Reading Comics 213 "Understanding 52 - Part 5"

52, the 2006-2007 series written by Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Geoff Johns, and Mark Waid, with art breakdowns by Keith Giffen and covers by J.G. Jones, was instantly a favorite of mine as I read its weekly installments, and I recently completed a reread of the whole thing.  The following is the conclusion to a commentary, covering the fourth collected volume, including #40-52:

• #40 - Steel suits up in his armor to confront Lex Luthor once and for all, plus rescue his captive niece, Natasha Irons.  He brings with him a new contingent of Teen Titans, to confront the remnants of Infinity Inc.  He loses his armor before he even reaches Luthor, but that doesn't stop him.  Luthor believes his powers make Steel easy pickings, but Steel's hammer is encoded with a kind of off switch for Luthor's powers.  Steel emerges triumphant in their war.  The chaos in Kahndaq leaves Osiris to conclude in a conversation with Sobek that he's the one responsible for the country's ills.  He resolves to do something about it.  The artist is Chris Batista.  Giffen and editor Michael Siglain offer commentaries.  Giffen is surprised that Steel's arc climaxes so early; Siglain explains that the title of the issue is from the famous John Henry folk ballad that gave Steel, John Henry Irons, his name, and that Morrison pulled off one of his obscure references in the script concerning a "Planet Lexor."  For me, it's a defining moment of 52, as Steel had always been a favorite character of mine, but one that had never really gotten his moment to shine.  His fifty-two issues of a solo series in the previous decade had seen him marginalized after "Reign of the Supermen" (where he was equally neutralized), and even in Morrison's JLA, once he'd joined, he served little purpose as the team's Vulcan.  It wasn't until Natasha armored up when they'd returned as supporting players in the pages of early 2000s Superman comics that he was allowed to develop into a conventional superhero rather than a token black character who stuck around for a while.  Cyborg in Johns' Justice League later had the spotlight Steel hadn't had in JLA.  Morrison brought him back in his New 52 Action Comics run, which is the last time Steel has been seen.  Pitting him against Lex Luthor in the pages of 52 is tacit acknowledgment of Steel's true potential.  It's also Luthor's last major run in his classic role as a straight-up villain putting on a positive public image, something he'd already struggled against in the pages of The Final Night a decade earlier, and would reclaim later in a pre-New 52 Action Comics starring role and finally as a surprise member of Johns' Justice League. 
• #41 - Adam Strange  and Starfire struggle against a remnant of Lady Styx's horde.  Renee Montoya struggles in the aftermath of Charlie's death.  Richard Dragon forces her to confront what she's become.  Ralph Dibney reaches the end of his journey with the Helmet of Fate.  Montoya has a conversation with Wonder Woman in Nanda Parbat.  She asks Montoya, "Which will have greater rule over you...your fear...or your curiosity?"  Strange and Starfire rally each other's spirits.  They land on Mogo.  Giuseppe Camuncoli provides art.  Rucka and Siglain provide commentaries.  Rucka admits that the writers were beginning to face the prospect of figuring out how to give enough space to each arc before the end of the series.  He credits Waid with helping figure out Wonder Woman's appearance, this following his "embassy" era and before his Rebirth era return to the character, so Rucka certainly knows enough about her.  Siglain is clearly a guy who can dig as well as Morrison into the DC canon, as he demonstrates in his thoughts.
• #42 - Renee Montoya: "You're going to have to look.  And you want to.  You know you do.  Shine the light into the dark corners.  Gaze into your self-made abyss.  See what stares back.  Don't be scared.  That's right, that's it...Just open your eyes...What do you see?  Good question."  Ralph Dibney's arc concludes as he reveals, like Booster and Skeets before him, his actions this whole time were an elaborate conceit.  Turns out Fate was really Felix Faust all along, attempting to trick Dibney into giving up a pure soul Faust needed for a bargain with the demon Neron.  The gun?  A wishing gun.  The stuff in the flash?  Gingold, what Dibney used to use to stretch as Elongated Man.  He gladly sacrifices himself to trap Faust with his Faustian deal, trapped with Neron for eternity...Fire, whom we've seen in glimpses throughout the series, is there to give Dibney a proper hero's farewell at his grave.  Darick Robertson provides the art.  Dan DiDio provides commentary, explaining how he asked Giffen to rework Dibney's death after the writers had finished their effort, a risky editorial move that sheds further light into the delicate creative process.
