52 Week Fifty-One

Homecoming

Written by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid
Breakdowns by Keith Giffen
Pencils by Joe Bennett
Inks by Jack Jadson & Belardino Brabo
Colors by David Baron
Letters by Rob Leigh
Cover by J.G. Jones & Alex Sinclair
Assistant Editor – Harvey Richards
Associate Editor – Jeanine Schaefer
Editor – Michael Siglain

Our cove features an old friend — Red Tornado. This is an interesting, symbolic image of the time-traveling adventure Red Tornado is having with Booster Gold. Unfortunately, none of that applies to Bart Allen in any way, so we'll skip it.

We end this series where we began it — a large gathering of superheroes in Metropolis. This time, it's specifically to honor Superboy, who now has his own gold statue right next to Superman's. Wonder Girl is understandably having a hard time, made worse by the fact that Ralph Dibny recently died. Ralph and his deceased wife were unwillingly brought into Cassie's insane attempts to resurrect Conner, and now Cassie wishes she could apologize to Ralph.

I know that doesn't really look like Bart, but it is supposed to be him, talking to Jay Garrick and Wildcat. Sadly, we don't hear Bart say anything, nor do we see him attempt to reconnect with his old friends, Wonder Girl and Robin. Robin is asked by Jimmy Olsen why he changed his costume to just red and black, and Robin sadly looks at the Superboy statue and says, "They were his colors." Robin does try to talk to Wonder Girl, but she flies away before he gets a chance.

And that's it. From here, Bart went to work at a car factory with a jerk of a roommate, the Teen Titans pulled themselves back together, and nobody cared that Wally West has been gone for a year. But it was nice to see Superboy get the recognition he deserves. 52 was actually a really neat series, even if it didn't involve Bart.

Next time, we'll return to the Titans East battle in Teen Titans #46.

52 Week Forty-Seven

The Origin of the Teen Titans

Writer – Mark Waid
Artist – Karl Kerschl
Colorist – Stephane Peru
Letterer – Ken Lopez
Asst. Editor – Harvey Richards
Assoc. Editor – Jeanine Schaefer
Editor – Michael Siglain

We have another cool cover by JG Jones, focusing on the Batwoman story of this issue. But that doesn't concern Bart Allen, so we'll skip right on by. Same with the main story, with the only moments marginally concerning us are Tim Drake and Bruce Wayne concluding their training at Nanda Parbat and Natasha Irons turning down Beast Boy's offer to join the Teen Titans. All we really care about is the backup story, which is sadly only two pages long.

Waid chose to focus the origin of the Teen Titans around Cyborg, showing how the early days of the team gave him a purpose that he saw was missing after the disastrous events of Graduation Day.

So Cyborg decided to honor the past by creating a new version of the Teen Titans for the remaining members of Young Justice. As Waid says, "Victor Stone always pays his debts." We then end with a group shot of the current membership of the team, along with a list of essential storylines, which is just Geoff Johns' run on the Teen Titans, starting with Graduation Day.




I'm pretty bummed out that this Waid-Kerschl collaboration was so brief. I really like both of them and think they could have turned out something amazing had they been given a chance. As such, the brevity of this "origin story" almost renders it worthless. It doesn't tell longtime readers anything new and I doubt it gives new readers anything to latch on to — especially since the suggested reading list basically just said, "Pick up every single Teen Titans story Geoff Johns wrote."

Next time, we'll continue the Titans East story in Teen Titans #45.

52 Week Twenty-One

Teambuilding Exercises

Written by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid
Art breakdowns by Keith Giffen
Pencils by Joe Bennett
Inks by Jack Jadson
Colors by David Baron
Lettering by Travis Lanham
Cover by J.G. Jones & Alex Sinclair
Assistants Editors: Harvey Richards & Jeanine Schaefer
Edited by Stephen Wacker

This is one of the rare covers of 52 that I don't like. I can't tell if it's supposed to be showing a glass shattering or what. But what I do see is way too many characters crammed into one chaotic image. The people we actually care about are in the middle. They're Infinity, Inc., a new team of superheroes created by Lex Luthor. What could go wrong?

