52 #32 Review

The last issue of 52 was pretty action packed and fast paced. I suspect that the writers are going to slow it down a bit on 52 #32. It appears that we will be focusing mostly on Ralph Dibny. That is fine with me since Ralph has provided for some of the most compelling reading on this title. Let’s hit this review.

Creative Team
Writers: Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid
Penciler: Pat Oliffe
Inker: Drew Geraci

Art Rating: 5 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: Week 32, Day 1: We begin with Ralph Dibny in the Himalayas searching for the lost land of Nanda Parbat. Suddenly, Ralph is attacked by a Yeti. A shadowy figure appears and whistles a few times and causes an avalanche that buries the Yeti. We cut to Ralph’s rescuer taking Ralph and the helmet of Fate to Nanda Parbat.

Week 32, Day 2: We are at Titans Tower in San Francisco. Beast Boy and Raven have decided that they need more members since Hawk and Dove left the team. Today they are having tryouts. We see tons of would be heroes waiting outside the Tower for a tryout. I recognize some characters like Young Frankenstein, Joker’s daughter, Riddler’s daughter, Red Star and Mas y Menos. We see a non-super powered human Kid Devil. A character named Pulsar tells Kid Devil that he should try getting some real super powers from Luthor’s Everyman project.

Suddenly, Osiris and the talking crocodile humanoid, Sobek, arrive on the scene. Osiris tells Captain Marvel, Jr. that he is here to join the Titans. The other people there to audition for a spot on the Titans call Osiris anti-American. One kid, who looks like Robin and is in a black and red costume mentions that Osiris “would get his ass kicked on my Earth.” Captain Marvel, Jr. says that the Titans don’t need a member who follows someone like Black Adam who just a while back killed a man on live television.

Osiris says that Black Adam has changed. That they are now helping people. Rebuilding towns and villages and trying to make the world a better place. Captain Marvel, Jr. tells Osiris to convince the rest of the world that and then he will personally help Osiris join the Teen Titans. Raven then tells Beast Boy that the only emotion she is picking up from Osiris is hope.

Week 32, Day 3: We see our band of heroes lost in space. Strange tells Animal Man that they can find a way to get him home. He can go ahead and prepare their defense while Starfire and Strange gather intelligence. Animal Man decides that he is going to stay with Strange and Starfire and fight the oncoming horde. Animal Man says they have to stop them right here before they get to Earth. The heroes realize that it is just the three of them plus Lobo and the Emerald Head of Ekron versus a horde of millions.

Week 32, Day 4: We see Ralph waking up after being unconscious for three days. A local man tends to Ralph. Ralph tells the man that he is here to climb the 9999 stairs in order to get their god to answer his questions about death. The man then introduces Ralph to the person who saved him. It is Accomplished Perfect Physician, a member of the Great 10. He has sound powers that can cause earthquakes and shatter solid objects. The sound powers can also heal and cure cancers. Accomplished Perfect Physician tells Ralph that the creature who attacked him is a man named Hu Wei, a reserve member of the Great 10. He discovered the atavistic trigger gene which transforms men into monsters. The Physician has a charm that inhibits Hu’s rage.

The local man then tells Ralph that their god, Rama Kushna, cannot see Ralph. Accomplished Perfect Physician then asks Ralph to please help him in apprehending Hu Wei.

Week 32, Day 5: We see Ralph and the Physician searching for Hu. Hu appears and attacks them. Ralph saves Accomplished Perfect Physician from being squashed. Ralph then jumps on Hu and slips the charm around his neck. Hu transforms back into his human form. The Physician then thanks Ralph for saving his live.

The local man then appears and tells Ralph that Rama Kushna will now see him.

Week 32, Day 6: We see Ralph in the holy temple of Rama Kushna. Rama Kushna tells Ralph that there is no death. That death is an illusion of being in time. A trick of the light. Ralph asks why does it hurt so much? That he misses his wife horribly. Rama Kushna responds that no love is wasted. No love is lost in time. Ralph then asks where his wife is and why can’t he talk to her. Rama Kushna responds that Ralph wishes to be with Sue again. Rama Kushna tells Ralph to come closer and she will show Ralph how.

Week 32, Day 7: We see Ralph packing up and getting ready to leave Nanba Parbat. Accomplished Perfect Physician asks Ralph is he got what he was searching for. Ralph says he doesn’t know. That he hears a woman’s voice telling him things he already knew. That the end is already written. The Physician then asks Ralph if the end is already written then who is the writer? Ralph said it was him. Back in May, at the end of the Crisis, in the Ambassador Hotel. With that Ralph leaves Nanda Parbat.

