The Official "52" Thread

[Zorin Industries 0]

That Flash one was awful, I like both Savage and Flash, but could hardly get through those Issues. Sad thing is I haven't picked up Flash since.

 

Whats the new series like anyway, i've heard some bad reports?

[Vampiro69 0]

I have been less then happy with the new Flash series. I am not a fan of Bart being grown up and replacing Wally. The writting has also been suspect.

 

What I think I enjoyed the most out of the Flash series under Johns was that we constantly were being updated on the whereabouts of the Captain Cold and the rouges. We have bearly heard anything about them and that is something that I miss reading about. Personally if Geoff Johns would come back and write a book based on the Flash's rouges I would be first in line to pick up an issue.

[SuperJerk 0]

As popular as Wally was, why did they think replacing him was a good idea?

[Steviekick 0]

Didio's joke comment was that you can't have a Crisis without a Flash dying.

[Steviekick 0]

Here is the cover to the next issue of 52...

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

^^^^^^^

 

That is the cover for the week of Nov 29th

 

Week 28 Day 2

Gotham: Renee and the Question are shining the Batsignal in the sky over Gotham to get Batwoman’s attention. Renee and the Question explain to Batwoman when she appears about the ritual with her getting her heart ripped out that is meant to happen in three nights. Renee is also wishing that the Question had stayed in Nanda Parbat with Richard and Tot, and the Question is doing a lot of coughing. Also a headline on the newspaper that the Question is reading claims that the Everyman Project has just created it's 10,000th hero.

 

Australia: A number of Aborigines are being evicted from their homes. One of the Aborigines uses a remote control on Red Tornado, still in his junk shop body, to attack those that are trying to kick them off their land. The evictors pull out rifles and start shooting at Red Tornado. Red Tornado starts to spin his arms which causes two mini tornados. Red is then hit with a sledgehammer causing his head to fall off and them the body is torn apart by other men with sledgehammers. The man with the remote is arrested and the pieces of Red Tornado are tossed into the back of a salvage truck. We then see a sign that the land is to be used by Ridge Ferrick uranium mining. The whole time Red Tornado keeps saying “52”.

 

Space: Lobo is pulling the castaways and his dolphin friend in their spaceship while being chased by the Emerald Head and appears to have eluded the Head.

 

Week 28 Day 5

Gotham: Batwoman fights a creature in a church and is them shot with an electric blast by Mannheim. Mannheim is choking Batwoman and getting ready to start his ritual when Renee and the Question pop up from behind some pews. When he sees this Mannheim is surprised, “The questions…no…no you can’t be here, not yet…THE QUESTIONS HAVE NOT YET BEEN ANSWERED!” and he throws Batwoman at Renee and the Question. When Renee, Questions and Batwoman get back up they notice that Mannheim is gone.

 

Week 28 day 7

Space: The castaways, the dolphin and Lobo are shown standing in the jawbone of a skeleton in space. Lobo mentions that he came by the eye when “they found th’ Emerald Head guilt of blasphemy against the Triple Fish God. A plan is made to capture the Head by setting traps in the worm-tunnels of the skeleton they are on when the Head appears and starts attacking. The Head gets stuck in the bones and stops fighting. Kory then notices the insignia on the cockpit of the head being that of the Green Lantern. Kory believes that this is the Green Lantern from the solar system that was destroyed in the “Stygian Passover” as the Lantern puts it and the Lantern was not able to protect that solar system because Lobo had taken his primary weapon. The person in the ship claims to be the Lantern of Vengar; and we only see a silhouette of the character. The castaways decide that whatever the Stygian Passover is it is destroying everything in its path and appears heading in the direction of earth so they decide to stick with Lobo and will try to stop it before it reaches earth.

 

Preview page for next week

 

[Lightning Flik 0]

Why do I think I should know who that GL is? Someone clue me in here.

[Justice 0]

He's Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern. He's been in a few different comics this year, but you'll probably want to look up JSA and Checkmate.

[Lightning Flik 0]

Didn't Alan Scott like die or retire or something? I'm quite sure that's why Hal and them go to be GLs and why I dropped GL (yes, I was an Alan Scott fan).