• #43 - Osiris and Sobek visit the Rock of Eternity and the Marvel Family, Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Junior and Mary Marvel.  Black Adam and Isis arrive.  They argue over Osiris's contention that his powers are a curse.  Osiris becomes increasingly belligerent, but eventually claims he's reconsidered his conclusions.  The aliens who originally gave Animal Man his powers complete his revival.  He comes with increased awareness of his abilities.  Lady Styx is reborn.  Sobek is revealed as a double agent.  Osiris gives up his powers, and his talking crocodile friend...eats him.  Dan Jurgens provides art.  Johns provides commentary, explaining how Black Adam's arc in 52 developed in its conception, and how Giffen, who never liked Osiris, helped make his death more impactful.  Of course he would.  It's ironic that Jurgens, who had become an archetypical superhero artist a decade earlier, and who gets to feature his Superman style with Captain Marvel and related characters this issue, also does the honors for what seems like the most unlikely Dan Jurgens sequence ever, the grim death of Osiris.
• #44 - Sobek is revealed to be Famine of the Four Horsemen of Apokolips, and he leads his brethren against Black Adam and Isis.  Isis is killed in the resulting battle.  Renee Montoya realizes she's dead, and it's just the impetus she needs to finally leave Nanda Parbat again.  (Richard Dragon: "You're going to find, like Sage [Charlie, the Question] did, that some questions can only be answered by wearing a mask.  Just as there are some that can only be asked when you remove one.")  Eddy Barrows provides art.  Rucka provides commentary.  He remarks that Johns has Isis actually confirm that Black Adam reverting to form is the proper response to what's just happened to him.
• #45 - Black Adam and the Marvel Family attend the funeral.  Renee Montoya is there.  They don't see eye-to-eye.  Bruno Mannheim betrays Bialya, home of the remnants of the Four Horsemen.  Black Adam begins his rampage there.  Green Lantern Alan Scott begins marshalling a response; Amanda Waller attempts to convince Atom Smasher to do the same.  The rampage continues.  The Great Ten realize they will have to confront Black Adam, who defeats Death.  On Oolong Island, Sivana celebrates Black Adam's imminent arrival.  Chris Batista provides the art, with an assist from Jamal Igle.  Giffen provides commentary.  He remarks, "Life is made so much easier for those of us pushing pencils when writers think visually."
• #46 - T.O. Morrow, Will Magnus, Egg-Fu and the others at Oolong Island brace for Black Adam's arrival.  Veronica Cale (I've kind of glossed over her appearances) has her most significant appearance of the series in an impotent reflection of her role in all this.  Morrow incapacitates Black Adam.  Sivana salivates on the prospect of finally getting his hands on a Marvel.  Morrow wins a bidding war for the head of Red Tornado.  Clark Kent helps Steel and Natasha Irons prevent Lex Luthor get away with murder one more time, exposing Everyman as a stand-in and bringing Luthor himself into custody.  Green Lantern Alan Scott and the Justice Society remnant investigate Black Adam's carnage in Bialya.  Atom Smasher offers to help them find him.  Pat Oliffe provides the art.  Giffen provides commentary.  He says Rucka had to make an unpopular argument to save Cale's life, as she'd been slated to die.  Another reference to Jones's genius on covers.
• #47 - Wonder Woman converses with Tim Drake, Robin, in Nanda Parbat.  Bruno Mannheim and the others in Intergang's Crime Bible cult realize they can trap Batwoman in her guise as Kate Kane.  Will Magnus wrestles with his conscience on Oolong Island.  Animal Man and his benefactors discuss how easy it'll be to get home, where he believes his wife Ellen Baker is seeing someone.  Steel and his niece Natasha Irons unveil a hopeful new project.  Nightwing greets the returning Renee Montoya, who's just found out Kate's indeed been caught.  Wonder Woman has an epiphany: "Diana of Amazonia, beloved of the gods.  Of purest purpose.  You who sought to teach.  When did you ever know guilt before this [murder of Maxwell Lord]?  Or doubt or regret?  Or what it is to fail?  When did you, in all your perfection, ever share the pains mortals feel each day of their lives?  Until now.  Welcome to the world, Wonder Woman.  Here is wisdom."  Bruce Wayne emerges from his ordeal reconciled to his role as Batman.  Giuseppe Camuncoli provides the art.  Rucka provides commentary.  He attempts to argue that the conclusions he thinks Morrison wrote concerning Wonder Woman.  He thinks she didn't get enough time to explain her arc, that her problem amounts to not being "human enough."  I totally disagree.  It's a true breakthrough for the character.  Morrison later wrote Wonder Woman: Earth One, a seminal reexamining of her origins.  Clearly creative differences.