We then get a two page back up story about the origin of the Blue Beetle. End of issue.
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Comments
The Good: 52 #32 was a solid read. It was certainly not as good as the last issue, but it was still better than average. 52#32 focused almost completely on Ralph. Yeah, we got a quick shot of the heroes in space and we also got a quick shot of the tryouts for the Teen Titans. That was about it. It was all about Ralph in this issue and I’m cool with that.

The writers have done an incredible job with Ralph’s character. Ralph has become so much more interesting and so much more complex with the storyline in 52. Ralph is so distraught and tormented. The reader can feel the weight of Ralph’s suffocating sorrow. The burning pain that tears up his heart and soul. The writers have done an excellent job developing Ralph in this storyline.

I really feel for Ralph. I admire his devotion and tenacity to do anything to being back his wife. However, I just don’t want to see Sue Dibny brought back to life. Ralph has become such a more interesting and textured character ever since Sue’s death. It would be a shame to bring back Sue at this point. I think it is time for Ralph to move on and continue to involve into a more fascinating character.

I love Accomplished Perfect Physician. What a cool character. I dig his powers, I like his costume design and I absolutely love the name. I know a lot of people haven’t enjoyed the odd names of the various members of the Great 10. Not me. I think it is a great way to make the characters uniquely Eastern. I am a total Wuxia nut so obviously characters like Accomplished Perfect Physician are going to appeal to me. Personally, I want to see more of the Great 10. We haven’t seen them enough and it is time to get them even more involved in 52.

I definitely like that we got some background on Accomplished Perfect Physician. That he used to be a member of the Red Army. That he was a killer and witnessed atrocity every day. Then he was reborn as the Accomplished Perfect Physician. For a while he was an outlaw in him until he realized that the fighting was costly for them and for him. That is when he joined the Great 10. It was nice to finally learn more about some of the members of the Great 10. I hope we get even more background information on these great characters. I’m still hoping that maybe we get lucky and DC decides to crank out a Great 10 comic book. That would kick ass.

The Teen Titans scene was very cool mainly because it was fun checking out the various characters that appeared for tryouts. Personally, I like Osiris and I’m glad that he is being presented as a true hero. Raven detecting only the emotion of hope shows that Osiris genuinely wants to be a hero and help the world.

Of course, the most interest part of this scene was the character that looks like Robin in the red and black costume. He mentions how Osiris would get his ass kicked on his Earth. Once again, we get hinted to the fact that the multiverse still exists in some form. Justice Society of America #0 hints to another Earth. So does Justice Society of America #1. Now we get this little bit of info from this Robin-style character. Very interesting. Since I am a huge fan of the multiverse, I am hoping that we get more information on this possibility of multiple Earths.

The Bad: 52 #32 was too slow for me and failed to progress any of the various storylines. The flow of 52 came to a halt with this issue. It was like the writers needed a break and just cranked out a total filler issue. The scene with our heroes in space was practically useless. We did learn that Animal Man has decided to stay in space and help his fellow heroes in their battle despite the fact that Strange thinks he can return Animal Man back to Earth. Other than that, this scene was a total waste of space.

And, while I loved Accomplished Perfect Physician and I really dig Ralph, I found those scenes to be surprisingly pointless. We get the story with the Yeti and Accomplished Perfect Physician, while entertaining, was pretty much filler and had nothing to do with Ralph’s existing plotline. And Ralph’s meeting with Rama Kushna was incredibly anti-climactic. Basically, Ralph was told what he already knew. I was hoping for a bit more. The entire trip to Nanda Parbat seemed rather meaningless.

This issue just bogged down Ralph’s storyline which has seemed to lose steam. Hopefully, the writers can get Ralph’s storyline back on track, because for the most part, I have found Ralph’s story to certainly be the most compelling one out of all the various storylines in 52.

As usual, the artwork was pedestrian at best. 52 #32 certainly is not a particularly nice looking comic book. Usually, I can look past the average artwork on 52. However, when the issue is slow, the run of the mill artwork just makes the issue even duller.

Overall: 52 #32 was a little too slow and uneventful more my tastes. I would have thought with only 20 issues left in this series that the writers would be picking up the pace a bit more than this. At any rate, 52 is still a good title overall and is certainly going to make a great trade paperback to purchase.