Our story begins in Luthor's office in Metropolis, with Natasha Irons (Steel's niece) begging Luthor to let her friend Eliza back on Infinity, Inc. Apparently Luthor had given Eliza super speed, but this also caused her to become addicted to a drug called Sharp. Eliza publicly blamed Luthor for this, costing her spot on the team. But now Natasha is saying Eliza feels awful for what she did and she's been off the drug for three weeks. Luthor considers this for a moment, then agrees to Natasha's request.

Natasha tells her friend the good news in her room, which is decorated with posters of all the Flashes, including the cover of The Flash #225. But mostly, she has pictures of good old Impulse. The Manchester, Alabama, native is overjoyed to hear she got a second chance. Eliza says she one day hopes to be the new Flash, but first, she plans to use Infinity, Inc. as a stepping stone to land a spot on the Teen Titans and become the next Kid Flash.

A couple of days later, Luthor is preparing Infinity, Inc. for their first mission — a televised battle against the new Blockbuster, who is reportedly stronger than the Blockbuster Impulse fought way back when. So Natasha, now going by the name of Starlight, leads her six-man team to Las Vegas to take on the rampaging villain. The fight gets off to a rough beginning — made even rougher by the cheesy dialogue provided by Luthor's writing staff. He resolves to re-record the dialogue in post, but decides to leave in the part where Eliza (Trajectory) kicks Blockbuster in the crotch.

Trajectory's cheap shot proves to be the deciding factor in the battle, however, as that allows Starlight to use her light-based powers to tie up Blockbuster. As soon as the villain is subdued, Beast Boy, Raven and four new members of the Teen Titans arrive. The two groups quickly begin bickering. Beat Boy, in particular, is upset that Natasha would agree to work for Lex Luthor. But he's willing to overlook that if she lets the Titans take Blockbuster into custody. Trajectory agrees with Beast Boy, saying the Titans know what they're doing. She then uses the opportunity to introduce herself to her favorite team.

Suddenly, Blockbuster breaks out of his restraints and tries to make an escape. Trajectory immediately takes off after him, waving off Starlight's warnings by saying she's going to become a star today. Trajectory quickly catches up to Blockbuster, jumps on his back and begins pummeling him. As she gloats that Blockbuster isn't fast enough to escape the new Kid Flash, Lex Luthor pushes a button on his control panel that deactivates Eliza's powers. Blockbuster immediately grabs and kills Eliza to the horror of the Teen Titans and Infinity, Inc. Luthor, meanwhile, is already making plans to replace Eliza on his team.

A couple of days later, Eliza Harmon's funeral is held in Manchester, Alabama. Luthor provides the eulogy, speaking of Eliza's admiration for Impulse, which inspired her to become a hero herself. Infinity, Inc. and the Teen Titans attend the funeral, and Beast Boy can sense that something fishy is going on. But as soon as the service ends, three of the new Titans immediately quit the team, derailing Beast Boy's efforts to investigate. Steel tries to talk to his niece about her powers, but she shouts at him and walks away in tears. Beast Boy, however, does tell Steel he and the remaining Titans are willing to work with him.

We also see that Ralph Dibny's quest has brought him to the literal gates of Hell, and a mechanic in Australia is attempting to rebuild the Red Tornado.




It is so refreshing to review a well-written comic book after those rough Flash: The Fastest Man Alive issues. I love how this story gives us someone who grew up in Impulse's hometown and was inspired by that goofy little superhero. I would have loved it even more if it would have been someone we knew from the pages of Impulse, like Ayana or even Preston, but Eliza's story was still sweet and tragic. Ultimately, she just fell victim to Lex Luthor's petty, ruthless ego. And that's when I think Lex is at his most compelling, most frightening. Willing to kill someone over a minor insult, then shamelessly speak at that person's funeral.

