| 52 | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Cover of52 Week 1 (May 10, 2006). Art byJ. G. Jones. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| Schedule | Weekly |
| Format | Limited series |
| Genre | |
| Publication date | May 2006 – May 2007 |
| No. of issues | 52 |
| Main character(s) | Adam Strange Animal Man Batwoman Black Adam Booster Gold Ralph Dibny Lex Luthor Will Magnus Bruno Mannheim Renee Montoya Question Starfire Steel Science Squad Infinity, Inc. |
| Creative team | |
| Written by | Geoff Johns Grant Morrison Greg Rucka Mark Waid Keith Giffen |
| Artist(s) | Joe Bennett Chris Batista Eddy Barrows Todd Nauck Keith Giffen Ruy Jose Jack Jadson Darick Robertson Ken Lashley Phil Jimenez Dan Jurgens Justiniano Mike McKone Jamal Igle Dale Eaglesham Covers: J. G. Jones Alex Sinclair (colors) |
| Collected editions | |
| Volume 1 | ISBN 1-4012-1353-7 |
| Volume 2 | ISBN 1401213642 |
| Volume 3 | ISBN 1401214436 |
| Volume 4 | ISBN 140121486X |
52 is a weekly Americancomic booklimited series published byDC Comics that debuted on May 10, 2006, one week after the conclusion of theInfinite Crisis miniseries. The series was written byGeoff Johns,Grant Morrison,Greg Rucka, andMark Waid, with layouts byKeith Giffen.[1]52 also led into a few limited series spin-offs.
52 consists of 52 issues, published weekly for one year, each issue detailing an actual week chronicling the events that took place during the missing year after the end ofInfinite Crisis. The series covers much of theDC Universe, and several characters whose disparate stories interconnect. The story is directly followed by the weekly limited seriesCountdown to Final Crisis. It was the first weekly series published byDC Comics since the short-lived anthologyAction Comics Weekly from 1988 to 1989.
The use of a weekly publication format is unusual in the North American comics industry, traditionally based upon a monthly publication.52 andBatman Eternal (2014/2015) both hold the top position, of being the longest-published serialised weekly comic, published by a major North American publisher. The record was previously held byAction Comics Weekly. The story was originally conceived as being a chronicle of what happened in the "missing year" between the end ofInfinite Crisis and the beginning ofOne Year Later. It would especially focus on how the world dealt with the disappearance of the "big three" heroes in the DCU,Superman,Batman, andWonder Woman. As the series went on, it became more of a platform for which to set the stage for upcoming storylines in the DC Universe.
A backup story titledHistory of the DC Universe appears in Weeks 2 through 11, with the creative team ofDan Jurgens andArt Thibert.[2] Reminiscent of DC's earlierHistory of the DC Universe limited series, in this story,Donna Troy explores the history of theDC Universe with the help ofHarbinger's recording device. In the final chapter, Donna learns that she was supposed to have died instead ofJade.
Weeks 12 through 51 featureSecret Origins, written by Mark Waid with a rotating team of artists.[3]
Booster Gold, who originates from the 25th century, discovers numerous events that contradict his records of history and searches for answers inRip Hunter's bunker, which is littered with notes and photos of Gold and Skeets. Skeets gains access to Hunter's lab and realizes the photos and arrows are pointing at himself. He goes after Hunter and eventually finds him with Booster Gold. Hunter and Booster attempt to trap Skeets in thePhantom Zone, but Skeets consumes the Phantom Zone and pursues the two through time.
Ralph Dibny seeks out the helmet ofDoctor Fate, which promises to revive his deceased wifeSue Dibny if he makes certain sacrifices. While preparing a spell forNabu, Ralph learns thatFelix Faust had been posing as Nabu to give Ralph's soul to the demonNeron. Neron kills Ralph, but he and Faust are trapped in the Tower of Fate by a spell that Ralph cast before he died. Ralph and Sue are reunited in death and become ghost detectives.[4]
Lex Luthor announces the Everyman Project, a program designed to give ordinary people superpowers.Natasha Irons enrolls in the Everyman Project and joins Luthor's superhero teamInfinity, Inc. Luthor deactivates the powers of most of the Everyman subjects, resulting in many of them falling to their deaths. Natasha's uncleJohn and theTeen Titans attackLexCorp and bring Luthor to justice with Natasha's help. Natasha is offered membership in the Teen Titans, but declines in favor of forming a new team with John.
Animal Man,Starfire, andAdam Strange are marooned on an alien planet after the events ofInfinite Crisis. They are pursued by agents ofLady Styx, who are conquering planets and traveling toward Earth. The three defeat Styx with help fromLobo. Animal Man is killed in the battle, but resurrected by the aliens who gave him his powers.
Black Adam, the leader ofKahndaq, allies with several other countries against theUnited States. He stops whenAdrianna Tomaz convinces him to use his abilities peacefully to help Kahndaq. Adam convincesCaptain Marvel to give Tomaz the power of Isis. Meanwhile, theQuestion andRenee Montoya investigateIntergang and learn that the group is inducting children into their ranks. Adam finds Isis' crippled brother Amon among the children and shares his power with him, transforming him intoOsiris.
Will Magnus is abducted and taken to Oolong Island, where Intergang andChang Tzu force kidnapped scientists to develop weapons. The scientists activate the Four Horsemen, who kill Osiris and Isis. A grief-stricken Adam devastatesBialya, killing its entire population, before embarking ona week-long rampage across Earth. Captain Marvel convinces theEgyptian pantheon to revert Adam to Teth-Adam and changes Adam's magic word from "Shazam" to a new phrase. Adam disappears and wanders Earth while attempting to regain his powers.
