On August 31st of last year, DC Comics released Flashpoint #5 and Justice League #1. With those two comics, the New 52 was launched.
It has been one year since then and a lot has changed for DC. They got a new logo, cancelled a few titles and replaced those titles. But it is now time to take a look back at the the DC New 52 year one and rank those comics. Enjoy!
57. The Savage Hawkman
My only prior exposure to Hawkman was his appearances on Smallville. He seems like an awesome character with a dense and convoluted history. In recent years, DC has tried to retcon all of his past versions into one.
The Savage Hawkman starts with Carter Hall trying to destroy the Nth metal armor that make him Hawkman. But something goes wrong and the Nth metal becomes part of him and can appear whenever he needs it. That is the best part of the entire series. It is a cool update to the character. But I have never read Hawkman before so this may have happened before.
The rest of the series is Hawkman fighting random villains and being utterly boring. Bad writing and confusing art makes this the worst book of the New 52.
56. The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men
My introduction to Firestorm came in Blackest Night. In that story, Black Lantern Ronnie Raymond joins Jason Rusch to form Firestorm and he turns Jason’s girlfriend into table salt. It was dark. I like dark. So when this title was announced for the New 52, I was excited to see the character(s) from the beginning. They made major changes to the origin.
There are several Firestorms across the globe and they all have different powers. The Firestorm Protocol has created a new arms race. High school jock Ronnie Raymond and science geek Jason Rusch both get exposed to the Firestorm Protocol and gain superpowers. Together, they can combine to create Fury, a creature more powerful than either of them, but also more dangerous.
Firestorm is not completely terrible. It has a few good moments like a terrorist attack during a concert that really affects the teens and it has good art throughout, but it just feels like a chore to read.
55. Mister Terrific
The DC New 52 has given me the opportunity to read a lot of characters that I have never read or even heard of. Mister Terrific is the third-smartest man alive and owns a major science and technology company. And he feels like a cheap knockoff of Reed Richards or Tony Stark.
He even has his own version of the negative zone that acts as his headquarters. He doesn’t have any real superpowers. Instead, he has T-Spheres that he uses to fly, hack into computers, shoot lasers and do pretty much anything that the plot requires.
Karen Starr guest stars in a couple issues and the end of this series actually ties into Earth 2 and Worlds’ Finest. Both are better titles than this one. There was just not enough to keep me interested.
54. Blackhawks
The Blackhawks are a top secret government organization that deals with extraterrestrial weapons and technology on Earth. They also have a secret base in the side of a mountain that gets attacked like three times in eight issues. The characters were somewhat interesting and definitely had unique personalities. My favorite was a woman named Kunoichi who becomes infected with nanocites that give her superpowers including the ability to interface with and control computers. That’s pretty cool.
This was one of the titles cancelled to make room for the second wave of the New 52, but the team leader named Lincoln does show back up in Voodoo. Still no sighting of the rest of the team though. It’s an okay book.
53. Green Arrow
Much like Hawkman, my only real knowledge of Green Arrow came from Smallville. Justin Hartley’s Oliver Queen was awesome. The DC New 52 Green Arrow is mediocre at best. In fact, his guest appearances in Justice League and Grifter were almost better than anything that the series has offered up. I feel like Green Arrow may be better in small doses.
One thing that I do like is Oliver’s support team. He has a separate division of Queen Industries called Q-Core that deals with technology and Green Arrow gadgets. His team has some great interactions with Ollie and give the book some much needed levity.
I really enjoyed the three issue arc that runs through issues seven, eight and nine. It involves a set of beautiful blonde triplets who come and cause some chaos for Oliver.
We are currently seeking Comics contributors on WhatCulture. To find out more about the perks of being a Comics contributor, click here.
33 Comments
I’ve really enjoyed the only runs I’ve picked up, both being Snyder’s Batman and The Flash. I considered grabbing Nightwing for a while, but I’m not convinced I should totally make that investment. I read Justice League 1 and wasn’t too impressed, but I’ve been hearing good things. Excellent write-up!
Thanks! Nightwing is a really good book.You can get the first trade for less than $10 on Amazon. That is a hell of a good deal and definitely worth it.
Great read! I knew I did the right thing a year ago when I bought Snyder’s Batman…..Can you guys do this for MARVEL’s new event MARVELNow? It’d help alot, thanks!
Snyder and Capullo’s run so far has been amazing, and #0 proved there’s life beyond The Court of Owls arc.
Can’t wait to see Death of the Family.
Always nice to read list like this. I’m a bit bored with Animal Man right now. I thought it started of excellent, but with each issue I became less and less interested with the Rot thing. It goes on for way to long if you ask me. Just wrap up the story and move on, but now we’re only at the beginning of the actual Swamp Thing/ Animal Man Rot crossover and my interest is at an all time low. Also i don’t think Animal Man is as scary as horror comics could be.
thanks for the write-up, it’s always great to hear about new people starting out on books, although i’m not a big fan of dc usually, i’ve always enjoyed their graphic novels & anything batman related….the only thing i’ve read post new 52 is snyder’s batman, and of course it’s incredible, one of the best batman runs yet…..as far as grant morrison & what people have told you about his work being dense & confusing, it’s totally right on the first part, but not on the second if you start from the beginning & keep it up….to really see where he shines you should definitely get into what he was doing for batman on r.i.p. & the black glove, also his run on new x-men is probably my favorite thing he’s ever done and definitely the easiest thing by him to pick up and read w/ little prior knowledge, its so weird in a great way, his arkham asylum book is a great piece of art too
“Good comic runs add to the canon. Great comic runs add to the mythos of a character.”
such a great line
Thanks for the kind words!