This issue doesn't explicitly mention Bart Allen, but I like to believe that he at least heard about poor Eliza. Her death did make national news, after all. So I think it's more than likely that this tragedy pushed Bart even further away from his destiny of becoming the Flash — at least for another seven months or so. Anyway, this was a great story, all in all. I just wish the art was a little crisper. The action scenes, especially, could have used some work. I'm not entirely sure if Blockbuster actually decapitated Eliza — the art is just really unclear.

Next time, we'll return to our frustrating main series with The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #4.

52 Week Eleven

History of the DCU Part 10

Dan Jurgens – Writer/Layouts
Andy Lanning – Finishes
Nick J. Napolitano: Letters
Jeromy Cox & Guy Major: Colors
Berganza, Cohen and Schaefer: Editors

Our cover by JG Jones shows the new Batwoman battling some ... well, actual monsters. As usual, this is a striking cover, which sadly has nothing to do with our blog. Neither does most of the main story, although I will note that one intriguing scene (drawn by Todd Nauck) shows Cassie Sandsmark as the leader of the "Cult of Conner," which is apparently trying to resurrect Sue Dibny, the late wife of the Elongated Man. Interesting story, but beyond the parameters of this blog.

Our backup story shows Donna Troy reviewing the events of Infinite Crisis, beginning with the attack of the OMACs and the feud between Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman, which prompted the old Superman and Superboy-Prime to smash through the wall of their reality. The Harbinger orb explains to Donna how the whole thing was set up by Alexander Luthor so he could restore the multiverse. Batman eventually shut down Brother Eye; Superboy destroyed Alexander's tower, but died in the process; and the old Superman also gave his life in helping contain Superboy-Prime. And Bart Allen apparently lost his connection to Speed Force after he returned to warn the world that Prime had escaped.

Now that she's caught up to the present, Donna asks the orb what's next, but the orb is currently unable to see the future for some unknown reason. However, a strange man suddenly appears before Donna, announcing himself as one of the Monitors.

Well, that's the end of that useful recap of DC's history. Next time, we'll take on The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #2.

52 Week Ten

History of the DCU Part 9

Dan Jurgens – Writer/Layouts
Andy Lanning – Finishes
Nick J. Napolitano: Letters
Jeromy Cox & Guy Major: Colors
Berganza, Cohen and Schaefer: Editors

Our cover by JG Jones shows Clark Kent falling out a window, about to be saved by the mysterious Supernova. Remember, at this point, Clark's superpowers still haven't returned. It's a pretty nice cover — I especially like the line at the bottom, "You'll believe a man can fall," playing off the tagline of the first Superman movie, "You'll believe a man can fly." But none of this or any of the main story has anything to do with Bart Allen, so we'll skip ahead to the backup story.

Donna Troy is still reviewing the history of the DC Universe with Harbinger's orb, and she has now reached the aftermath of Identity Crisis. She watches the formation of the society of villains, Flash's Rogue War, Mia Dearden becoming Speedy and joining the Teen Titans, Hal Jordan being brought back to life, which had the side effect of letting a wild Spectre loose, who subsequently declared war on all magic. Donna watched the old Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, get shot by Maxwell Lord, and Batman's satellite, Brother Eye, turn against all metahumans and unleash an army of OMACs. Wonder Woman killed Lord, Batman discovered Jason Todd was alive, and some of the Titans and Outsiders discovered that Donna was alive.

And that's it for this time. All this history is fairly recent and still fresh in our memories, but it is nice to periodically review it in a concise manner and put everything in the right order. Next time, we'll conclude Donna's history lesson in 52 Week Eleven.

52 Week Eight

History of the DCU Part 7

Dan Jurgens: Writer/Layouts
Andy Lanning: Finishes
Nick J. Napolitano: Letters
Jeromy Cox and Guy Major: Colors
Berganza, Cohen and Schaefer: Editors

Our cover by J.G. Jones gives Steel the spotlight, showing him being influenced by Superman and his niece, Natasha, on the right, and the devious Lex Luthor on the left. It is a nice composition, but the only aspect of it we care about is the little note advertising the backup story. (Unfortunately, Norm Rapmund was given credit instead of Andy Lanning.)

