By various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-553-8
After the never-ending calamity of the DC Infinite Crisis event, the company re-set the time line of all their publications to begin One Year Later. This enabled them to retool their characters as they saw fit, provide a jumping on point for new converts and also give themselves some narrative wiggle-room.
And DC promptly began by creating an ambitious weekly miniseries to tell much of the story of that “Lost Yearâ€, but through the exploits of mostly minor players. It also proved a means of setting up an even more ambitious crossover event at its end. As with the previous book (52: Volume 1 – ISBN: 1-84576-552-4) it’s only fair – and a lot more fun for all – to summarise the multiplicity of plot strands in broad terms as this is a series you really should see for yourselves.
After Infinite Crisis a shell-shocked planet Earth began to rebuild. But among the casualties were some of Earth’s greatest champions. Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman (plus Robin and Nightwing), Flash and others were gone. Superboy and many more heroes were dead. The city of Blüdhaven had been razed in a super-villain atrocity. Magic was loose around the globe, unleashing primordial terrors and fresh horrors. Slowly the survivors began to pick up the pieces…
Ex-Cop Renee Montoya and The Question are in Kahndaq where super-despot Black Adam has reason to be grateful for their aid. His threat is diminishing as his love for the beautiful Isis and her brother grows. In Australia another of the Missing-In-Action hero finally resurfaces and rationalist Ralph ‘Elongated Man’ Dibney, embraces the supernatural, using the disembodied Helmet of Fate in a quest to resurrect his beloved wife Sue.
The identity of new hero Supernova obsesses the citizens of Metropolis. John Henry Irons (formerly the armoured hero Steel) is unable to prove the sinister nature of Lex Luthor’s Everyman Project, but his estranged niece Natasha is falling deeper and deeper into the evil billionaire’s clutches. Light-years from anywhere Animal Man, Starfire and blind Adam Strange are desperately trying to return to Earth. Being found by Lobo, the Deadliest Bounty Hunter in the Universe may not be a lucky break…
A huge number of certifiably Mad Scientists have gathered on an island in the China Seas with unlimited resources and budget and been told to just let their creativity run wild. In Gotham City, as everywhere, a new Bible of Crime is converting thugs into zealots and fanatics, new heroes are appearing and everywhere there are oblique and bizarre references to the number “52â€. Veteran superhero survivors of the Crisis are attempting to rebuild, but it will be a long time before the World will again have a Justice League or Teen Titans to depend on…
This volume collects issues #14-26 of the weekly serial and the ongoing storylines are just beginning to cross and connect at this point. Jointly written by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid, with breakdowns by Keith Giffen, drawn by Eddie Barrows, Chris Batista, Joe Bennett, Dale Eaglesham, Phil Jimenez, Drew Johnson, Shawn Moll and Patrick Olliffe, inked by Drew Geraci, Jack Jadson, Ruy José, Andy Lanning, Tom Nguyen, Rob Stull, Ray Snyder and Art Thibert with colouring by David Baron, Pete Pantazis and Alex Sinclair, lettering by Phil Balsman, Pat Brosseau, Jared K. Fletcher, Travis Lanham, Ken Lopez and Nick J. Napolitano and stunning original covers by J. G. Jones and Sinclair the sheer nerve of the undertaking is breathtaking. That the result is such a qualitative success is truly heartening and bodes very well for the future of the unique genre of Super-Heroics.
This is a landmark achievement in American comics publishing and one you should experience for yourselves, but if you are of an impatient nature you’ll probably want to have all four volumes to hand before you start.
© 2006, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.