52 just keeps delivering the goods. I have been very happy with this title over the first four issues. I think that DC has done a good job delivering a very interesting storyline. More interesting that Infinite Crisis. All right, I just finished my tostada and I’m working my way through my second cup of Café Bustelo. That must mean that I’m ready for this review 52 #5.
Creative Team
Writers: Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka & Mark Waid
Breakdowns: Keith Giffen
Penciler: Chris Batista
Inker: Jimmy Palmiotti
Art Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10.
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10.
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10.
Synopsis: Week 5, Day 1: We see Animal Man’s wife, Ellen Baker, taking down a “Welcome Home Hero” banner. Animal Man’s daughter says that Daddy isn’t coming home from space. Ellen sees a green light in the sky and Alan Scott flies down and greets Ellen. Alan tells her that he is sorry that Animal Man went missing in action in space. Ellen says that that sounds like Buddy and that since he is only missing then there is still hope.
We cut to a news announcement that Lex Luthor has synthesized the human variant metagene that allows for super-powers. Luthor says that this means that the world no longer has to trust their safety to the privileged elite, the accidental few. That every person can be a superhero. That Superman is gone and the good news is that the world doesn’t need him. That the Age of the Super Citizen is dawning. (Oh man, that Lex is just devious beyond belief. I’m liking this storyline. Very interesting.) We see Steel watching Lex’s press conference on TV. Steel then gets paged to report to Saint Camillus Hospital.
We cut to Saint Camillus where the returning heroes from space have been taken for medical treatment. Since Hawkgirl is 25 feet tall, her hospital bed the bed of a flat bed container truck. Steel meets with Alan Scott and Dr. Mid-Nite. Dr. Mid-Nite talks about how Saint Camillus has been used as a hospital to treat the huge influx of super human casualties since Infinite Crisis. Dr. Mid-Nite then shows Cyborg and Firestorm who have been molecularly fused together. Dr. Mid-Nite states that he has then on new time-freezing drugs while they try and figure out how to separate their nervous systems.
Alan Scott then fills in Steel on how they got back to Earth from their space mission. That Adam used the Zeta-Beam on the space team to get them back to Earth. Something went wrong. The Zeta-Beam was refracted and everyone got hurt.
Steel then inspects Mal Duncan who is on a respirator. Dr. Mid-Nite says that Red Tornado’s speaker apparatus is fused to Mal’s chest. Mal’s body is rejecting the fusion and they can’t operate without removing Mal’s lungs. Mal has now gotten a severe chest infection and acute septicemia. Dr. Mid-Nite then suggests that the only hope is to use Steel’s pseudocytes which is human tissue and artificial flesh. Steel gives Dr. Mid-Nite his Pseudocytes to shut down Mal’s immune response that is rejecting the graft with Red Tornado’s speaker apparatus. They will work as an artificial immune system until Mal’s own recovers.
Steel then asks Alan Scott for more information about their use of the Zeta-Beam. That the Zeta-Beam should have been instantaneous, so where were they for the month they were missing? Alan says that the aftereffects of healing the right in space was unbelievable. That they were stuck in some kind of reality warping wave. That he saw time speed up and then rewind. There was no sound, but they had telepathic contact. Alan saw ships revert to their raw metals and he saw the Khunds evolve millions of years into being of pure mental energy. Adam Strange told Mal to open up a portal that would lead to Rann in hopes of redirecting a Zeta-Beam to their location in order to teleport them back to earth. A Zeta-Beam came through Mal’s portal but there was something wrong. The Zeta-Beam was splintered. One beam fused Firestorm and Cyborg together. Another hit Hawgirl and Bumblebee. Another sent Supergirl somewhere. (Yeah, unfortunately I know where she went. And guess what? We don’t want her here in the future with the Legion so you guys can have her back!) Mal’s blood froze in the vacuum of space as Red Tornado exploded. Shrapnel took out Alan Scott’s eyes. And the one eye that Alan does have is not his own. (Ewww, that is pretty nasty.) Green Lantern then tells Steel and Dr. Mid-Nite that he lost his own daughter, Jade. That Adam Strange, Animal Man and Starfire didn’t make it back. That the Zeta-Beam tore them apart like it did to Red Tornado. Alan is upset that this happened. That he was the leader and he would give his life to bring even one of them back. Steel tells Alan then all of the space team members are going to need counseling including Alan. Alan then responds that he was the first to accept responsibility of protecting the Earth all those years ago. It is his job to set an example. He has to show that we don’t break like other people. That we don’t give in to fate. (And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Alan Scott is THE MAN!)