Is this some kind of joke?!
ok, Seriously? Ranked from worst to best? WTF, is this some kind of joke?!!! Thats BS! I do not care what others say, this is by far, the most alienating, most disrespectful reboot I have ever witnessed and they even ruined Superman, my favorite DC icon. It’s messed up in so many ways, it’s not even funny. At this point, i actually miss the real DC heroes!
Wow! I will admit that the New 52 changed a lot and it definitely wasn’t for everyone. DC’s main reason for the relaunch was to get new readers. Which did happen. For a while. Even a year in with a ton of people dropping off, DC’s numbers are astronomically higher than before the New 52. As someone who had a hard time jumping into current comics prior to the relaunch, it was awesome to have a starting point. Although, I do miss the post-Crisis Superman. Byrne’s reboot was my favorite era of the Man of Steel.
I have to agree with Anthony on this one. The creative direction that DC has taken has walked away from the 70 some odd years of glory and converted into a miasma of stories I’d usually find in every other comic out there. If I wanted to read stories like these, I’d go to Marvel, Dark Horse, etc. DC was the last bastion of heroic fantasy without the problems of realism. Where am I supposed to go now?
Go back to the bins. As you pointed out, there is 70+ years of DC Comics. The reboot may have wiped them from continuity, but not from existence. Personally, I have an almost complete run of Superman titles from 1986 to 2006 (Crisis on Infinite Earths to Infinite Crisis) and I go back to them all the time. I know that it kind of sucks if you do not like the direction of DC Comics, but if history has shown us anything, DC will reboot again in ten years or so with Final Infinite Flashpoint on Infinite Earths. :)
Pretty decent article. My only gripe is that the author didn’t have a lot of knowledge of DC’s continuity prior to it’s relaunch. I think having this knowledge would have helped him more with the article.
Wow, on your profile it says you have a passion for comic books among other things, this article obviously proves that statement very wrong. I stopped reading at Green Arrow and I quote “Much like Hawkman, my only real knowledge of Green Arrow came from Smallville.” Seriously? I’m not saying he’s one of the more iconic characters of the DC lore but even my girlfriend can tell me his real name and some background information on Green Arrow if I ask her.
From the Firestorm review “…but it just feels like a chore to read.” Well this article was written more like it was a chore rather than a joy. I came here for some insight on the lesser titles as I recently started collecting a few of them but didn’t get much for the reason stated earlier.
Please don’t write articles misinforming or misleading readers if you’re not willing to give it any effort from beginning to end. This is America, those are my two cents please take them with a grain of salt. Thank you
@Mauro Garcia: You sound like a crazy person….
Thanks Samuel, it was a good rundown of the New 52 line and definitely peaked my interest in some titles I was still on the fence about.
Great article. The only moment where I went “What?” was where you placed JLI. Those first 6 issues were painful for me to read.
And I agree with Catwoman. The story is pretty good and the art is gorgeous. I didn’t understand why people griped so much.
Mauro Garcia is right. I learned absolutely nothing of substance about the quality of most of these new 52 series from reading this rundown. Perhaps it’s unfair to criticize the author too harshly, as he sounds like a greenhorn who is simply unfamiliar with many of the characters. In reading reviews like this I find it very, very helpful to have a basis for comparison with older treatments of the characters. These reviews completely lacked that and are pretty much unhelpful. Just my 3 cents.
In response to the entry about Detective Comics, I agree, but it was Tony Daniel, not Tony Moore writing.
Wow, this might be the single worst New 52 list I have ever read. It started off strong, too, by naming some of the truly awful titles (like Green Arrow).
Then it just went to hell.
I, Vampire at 29, Batwoman at 27, Aquaman at 24. Are you kidding me? Those 3 are easily top 10 material, and you’ve put them below trash like Blue Beetle, Justice League International etc.
Men of War was decent, but doesn’t deserve that high a spot. G.I. Combat is awful. GLC and GL: NG are meh, JLD deserves to be higher. Nightwing and World’s Finest are nowhere near that good. And then the biggest kicker: Wonder Woman at #12. And you follow that up by Justice League at #11.
That was the part where I realized you’ve probably never read comics before.
I mean, REALLY!?!?!?
Azraello and Chiang’s WW is considered to be one of the BEST of the new 52 (one of the best runs of the last year, even) and you put it beneath Johns’travesty of the Justice League. No, Geoff Johns does not have a way with the characters, except for Green Lantern and Aquaman. He doesn’t know a single thing about Wonder Woman, and his Superman/Batman are also mediocre. Don’t even get me started on Darkseid.
