This hurts to admit, but I’m starting to get over my anger
at the new 52. Now, this is accompanying my new attitude towards the new 52. In
the past, I collected dozens of DC comics every month. I kept meticulous
attention to my favorite characters, mostly the JLI-era leaguers and their
supporting characters.
Now, with the new 52 a few years old, I find myself as
an interested observer. I will read any new 52 stocked by my local library. I have
no interest in OWNING any of these comics. They don’t need to be added to my 75
long boxes. But I’m happy to read them for free and judge the DCU that left
this old (38 year old) man behind.
And you know, it isn’t all bad! As I’ve said before, Geoff
Johns is quite good at getting to the core of his characters. These leaguers
feel close to what I remember from my older comics. This is like a cartoon
version of the DCU, where everyone is angrier and more innocent bystanders die
in order to up the stakes of each story.
This is a DCU for fans of the Dark
Knight, where seeing the heroes suffer is a big part of the fun.
The book opens with a very classic-feeling story starring a
new 52 version of Cheetah. She works much better as a League-wide threat thanks
to a massive power upgrade from Johns. Tony Daniel draws her as a sleek, nude
murderess. She’s able to snatch Flash mid-stride and repeatedly slash his
hamstrings to slow him down. She chops at Wonder Woman’s throat and is
basically tremendously dangerous. I liked how Johns used a “personal” villain
of Wonder Woman’s to show the league growing closer together. This is Diana’s
villain, but her friends are happy to help her deal with the situation.
The rest of the book is the titled “Throne of Atlantis”
story. Including issues from both Aquaman and Justice League, this opens with
multiple coastal cities being flooded, including Gotham and Metropolis. There
are many comments made about how many people died in the tsunami, once again
showing that if I were living in a fictional comic book universe, make mine
Marvel.
Johns gets a lot of mileage out of Aquaman’s torn loyalties
between the surface and Atlantis. Ocean Master in particular seems obsessed
with revenge, but not entirely unjustified in his actions. It’s a nice turn to
make the villain somewhat sympathetic.
One of my favorite things about the new 52 is the use of
Mera. She’s arguably more heroic than Aquaman now, who is too busy being angry
and pouty to be a good hero. She gets a lot of nice moments throughout the
story, including a big rescue scene where she arrives with the Justice League
cavalry. I think she belongs in the league full time.
Especially since this trade includes the expansion of the Justice
League ranks. Atom, Vixen, Black Canary, Element Woman, Firestorm, and
long-time favorite Hawkman all join up to help repel the Atlantians. We know
some of those folks are just here short term, as they are destined to split off
into the JLA.
With nice callbacks to early Aquaman stories (both pre and
post new 52), this feels like an epic story that pays off a lot of subplots.
This GOOD comic is by far my favorite in the new 52.
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