Suddenly Mal goes into cardiac arrest. And then we cut right to Renee Montoya meeting with her police Captain at Renee’s apartment. The Captain tells Renee that the warehouse on Kane Street was clean. No evidence of weapons or monsters. The Captain says she believes Renee and wants to know who hired her. Renee won’t tell her. The Captain warns Renee that she is involved in something very big and very bad and to be careful or she will wind up dead. The Captain leaves and tells Renee to take care of herself. Renee closes the door and pulls out one of the high tech blasters from the warehouse and comments that she will be all right.
We cut back to the hospital where, what the hell? Alan Scott is totally tonguing Mal!! Man, I know Dan Didio is obsessed with diversity in the new DC Universe, but this is just taking it too far! Alan Scott simply doesn’t molest unconscious men! Just joking, kids. I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to cheap shot Didio. Alan is simply giving Mal mouth to mouth resuscitation. Dr. Mid-Nite yells that he is losing Mal and demand to know where his crash team is. We cut to outside the hospital, where the good doctor’s crash tem is busy trying to resuscitate a convulsing Hawkgirl. We cut back to Mal’s room where Steel rips open an electrical box and places his other hand on Mal and gives him a big zap of electricity. Mal jerks awake and from Red Tornado’s speaker apparatus he yells “its coming! 52! 52!” Then Mal passes back out. Alan Scott says that those were Red Tornado’s last words. (Interesting.)
Week 5, Day 7: We are on an unknown planet and see Animal Man and Starfire! (Yay! They are alive!) Animal Man is sitting next to a pretty lake while a butt naked Starfire comes out of the water! (Oh yeah! Animal Man is one lucky bastard! Who better to get marooned on a paradise world with than Starfire?!) Animal Man wonders if they won the fight back home. If the Crisis is over. If they will send out a search party. If his wife and kids think he is dead and throw out all of his stuff. (Gotta love Animal Man.) Starfire comments that only an Earthman would look so uncomfortable in paradise. That they crash-landed in heaven and can’t Buddy make the best of it. (Um, yeah, I know I sure as hell could!) Animal Man asks Starfire if she has notices that the sun has been setting for two weeks. During this entire scene Starfire is still naked. And eating some fruit. I love it. We then see Adam Strange working on their space ship saying that he got them into this mess and he promises to get them out of it. We then see Adam’s face. He has no eyes! Adam comments that he will succeed “Eyes or no eyes.” (Ok, it’s kind of gross, but at least we know whose eyeball Alan has in his head. I wonder if Adam wants it back?) Animal Man then says that he has been using his super sense to probe the planet’s morphic field network (uh ok, whatever that is) and that there is a serpent in paradise. That they need to get off this planet before the sun goes down, because they are not alone. And with that we see some creepy glowing eyes staring at our heroes from within the jungle. Nice hook and end of issue.
This issue has a 4 page History of the DCU backup story. The orb tells Donna about Supergirl’s death. It then re-tells Barry Allen’s death. And then it tells that the Anti-Monitor was finally defeated, but in the end there was only one Earth left. That Alex Luthor used his antimatter powers to find a home and everlasting peace for Earth Two Superman, Earth Two Lois Lane and Superboy-Prime. That all the heroes were reborn and all the knowledge of the Crisis was wiped from their minds. Except for one person: Psycho Pirate. End of Story.
