Customer Reviews

52, Vol. 4

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This series really dosn't leave fans of the Dcu dispointed.
Besides the fact that that 52 has brought back charcters that had for intents and purposes past their prime ie. Booster Gold, Rip Hunter, Adam Strange etc. These are charcters who had seen their prime back in th 80's 60's and 90's. It also has made the Dcu have a little bit more darkness, something the company has always lacked (as far as their on going series). By making the villians think more like real criminals (all about getting what they want and damning anyone who gets in their way) they bring a much needed sense of urgentcy. The heroe is no longer garenteed that they will win and if they do they it's often at a great personel loss.
This all being said; unless you'r a big fan of Dc (I've been reading comics sinsce I was 5) new comers may find the graphic nature of this series to much most definitely not for children (recomend Dc's youth series that they have recently launched) and for people who have no understanding of Dc history. I would recomend getting 52 Compainion, it does a excellent job of giving you a establishing back round of all the main charcters.
But if you no your Dc charcters and have love a realy indepth story of super heroes and villians then this is the series for you.

I'll admit I'm more of a marvel fan, dc always seemed to have gods you couldn't truly relate to. Where marvel had people with problems who also had powers. That being said DC's Kingdom Come was the best mainstream comic ever written. 52 follows in this path. 52 sings the praises of the unsong underdogs of the DC vers you didn't know you wanted to know about. By the end of number 4 you truly care about these people with powers and their problems. I never thought id rute for booster gold or give a damn about the question; but here I am. If you haven't read the 52's do it, its with it!

In earlier reviews I said that 52 would have to finish big to make the whole series worth it and book four just barely manages to do it. The first story to finish was the Luthor/Everyman thread and the conclusion was just as boring as the rest of the storyline. The ending of the Ralph Dibney saga was considerably better and I didn't see the plot swerve coming at all. Kudos to Ralph.

My favorite moment in the book came during the Black Adam storyline, not that I particularly enjoyed much of the rest of it. After the Four Horsemen of Oolong Island are unleashed, their first target is Adam's family in Kahndaq. At the risk of revealing one of the major plot twists it turns out that one of the Four Horsemen (hunger) has already been palling around with Black Adam's family for awhile now. Tragedy ensues and Black Adam goes on a rampage killing millions of people before discovering that it was the scientists of Oolong Island who caused his anguish. This is where it gets awesome. Black Adam attacks an island filled with DC's greatest mad scientists and in the ultimate brains vs brawn battle brawn is completely dominated. In fact T. O. Morrow brings down Black Adam while at the same time bidding on an item on Ebay. I've always felt that there are supervillains and there are SUPERvillains. Morrow is one of the later, one of those capable of taking on the entire JLA single handedly. Having the `Science Society' take down the nearly unstoppable Black Adam was awesome. Later, Adam is freed and goes on to inflict more carnage in `World War III' but for the record it's mad scientists 1, Black Adam 0.

**** SPOILER ALERT ****
Of course the showcase of the 52 series was the Booster Gold storyline and this is where 52 finishes big. Booster Gold started the series and it's only appropriate that he ends the series with a finale that will resonate throughout the DCU. The big reveal is the villain behind evil Skeetz. I actually think the best moment in the Booster Gold storyline was in book three when Booster Gold was revealed to be Supernova but this one was pretty good too.
**** SPOILER ALERT ****

I would like to, once again, thank 52 for adding the endnotes to each issue. Although they sometimes can get rather self indulgent, occasionally they can be quite honest for instance when Greg Rucka wrote, `I hated hated hated the single tear track on the last page [of issue 44]'. On another note, why does DC comics have such an obsession with creating a female version of all male characters. We now have added a female Question, Batwoman and apparently Deathstroke.

I happen to fall among those people who think that Infinite Crisis was fantastic and 52 doesn't have nearly the emotional impact but all in all I'd give it good marks despite some weak patches particularly in the middle two books.

My main worry before I started reading 52 was that it would be a bunch of buildup to a disappointing ending. It's such an ambitious project, I was expecting at least a few stumbles at the end. However, the fourth volume is just as good as the first three. The writers do a terrific job of wrapping up all the plots without it feeling rushed. There weren't any huge plot holes or loose ends glossed over because the writers ran out of time.

The thing 52 does best is successfully end its huge plots without feeling like an ending at all. If anything, 52 was just the beginning for some of its characters. I'll definitely read post 52 Booster Gold, but that isn't a surprise since Booster has always been awesome. But I'll probably even read The Question which I knew nothing about going into 52. I'm even a little intrigued by what happens to Black Adam after 52, a remarkable feat since I didn't find him interesting until this volume. That's how good his climactic scenes are here.

In the end, 52 succeeded at what it attempted to do. It portrayed a whole year in the DCU without Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman and I didn't even miss them. It's good to see great stories built around the second stringers.

This volume collects the fourth quarter of DC Comics' fifty-two issue weekly serial. If you read the first 39 issues' worth of this series then you'll almost certainly be buying this final act. The various plotlines reach their respective conclusions: some were fascinating while others disappointed. The multiverse segment at the end was too abstract for my tastes. The art seemed more disjointed between these issues than earlier in the series. However, I was generally pleased with the series as a whole. With about 300 full-color pages, each of these "52" books offers tremendous value for Amazon's current price of under $14.

This is where it all comes to an end and all of the storylines meet thier conclusion. Booster really shines in this volume and he gets set up for his own series. Black Adam goes on the Rampage known as World War III. John Henry Irons and Lex Luthor face-off. This is worth picking up though only if you've read the rest of the series.

There were six major plotlines in this series, and this last volume gave us the conclusions to each one. Some succeeded, some didn't. Here's my list:

Luthor vs. Steel gets a grade of 3 stars. This would have been higher if it had been slightly more believeable that Steel would actually survive the attacks upon his body that super-powered Luthor inflicts.

Ralph Dibny's story gets a grade of 5 stars. Excellent, surprising, and emotionally satisfying.

Montoya, The Question, Batwoman gets a grade of 3 stars. The build-up to the final showdown was worth 5 stars, but the awful art and narration for the big finale was the worst thing in the entire series.

Animal Man, Adam Strange, and Starfire's story was superbly handled at the end; much better than it was in the beginning. Overall grade of 5 stars for the conclusion.

Black Adam's story gets a grade of 5 stars. The deaths, battles, and ensuing conclusion were extremely well-done. Artistically and dramatically satisfying.

Booster Gold's big conclusion was the 2nd weakest of all the plotlines. The explanation and solutions were weakly explained, and poorly edited and drawn. Overall grade for Booster was 2.5 stars.

Well worth reading overall!

The writing team that worked on 52 has managed to put together an incredible story that will truly be remembered within the DC Universe for many years and were able to reestablish a lot of b and c type characters and make them fun again... great story, action, comedy, mystery and art... this is a must have for any fan of the DC Universe.

A few true points on this book:

*War World III has begun
*Ralph Dibny is a chepo
*Booster Gold is back and he's a keeper

I loved this book from begining to end. You just can't miss it. The Final Crisis has just begun!.

Get this piece of jewel now!

DC's 52 was highly ambitious, which made me more than a little nervous, since projects as big as these usually fall flat. With the big three missing, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, DC picks up some acilliary characters and kind of turns them into the modern age superheroes. Really DC is trying to kick start some other books. But they do a good job, especially since there is a book a week. Bravo gentlemen.