I just wanted to say a few words here about how much I'm enjoying DC Comics' fantastic experiment, 52.The logistics alone of putting out a comic on a weekly schedule would be enough to crush the average creator, but this one is committed to unfolding it's epic, multi-threaded story line in real time -- when it's July 4th in the real world, that week's issue of 52 includes the fireworks. This series however, is the work of the very top creators in mainstream comics: Geoff Johns, Mark Waid, Greg Rucka, Grant Morrison, and Keith Giffen. Imagine them co-plotting, co-writing, collaborating together with a rotating roster of artists. Seriously, what are the chances (even if they did manage to push something out the door every week) that it wouldn't suck eventually?
Maybe impossibly, 52 is the best read on the stands. It's serial entertainment at its most rewarding, combining the very best of of the comics storytelling form with the complexities and pacing of great episodic television like LOST. They have the job of telling the story of what happened in the DC Universe when Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman all decided to take a year off and rethink their roles. So what emerges in that power vacuum?
The story follows some very interesting characters that have not often seen the spotlight in previous stories, and uses the developments in their lives to paint a grand, sweeping picture of the state of the DCU. The tale is told in the exquisite, riveting detail that you could only get from a 1144-page epic, with great pains taken by the creators to flesh out the minutiae of life in this new world. There's even a website devoted to that minutiae, 52thecomic.com, complete with weekly articles and editorials straight from The Daily Planet.
It's incredibly compelling reading, and it's got me more excited about comics than ever.
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