Goodbye, 52.
Goodbye, 52.
May 04It was about 14 months ago that my curiosity from reading about Infinite Crisis brought me into a comic book store for the first time in years.
What kept me going in was 52. The second I learned about it, I knew I had to follow it–the prospect of a weekly comics series, written by two writers I already loved from previous comics collecting eras in my life and two of which were new to me, seemed incredibly fascinating.
(Also, I was staring down the birth of my first child, and it’s possible I was regressing juuuuuuust a bit in abject fear. But mostly, it was just fascination.)
Now we’ve reached the end of our journey, and everyone and their brother has chimed in on this final issue, so I may as well spit out my own ramblings as well.
52, I will miss you. Sure, Countdown will be here next week to satisfy my weekly comics jones, but it won’t quite be the same. With Countdown, there’s a precedent for what we can expect, at least in the sense that it’s a weekly book featuring B-, C-, and D-list characters in the spotlight.
With 52, it was all brand new. There was the “NASCAR factor,” as Keith Giffen called it, where we all watched the action out of a sadistic interest in being there when the machine fell apart, and the book missed an issue, or even worse, put out abject crap.
To be fair, there were definitely some weak moments on both the art and writing sides. There were also fun moments, shocking moments, exciting moments, mind-blowing moments, thoughtful moments, and even downright emotional moments. In short, it was everything we love about comics, tossed in a blender and deposited in our hands at four times the normal frequency.
And the ending was just about perfect in its way. Flawed, like just about every issue, but packed with enough strong moments to carry any bumpy spots.
More than anything else, issue #52 was packed with ambition. If 52 as a series and an idea has been about anything, it’s that–a way to expand the way comics stories are told, the tools available to tell them, and the readers’ awareness of the world(s) in which they are chronicled.
Ultimately, I think that’s what I will miss most about 52–the tightwire, nail-biting excitement of it every week. You never knew where it would go, even when you thought you did; you never knew if it would quite make it there, and you never knew what path it would take. It was the classic case of the journey being just as important as the destination, and just as enjoyable.
So thanks, 52 gang, for a great ride. It’s been real, it’s been fun, it’s been real fun.
