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Review: 52

      52 was a weekly comic book series published by DC Comics from May 2006 to May 2007. 52 was written by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, and Greg Rucka with the layouts done by artist Keith Giffen. A rotating group of other artists would detail Giffen’s work on a week to week basis.
     During the mini-series Infinite Crisis, the DC Universe was forever changed. Characters like Superboy were killed off and Superman lost his powers. In the aftermath of this event, all of DC’s comic book titles sprung forward a year in time. During this year, it’s explained that Superman went on sabbatical and waited for his powers to return, Wonder Woman went to her homeland of Themyscira in exile, and Batman went on a journey across the world to rediscover who he is. To explain what happened during that missing year and how the rest of the DC Universe coped with the absence of their three biggest heroes, DC released a weekly series starring minor characters Booster Gold, Steel, Ralph Dibny, Renee Montoya, The Question, Adam Strange, Animal Man, Starfire, Black Adam, and a litany of others. Lex Luthor serves as one of the series primary antagonists.
      All of the characters in 52 have separate storylines that wind up converging at certain points.  One of which involves Booster Gold trying to take Superman’s place as Metropolis’s protector. However, his love for corporate sponsorships trumps his love for being a superhero and a new superhero, Supernova winds up stealing his thunder in the process. Lex Luthor starts and funds a new team of superheroes in an attempt to rehabilitate his tarnished image which brings him into conflict with Steel whose niece has joined Luthor’s team. Ralph Dibny a.k.a. the Elongated Man investigates a cult that worships the deceased Superboy. Renee Montoya is recruited by The Question to stop the crime syndicate, Intergang from taking over Gotham City. Animal Man, Starfire, and Adam Strange find themselves stranded in space due to the events of Infinite Crisis and go on a strange odyssey home. Black Adam returns to his home country of Khandaq and becomes its dictator.  However, a new love interest for Adam begins to soften his views.
     The most impressive thing about 52, is that all four writers and the artist were able to meet their deadlines every week. They were also able to tell complex storylines that planted seeds for future stories within the limits of a twenty-two-page comic book. From a technical standpoint, this is one of the greatest feats in the history of comic book publishing. 52 is also one of the best stories that D.C. Comics has ever published. I highly recommend these series of comics to any fan.

     Rating: *****
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