47. Legion of Super-Heroes
Reading Legion of Super-Heroes makes me feel so lost. Despite the DC New 52 being a "reboot," Legion drops you right into years of established continuity and leaves me scratching my head while I admire the pretty art. I know a little about the Legion, but there are so many characters that I lose track. My favorite character is probably Ultra Boy. Ultra Boy has all of Superman's powers, but can only use one at a time. And that causes some interesting issues.
46. Stormwatch
Stormwatch is a group of superheroes who help protect the Earth from threats both alien and domestic. It seems like Earth is just a magnet for bad shit. The team consists of heroes with some unique powers. Jenny Quantum is a young girl whose powers are based on 21st century physics. If something gets proven false, she can no longer do it. Jack Hawksmoor can speak to cities. The actual city itself. He has some cool scenes where he talks to Paris, Rome and the twin cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It's definitely a weird power. And Harry Tanner is a master swordsman and can make people believe any lie. That could be helpful if you work for a top secret organization. I really did enjoy the book more because of the characters than the plot.
45. Suicide Squad
Task Force X is a group of super villains who go on missions for Amanda Waller. In exchange, they get time reduced from their prison sentences. It is a great premise with mixed execution. The main team consists of Harley Quinn, Deadshot, King Shark and Black Spider. There are plenty of twists and turns and double crosses. I mean, they are all super villains. And those double crosses seem to be some of the best parts. That and the art.
44. Birds of Prey
Black Canary, Katana, Poison Ivy, Starling and Batgirl make up a team of kick ass super heroines from Gotham City. Black Canary is the leader with an ultrasonic scream. Katana is a ninja with a magic sword that traps the souls of its victims. Starling is a new character to the DCU. She has no superpowers, but she is a skilled fighter. And everyone knows Batgirl and Poison Ivy. The book has been pretty good throughout this first year. The relationships between the team members are very well defined and there are plenty of questions in regards to some of their motives. And there is also a connection to the Red/Green/Rot storyline that is going through Animal Man, Swamp Thing, Frankenstein and Earth 2.
43. Static Shock
One of the promises of the DC New 52 was that new readers would have a jumping on point. Some titles (Supergirl) do this better than others (Green Lantern). Static Shock is somewhere in the middle. It's clear that there is a history to the character with plenty of mentions of previous events, but it is done in such a way that it does not hinder new readers at all. I had never read a Static Shock comic before now and I was sort of sad to see it get cancelled. The art was consistently good and the story seemed like it had a lot of meat that got trimmed due to its cancellation. One of my favorite aspects of the book was a "villain" named The Pale Man. We don't learn his name until a couple of issues in and it is confusing because he looks just like The Joker. And for good reason. He is an undercover cop who survives an attack with the Joker smiley toxin. I like that idea. It's a great origin. And when they show a flashback of this, it reminds me very much of the end of Tim Burton's Batman because it takes place during a parade.
42. Detective Comics
Detective Comics is considered one of DC's top titles. I mean, the company is named after it. And it stars Batman. But this first year of Detective was sub par compared to all the other Batman related titles. It started off with a bang by writing out the biggest Batman villain, The Joker. But it quickly fell apart from there. The best issue of the series is the Night of the Owls crossover because everything tied to Scott Snyder's Batman is elevated. I feel that Tony Moore's writing just wasn't up to the same quality as Snyder's or any of the other Batman writers. Although, I did enjoy his art in the issues that he pencilled. Detective Comics Annual #1 was his last issue as writer. John Layman (Chew) will be taking over as of the #0 issue. I have high hopes that Detective Comics year two will be better with him at the helm.