, it calls out, “Crush. Raze. Trample.” His mini Metal Men implore him to switch it off.

Week 47, Day 4

Animal Man travels to Space B and converses with the aliens who created and have since upgraded him. They tell him that he can access any “point in space or in time”. To illustrate, they show Buddy a point one month ahead in his personal timeline where Ellen is being comforted by another man.

Week 47, Day 5

Beast Boy can’t believe Natasha has turned down his offer to join the Teen Titans. He discovers that she is joining her uncle’s new Steelworks facility. Dr. Avasti tells John she quit her job at STAR Labs and wants to know if he’s hiring. She then kisses him.

Week 47, Day 6

The Question visits Kate Kane’s apartment to find it in shambles. Nightwing arrives to tell Renee that “they took her. We’re going to get her back.”

Week 47, Day 7

Diana converses with Rama Kushna, asking the deity, “What have I become?” Rama Kushna answers with,

When did you, in all your perfection, ever share the pains mortals feel each day of their lives?  Until now. Welcome to the world, Wonder Woman. Here is wisdom.

The monk returns to offer Tim more soup, and Tim wonders if Bruce should have returned by now. He also tells the monk he realized that “there’s only a goose in the bottle because you said so,” to which the monk responds, “You are correct. The goose and the bottle are only words”. Then, Bruce emerges from the cave, smiling.

Thoughts

This is probably my least favorite issue of the series thus far, both in terms of the art and the vignettes. Specifically, the Batman and Wonder Woman segments feel disjointed from the rest of the series, and my major issue with the art is that everybody looks similar, like the artist had one male and female template.

Regardless, there are some interesting things in this issue:

  • The dissent in Bruno Mannheim’s organization is interesting (and expected), so I hope we see that play out more.
  • I’m more interested in Space B in regards to Animal Man than I am in the issue with “future” Ellen. Does Space B play into what’s coming at the end of this series? Is it played with anywhere after this?
  • It was nice to see Natasha’s and John’s story come to a close (I assume), especially given it’s been my least favorite of the series. I was also glad to see John and Dr. Avasti moving on with their relationship.
  • What is the “wisdom” that Rama Kushna shows Diana?

The Origin of the Teen Titans

By Waid, Kerschl, Peru, Lopez, Richards, Schaefer, and Siglain

I like how they focused on Cyborg as the central figure of this incarnation of the Teen Titans. What I intensely disliked about the Teen Titans title is the one year jump that occurred during 52. Up to that point, this was one of my favorite titles at the time.

52! Week Forty-Six

Eric P. I.Leave a comment
By Johns, Morrison, Rucka, Waid, Giffen, Olliffe, Geraci, Ramos, Baron, Lopez, Richards, Schaeffer, and Siglain. Cover by Jones and Sinclair.

52 was a weekly series published by DC Comics starting in May, 2006. Because I had my 52nd birthday in late 2020, I thought it might be interesting (fun?) to examine this series for its 15th anniversary. I plan to post once a week about each issue. To read previous posts, click the link (52!).

Synopsis

“Mad Science”

Week 46, Day 1

Black Adam fights through various defenses put forth by the Oolong Island scientists. Veronica Cale opens the blast doors to tell Adam that she “made the things that killed your family”, but he walks past her. Once Adam is inside, Ira Quimby galvanizes the scientists to continue fighting. T. O. Morrow then uses tesseract technology to incapacitate Adam, and Komrade Krabb puts a neuro crown on him, rerouting the “electrical impulses [his] brain sends to his body”, incapacitating Adam. Sivana gloats over Adam, telling everyone, “I’ve been making plans for this moment for a very, very long time…”.

Week 46, Day 3

In Metropolis, as Lex Luthor is being escorted to a police van, Clark Kent calls for Steel and the police Chief to follow him. Kent leads them to a room with a lead door, which Steel breaks through, and they discover the real Luthor. The fake Luthor turns out to be Everyman, who decides to reveal himself in order to attack Natasha Irons. Luthor feigns ignorance and Natasha easily dispatches Everyman.

Week 46, Day 4

The JSA search for survivors in Bialya, with the Flash reporting he found no one and Green Lantern states over 2 million are dead. Atom Smasher arrives, telling them that he wants back on the JSA and to help find Black Adam.

Thoughts

I love the double meaning of the title, “Mad Science”, with the emphasis on “Mad” as we see Black Adam flying through the acid rainstorm, his teeth gritted and his eyes couched by shadows.

The most interesting thing about the Black Adam sequence, besides seeing him laid low by Morrow and the rest (wait until he gets free…), is Cale. She starts by telling Magnus that, “We deserve to die”. She genuinely seems on the verge of repentance, especially in the way her eyes are shown in the panel spanning pages 2 and 3. But then she tells Magnus, “The forces of evil are gathering …. Their goal is eternal slavery and the destruction of free will”. She then jumps on Magnus, saying, “Oh, Will — doesn’t that turn you on?” Later, she confesses to Magnus that as a little girl, she wanted to change the world, but “none of this will be remembered”. That’s when she opens the blast doors (after killing a guard to do so) to confront Black Adam. Does she want him to kill her? Does she feel guilt or just the weight of inevitability? Despite her confession (“It was me,” she tells him meekly), Adam breezes past her, as if she doesn’t exist. This woman continues to vex me — she’s a murderer and callous, but also seemingly insecure and shaken to the core by this experience. What will she like be when we next see her (and I do want to see more of her!)?

