Article:
52 Title Pick Up…

DC takes their obsession with the “magic” number to a brave new level.

Those of you who’ve kept track with DC comics over recent years are probably well aware of their fondness for this particular number

From the wreckage of their Infinite Crisis we saw three of their most well recognised heroes temporarily hang up their spurs for a year. This led to the residents of the DC universe having to operate without the presence of the Amazon, the Man of Steel or the Dark Knight.

In the pages of the limited series 52 (52 weekly issues each spanning a seven day period “real time”) we saw the fears and weaknesses of many characters exposed, but more importantly we also saw their strengths and triumphs and we got to spend some quality time with some “less prominent “ characters…
This storyline also re-introduced the DC Multiverse, a series 52 parallel Earths, some that featured prominently in their next major series Countdown.

Since then we’ve had their Final Crisis, the Blackest Night, the Brightest Day and most recently we discovered that with Flashpoint everything changes…And what a change!

In September DC have tied up and removed all their on-going titles from the shelves and replaced them with (wait for it) the new 52, a complete re-launch of their current comic output.

Now don’t get me wrong their not trying to reinvent the wheel. Superman is still the boy who fell to earth from a dying star and Batman is still driven by the untimely murder of his parents, but beyond that? Well as the saying goes “all bets are off.”

I suppose the biggest question would be “why?”

In the words of Jim Lee and Dan DiDio (Co-Publishers of DC Comics)
“Not only will this initiative be compelling for existing readers, it will give new readers a precise entry point into our universe”