I've been waiting a long time to read this and I'm not disappointed in where it's going. Other than a bunch of JLA I haven't read a ton of DC so it was really nice to have the "History of DC" section to fill me in on past events. I also like that this focuses in on minor characters and "unknowns" for the most part. Very curious where it's all headed. ( )

Ah. 52. The year long, weekly, series that came after the mondo DC Infinite Crisis. 52 Weeks where Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman are nowhere to be found and instead some of the lesser known heroes (and some new ones) step forward, the new Question, Renee Montoya, Elongated Man, and a brand new Batwoman amongst others.

The art is fine, but it seemed to me like the plot jumped around quite a bit, though perhaps it was more jumpy because I was reading the TPB and not the individual issues? In any case it did get slightly easier to read as I went along.

The only thing is that I wish there had been more Montoya/Kate Kane stuff, but, I'll have to pace myself, many more weeks and 3 more TPBs to go. ( )

After a series of catastrophic events, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman have all decided to give up super-heroing for the time being. In their year of rest, numerous lesser known and new heroes step up to the challenge of keeping the world safe. A collaboration of four writers and numerous artists, the 52 series tells the story of that year with one issue per week. In a page from the TV show 24, each weekly issue of 52 covers a time span of one week. This trade edition contains the first 13 issues/weeks of the 52 story.

Two points of disclosure need to be addressed before going deeper into my review. The first is that I readily admit to having had no interest in this series other than that I knew this is where Kate Kane as Batwoman was first introduced and after reading Batwoman: Elegy, I couldn’t get enough of this character. The second is that I find the “DC Universe” and “Marvel Universe” concepts more than a tad silly. Sure, I can suspend belief for a while to believe that an alien from another planet came here and has heroic super powers, but asking me to believe this over and over again (with a whole cast of different heroes with different powers from different planets all co-existing at the same time in the same place) is just pushing it. In my mind, Gotham and Metropolis do not – and should not – co-exist in the same world. That being said, you could see where 52, which abounds in superheroes crossing series left and right, is not exactly to my taste.

However, I was for the most part engrossed in the story of 52 and, laying the ridiculous parts aside, intrigued to see where the series is going. Given my first point above, it probably goes without saying that my biggest enjoyment came from the scenes with Kate Kane/Batwoman and that I’ve also now become a fan of the Renee Montoya/The Question storyline. I also found some of the other storylines and characters entertaining, although with some of them, such as the bratty Natasha and the creepy Black Adam, I still have no interest – but am crossing my fingers that when everything pulls together in the end, I will at least appreciate why those stories were included.

The art work is phenomenal in this book (even with having to occasionally look over the fact that some of the women’s costumes are just absolutely ridiculous – like Power Girl’s absurd cleavage-revealing hole in her suit), which helps make a good read even better. Oddly, the trade edition only includes the cover art for each issue in the back of the book. I found this choice bizarre, especially considering that the specific cover art was often referenced in the author notes following each issue. And, speaking of those notes, it was great that the trade included these insights into the author’s minds and the collaborative process – with just enough teasers about what’s further to come in the series to whet the appetite. ( )

http://jmgold.blogspot.com/2007/11/52.html ( )