Comments
The Good: 52 #5 was a great issue! This title just keeps delivering the goods. I enjoyed the opening scene with Ellen Baker and Alan Scott. It was prefect. Ellen commenting that it is typical Buddy that he would get lost and that there is still hope.
I loved the big bombshell from Lex Luthor. Lex having synthesized the metagene enabling him to create super heroes is a fantastic storyline! I’m glad the writers only have us a little bit on this storyline. It was just enough for us to chew on and think about the massive possibilities. I am very interested to see how the writers develop this storyline.
The scene at Saint Camillus was well done. We got to learn more about the massive injuries that the various heroes sustained. The writers did an excellent job with Alan Scott’s character. That Alan feels responsible for the botched return of the space team. But, the best part was when Alan gave his little speech about why he couldn’t take any counseling. That was perfect. It showed how Alan is the original super hero. That he has to be a strong symbol for all other heroes and to the general public. Regardless of his own pain or emotional problems. This scene illustrated how much Alan Scott is the man! This is exactly why I love the ORIGINAL Green Lantern!
I also liked hearing the last words from the Red Tornado. That “It is coming. 52! 52!” Very interesting. I can’t wait to find out just exactly what this 52 is, where it is coming from and what its purpose is.
I also liked the explanation as to what happened to the space team on their mission and their return trip home. We finally got some answers that we have been waiting for long time to receive.
And, of course, I loved the scene with Animal Man, Starfire and Adam Strange for various reasons. First, I’m thrilled that these characters are still alive. Yeah, I know that Dan “Death count” Didio may still have all three of them slaughtered by wild dingos by the end of 52, but at least they are alive right now! Second, I love how Animal Man is able to have a casual conversation with Starfire while she is walking around naked after taking a little swim. That was hilarious! I don’t know which is nastier: Adam Strange having lost both eyes, Alan Scott having one of Adam Strange’s eyeballs in his head or the fact that I found it so cool. And of course, the issue ends with a hook about some strange evil creature on the planet waiting for the sun to set so it can attack our stranded heroes.
I think that the writing was fantastic on 52 #5. The writers are doing a wonderful job developing all these different storylines. And even more amazing is that each issue seems to pop up another new and interesting plotline. The pacing is fantastic. Not too rushed and yet not too slow. We are steadily fed little pieces of storyline with each issue. Just enough to wet our appetite for the next issue. The weekly format really plays to this style of very measured and steady pacing.
I think it is great that 52 is making me so interesting in many characters that normally don’t get much publicity. The writers are giving the characters strong dialogue and have done a great job developing their various personalities.
The Bad: The Renee Montoya scene with her Captain wasn’t very interesting. Frankly, it just got in my way of the more interesting storylines about what happened to the space team and what happened to the missing heroes. So far, the only character that the writers have not been able to get me interested in has been mi hermana Renee Montoya. If a character for 52 has to die (and I don’t think that one has to, but Dan “Death count” Didio probably disagrees) then I pick Renee.
That was my only complaint about the story or writing. I also wasn’t a big fan of the artwork. Bennett does a much better job with the art duties than Chris Batista. I found the artwork to be simply average and a little generic. It didn’t do anything to add to an excellent storyline.
Once again, the History of the DC Universe storyline was practically useless. I have found these back up stories to be a waste of space. I’d rather have four more pages of the exciting storylines in 52 rather than being re-told the story of the Crisis on Infinite Earths which I know by heart. Hopefully, these back up stories will start to focus on this New Earth and get more interesting.
Overall: 52 #5 was a great issue! It had all the ingredients of a good comic book. Good pacing, dialogue and weaved several interesting storylines and inserted a couple of hooks to get the reader to immediately want to read the next issue. In my opinion, 52 has been a big success. For me, 52 is delivering what was promised which is more than can be said for Infinite Crisis. I am enjoying 52 and I encourage anyone to give this title a try. It is worth the money.