The top 10 is almost as bad. Swamp Thing should be higher, but at least you put it there. Voodoo is definitely not top 10 material considering most people put it at the bottom of the list. It was decent except for the huge swing in the middle of the run, but top 10? Art, maybe. Writing, hell no.
Frankenstein is good but not nearly as good as Swamp Thing, Justice League Dark, I Vampire or Demon Knights…the latter of which you’ve also chosen to ignore.
Batgirl has been meh; Gail Simone’s stopped caring about her work ever since they cancelled Secret Six. Batwoman is far superior.
Supergirl has been boring and unimaginative for its entire run. Not the worst, but top 10? Please.
Action Comics isn’t bad, but again, WW, Swamp Thing etc. are far superior.
But at least you got Batman right, right? Except for the part where you put Batman Inc. way down the list.
Seriously, can this site get some actual comic readers to write these lists? Because otherwise people that visit the site are going to leave very confused and continue buying crappy comics like Batgirl, Supergirl, and Justice League, while ignoring the truly good comics like half the Dark solicitations, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman.
I know these lists are based on ‘opinion’ but come on, there is a limit, especially when the content itself is so poorly written.
If you want a real list, this is it:
1. Batman
2. Wonder Woman
3. Swamp Thing
4. Animal Man
5. Aquaman
6. Batwoman
7. Flash
8. Action Comics
9. I, Vampire
10. Batman, Inc.
11. Justice League Dark
12. Demon Knights
13. Green Lantern
14. Earth-2
15. Batman and Robin
Those are the only ones I consider ‘must reads’. The rest are average or mediocre, so pick and choose your favorites.
i thought the list was okay i mean swamp thing should be lower and jim lee drew justice so it had to be 1
Dude, chill! It’s his list! Does everyone like every single movie that you do? Do you completely agree with every single top ten list? And the rest aren’t COMPLETELY average or mediocre, that’s just your warped fanboy mindset! People like you are the kind of comic book nerds that are making the industry aggravating.
Informative list. I appreciate that Samuel evaluated the comics based on their concent, rather than the history of the characters. You have convinced me to pick up a few tpbs at the comic store this weekend (Animal Man, Swamp Thing, Frankenstein).
Awesome thanks so much!!!!
Catwoman is too low. Red Hood is too low. Superman is too low. Aquaman is WAY too low. Blue Beetle is too low. Wonder Woman is WAY too low. Batman (even though it’s awesome) is way too high.
i don’t think someone who had never heard of captain atom, and never ead grant morrison, should be writing an article on dc comics, but i have to admit i enjoyed the article..i would reccomend you read batman gothic, batman arkham asylum, and all star superman. all great grant morrison stories
i actually hated batgirl. the mirror arc had a great concept with awful execution. the gretel arc did not grip me at all. i would reccomend batwoman. in my opinion batgirl is the female version of robin and batwoman is the female version of batman. Animal man was phenomenal. I feel like i should be reading swamp thing but i kinda refuse because alan moores swamp thing was such a classic that remaking it seems wrong to me
LOL Final infinite flashpoint on infinite Earths. Get writing it!!! Although you need to get “Crisis” into the title. Great summary on the New 52 and gives folks an idea of which titles they may like to look at. I only wish the GL concept was more streamlined. Also not too mad on the idea of cross-overs if they become too frequent.
May I ask have you got your own comic review site, as I’m sure it’ll make for great reading. I’m just starting to get into DC. Collecting trades both hardprint and on my Kindle.
Maybe next time they will find someone to do a review each paragraph wont start with, “I have never heard of this comic character before but…” I’d get a more informative review getting my 89 year old grandmother to write about Japanese Manga.
I loved reading this list and it got me to get every new 52 book. I agree with most of the choices, although in my opinion Green Arrow is better than where you put it; I like it a little more than Batman Inc.! Could you please do an update with all of the series up through the 4th wave?
In the awesome scheme of things you’ll receive a B- for effort. Where you confused everybody was on all the facts. You know, as the maxim goes, details make or break the argument.. And it couldn’t be more accurate in this article. Having said that, let me inform you what did work. Your text is quite powerful and that is possibly the reason why I am taking an effort in order to comment. I do not really make it a regular habit of doing that. 2nd, whilst I can certainly notice a leaps in reason you come up with, I am not sure of just how you appear to connect your ideas which inturn help to make your final result. For now I will subscribe to your position however hope in the near future you actually connect the dots much better.
I had to stop reading this article after:
“I found myself thinking that the character was just a ripoff of Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen. Later, I learned that Alan Moore based Manhattan on Captain Atom.”
I’d already let the fact the writer knew nothing about Hawkman or Green Arrow go… I really think you need at least a vague knowledge of a character/story if you’re going to judge like this.
You were one of the few ppl that gave a less than great review of batman inc. But it made me hesitant to pick it up because most of your reviews on this list I aggreed with. But I decided to read it as I’m a huge grant morrison fan and I loved it. I loved it even more than action comics. Imo its one of the best series in the new 52. That and justice league dark