New52

[RichieP]

Hey guys and gals,

I am trying to figure out whether or not to read the New52 novels. I have not read many comics so I'm afraid I'm not very clued up. I am about to start reading Crisis On Infinite Earths. I have read Flashpoint and I know the New52 is next but I've been wondering if I should bother with it and where I should start and finish if I choose to read it. Should I just skip to Rebirth?

[Earth-2 Refugee]

While nothing from the New 52 is required to understand Rebirth, there's plenty of good books to read if you just want to read some nice stories. The Court of Owls/City of Owls from Batman is amazing with the Talon series following up that story. Earth 2 is phenomenal most of the time. All Star Western and Demon Knights are good reads. Titans Hunt and Superman: Lois and Clark give some background on Rebirth. Some say Batman Eternal is great, but I only read the first third and thought it was meh. Batwing started off strong until they changed who the main character was. Gail Simone's Batgirl is heralded as pretty good, but I didn't read it beyond the first trade, which was enjoyable.

Mainly just read New 52 books if you want to. It's not required, and is completely up to you.

[sustainentropy]

With a few exceptions like Batman, the New 52 was a pretty low ebb for DC critically and with a lot of fans. You might be better off jumping into the start of the Rebirth series. Most of the Rebirth one shots that start each new series gives a good jumping on point for readers that don't know too much about what's been going on recently. As I said there are some excellent New 52 series that you could go back and read if you like but they're not totally necessary.

While amazing, if you're mostly new to DC then Crisis on Infinite Earths might be quite confusing and it doesn't really play into what's going on currently at all. Hope this helped!

[jbmasta]

If you enjoy the Geoff Johns Green lantern stuff, it continues into New 52 mostly unchanged. Minor characters may have changed but fundamentally it picks up from the fallout of War of the Green Lanterns, leading up to an epic finale in Wrath of the First Lantern. If you only want to read the Green Lantern title, go for the Green Lantern volumes 1, 2 and 3 trades (titled Sinestro, Revenge of Black Hand and The End respectively) as well as the Rise of the Third Army and Wrath of the First Lantern trades for the two major Lantern crossover events.

[Raptor13]

It's all about what you want to read. Personally, I adored the main Batman title all the way through, as well as most of Batman and Robin. Eternal was pretty fun. Justice League started off mediocre but got continuously better as time went on. Opposite with Earth 2, started off great, then went downhill. Wonder Woman was very different, but great. Green Lantern: New Guardians was great under Justin Jordan especially. I, Vampire was a beautiful book.

Quite frankly, I loved the New 52, enjoyed it much more than the previous continuity (with the exception of Teen Titans. That entire line was an absolute mess)

[RobinFan4880]

Stuff that is worth a look:

Grant Morrison's Action Comics
Scott Snyder's Batman
Geoff John's Aquaman
Scott Snyder and Charles Soule's Swamp Thing
Jeff Lemire's Animal Man
Geoff Johns' Justice League
Peter Tomasi's Batman and Robin
Brian Azzarello's Wonder Woman
Batman Eternal (a weekly series written by a team)
Genevieve Valentine's Catwoman
Tim Seeley's and Tom King's Gayson
Amanda Conner's and Jimmy Palmiotti's Harley Quinn
Tom King's Omega Men
Scott Snyder's Superman Unchained


If you are willing to go back to pre-New 52 books, then the following continuations of those pre-New 52 stories are really good:

Grant Morrison's Batman, Incorporated
Geoff Johns' Green Lantern

[gwangung]

Stuff that is worth a look:

Grant Morrison's Action Comics
Scott Snyder's Batman
Geoff John's Aquaman
Scott Snyder and Charles Soule's Swamp Thing
Jeff Lemire's Animal Man
Geoff Johns' Justice League
Peter Tomasi's Batman and Robin
Brian Azzarello's Wonder Woman
Batman Eternal (a weekly series written by a team)
Genevieve Valentine's Catwoman
Tim Seeley's and Tom King's Gayson
Amanda Conner's and Jimmy Palmiotti's Harley Quinn
Tom King's Omega Men
Scott Snyder's Superman Unchained


If you are willing to go back to pre-New 52 books, then the following continuations of those pre-New 52 stories are really good:

Grant Morrison's Batman, Incorporated
Geoff Johns' Green Lantern

No love for Dial H?