A smaller, surprising element was I.Q.’s role in this melodrama. He has appeared before, but his role was inconsequential as I recall. However, here, he talks almost like Glorious Godfrey in the way he inspires the assembled scientists to keep fighting, directing them in their battle, and then punctuates the victory with a somewhat modest, “That’s how I saw it all working out anyway”.

The Origin of Batman

By Waid, Kubert, Baumann, Balsman, Richards, Schaefer, and Siglain

I’m not sure why DC felt the need to retell Batman’s origin in this series. There’s some nice Andy Kubert art, though.

52! Week Forty

Eric P. I.Leave a comment
By Johns, Morrison, Rucka, Waid, Giffen, Batista, Ramos, Green, Hi-Fi, Leigh, Richards, Schaeffer, and Siglain. Cover by Jones and Sinclair.

52 was a weekly series published by DC Comics starting in May, 2006. Because I had my 52nd birthday in late 2020, I thought it might be interesting (fun?) to examine this series for its 15th anniversary. I plan to post once a week about each issue. To read previous posts, click the link (52!).

Synopsis

“Man Ain’t Nothing But a Man”

Week 40, Day 1

Lex Luthor tells John Henry Irons that he has Irons’ niece. Irons contacts the Teen Titans as he dons his Steel armor, and they later storm the LexCorp building.

Steel rescues Natasha from Mercy Graves, but Natasha turns out to be Everyman. Everyman transforms into a giant crab and attempts to crush Steel in his claw, but Steel breaks Everyman’s claw, his armor crumbling off of him. Everyman stumbles back and falls several stories to his death.

Steel finds and confronts Luthor, who now has Superman-like powers, which he uses to shove the handle of Steel’s hammer through Steel’s side. They continue to fight, and Natasha uses the hammer to turn off Luthor’s powers. Steel tells Luthor he should thank them because the “Everyman treatment is toxic. … in six months, you’d be dead”.

On the street below, the Teen Titans wonder what’s happening above. Then, the Luthor insignia falls, and Aquagirl exclaims, “Look! Up in the sky!” and we see Steel and his niece stand over a defeated Luthor.

Week 40, Day 5

Things are not going well in Kahndaq: it’s been raining for a week and the crops continue to die; the people fight among each other, and they are getting sick and dying from long-dead diseases. Osiris believes all of this is his fault for his sin of murder. He tells Sobek that he needs to “purify himself on a pilgrimage. I need to release my powers … and gain new ones to set things right”. He asks Sobek to accompany him to the Rock of Eternity, so that he can “find a new family”.

Thoughts

The issue title comes from the folk song “The Ballad of John Henry” (aka “John Henry, Steel-Driving Man” or just simply “John Henry”) where the eponymous character tells his foreman that

“A man ain’t nothin’ but a man,
Before I let this steam beat me down,
Lawd, I’ll die with this hammer in my hand,
Lawd, Lawd, I’ll die with this hammer in my hand.”

It’s about the spirit of man, struggling against the odds and winning, if only briefly, because John Henry dies in the end, his premonition coming true. There are some similarities in this issue: Steel has been struggling with Luthor, a figure of power and oppression, this entire series. Luthor’s Everyman Project is the technology equivalent to the steam-powered drill that John Henry beats in the ballad, but where is the self-sacrifice here? Sure, Irons is without his armor (he ain’t nothin’ but a man) and he could have died fighting against Super-Lex, but he didn’t. Plus, aren’t they negating the man vs machine aspect of the balled by having Natasha use technology to save her uncle? If you’re going to evoke a powerful American myth like John Henry, you should be drawing more parallels.

And then there’s the legality of what Steel and the Teen Titans did. I suppose Luthor could be charged for what he did to all those people on New Year’s Eve, but Steel and the others assaulted Luthor’s employees and himself, not to mention all of the property damage. Morally, the heroes are supposedly in the right, but I wouldn’t put it past Luthor to file charges and sue, continuing to make the Irons family lives hell. Worse, however, is the callousness displayed by Irons and Beast Boy when Everyman falls to his death. Some “heroes”.

We’re now 3/4 of the way through this adventure, and this is the first resolution we’ve arrived at. Will the other major plots be given an issue (ish) to spotlight their respective denouements? Let’s get on with it already!

Given the focus on nearly the entirety of the issue (no “Origin of …” two-pager this time) to this melodrama, I certainly hope this is the last I see of the Irons family and Luthor in this series. But Osiris’ dark night of the soul journey has taken a new, perhaps interesting twist. Also, it’s been over a week of the suffering in Kahndaq, so where’s Black Adam and Isis? Last issue, we heard the boom telling the arrival of the Horsemen, so what happened then? It’s such an odd break from what logically should come next, but “keep them wanting more” I suppose.