Week Fourteen
“52” has fast become one of my favorite pleasures of every Wednesday. This week’s no different, save for some small complaints I have with the cover of the issue. Simply put, the cover doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Take a quick look at it. It’s got a sweet picture of Steel holding the helmet he built for his daughter Natasha’s steel suit. In the background is the big metal Superman logo, and, well, it’s just neat. What’s weird is that the headline reads, “Steel: The Last Great American Hero.” Huh? After having read through the issue, he’s only on two pages or so, and all he’s doing is banging his head against the wall for losing his daughter to Luthor’s experiment nonsense. The other thing about the cover is how the ticker at the bottom reads, “Are you ready for the wedding of the Century!!” First of all, a question should have a question mark, and, second of all, there’s no wedding inside the issue. I assume they’re referring to Black Adam and Isis, but I’m not sure if that could be considered the wedding of the century. Methinks Princess Di would have something to say about that. Oh, wait, she’s dead, so nobody cares.
A cover hardly detracts from an actual issue, though, and this case is no different. I am friggin’ pumped to see where the Question/Montoya storyline is headed. This week, they travel to Kahndaq to look for clues about the weapons and personnel Intergang is spreading around Gotham. By the end of the issue, a meeting between Black Adam and the two snoops seems like a foregone conclusion. What will happen? Well, this is purely speculation (obviously), but there’s an interesting line about midway through this issue where Montoya monologues that, “I swear before this is over I’m gonna hold his dead body in my hands.” She’s referring to the Question, because he just got her all upset or something, but, still, that might be some not-so-subtle foreshadowing.
The other main storyline through this issue revolves around Doctor William Magnus and his tests with his old Metal Men. I haven’t really been engrossed by that story so far, so I may have missed something, but it’s still pretty cool. Here’s hoping they give Ralph Dibny something to do with this so that he can find something to bring him back from the brink of insanity, which is where we last saw him in week thirteen.
Finally, the closing has the Origin of Metamorpho. Why? Beats me. I skimmed it. He looks kinda like Super Skrull, only alive.
All in all, this issue satisfied whatever it needed to satisfy within me to make me keep itching for more. I have a feeling that next week is going to be pretty big. The “Next in 52” thing at the bottom of the DC Nation page has Booster Gold’s goggles cracked and resting on the cement with what appears to be a splash of blood on them. If that doesn’t put butts in seats, I don’t know what will.
See ya in seven.