52 #7 Review

52 continues to be a big hit here at the Revolution. This comic book is twice as interesting as Infinite Crisis. I am enjoying almost all of the different storylines and am always excited for the next issue. I’m taking a break from the World Cup so let’s do this review.

Creative Team
Writers: Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka & Mark Waid
Layouts: Keith Giffen
Penciler: Ken Lashley
Inker: Draxhall

Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10.
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10.
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10.

Synopsis: Week 7, Day 1: Adam Strange is heeding Animal Man’s warnings and is intent on getting them off the planet before sundown. (I don’t know. If I’m stranded on a paradise planet with insanely hot Starfire, then I’d stay and risk whatever threat is on the planet! It would be worth the risk!) Adam Strange argues with Starfire for not helping at all. Starfire is constantly eating the strange fruit on this planet and it has seriously altered her personality. Adam Strange tells Starfire to clear her head and then help him find the mysterious power output that they detected so they can use it to help them fix the ship.

Week 7, Day 2: We see Renee Montoya wondering why she is even bothering with the Questions’ obsession with what is going on at 520 Kane St. It has been three weeks since Renee has seen the Question. Renee thinks that she should just walk away from all this, except for the fact that she knows she is missing a clue that is right under her nose. Renee then sees a newspaper article on the Kane family. Renee thinks of Kate Kane, her old girlfriend. It then clicks in Renee’s head that the Kane family may hold some information to this warehouse that they own on Kane Street.

Week 7, Day 3: We see Booster Gold at his condo talking to someone on the phone. The person on the phone threatens Booster that Booster had better pay him his money immediately. The doorbell rings and Ralph Dibney is stopping by for a visit. Ralph asks Booster Gold if he knows anything about the Cult of Conner. Booster blows off Ralph claiming that he just doesn’t have time right now. Skeets then informs Booster Gold that there will be a massive riot outside the LexCorp building in ten minutes.

Skeets then explains to Ralph that he has the entire history for this era loaded in his databanks. Ralph snaps on Booster demanding to know why Booster never warned him about Sue’s death. Booster said that he didn’t know. That he didn’t learn every detail about this era. Ralph then accuses Booster Gold of only caring about him and his endorsement deals. Suddenly, an explosion interrupts the argument and Booster takes off to investigate.

We then shift to Kane Manor where Renee meets with her old flame, Kathy Kane. Kathy immediately punches Renee when she first sees her. Kathy demands to know why Renee is at her house. Renee asks Kathy to find out any if her family still owns the warehouse at 520 Kane Street and any additional information about that warehouse. Kate then turns her back and tells Renee to leave. (Seriously, this scene had some of the cheesiest and hackneyed dialogue that I have read in quite some time.)

We then cut back to the explosion outside the LexCorp building in Metropolis. Booster Gold saves the day by using a water truck to put out the fire. Lois Lane is then on the scene to interview Booster Gold. Suddenly, Bob Castell appears in his Manthrax outfit yelling that Booster Gold is a fraud. That Booster paid him to stage a fake attack on the commuter rail. Lois Lane then asks Booster Gold if it is true that he paid for this publicity stunt. Booster denied that he did anything wrong. Ralph then grabs one of the reporter’s microphones and asks Booster how many other death-defying rescues has he staged in order to boost his marketability. Ralph tells Lois Lane that Booster Gold is a fraud. That no one can depend on him. That he is just a vain opportunist who poses as a hero to earn lucrative corporate contracts. That this man didn’t care enough to save Blue Beetle (The real one, Ted Kord, not the current knock off version.) Ralph tells Booster that he let Ted down; he let Sue down and let down the whole city of Metropolis. Ralph calls Booster pathetic and then turns his back and leaves.

We then cut back to Starfire who has found the source of the mysterious power output. We get a one page splash shot with Starfire facing this rocket shaped object sticking out of the ground. We see a large cosmic looking giant behind Starfire reaching for the object in the ground. End of story.

