52 is an interesting idea. Something new in American comics, really.
Twenty-some years ago, DC had a Crisis on Infinite Earths which I followed closelly. I have not been following DC comics much since then, except maybe Batman. ( Read more... ) Crisis never made a lot of sense to me, and they killed off one of my two favourite DC characters - Supergirl. No, the Matrix Supergirl doesn't count; she was a fine character but not a substitute for Kara. Same with Laurel Gand.
So, on the general theory that they need a new Crisis every twenty years, we've just been through Infinite Crisis. I read some of the early issues, found it a confusing story about many characters I didn't care about, and skipped the whole thing. Maybe I'll buy the trade paperback version.
If you don't want spoilers for what has recently happened in the DC comics storyline, read no further.
They skipped a year of the story. 52 weeks, they call it. This is where they caught my attention. The post-skip comics are branded with a mark on the cover - "52 weeks later" - and the first one I read started out with Catwoman having a baby. A cute little thing named Helena. Is Bruce Wayne its father? ( Read more... )
Simultaneously with the skipped year, there's a weekly comic called 52. Weekly comics tend to be rare in North America, and the only ones I've known about haven't lasted long. This one only needs to last a year.
So I read the first issue to see if I wanted to subscribe to it. And dammit, I can't really tell. It's another incoherent story about characters that I mostly don't care about, with the major exception of Renee Montoya, one of the detectives from Gotham Central - now, there was a DC comic that I followed with a passion.
I was not particularly pleased to see Booster Gold, in 52, acting like an idiot - comic relief, yeah, but it killed any lingering respect or affection I once had for the character. Which was the whole point. And if the story goes that Batman, Superman and Wonder Women were absent for the whole of the mising year, what is Clark Kent doing on the scene, besides looking sexy?
I'm not happy about the death of Kon-El - not that I ever believe in any comic book death; not that it isn't a good trade if we get the 'real' Superboy back - will we? But I suppose I should consider myself lucky. They might easily have killed off Supergirl, who is finally back, Kara just as she ought to be.
Looking up Kon-El on Wikipedia, I found an interesting item under "Superboy - Legal status":
Superboy is currently the subject of a legal battle between Time/Warner, the owner of DC Comics and the estate of Jerry Siegel. Federal judge Ronald S. W. Lew issued a summary judgment ruling that the Siegel heirs had the right to revoke their copyright assignment to Superboy and had successfully recaptured the rights as of November 17th, 2004. Warner Bros. replied that it "respectfully disagrees" with the ruling and will appeal.
The ruling throws into question the ownership of Smallville episodes that have run since that date. At stake is is a potentially sizable portion of profits from the Smallville TV program.
It has been theorized that one potential result of the Infinite Crisis storyline is the removal of "Superboy" en toto from the DC Universe if legal judgements suggest it.[citation needed]
I wonder if this jeopardizes the future of the TV show.
...So the second issue of 52 comes out today and I still haven't decided whether to buy it or not. Greg Rucka is one of the writers, which makes it tempting. Montoya is one of the characters, and how much chance do I ever get to read about her? I'm curious, as always. But the rest of it struck me as dumb.
I wish DC comics would give us a synopsis of the story so far and a character run-down each issue, the way Marvel comics do. It would make it much easier to come in on the middle of things.
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