Wednesday, October 11, 2006

52 Pick Up - Some Thoughts on DC's Year Long Comic

52 23 came out this week and that is 23 out of 23 weeks of being on time. DC may yet pull off the task of producing such a prodigious task. From a pure daunting stand point of producing the comic and considering that one person has a major responsibility every week (Keith Giffen) to provide breakdowns, as a production this has been a great job so far.

As a series I'm wavering on whether I like the series or not. It has certainly not been all that I was hoping it would be. We are almost halfway through the book and I feel like we have left more plot threads dangling then any comic has a right to leave. It reminds me of the Claremont era, where he would throw out possible plot points and story lines that would have you wanting more and then never pick up on them again.

With 52 I can't even begin to count all the various plot points they have left hanging. I thought that this book would float around the DCU utilizing the four to six main characters as reference points and show us how the world has changed because of Infinite Crisis and the fact that Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman are gone. Those points have hardly been touched on and we have had a ton of characters being introduced and no real method for us to continue to explore them. Also very few of the main titles have explored that missing year.

I really enjoyed this issue and the Black Adam "family" is fascinating, but I'm waiting for some seminal or at least damn exciting moments to occur. I guess if they occurred in 52 we would have to be dealing with the repercussions in the regular books and the timing thing is screwing it up.

This rambling has been without focus in someway, but I'm trying to decide if I like 52 or not. I guess I want to see some plot lines resolved before the end of the year and wanted to get a better feel for what impact not having the big three around has meant to the world or their cities at least.

Bottom Line I like it, but hope it has some more punch in the months to come and I'm anxiously awaiting the inevitable projects that will come out of this book.

Still all in all DC has done a good job of putting this book out and I'm anxious to hear what projects will spin off from this book. So I guess it is a success, in that it is the first book I read every week and I look forward to even the one or two pages of various characters.

1 comment:

  1. I thought this week's issue, and the last two before that, were awesome.

    I love all the plots. It's like a year in the life of the DCU without those other guys. (Big three.)

    I think when the big fit hits the shan, that's when the heroes will regret not having their big guns around.

    It's not the best piece of superhero fiction ever, but it is usually engaging, and sometimes, even better than that. Plus it lets fans of characters gone from the public eye for awhile to see some of their favs, or just plains introduces new readers to them, which in of itself makes it a year-long anthology allowing new fans and old alike to try something different to the usual.

    And they keep staving off BLACK ADAM killing folks, so you know something awful happens, and many people end up dead from ADAM as a result.

    Cheers.

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