Infinite Crisis was the biggest continuity-altering event since Zero Hour (Genesis also technically qualifies, but everyone seemed to make a pact to pretend that never happened). There are a lot of questions as to what officially "counts" now, so DC wisely threw together a series of short stories to explore the new history of the DC Universe. And 52 is the perfect series to host this story. And the perfect character to tell this story is Donna Troy, with the aid of her trusty Harbinger Orb, which contains information on all possible realities.

We pick up after Zero Hour with the formation of the new Justice League of America, Hal Jordan sacrificing his life to defeat the sun-eater in Final Night, Connor Hawke becoming the new Green Arrow, Superman getting married to Lois Lane and briefly gaining new electrical powers, and the Atom forming the new Teen Titans. We then move on to the earthquake that hit Gotham City, creating No Man's Land, and Impulse, Superboy and Robin forming Young Justice.

Wally West helped form the Titans (not to be confused with the Teen Titans) and Jay Garrick was part of the new Justice Society of America, as Hal Jordan became the new Spectre. After Lex Luthor was elected president, Imperiex attacked during Our Worlds at War. Batman learned of the possibility of Jason Todd's return during the Hush storyline. And Donna Troy was killed by a Superman robot, causing the formation of the Outsiders and new Teen Titans, starring Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Beast Boy, Robin, Superboy, Starfire, Cyborg and Raven. Our story concludes with Donna learning about the destruction of San Diego, the arrival of Supergirl, the death of Stephanie Brown and the death of Sue Dibny in Identity Crisis.




I don't think Infinite Crisis changed the continuity that much, but it is still nice to get a periodical reminder of what are the major events in DC history. You'll note that this story did not mention Genesis, and I'm pretty sure that was intentional. In any case, it seems that all of Bart's major moments still matter, and that's a good thing.

Next time, it's the moment I've long dreaded, Bart will get his second solo series, the obnoxiously titled The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive. But I'm actually going to use this milestone as a chance to take a break. You see, I somehow convinced a beautiful woman to marry me next month, which means I'm going to be pretty busy for the next couple of weeks. I should be back here in June, cataloguing all the misadventures of Bart's tenure as the Flash!

52 Week One

Golden Lads & Lasses Must ...

Written by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid
Art Breakdowns by Keith Giffen
Pencils by Joe Bennett
Inks by Ruy Jose
Colors by Alex Sinclair
Lettering by Nick J. Napolitano
Assistant Editors Jann Jones & Harvey Richards
Edited by Stephen Wacker
Cover by J.G. Jones & Alex Sinclair

Our cover shows the abandoned relics of DC's Big Three — Batman's cowl, Wonder Woman's sword and lasso, and Superman's cape. It's a haunting image that effectively shows us this series isn't going to focus on those heroes, but the "C-list" heroes in the background — Steel, Ralph Dibny, the Question, Booster Gold and Renee Montoya. It's cold, bleak and captivating.

One interesting thing of note with this cover is that it includes the actual date it was published: May 10, 2006. This bucks the decades-long trend of putting the publication date on comics two months later than when they actually came out. For example, Teen Titans #36 came out on May 24, 2006, but the date on its cover says July 2006. I've been organizing this blog by publication date for convenience, but now this 52 series is going to mess with me slightly.

Our story begins with an abstract image of significant moments in DC history represented as shards of glass swirling and converging into the one remaining Earth after Infinite Crisis. These moments include Barry Allen turning into the Flash, a young Dick Grayson being kissed by Starfire, and Superboy kissing Wonder Girl.

