52 vol. 2
by billions of people
52 was DC's foray, for the first time in a long time at least, into a weekly title, and it ran for 52 weeks from 2006 to 2007.
It was pretty awesome.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Uh, a lot. But the gist of it is that DC wanted us to know that they had more to offer than Batman and Superman, so they thought they'd spotlight other superheroes.
Booster Gold struggles with other superheroes on who gets to be the guardian of Metropolis. Renee Montoya and the Question try to solve a mystery, but they also start intersecting with other plots, such as Black Adam's marriage with Isis, and their subsequent quest to bring peace to the world.
Other threads include Will Magnus, the man who built the Metal Men, getting kidnapped to Oolong Island, which is like a secluded island for mad scientists.
WHY I LIKED IT: It is an absolute joy to get lost in the ongoing plot in these books. There is always something going on, and something about to happen. It's always exciting and fun to follow everything. My favorite threads, if I had to choose, would be Will Magnus and his adventure to bring back the Metal Men, and Black Adam's transition (kinda) from ruthless tyrant who tore the limbs of people who rubbed him the wrong way to a tyrant with a heart of gold
WHY I DIDN'T LIKE IT: Honestly, everything here was well done, but my biggest complaint is that some plot threads don't occur frequently enough. Like, the thread with Adam Strange, Starfire and Animal Man is really exciting when you're reading it, but then you don't see them again until, like, next volume. It makes you kinda forget about 'em.
WHY I DIDN'T LIKE IT: Honestly, everything here was well done, but my biggest complaint is that some plot threads don't occur frequently enough. Like, the thread with Adam Strange, Starfire and Animal Man is really exciting when you're reading it, but then you don't see them again until, like, next volume. It makes you kinda forget about 'em.
EXTRAS?: Again, this collection is just stellar in representing extras. After every chapter, there's a little letter from one of the many collaborators, as well as some sketches or an inside-look at what they changed when the issue was printing, or several of their ideas behind-the-scenes. It tells you they really worked hard on each issue day by day, week after week. It tells that what they're doing, it's huge for comics. What's even better, they always give you the page number in the trade to refer to, for comparison! Now that's what I call reader-friendly!
FINAL THOUGHTS?: This is a really fun ride to ride, but we also get to learn about who these people are. Otherwise, we wouldn't care about them afterwards!
Thanks to this book, I've added Duncan Rouleau's Metal Men: Year One to my amazon wishlist, so well done, DC. Well done.
Volume 1: issues 1-13
Volume 2: issues 14-26
Volume 3: issues 27-39
Volume 4: issues 40-52
