35. Legion Lost
Legion Lost follows a group of Legionaires from the the 31st century that have traveled back in time to stop a man from releasing a virus that will mutate the human race by giving them superpowers. In doing so, they get stuck in the 21st century where the struggle to find a way home. Compared to Legion of Super-Heroes which has way too many characters and far too convoluted of a continuity, Legion Lost feels more personal. There are only seven members of the team and you get a feel for their relationships with one another very quickly. And it is refreshing to have a "tie-in" book that doesn't require you to read the other title(s). The characters, story and art are all top notch. My the only drawback to the series is that it was part of the horrid Culling crossover with Teen Titans and Superboy. Ugh.
34. Superman
Superman is my favorite superhero. And it hurts to have him so low on this list because I had such high hopes for both creative teams. I mean, George Perez and Dan Jurgens are both pretty big names in the comic industry and both have worked on Superman titles in the past. And there are some great things within their collective twelve issues, but the overall runs were disappointing. One of my favorite ideas brought up in Perez's six issues was that Lois knows that Clark is Superman! It is never flat out stated and it is unclear if Clark knows that Lois knows, but it is there. Unfortunately, Jurgens did not seem to pick up that plot thread at all during his time on the book. I just hope that it doesn't get dropped altogether. It could be an interesting element of this new universe. The one constant of all twelve issues was the art of Jesus Merino. And it is gorgeous. Besides Jim Lee, he seems to have some of the best Superman art of the New 52. Then again, Lee did do the redesign for the relaunch so it is obvious that his Superman would be the definitive Superman of the DCU. Scott Lobdell has taken over the title with Superman Annual #1 which is officially part of the first year of the relaunch. I was concerned when he was announced for the title, but after reading the annual, I have a renewed hope for this title going into Year Two of the New 52. Fingers crossed.
33. Superboy
About a year before the New 52 reboot, Jeff Lemire started a run on the newly relaunched Superboy title. It put Conner Kent in Smallville living on the Kent Farm with Ma Kent. And it was awesome! According to interviews, Lemire was originally going to stay on Superboy after Flashpoint, but something changed and Scott Lobdell ended up taking over the Boy of Steel to mixed reactions. Superboy isn't a terrible title. In fact, I have grown to enjoy it more and more every month. But there are some major issues with the narrative and characters. The story sometimes feels detached from issue to issue like Lobdell forgot what happened last time. However, the title improved greatly when Tom DeFalco joined the writing team and eventually took over the title completely. Issues 11 and 12 are really good. And I like that they changed Superboy's origin. Kon-El was created by Project Cadmus as part of the Reign of the Supermen arc that followed The Death of Superman. He is a clone of Superman with some of Lex Luthor's DNA to fill in the gaps. In the New 52 continuity, Superboy is still a clone of Superman, but he has two other donors that have yet to be identified. It seems logical that Luthor is still one of the two, but who is the third? Lois Lane? Wonder Woman? Lobo? Also, Project Cadmus is no longer responsible for the creation of the clone. Instead, a new organization called N.O.W.H.E.R.E. created him to take part in The Culling. Ugh. If you can't tell yet, I hated The Culling. As for the costume redesign, I like it. Many have called it a Tron suit and I can definitely see why. In the later issues, it appears that he is going toward more of a casul outfit like that before Flashpoint and I am cool with that, too. Either way, I just like the overall design of the character and am excited to see more of his adventures.
32. Teen Titans
Unlike Legion Lost and Legion of Super-Heroes, Superboy and Teen Titans are tie-in series that require you to read both. Especially when you get to The Culling. Ugh. The basic plot revolves around N.O.W.H.E.R.E. abducting meta-teens for The Culling. Tim Drake AKA Red Robin brings together a team consisting of Cassie "Don't Call Me Wonder Girl" Sandsmark, Bart "Kid Flash" Allen, Solstice and Bunker to help stop N.O.W.H.E.R.E. and save the meta-teens. They clash with Sueprboy before joining forces to take down N.O.W.H.E.R.E. Despite The Culling, the series is pretty good. Each member of the team gets a good introduction and the interactions between the team members are fun. But there are two major continuity problems with the series. The first revolves around Tim Drake. Recently, DC editorial has stated that Tim was never Robin. He was always Red Robin. But it has been stated in several Batman titles that Tim was in fact Robin. Then again, there are like 27 Batman titles so the news might not have reached everyone. Secondly, it is unclear whether or not this is the first group to call themselves the Teen Titans. There are contradicting statements throughout the New 52 and even just in this title. At one point, Tim says something along the line of this being the strangest Titans team ever. But later on, the Legion Lost members say that the Titans are not supposed to exist yet. WTF?!? Maybe it's just some timey-wimey side effects from Flashpoint. Or maybe it is poor communications between editorial and the writers.
31. Demon Knights
Demon Knights is a series set in the Medieval times when magic was everywhere and demons walked the Earth. It is a team book, but not really. The "team" is actually a group of people brought together to stop Morgan La Faye and return Merlin's body to Avalon. Along the way, they fight armies of the dead, sea serpents and dragons. I am not normally a fan of Arthurian era stories, but this is a great book with excellent writing, fun characters and fantastic art. Do yourself a favor and pick up this book! It is one of the gems of the New 52.
30. Grifter
I picked up Grifter #1 based solely on the cover. I knew nothing about the character, the story or the creative team. And I was so happy that my random pick turned out to be such a good choice. Grifter is a character from the WildStorm Universe that was incorporated into the DCU post-Flashpoint. Cole Cash is a former Black Ops member turned mercenary turned travelling con man who gets caught up in an alien conspiracy. Imagine Sawyer from LOST taking over Rowdy Roddy Piper's role from They Live and you have Grifter. The book has some great action, awesome art and the some of the best Rob Liefeld writing of the New 52. The book was dangerously close to being cancelled before Liefeld took over the writing duties, but seemed to pick up some steam with the creative team shake up. Although, I personally dislike some of the changes that came along with Liefeld's run. My main issue is with the fact that they gave Cole powers. I liked the idea of a normal guy against an army of unstoppable aliens. But even that is a nitpick because this comic rocks!