[Justice 0]

He changed his name into Sentinel, but I don't remember him dying. He may have briefly retired, but from what I can remember he's been a pretty consistant member of the JSA.

[SuperJerk 0]

The JSA has retired more times than the Who.

[Vampiro69 0]

Alan Scott along with the JSA has been retired quite a bit. One was when the JSA had to fight in Ragnarok for etirnity and they were brought back. The next was when he retired after the events of Zero Hour when the whole JSA was either de-aged or killed by Extant.

 

After that he eventually discovered that the power of the starheart was now eternalize and now longer needed the ring. That was when he became Sentinel.

 

After that though my knowledge of the whereabouts and history of Alan is foggy. I know he was in the JSA but I don't know much else to give you. The only other info was that I believe when they were battling Mordru, he retook the GL ring and once again became Green Lantern.

 

I hope this quick history helped you. If I am off slightly on the details I am sorry but I was at dart league tonight and had several drinks.

[Steviekick 0]

That's pretty much Alan Scott's story. I think he lost the Starheart power trying to save Jade.

[Lightning Flik 0]

Ah gotcha. I dropped GL entirely and never did pick up anything JSA (more because I didn't realize he was on it, lol), but at least I know now.

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

Week 29 Recap:

 

Week 29, Day 2

Morning in New York: Wildcat, Green Lantern and Flash are standing around the Justice Society table talking about the end of the JS and how last Thanksgiving they were having “another turkey day with the League”. Outside is a Thanksgiving Day parade with a number of Everyman Project heroes flying by, a float with Infinity Inc on it and a big Lex Balloon with the JS looking on from their window. None of the JS are happy about the use of the name Infinity Inc and how Luthor came about it. Apparently Sandman had discovered a dozen of Luthor’s heroes with a criminal past but Luthor’s PR team has helped cover it up. The newest member of Infinity Inc, Jade, is then introduced to the parade viewers. AT that point Obsidian appears in JS headquarters and is not happy about the Jade situation. Obsidian has words with Green Lantern and then storms out of the building flying through a window. Obsidian goes to confront Jade but is blocked by Matrix. Obsidian not to be stopped encases Matrix within a dark field and continues after Jade. Jade tries to protect herself by creating vines around Obsidian but it does no good. The new Nuklon says that somebody has to stop him at which Green Lantern says that he’ll do it. Green Lantern separated the two and asks Obsidian if this is what his sister would have wanted in which he replies no and calms down.

 

Afternoon on Oolong Island: Some of the scientists are sitting around a dinner table while Sivanna starts to carve a six-legged turkey with a chain saw. Will gets up from the table and leaves the room to be followed by Dr. Cale. During this Dr. Krabb is insisting that somebody has stolen his gold watch. Will is about to enter the men’s room when Cale catches up to Will and they talk. Cale reveals the gold watch was in Will’s pocket. We then get a panel that is of a building which appears to be on Apokolips. Cale reveals that her specialty is “technology from another world—a higher, brighter, more terrible world has fallen to Earth Doctor Magnus. ‘I saw a star from the sky which had fallen to Earth. The key to the Pit of Abyss…’"

 

Egg Fu arrives at the dinner and questions why he was not invited; Sivanna is still carving the turkey with a chainsaw. One of the guards snickers at Egg in which Egg kills the guard. Will and Cale return to the dinner table. Egg asks Will how the Plutonium Man is coming along in which Will replies slowly. Egg is not happy with the response, “Slowly implies progress however small. You have done nothing Mister American Genius”! Cale then tells Egg that Will is one medication to suppress his Manic/Depressive tendencies. Egg then has Will taken away by the guards to have his medication taken away. Cale then cuts the tip of her finger and sucks the blood and says “I’m going to enjoy working with you Will Magnus”.

 

Justice Society Headquarters: Flash invites Wildcat to his house for dinner. Wildcat says he has plans so Flash takes off leaving Wildcat alone, later seen drinking his sorrows away.