[thefiresky]

Skip to rebirth. I'm not knocking New 52 but Rebirth's whole point was to fix all the tactics they got wrong in the New 52 style. Plus you'll be enjoying every issue up to date as it goes with the rest of us. AND you can always go back to N52 later, I mean, it's not going anywhere.

[NexusTenebrare]

Yes, read the New52. There are a lot of great series (much more than listed so far).
And it offered better incarnations of some of the characters you had pre-Flashpoint that have sadly come back with Rebirth.
Be warned though that when Rebirth comes around, DC will start telling you that what you just read was emotionless crap. But if you actually read it, you'll know that's BS.

[Hawkgirl_70]

Yes, read the New52. There are a lot of great series (much more than listed so far).
And it offered better incarnations of some of the characters you had pre-Flashpoint that have sadly come back with Rebirth.
Be warned though that when Rebirth comes around, DC will start telling you that what you just read was emotionless crap. But if you actually read it, you'll know that's BS.

Always enjoy most every opinion here.... what books/collections do you like? What would you advise me to try?
Thank you!

[paulojrmam]

I think Justice League is pretty much a 'required' read, considering Rebirth JL is not good. Also, Snyder Batman is a very good run and totally worth it.Grayson is absolutely awesome, as is Midnighter.

The problem with the other books is that good runs are sandwiched between bad runs.

And if you plan on reading any of the two excelent Green Lantern Rebirth titles, New 52 might do you some good, since it all still matters. Green Arrow also has all its backstory in New 52, especially in Ben Percy's run.

[Hawkgirl_70]

I think Justice League is pretty much a required read. Specially considering Rebirth JL is not good. Also, Snyder Batman is a very good run and totally worth it. Grayson is absolutely awesome, as is Midnighter.

The problem with the other books is that good runs are sandwiched between bad runs.

Do these stories continue on seamlessly into Rebirth, or are they ended? Are these stories I need to know about to read Rebirth?

[paulojrmam]

They are still canon, Rebirth didn't erase them. And character introductions (or origins) are in New 52. Other than that, I just began reading Rebirth JL, and it seems to be standalone from New 52. Batman is also standalone from New 52. From what I read, only Green Arrow seemed to require more understanding of New 52 story, but still not a requirement. If your fear is missing out story Rebirth requires, I think you can read Rebirth without any previous knowledge. In fact, it's better at doing this than New 52 was. Rebirth Green Lantern, for example, is much more 'beginner friendlly' than New 52 Green Lantern.

But yes, JL, Grayson and Batman from New 52 ended before Rebirth and I didn't see any loose ends/cliffhangers. The only title I remember having ties to Rebirth is Titans Hunt.

[RedKnight00]

But yes, JL, Grayson and Batman from New 52 ended before Rebirth and I didn't see any loose ends/cliffhangers. The only title I remember having ties to Rebirth is Titans Hunt.

Superman too, the last arc from Superman/Action Comics/Lois & Clark ties directly into the rebirth of Mr. El.

[Korath]

They are still canon, Rebirth didn't erase them. And character introductions (or origins) are in New 52. Other than that, I just began reading Rebirth JL, and it seems to be standalone from New 52. Batman is also standalone from New 52. From what I read, only Green Arrow seemed to require more understanding of New 52 story, but still not a requirement. If your fear is missing out story Rebirth requires, I think you can read Rebirth without any previous knowledge. In fact, it's better at doing this than New 52 was. Rebirth Green Lantern, for example, is much more 'beginner friendlly' than New 52 Green Lantern.

But yes, JL, Grayson and Batman from New 52 ended before Rebirth and I didn't see any loose ends/cliffhangers. The only title I remember having ties to Rebirth is Titans Hunt.

That's not exactly the case for Batman and Grayson. The latter directly lead into Nightwing Rebirth (the Rebirth Special as Tiger King and Spyral, after all) and there is references to The New 52 in Batman (Zero Year and Bloom, from the top of my head). In any case, the Batman brands seems to be more direct tie-in from The New 52 (like Aquaman), when the Superman's brand rest on The Final Days of Superman on various degrees (Superman and Action Comics have already began to distance themselves from it, but Superwoman and Supergirl have distinct elements of the New 52 either at their source or their main villain for the first arc).