23. Blue Beetle
Blue Beetle is one of the funnest books of the New 52. Teenager Jaime Reyes stumbles across a mysterious artifact known as The Scarab. It attaches itself to Jaime transforming him into The Blue Beetle. But the scarab is actually a weapon of The Reach, an alien race that goes from planet to planet conquering them as they go. Usually, the scarab takes complete control of its host, but fortunately for Jaime, the scarab is broken. So although Jaime retains control, the scarab is unpredictable and causes tons of problems. And the interactions between Jaime and the scarab intellect is hilarious. And after the events of Justice League International Annual #1, it appears that Year Two of Blue Beetle could be even better.
22. Green Lantern Corps
Green Lantern Corps is one of the three main GL titles. It follows Guy Gardner and John Stewart of Sector 2814 (Earth). Guy is a hot head while John is a no-nonsense former military man. It's like an intergalactic odd couple. But in the end, they are both dedicated to the job. Having only read a little bit of Green Lantern in the past, it was interesting to see the dynamic between the two characters and all the other Lanterns. And I learned that Guy apparently owns a bar and grill on Oa. Never knew that. As much as this is a duo book, Stewart does seem to take more of the main focus. He has a story arc where he stands trial for the murder of another Lantern and it is really good. But it does feel reminiscent of the Justice League animated episode entitled In Blackest Night. And like all of the main GL titles, they are building to the Rise of the Third Army which promises to be one of the best crossovers of the year.
21. Green Lantern: New Guardians
New Guardians barely beat out Green Lantern Corps for me. The main reason was Kyle Rayner. He is my favorite Lantern. Guy, John and Hal are great, but Kyle was the only Lantern for a stretch and I love that concept. Before I delved full on into the New 52, I always thought of the cosmic stuff like Green Lantern to be too big and complicated. So having one Lantern instead of an army of thousands from all over the universe just seemed perfect. Anyhow, New Guardians is a new title for the relaunch. It starts with a quick retelling of Rayner's origin before jumping to the present where a ring from each of the corps has come to Kyle and are trying to recruit him. Soon, a member of each core comes to Earth to retrieve their ring and find the one who stole them. Eventually, Kyle is able to form an uneasy alliance between himself and the other six Lanterns in order to find out who is really behind the rings being stolen. I lied. Kyle Rayner is not the only reason that I like this book more than Green Lantern Corps. I also like it more because of the awesome concept and excellent execution. Several of these Lanterns are villains, but when their corps are threatened, they will do whatever it takes to save them. Even if this means teaming with a Green Lantern. And although they make a great team, they all know that any one of them could turn on the others at any moment. And with the upcoming Rise of the Third Army crossover starting in October, I can't help but think that the actual title of New Guardians may fall upon these seven Lanterns.
20. Justice League Dark
What happens when a threat of magical origin too big for the Justice League threatens the world? They call in the Justice League Dark. Brought together by Madame Xanadu, who is also in Demon Knights, the team consists of John Constantine, Shade the Changing Man, Deadman, Zatanna and Enchantress. They also add new members along the way like Andrew Bennett from I, Vampire. The reason I love this book so much has less to do with plot and more to do with the characters and their interactions. Constantine is an asshole who is out for himself. He's not much of a team player and does some pretty underhanded stuff to the team. Deadman is probably my favorite character on the team. I fell in love with the character during Blackest Night and have really enjoyed him even since. Zatanna is pretty much the same as she was pre-Flashpoint except for her costume. Before, she wore a classic magician's outfit with fishnets and a top hat. In the New 52 continuity, she only wears that when performing magic shows. Her "costume" is basically just whatever she is wearing normally. For some reason, I like that. I think the old costume is too silly for this new universe. I love the art. I love the writing. I love the characters. I love the book.
19. Men of War/G.I. Combat
I am putting both Men of War and G.I. Combat at number 19 because they have different titles and different creative teams, but they are the same book. They are both anthology books that tell stories about soldiers. And each issue has two stories from different creative teams. The one thing that is slightly different between the two is that Men of War seems to be more grounded in reality with stories that could happen. Whereas the stories in G.I. Combat feels more like what you would expect from a comic book with dinosaur islands and super soldiers. When I first started catching up with the New 52 so that I could write this article, I was dreading reading these books. I am not a fan of war films. But these books blew me away with stupendous stories and gorgeous art. If you have not given these books a chance, you are missing out. You can get the entire run of Men of War in trade for around $15 and I highly recommend it.
18. Justice League International
In the past, the JLI has often been considered the "B Team" from the Justice League. It usually consists of lesser known characters that are not popular enough to have their own titles. The New 52 JLI is almost that. The team is made up of Rocket Red, August General in Iron, Godiva, Fire, Ice, Guy Gardner, Booster Gold and Batman (sort of). The first five names on that list mean nothing to me. I have no idea who they are except for the fact that Fire and Ice were in the Justice League during the Death of Superman. But Booster, Gardner and Batman are much more well-known. The premise of JLI is that the United Nations want their own Justice League. One that they can control. So they put together an international team of superheroes to send on missions around the world with Booster Gold assigned to be the leader. And Batman sneaks onto the team to keep an eye on them. The book was less about the villains and missions as it was about this group of people who were thrown together trying to become a real team. In the first issue, Gardner leaves because he doesn't like the fact that Booster is the leader. Rocket Red and August General in Iron bicker back and forth over whose country is better. Godiva realizes that she is a bit out of her league among these heroes. It is a real character driven book that doesn't pull its punches and doesn't rely too heavily on Batman being a character. This book was cancelled as of the #0 issue. And I was sad to see this title go. But like many of the previously cancelled books, it will be replaced by a similar title, Justice League of America, in a few months. And the JLI Annual definitely leaves a lot of plots open to be followed up in ongoing and upcoming titles.