 

Week 29, Day 3

Metropolis: The Steelworks: Dr. Midnight and Beast Boy are talking to a person whom was apart of the Everyman Project and lost his powers. Kala shows up looking for John who is in a back room. John has been peeling off his silver skin for about an hour and almost has it all removed, “…It started peeling off about an hour ago. We knew Luthor could take away everything he gives…we thought it was a question of procedure, that Ferry had a second treatment that took his powers…but if it’s like this then there is no reverse therapy. There’s an expiration date”. (My comment: 12:00 AM on New Year's day)

 

 

Cover for #31

 

Preview pages for #30

 

[The Amazing Rando 0]

BATMAN OMG WTF?!

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

BATMAN OMG WTF?!

 

Grant Morrison on Batman and his role in 52

 

So before starting the book, I read through every Batman story I own and tried to synthesize all of the portrayals - from the '30s to the present day - and all that history into the real life of a single extraordinary man. When you condense nearly 80 years of Batman's adventures into a little more than ten years of Bruce Wayne's life, his descent into grimness becomes not only clear but quite understandable! And the need to get him out of it is even more urgent.

 

The very rough timeline I have in my head runs as follows - 19 year old Bruce Wayne returns from his journey around the world and becomes the (1930s style) Dark Avenger Gothic Vigilante Batman for his first year of adventures. Then, aged 20, he meets Robin and his whole outlook changes - now he has responsibilities, he becomes less reckless, now he has a partner, he lightens up and learns to have fun again for the first time since his parents died. The police stop chasing him, the Joker stops killing and becomes a playful crime clown, and Gotham is bright and crazy like Vegas. Batman's having the time of his life in his early 20's, fighting colorful villains and monsters with his irrepressible young pal.

 

But by the time he's in his mid-20s things are starting to go wrong - the first Robin leaves to go to college and hang out with the Teen Titans. Batman enjoys a period as a swinging bachelor for a couple of years but it's not long before the hammerblows start to fall - in rapid succession, the now-homicidal Joker kills Jason Todd, the new Robin, and maims Barbara (Batgirl ) Gordon, Bane breaks Batman's back, then Gotham is devastated by earthquakes, plagues and urban warfare, the Joker kills Jim Gordon's beloved wife, Jason Todd returns corrupted, and a betrayal by his superhero friends leads Batman to the creation of Brother Eye and leads him on to Infinite Crisis where Batman winds up pointing a gun at Alexander Luthor's head before deciding to leave Gotham for a year,

 

Thinking about it this way, the grim Batman of the last decade or so makes a whole lot of sense - the guy went from cool, assured crimefighter to shattered ***-up, barely clinging on with his fingernails. His mission, his life and his sanity had all gone off the rails. His confidence was shot. After a few years of relentless pain, bad luck and betrayal like Batman's had, any normal man would be canceling the papers, pulling the blinds, then pulling the trigger. We had to address the effect of these tragedies and then move him beyond them.

 

In the upcoming issue #30 of 52 we see the post-Infinite Crisis Batman reaching rock bottom. The story of how he starts his comeback is revealed in a later issue of the weekly and it's that revitalized Batman Andy and I are picking up on in our book.

[SuperJerk 0]

I'm not buying the "Bruce Wayne became Batman when he was 19 years old bit. I guess he's trying to mentally preserve the idea that Batman is only 30 years old, but that's a completely unnecessary limitation to put on the character.

 

I don't know if the classic "Batman: Year 1" is still considered canon, but he was 25 in that.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

It's not an unnecessary limitation. If it's building to developing a darker character, which Batman by his nature should be after everything that has (in canon) happened to him, then good. Even without the "limitation" he would still only be in his mid-30s tops. I think Morrison is trying to build the character in such a way that it makes the "Dark Knight Returns" story more plausible. Comic writers always look out for their own stuff.

[SuperJerk 0]

Yeah. They recently established that Clark Kent has been Superman for 12 years (or 13...I don't remember exactly). I'd think Bruce Wayne should have been Batman for about 11 or so. Thus, Batman should be about 36. I don't have a problem with the rest.