This issue has a 4 page History of the DCU backup story. (Oh, lucky us.) It briefly summarizes the vents of Zero Hour and how Extant tried to re-make the universe. Then Parallax appeared and he was even more powerful than Extant. Parallax took over and tried to re-make the universe in his image. The Specter then appeared and Parallax was defeated and the time stream was restored as it should be. We did learn that Earth-Two Superman first punched the crystal wall when the original versions of Hourman, Dr. Mid-Nite and the Atom died. End of Story.

Comments
The Good: 52 #7 was a solid issue. I wish we had seen more of the stranded members of the space team, but I thought it was interesting that the fruit that Starfire keeps eating is making her want to stay on the planet.

I really liked the scene with Booster Gold and Ralph Dibney at Booster’s condo. The realization that Booster had the knowledge of Sue’s death in Skeets’ databanks was a real blow to Ralph. It is understandable that Booster would not have thought to ask Skeets’ about it, but at the same time, you think that Skeets might have mentioned something about a spouse of a teammate of Booster getting killed. This is a harsh scene where Ralph confronts Booster with his crass commercialism.

This deconstruction of Booster Gold only gets more intense outside of the LexCorp. Building when “Manthrax” tells the reporters how Booster paid him to fake an attack. Ralph’s rant to the reporters was incredible. It was so well done. It was such a scathing attack on Booster tearing him down from a hero to a total sham and a fraud. You can feel Ralph’s pain and disgust. It practically jumps off the page at the reader. We had been building up to the inevitable scene over the first six issues. This scene is 52 #7 was definitely a good payoff that was worth the wait.

With 52 #7 Booster has been totally deconstructed piece by piece. At this point, Booster has been publicly assassinated and is ripe for a “rebirth” as a true hero. The question is will Booster have to die performing a heroic feat in order to achieve his “rebirth” as a true hero? I hope not, but you never know with Dan “Death count” Didio lurking about.

I loved the ending. That is how you hook the reader at the end of an issue and get them immediately craving to read the next issue! I’m curious to see just exactly who or what this cosmic giant is standing behind Starfire and what our band of stranded heroes are going to do next.

With the exception of the Renee Montoya scenes, the writing is very good. I am thrilled and intrigued by all the different interesting and complex storylines that the writers are weaving in 52. And the pace is just right. Nice and steady.

Lashley did a nice job with the artwork. The art definitely adds to an entertaining story and makes 52 #7 a fun issue to read.

The Bad: Out of all the scenes, I am still the most unimpressed with the Renee Montoya storyline. The writers of 52 have gotten me interested in every character except Renee Montoya. I don’t know if I just don’t dig her character or if she is being written poorly. Either way, Renee just doesn’t interest me at all. The scene where she finally figures out that Kathy Kane’s family might have something to do with the warehouse on Kane Street made me wonder just how great of a detective she is. I would imagine she would have thought about this connection maybe 6 weeks ago. Plus, her inner monologue was rather hackneyed. Just not a good read.

The scene with Kathy and Renee was just horrendous. I mean a total train wreck. That was some of the most dreadful dialogue. It was cheesy and rather cliché. I felt like I was reading a very bad pulp fiction novel. If this is what I’m going to get with Renee Montoya then I’ll pass on anymore scenes with her in it. Compare the writing in the Booster Gold and Ralph Dibney scenes with the Renee Montoya and Kathy Kane scene and you can really notice a difference in quality.

Once again, the History of the DC Universe back up story was pretty useless. The only thing of interest is that Earth-Two Superman first punched the crystal wall in anger when the original Hourman, Atom and Dr. Mid-Nite died. Hopefully, now that we have spent 7 issues re-counting what we already know about the DC Universe, we will finally get to some interesting new information on this New Earth.

Overall: I liked 52 #7. This was a solid issue. I am enjoying every single storyline with the exception of the Renee Montoya storyline. The artwork was good. 52 continues to entertain me and always makes me wanting more once I finish with an issue. I definitely recommend 52 to anyone.