New 52 Appreciation 2023

[HsssH]

New 52 is still a "hot" topic and people have valid reasons to dislike it, but DC did publish some good comics during that time period and I figure we could use a thread to talk about stuff we liked.

Titles that I liked: Action by Morrison and Pak. Batman/Superman by Pak, Aquaman by Johns and Parker, Animal Man, Burnside Batgirl, Batman and Robin, Blackhawks (thou they didn't feel like blackhawks), Demon Knights by Cornell, Frankenstein, Green Arrow by Lemire, I Vampire, Omac, Wonder Woman by Azzarello, Swamp Thing by Soule, Dial H, Harley Quinn, Justice League 3000/3001, Grayson, Gotham Academy, Klarion, Bizzaro, Midnighter, Omega Men, Martian Manhunter, Robin: Son of Batman, Forever Evil/Forever Heroes.

I'm not including Morrison's Batman Inc or Multiversity because work on them started way before New 52. Or out of continuity things like American Alien because they probably would have been written with or without New 52.

I didn't like Earth-2 books, my controversial take is that it was good for only short time when Taylor was writing it. But in general I loved the focus on Multiverse that we got with 3 Earth-2 series, World's Finest, Batman/Superman, Forever Evil and Multiversity.

So, what everyone else liked from that time?

[Claude]

They weren't all-time classics, but I really liked the Weekly Series format of things like Batman Eternal and Future's End. A real sense of sprawl and scope.

[superduperman]

I want to see it come back in an Ultimates form. Which is what it should have been from the get go. It had my second favorite Superman origin in the comics which is one of the things I really wish they kept during Rebirth. And daddy Zeus WW was an interesting concept I wish had gotten to continue. The one thing I'm glad they kept was Aquaman's origin. It basically went back to the SA one.

[Johnny Thunders!]

1. Demon Knights 2. Resurrection Man 3. Animal Man 4. Omac 5. Xombi 6. Action Comics 7. Wonder Woman 8. Batman, it all added up to nothing permanent really but these are great books by great writers and artists.

[HsssH]

I want to see it come back in an Ultimates form. Which is what it should have been from the get go. It had my second favorite Superman origin in the comics which is one of the things I really wish they kept during Rebirth. And daddy Zeus WW was an interesting concept I wish had gotten to continue. The one thing I'm glad they kept was Aquaman's origin. It basically went back to the SA one.

Yeah, Aquaman benefited a lot by being able to ignore all the previous stuff.

[Frontier]

New 52 Aquaman was da bomb .

[Robotman]

It was definitely a very mixed bag but New 52 was a golden age for DC’s supernatural characters. That’s something I’ll always appreciate about the reboot.

[BlackClaw]

Aquaman’s New 52 comics were incredible.

[LifeIsILL]

Just started the Firestorm series, it's about 10x better than I thought it would be....maybe it turns to crap eventually.

[Korath]

I'm pretty sure the only reason most titles of the New 52 were disliked was because it wasn' tmade into an Ultimate Universe for the get go. And that's a shame.

I mean, some titles had to be actively sabotaged by new authors/editors (like Superman/Wonder Woman) to revert the line to the previous status quo at best they could.

[K7P5V]

New 52 Aquaman was da bomb .

Aquaman’s New 52 comics were incredible.

OMG! Totally agree!! Ivan Reis nailed it (IMHO):

[Frontier]

I'm pretty sure the only reason most titles of the New 52 were disliked was because it wasn' tmade into an Ultimate Universe for the get go. And that's a shame.

I mean, some titles had to be actively sabotaged by new authors/editors (like Superman/Wonder Woman) to revert the line to the previous status quo at best they could.

I do wonder how different things would've been had the main continuity kept on while the New 52 was a separate line of comics.

[HsssH]

Well DC wouldn't then have released 52 new titles if the old line was still going. We would have gotten maybe 4-5 titles? And I'm fairly certain that Frankenstein, OMAC or I, Vampire wouldn't have been among them.

Aquaman also likely would have been launched out of Brightest Day if not for New 52. Johns and Reis would likely still have worked on it, but as I said, I feel like their run really benefited from being able to ignore everything that came before.

[Frontier]

Well DC wouldn't then have released 52 new titles if the old line was still going. We would have gotten maybe 4-5 titles? And I'm fairly certain that Frankenstein, OMAC or I, Vampire wouldn't have been among them.

Aquaman also likely would have been launched out of Brightest Day if not for New 52. Johns and Reis would likely still have worked on it, but as I said, I feel like their run really benefited from being able to ignore everything that came before.

That's totally fair.

[charliehustle415]

BATMAN & ROBIN was the best thing that came outta New 52, it solidified Tomasi and Gleason as a superstar team.

I count myself blessed that they did lengthy runs for Batman and Superman