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

WEEK 30 RECAP

 

The first three pages are a basic history of Batman. The history includes Batman and Robin, Joker giving up murder for a while, Dick going away to college, Jason becoming Robin, Jason being killed, Barbara Gordon shot by the Joker, Batman’s back being broken, War Games, the return of Jason Todd, Robin’s father dying, Batman about to shoot Alex…”He lost it. In the end he just lost it”.

 

Week 30, Day 1

Nightwing and Robin are in some Arab nation. They figure that they were set up to be “recreating that journey that turned Bruce Wayne into Batman”. Robin believes that “he wants us to be the new Batman and Robin…” Nightwing and Robin knock out the two guards on the premises and find the Bat cape and cowl on a large urn.

 

Gotham City: A doctor friend of Kate Kane is looking in on Charlie due to his suffering through cancer. She has given him some morphine to help him get through the pain. Kate offers to let Renee and Charlie stay there are her apartment as Renee has been evicted from her apartment for not paying the rent in six months. Renee finally accepts the offer as Kate leaves for the night and tells Renee that “I won’t be back until late. Don’t wait up”. Renee goes into Charlie’s bedroom to sit with him for awhile and starts to meditate.

 

Nightwing and Robin have made their way into a warehouse where they find a truckload of weapons flown in from Gotham, “this stuff could start World War 3, 4, and 5”. The only warehouse person still conscience bites down on a poison pill as Nightwing is interrogating him asking who gave them the weapons in Gotham. Robin goes looking for Batman on a ATV while Dick takes off back to the states to cover things in Gotham.

 

Week 30, Day 3

Bruce is walking in the desert and comes across a man with his eyes blindfolded and a eye on the tip of each of his fingers. The man is a member of the Ten-Eyed Brothers and Bruce has tracked them down to slice out his demons. Bruce has to fight the one to prove himself and upon doing so four other Brothers appear with swords and surround Bruce. Robin shows up and finds Bruce on his knees and asks Bruce if he needs a hand to which Bruce responds “The Ten Eyed Men kill demons Tim. I asked them to kill mine. I asked them to cut out all the dark, fearful, paranoid urges I’ve allowed to corrupt my life…and they did. It’s over. Batman is gone”.

 

Week 30, Day 7

Gotham: Batwoman is fighting a gang of beasts trying to get information as to where Mannheim is. During the fight she turns and asks “You going to lend a hand here or are you just planning on getting an eyeful?” At which point she is joined by Nightwing “You have to admit, it’s quite an eyeful. What can I say? I’ve got a thing for redheads”. Only to receive a quick rebut of “Trust me I’m not your type”. They defeat the beasts but a wolf gets away;

“Nightwing, pleased to meet you.”

“ Batwoman”

“Yeah definitely not a Batgirl”.

Both Batwoman and Nightwing agree to look for Mannheim together with Nightwing starting in the north of town working south and Batwoman starting at the south of town working north. Batwoman fires off her grappling hook and leaves.

 

Cover to #32

 

Preview for #31

 

Special Bonus:

 

Look what it says on the chest of Blue Beetle

 

[Zorin Industries 0]

Morrison is some sort of 21st Century prophet.

 

I think so anyway, feel free to disagree!

[Ted the Poster 0]

... I don't get it.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

It took me close to ten minutes to figure out what exactly you were pointing out in that picture. I'm such an ass.

[Justice 0]

Look at what the lines form. I've honestly never noticed that before.

[SuperJerk 0]

Special Bonus:

 

Look what it says on the chest of Blue Beetle

 

Are we focusing on the "M" shaped thick black line? Cuz I don't get the significance...

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

Special Bonus:

 

Look what it says on the chest of Blue Beetle

 

Are we focusing on the "M" shaped thick black line? Cuz I don't get the significance...

 

Split the "M" in half

[SuperJerk 0]

Oh...snap.

[Ted the Poster 0]

Dang. That would explain the GL-Beetle thing.

[Lightning Flik 0]

...you know I think I'm gonna need to go back in time to read comics from the GL, because I don't get what you guys are talking about concerning the black M thingie.