52 has been nothing short of a thrill ride from the first issue. It’s amazing to me that a year long weekly comic featuring characters no one has ever really cared much for could be so entertaining. The Black Adam events have come to a head in issue #50 where World War 3 begins.
You may not have kept up with this comic, so here’s a brief overview of 52:
Early on in 52 Black Adam became the ruthless, self proclaimed ruler of Kandaq. He ruled with an iron fist of sorts, enforcing his strict form of blind justice, until he met a woman and bestowed upon her the magic of Isis. He also gave her brother a portion of his power thus bringing the Black Marvel family together. Later that family was wiped out by agents of the Chinese government. Black Adam was taken captive by a group of mad scientists on a remote island. Adam escaped and starting making his way to China, killing anyone who stood in his way. Once he arrived in China he was met with various heroes of the Chinese government.
Meanwhile the Justice Society of America and various American super heroes were poised at the border of China, ready to attack Black Adam as soon as they received clearance from China. After Black Adam killed all who met him on the battlefield, the Chinese government reluctantly sanctioned the American heroes’ entrance on Chinese soil. Moments later the fight began, and Black Adam was defeated by Captain Marvel.
As always this was a great issue. As 52 draws to a close I find myself getting nervous about Countdown 52 (DC’s replacement weekly series). I’m not sure how it can live up to the excitement and great storylines of 52.
2 responses to “52 #50 World War 3”
[…] 52 #50 World War 3 […]
[…] This series moved very quickly, which is necessary from the standpoint that this was meant to take place in one week, but it made the comic feel empty and the concept feel shallow. DC would have been better off releasing this as a one-shot issue with all four issues grouped in to one, or release four separate issues but double or triple the length of each. So many separate story lines were attempted to be touched on that it made the over all story feel disjointed. This concept works well in 52 because the writers had a full year to stretch the multiple stories out and truly delve in to each character. World War 3 however tries to cram in as much information as possible in four issues and it just feels wrong. Also, I stopped following certain characters in the DC Universe months ago, such as the goings on of Checkmate. Others I didn’t bother to pick up (Firestorm and Aquaman). These low sales, boring characters are the side stories that World War 3 attempts to interest us in. The main story on the other hand, is that of Black Adam murdering people, and super heroes attempting to stop him. This is could have been a good story if we perhaps had some manner of character development on the supporting cast, outside of the Martian Manhunter. Instead the main story was little more than a 4 issue brawl; an extension of the fight which we already read about in 52 issue #50. In short, it was a money maker and little else. […]