The Question and Montoya train withRichard Dragon inNanda Parbat, where Montoya learns that the Question is dying from lung cancer and wants her to replace him. After discovering a prophecy in theCrime Bible aboutBatwoman's death, the two join her fight against Intergang inGotham City. When the Question's condition worsens, Montoya returns to Nanda Parbat in a failed attempt to save him. Intergang discovers Batwoman's identity and attempts to sacrifice her to fulfill the prophecy.Bruno Mannheim stabs Batwoman, but she survives and fatally wounds Mannheim.
Skeets is revealed to beMister Mind, who has been using Skeets' body as a cocoon to metamorphose into the "Hyperfly", gaining the ability to consume time itself. Hunter and Booster escape to the end ofInfinite Crisis and witness the creation of themultiverse. The Phantom Zone is restored and Mind alters events in the 52 universes, creating new histories for each. The heroes trap Mind inside Skeets and send him back in time to the beginning of the year, where he is captured byDoctor Sivana. Magnus rebuilds Skeets using a copy of his memories.
Week 50 of52 and the four-issueWorld War IIIlimited series, which was released the same week, depict the superhumans' battle with Black Adam.World War III also depictsAquaman's transformation into the Dweller of the Depths,Martian Manhunter's change in outlook,Donna Troy's assumption of theWonder Woman mantle,Supergirl's return to the 21st century,Jason Todd pretending to beNightwing, andCassandra Cain being drugged to turn evil and joinDeathstroke.
The lead stories of the series are collected, with commentary from the creators and other extras, into fourtrade paperbacks:
All 52 issues were also available in the52 Omnibus hardcover (1,216 pages, November 2012,ISBN 978-1401235567).
The collection has also been made available in a two-volume edition that includes bonus material after each chapter:
Other connected collections include:
Taking advantage of the popularity of the series, DC issued several series of comics based on the individual threads of52 that began several months after52 ended.Booster Gold (vol. 2) is an ongoing series that sees the eponymous hero and Rip Hunter travel through time to fix history as "the greatest superhero never known". The six-issue52 Aftermath: The Four Horsemen miniseries covers the Four Horsemen's battle with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.Black Adam: The Dark Age, another six-issue miniseries, follows Teth-Adam's quest to restore his powers and bring Isis back to life; it takes place between the end of52 andMary Marvel's corruption inCountdown to Final Crisis.
Two strands of the52 story were taken and put together with back-ups from the newCountdown to Final Crisis story.Countdown to Adventure looks at the fate of space-travelers Adam Strange, Animal Man, and Starfire in their new roles after their journey over the course of eight issues, with a back-up story followingForerunner.Countdown to Mystery is another eight-issue series looking at the newDoctor Fate and a back-up story focusing onEclipso.
These include:
In September 2006,DC Direct premiered a line ofaction figures based on52. The first wave, featuring figures based on Batwoman, Isis, Booster Gold, Animal Man, and Supernova, was released in May 2007.[10]
Ace Books, under the imprint of the Berkley Publishing Group and published by the Penguin Group, released anovelization written byGreg Cox, with cover art by J. G. Jones and Alex Sinclair, and its design by George Brewer.
The novel primarily adapts the weekly limited series and theWorld War III tie-in miniseries. The novel deals with the plotlines of Montoya, the Question, Black Adam, Booster Gold, Skeets, and the 52 Earths, dropping the Luthor/Steel/Everyman Project, Ralph Dibny, and space plotlines completely and including only part of the "Science Squad" storyline, keeping in the evil geniuses and their work for Intergang but leaving out Will Magnus' ongoing plot; in his introduction, Cox explains that it was not possible to adapt all the plotlines of52 within a novel of reasonable length. Outside of the loss of these various storylines from the book, events play out in an essentially identical manner, with most of the dialogue itself even lifted from the comics verbatim. There are some minor cosmetic changes along the way (for instance, on Week 3, Black Adam killsIntergang thugRough House as opposed toTerra-Man), but in the final chapter, the specifics of Mister Mind's cross-time battle with Rip Hunter, Booster Gold, and Supernova are altered. The villain reveals himself in front of a gathered group of heroes inMetropolis, rather than to just Booster and Rip in theFortress of Solitude; the rebirth of the multiverse is credited to Mister Mind's transformation, rather than the Crisis; and the weapon stolen from Steel by Booster duringWorld War III is actually put to use against Mind, which it was not in the comic, and is the cause of his unexplained-in-the-comic shrinking.
In December 2007,GraphicAudio released the first half of a full cast audiobook adaptation based on the novel by Greg Cox. Like GraphicAudio'saudiobook of Infinite Crisis, this spans two volumes (each 6 hours long) with 6 CDs and features a full cast, music, and sound effects. Volume 2 was released in February 2008.[11][12]
Voice cast credits as follows:
Inthe CW seriesThe Flash, the term '52' is often used as anEaster egg. For example, in the episode "Things You Can't Outrun", the Flash team opt to incarcerate criminalmetahumans in "Area 52" atS.T.A.R. Labs.[13] In the second season, inter-dimensional breaches are made betweenEarth-One andEarth-Two, and 52 separate portals are located.[14]
The title was masterminded by writers Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, and Mark Waid, with Keith Giffen providing art breakdowns.