We then dive into the first week between Infinite Crisis and One Year Later. Ralph Dibny, the former Elongated Man, is still mourning the murder of his wife, Sue, in Identity Crisis. And now that his home has been destroyed during all the recent chaos, Ralph is suicidal. Detective Renee Montoya is mourning the death of her partner, Crispus Allen, who is now the Spectre. Renee is trying to drown her sorrows with copious amounts of alcohol, but she has attracted the attention of the Question. Steel has been spending his time with first responders around the country, helping clean up and rebuild all the cities that were practically leveled recently. He's disgusted with his niece, Natasha, who hasn't spent any time helping clean up and is trying to join the Teen Titans. So Steel deactivates her armor and tells her build her own.

But the most relevant story to us involves Booster Gold. He seems to have relaxed quite a bit since the defeat of Brother Eye and is all about self-promotion now. He's placed a few sponsorship ads on his outfit like a NASCAR racer, and is staging a very public battle against Mammoth. After he defeats the villain, Booster makes sure to pose for the cameras with a refreshing can of Soder-Cola. His robot Skeets reminds him that the world is still mourning the death of Superboy, so Booster puts on a show of weeping for the fallen hero.

Booster Gold flies away, excitedly looking forward to tomorrow's Superboy Memorial. Booster knows from the history books that this event is the defining moment of the century. Superman will give a speech that will be taught in schools for the next 500 years and Jimmy Olsen will win a Pulitzer for his photo of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman announcing the new Justice League. And, to make things better for Booster, Skeets has told him that he will be a member of this new JLA, which means Booster will likely gain even more sponsors.

Finally it's the day of the big memorial, and everyone who's anyone shows up. Green Arrow and Black Canary greet the Ray, rejoicing that he has survived, while lamenting the loss of the Freedom Fighters. Ray also reports that Uncle Sam still hasn't been found. In the big group shot, we see Empress and Beast Boy comforting a weeping Wonder Girl. (We also see Nightwing in the crowd, even though I thought he had already begun his trip around the world with Batman.) Bart Allen, who now has red hair, is talking to Jay Garrick and Wildcat. Apparently Wally's doing fine, but he and Linda just decided to spend some time away. Their twins are growing quite a bit and, according to Bart, are kind of annoying.

Bart reiterates the fact that his speed is gone and Jay is the only Flash now. Bart says he wishes he was fast enough to save Conner, and Jay says they all wish they could have saved him. Booster Gold is excitedly counting down the arrival of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Beast Boy asks him where those heroes are, and Booster smugly tells him to relax. He then turns to the podium, placed right in front of the gold statue of Superman with an eagle on his arm (erected after he was killed by Doomsday) and the new gold statue of Superboy standing right next to him. Booster shouts out "Ta-daaaaaaa" but the heroes don't arrive.

Everyone gives Booster Gold the stink eye, and Skeets begins to malfunction. Booster has a panic attack, shouting that the future depends on this speech that inexplicably isn't happening right now. He spots Jimmy Olsen and angrily demands that he take the picture of the missing heroes. Martian Manhunter and a few others try to retrain Booster, including reporter Clark Kent, who tells Booster that Superman isn't coming. Booster hits Clark in the face, giving him a bloody nose and asks how he knows this. Clark simply replies, "I just know. And I'm sorry."




This series was pretty remarkable. Guided by four amazing writers, who each shared a love of comic book history and brought something different to the table, 52 provided a creative anchor to help guide readers into the post-Infinite Crisis world. And in a delightful change of pace, we got to see the DC Universe change and adapt through the eyes of the lesser known characters. Unfortunately for us, Bart Allen was not one of these lesser known characters to receive the honor of being written by Johns, Waid, Morrison and Rucka. Bart instead got his own series, which is an incredibly odd thing to complain about, but there you go.

In this issue, we got a couple of more little clues about Bart's time spent in the Speed Force. There are still a million questions about it all, like are Wally and his family still living in the Speed Force? But I guess those questions will have to wait. For now, I'm a little disappointed we didn't see Bart interacting with his old friends, especially Cassie, who is in the most grief after Conner's death. I'm also very concerned that a trend has already begun to make adult Bart look too much like Wally.

Next time, we'll get a quick reminder of Bart's days as Impulse and Kid Flash in the backup feature of 52 Week Eight.