52 #33

December 21, 2006

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Nightwing brings Batwoman a gift, Luthor plays Santa, and Ralph spends Christmas on memory lane.

Writers: Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid
Breakdowns: Keith Giffen
Pencils: Joe Prado, Tom Derenick
Inks: Jay Leisten, Rodney Ramos
Colors: David Baron
Letters: Pat Brosseau
Origin Art: Tom Mandrake
Editors: Stephen Wacker & Michael Siglain
Cover Art: J.G. Jones
Publisher: DC Comics

It’s Christmas in the DC Universe’s missing year, and this week the 52 crew is taking the time to touch base with most of our ongoing storylines. As Batwoman holds her vigil over Gotham City, Nightwing pays her a visit and gives her a very important gift. Back in Kate Kane’s apartment, Renee Montoya is keeping a quiet vigil over her friend Charlie (alias The Question), whose cancer is quickly eating away at him.
Ralph Dibney, meanwhile, has elected to spend the holidays in Central City, visiting the Flash Museum’s Elongated Man exhibit. Ralph is on a mission here, but the way we see him makes on worry exactly what path he’s headed down. Back in Metropolis, Lex Luthor has Christmas gifts for the members of his Infinity, Inc. team. One of the team is down, though, and in him Luthor may find the key to unlocking the Everyman project for everyone. Meanwhile, the Black Marvel family makes a gesture to prove Black Adam’s change of heart to the world.

It’s rare for an issue of 52 to touch upon so many of the ongoing storylines in one issue, but this issue balances things very well. None of the scenes feel superfluous and, in fact, each of our many storylines contains genuine development for the plot. The writers even manage to work in a quick two-page montage demonstrating what other characters from across the DCU are doing on this Christmas.

This week’s origin two-pager is the Martian Manhunter, with art by Tom Mandrake (whom longtime DC fans will remember was the regular artist on J’onn’s last chance at a solo ongoing series). As usual, the origin is a neat, concise summation of the character. On the bad side, this issue confirms for me that it isn’t just the Martian Manhunter artist’s rendition of J’onn’s new look that I don’t like – if it doesn’t look good with Tom Mandrake drawing it, I doubt any artist could get me to like it.

Rating: 8/10

52 #25

October 26, 2006

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: Liminal Times

Halloween in the One Year Gap!

Writers: Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid
Layouts: Keith Giffen
Pencils: Joe Bennett, Dale Eaglesham, Phil Jimenez, Patrick Oliffe, George Perez
Inks: Ruy Jose, Art Thibert, Andy Lanning, Drew Geraci
Colors: Alex Sinclair
Letters: Phil Balsman
Editor: Steven Wacker
Cover Art: J.G. Jones
Publisher: DC Comics

Like every issue of 52 thus far, there’s a ton of stuff going on, and it’s all to the good. In Gotham City, Bruno “Ugly” Mannheim is cementing Intergang’s hold on the city with a crime summit. The demonic Sabbac attacks Boston, sending both Marvel families into action, Ralph Dibney encounters an old Justice League foe in a very unforgiving environment, the new Infinity, Inc. heads out against some veteran villains, Alan Scott makes Mr. Terrific an intriguing offer (GASP) and on Oolong Island, Will Magnus learns more about why he’s been brought there.

This is an issue where the “realtime” gimmick of 52 really works to the book’s advantage – showing the Marvels’ first meeting with their “Black Marvel” counterparts in the middle of a crowded riot of trick-or-treaters was a nice touch. The Ralph Dibney scenes, however, really stole the book. With a dash of DC history (and some beautiful artwork), Ralph descends into the depths of Hell.

What really amazes me about this title is how it’s possible, week to week, to keep track of all the various storylines. It’s clear that 52 now features far more than the originally-advertised six stories, but even with the half-dozen intersecting plots here, there’s no trouble telling who’s doing what, where, and with whom. You don’t need a scorecard for this. Maybe it would be hard if I was waiting month to month for each chapter, but for a one-month gap, there’s no trouble at all.

The artwork is a bit more troublesome to me. It took 25 chapters, but we finally hit something of a “jam” issue, with multiple art teams handling different aspects of the story. For this issue, it worked pretty well – Jimenez on the Ralph scenes, Oliffe on Infinity, Inc. and Mr. Terrific… each segment had its own distinct flavor, and I was okay with that. I don’t know if I’d like every issue to be that way, however. Although I suppose ultimately, once the series is read as a whole, it will have that feeling regardless.

For this week’s origin story, Mark Waid tackles Nightwing, with art by George Perez. Like all the origin stories, it’s a nice, two-page capsule of the character. Unlike most other origin stories, though, we also get something of a glimpse into the future of the regular series. Not the far future, but we do see a little further than the most recent issue of Nightwing brought us, and that’s quite interesting.

All in all, Halloween in the one-year gap turned out pretty well.

Rating: 8/10