Comics: DC Comics' The New 52: One Year Later

Perhaps the single biggest thing to happen to the world of comics since 1985's Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC Comics completely rebooted its entire line, nearly one year ago. August 31, 2011, saw the launch of Justice League #1 as the first of the line of 52 new titles. The New 52 not only restarted the shared DC Universe, updated the design and history of many beloved characters such as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, absorbed the characters from the Wildstorm imprint into the main universe, but also changed the way comics are sold. Previously, comics were sold in print format on news stands and comic shops, then later in digital format for viewing on a computer, tablet or smartphone. DC Comics now publishes all titles for same-day release in both physical and digital formats. Not only that, but DC wanted the new numbering format to attract new readers, who may have been too timid to jump into a pre-existing title.

A Little History Lesson...

If you're not terribly familiar with the world of DC Comics (shame on you!), then here's a bit of history of the DC Universe leading up to the New 52. Even the uninitiated know that Superman first showed up in Action Comics #1 back in 1938 and Batman has been around since his first appearance in Detective Comics #27 nearly a year later. Many characters came and went over the years, and many more (52, actually) parallel universes (known as the Multiverse) had come about. So, in 1985, DC Comics ran a universe-wide crossover in the 12 issue maxi-series, Crisis on Infinite Earths, in order to realign and make sense of all the characters and bloated story lines. The status quo that emerged "Post-Crisis" remained mainly the same for many years until the Infinite Crisis (2005) event, followed a few years later to Final Crisis (2008) which saw the "death" of Batman, each sparking universe-wide changes. The following year, 2009, gave us the Blackest Night crossover which brought the character Green Lantern to the forefront of the universe, and also brought many previously "dead" characters back from the grave. Next up was the biweekly series Brightest Day which is another Lantern-centric universe-wide crossover following the newly resurrected characters; a great series, but sort of falls apart at the end. But if you're looking for a specific story line to lead you into the New 52, the you'd be looking for 2011's Flashpoint and War of the Green Lanterns, both of which have a direct impact to the newly rebooted universe. Ultimately, none of these are required reads to get yourself into the New 52, but as a comics fan, I would highly recommend any and all of these.

The Dawn of a New Age, Growing Pains

DC Comics hyped up the New 52 for months leading up to last August, and there was much debate as to whether or not which titles were actually going to be affected by this company-wide relaunch. Most specifically, there was much debate as to whether Action Comics and Detective Comics were going to be affected, both titles had retained their original numbering since the 1930s. It's been an industry wide feeling that you do not touch those titles. They're the ones that essentially started the comic book industry as we've known it for the last nearly 80 years. Well, even those were relaunched with a brand new #1 issue. And at first, there was some confusion in the overall shared universe: some titles picked up directly where they left off pre-relaunch (Green Lantern), others (Justice League, Superman, Flash) that take place much earlier, and others ignore much of the canon from the last 20 years.

Many critics complained about how some characters - more specifically female characters - were either dropped, downgraded or oversexualized. It took the editorial teams some time to realign the timeline to be more cohesive, and to reintroduce other characters that were overlooked with the first wave of titles.

One Year Later

It was always understood by the heads of DC that not every title was going to make it through the first year, so some titles were cancelled withing a few issues to make room for others. As it stands now, there have been two waves of new titles, with a third coming in September. Six have already been canceled, and four more will be dropped to make room for the new titles coming with wave three. The plan has always been to maintain a title count of 52.

Now, I can't personally comment on every title that's come and gone over the last year, as I never really planned to read them all. I didn't read every title prior to the reboot, and I probably won't be picking up all of the newest wave. Not every character or team clicks with me, as it won't for most. I also didn't buy every #1 issue from the initial launch. I'm sure most comic fans who remember the early '90s know that a #1 issue doesn't have the same value as it used to in days gone by.

But, from the titles that I have read, and continue to read, I've been pleased by the stories the relaunch provided. I also feel that the relaunch was widely unnecessary, but I come from the school of thought that I don't need an issue #1 to jump into an existing title. It's been said that every comic book is someone's first comic book. There have been some really great stories since the relaunch, but was it really needed? Tell me your thoughts in the comments below.