As any nerd worth his weight in gold knows, DC Comics has undertaken the rather ridiculous goal of rebooting their entire comic universe, the idea being to grab new readers and overall media attention with an easily accessible universe, one that is bogged down less by decades of continuity and is going to get people back in the comic shops.  As the industry has fallen from a #1 book meaning millions of issues to literally 100,000 or less, it’s a big move to save the comics world.

52 brand new #1 issues. 52 fresh starts. 52 titles to get an audience hooked.

I, myself, have been rather critical in discussions with my friends, as this relaunch seems to not only alienate the existing fan base, but hasn’t exactly set the world on fire for non-readers (and I feel $3-$4 for digital comics is bullshit).  Never the less, the plan seems to have worked slightly, as the flagship title - a new Justice League written by superstar writer Geoff Johns and drawn by 90’s fan-favorite and current DC Comics co-publisher Jim Lee has lead to orders of 200,000 copies.

So I’ve decided to take on a very unique goal - given the easily accessibility of these titles (DC has decided in an industry first, for the issues to be day-and-date released digitally for reading on iPads and other tablets) to read and review every single first issue of the new DC Universe 52.

I think I might just be the right person for this task - born a Marvel fan (one of my earliest memories is reading Web of Spider-Man #3, starting a life long love of the hero), I’ve never really been into the DC Universe. While I certainly love the universe in the abstract (the DC Animated Universe is fantastic, the Batman movies have grabbed me for years, and I love the concepts of characters like Green Lantern and The Flash), I’ve never been able to get into the DC Universe proper, minus a few exceptions (like Grant Morrison’s JLA and the great, unloved Young Justice series).  If this can get me hooked, I think it might just be able to get anyone hooked, especially given my biases towards hating the project.

So here goes nothing, and there are no promises here - I could see myself blowing this project early, but let’s get started right, with this past Wednesday’s release - Justice League #1.

The issue starts in an action packed enough way, the Dark Knight himself Batman is in the midst of action - both fighting some sort of alien creature thing and being hunted by the police.  It’s clear that one of the new things with the relaunched DC Universe is that superheroes are at this point not welcome. Or at least they weren’t. As the first panel explains that this series takes place five years ago.

I know it’s a silly thing to complain about so early, but isn’t it kind of weird that the relaunch of an entire universe is built around/showcasing a flashback tale? Why not just START the universe there, and allow the other titles to build. It just feels like a “have cake and eat it too” situation.  If Justice League is the access point, make it the access point. Plain and simple. But I digress, for now.

Anyway, Batman’s being hunted through Gotham city while chasing a general nondescript alien who is, apparently, somehow connected to Darkseid (but looks like a mix of Killer Croc and The Scarecrow).  In the mix of all of this, he runs into Hal Jordan as Green Lantern.  The two have a vague team up/exposition fest which breaks down as follows:

-Green Lantern is kind of a wise-ass. -Batman is an asshole. -Random alien blows himself up and is ignored.

After Hal tells Batman about the Green Lantern Corps for a while, we see a momentary scene of Vic Stone, who is better known amongst comic fans as Cyborg (he’s the cyborg on the cover, understand now?).  In a weird twist, Vic is a young football star, who is ignored by his father - considering I’m used to him being the elder statesman of the Teen Titans, this is kind of odd.  I suppose he’s our insertion point for the audience, but why did everyone else give us so many details?  Anyway, we see he’s a football star via an awkwardly drawn montage from Lee (who otherwise, I felt was on-point this issue) - I’m not sure the issue, but does this panel look odd to anyone else?

Anyway, we cut back to GL and Bats fast enough for SUPERMAN OUTTA EFFING NOWHERE, who is now apparently a dick who likes to fly in, hit people in the face, and say something cocky.

And that’s Justice League #1.

Weird issue, right? I mean, for what is supposed to be THE issue that new readers can jump into, not a lot happens, and there isn’t much of a story. Batman’s chased while tracking an alien, GL shows up, Cyborg sees it, Superman’s an asshole. I kinda figured in an important issue like this, we’d get a high stakes story leading to something bigger.  And don’t say it can’t be done in today’s trade-wait comic world - Grant Morrison did it PERFECTLY in JLA #1 back in 1997.  The closest thing to accessibility is that Batman’s a brooding dick like Christian Bale and Green Lantern is a wise-ass like Ryan Reynolds.

All and all, it’s not an awful book, but it’s not the big blockbuster promised - and I worry that this early on, it will turn off fans.

Pros: Mostly solid Lee art, Batman and Green Lantern’s banter is fun, the new “superheroes are hated” world sounds interesting.

Cons: Superman’s an asshole, nothing really happens, not terribly accessible to new readers.

Would I continue reading it?: Only if the trade turned out to be good.

And that’s the first of 52.  In later weeks, expect shorter exposition, with the same sort of Pros, Cons and Would I Continue Reading breakdown for every title.

Up next week?

Action Comics #1 Animal Man #1 Batgirl #1 Batwing #1 Detective Comics #1 Green Arrow #1 Hawk and Dove #1 Justice League International #1 Men of War #1 O.M.A.C. #1 Static Shock #1 Stormwatch #1 Swamp Thing #1