Weeks Thirty-Three and Thirty-Four


Happy holidays, everybody. I’m a week behind on my “52” reviews, and I could very easily claim that I’ve been traveling, stuck in airports, celebrating with family, etc, but in the spirit of the season, I’ll just be honest and let you know that I’ve spent the better part of the past two weeks drunk off my ass. In addition, I started a new job, which has eaten up a lot of my time. How do you mix those two excuses? Just barely. I still had a chance to pick up my comics, though, and I’ve finally gotten around to reading them and discussing the stuff inside. Let’s start things off with Week Thirty-Three of Fifty-Two.

Things open up with Ralph Dibny and Dr. Fate’s helmet touring the Flash Museum in Central City. Ralph notes that he donated most of his stuff to them after Sue died, and he takes a particular piece of memorabilia and pockets it. It’s labeled, “Anselmo Case 1995.” Whatever that means? Anybody know?

From there, we meet Nightwing, who’s giving an authentic Batarang to Batwoman, as a token of appreciation and whatnot for Christmas. Something tells me it’s not purely altruistic, as Nightwing knows exactly what he’s up against in Gotham, and he knows he’s going to need all the help he can find to stop it.

Later, we meet up with Lex Luthor, who’s still angry that he can’t be put through the Everyman procedure. He gives the new Infinity Inc. new cars for Christmas, and the lousy ingrates don’t even thank him. Luthor’s angry, and his anger is aimed at Supernova. Be afraid.

Elsewhere, Charlie’s dying, the Black Marvel family depowers to show they mean no threat, the Suicide Squad talks tough about bringing the Black Marvels in, and the entire DCU gets sentimental and sappy.

Flash forward one week. The Suicide Squad has tracked down the Black Marvel family, and, at the issue’s open, they pounce with a full-scale attack. The best moment of the showdown comes when Atom Smasher tells Black Adam, “I don’t want to hurt you,” and Black Adam’s response is, while flying straight at him full-bore, “Albert–You won’t.” He proceeds to lay the big guy out. The fight continues until Osiris takes offense to the way Persuader is treating his sister. He makes a miscalculation in how hard he hits him and ends up ripping Persuader in half. Whoops!

Meanwhile, Steel may finally have convinced Natasha that what Luthor’s doing is wrong, as his powers have completely faded. Elsewhere, Clark Kent is interrogated to find out who Supernova actually is, but he hasn’t the foggiest idea. The issue closes with the Question fading fast in a hospital, a countdown to the new year in Metropolis, an angry Lex Luthor on a rooftop with a remote control, pushing the button as the count reaches zero. The sky is filled with participants in the Everyman Project, and Luthor’s jealousy may be enough for that to be the deactivation switch. Either that, or he’s going to blow up half the city. Time will tell.

There’s your play-by-play. I’d say that, judging by the amount of detail into which I decided to delve, these two weeks were pretty packed. You’d be right in assuming that. Week Thirty-Three had a bit too much cheese at the end, but, all in all, the best assumption you can make about this series is that things are about to explode in a big way. We’ve had to endure a lot of groundwork plotting over the past thirty some weeks, and I think we’re about to be rewarded for our patience in a big way. All roads lead here.

See ya in seven.