• #48 - Renee Montoya and Nightwing launch their assault on Bruno Mannheim, Intergang, and the Crime Bible cult.  (Nightwing: "Would you really die for this?"  Montoya: "Good question.  Wouldn't you?")  It's her official debut as the new Question.  They save Batwoman, who kills Mannheim with his own ceremonial dagger, which he'd previously stabbed her with.  Sivana and Egg-Fu ransom the life of Black Adam, with Green Lantern Alan Scott preparing a response.  Darick Robertson provides the art.  Rucka and Siglain provide commentary.  Both gush over Jones's cover.  Rucka admits he tends to think in human scale for his stories, which he thinks he mitigates this issue with "turning Gotham into a mini-Apokolips." 
• #49 - Green Lantern Alan Scott leads the response against Egg-Fu's mad scientists.  The Great Ten claim sovereignty to stymy him.  Will Magnus employs the Metal Men against Egg-Fu.  Scott realizes the Great Ten are covering for the fact that Egg-Fu is an associate of theirs.  T.O. Morrow confronts Magnus, then vacates Oolong Island.  Sivana continues torturing Black Adam.  The Great Ten strike a deal with Scott.  Magnus obliterates Egg-Fu.  Atom Smasher sets Black Adam free, believing Bialya to be a giant mistake.  That's the giant mistake...Eddy Barrows provides the art.  Giffen and Siglain provide the art.  Giffen explains Barrows' mix-up with the Great Wall of China appearing in both the Oolong Island sequences and Alan Scott's confrontation with the Great Ten.  Siglain doubles down on that.  For what it's worth, I think both make a mistake themselves in believing that.  The only problem is assuming Scott and the Great Ten are on Oolong Island.  Presumably, it's in the South China Sea.  Problem solved.
• #50 - Black Adam barrels through Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family.  Green Lantern Alan Scott and the reconstituted Justice Society  debate Black Adam's actions.  The Great Ten prepares a defense against him.  The Society is refused entry into China to aide in the battle.  General August-in-Iron concedes that the Great Ten can't defeat Black Adam on its own.  Scott, Captain Marvel, Atom Smasher, Steel, and Natasha Irons are among the heroes who answer the call.  Booster Gold steals Steel's weapon.  Infinity Inc. runs away from the fight.  Captain Marvel devices a way to steal Black Adam's powers by changing his magic word.  A depowered Black Adam wanders trying to figure out the new word.  T.O. Morrow tinkers with the head of Red Tornado, but Booster and Rip Hunter arrive to claim it.  The head continues to babble "52."  Justiniano provides the art.  Waid provides commentary, giving full credit to Johns for the issue, with a few of his own ideas thrown into the mix.  I give a lot of credit, personally, to Justiniano, who has since served time in prison for possession of child pornography.  A shame, as he's a truly sensational artist.
• #51 - Animal Man finally returns home.  Donna Troy and Wonder Girl are observed by Wonder Woman in her new role as a secret agent in her civilian life.  Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent talk.  The Teen Titans form a new lineup.  Adam Strange gets a new pair of eyes (yeah, never mentioned that, sorry).  Lobo realizes he can free himself from his religious obligation once the head dolphin finally reveals the whole thing was a trick to neutralize the one weapon that can kill him: the Emerald Eye of Ekron.  Starfire arrives just in time to save Animal Man's family from a remnant of the Lady Styx horde.  The head of Red Tornado ("52"), T.O. Morrow, Booster Gold, and Rip Hunter prepare to confront Skeets, who's really been Mister Mind this whole time...Joe Bennett provides his last solo artwork of the series.  Waid provides commentary, plugging Starfire and Animal Man's continued adventures in Countdown to Adventure.  He also confesses the writers spent a lot of time trying to decide whether or not the mature Mister Mind wears the same goggles as his caterpillar incarnation...
• #52 - The multiverse in its present 52 worlds incarnation debuts.  The head of Red Tornado, Rip Hunter, and Booster Gold pursue Mister Mind across all the worlds created at the end of Infinite Crisis.  Supernova returns, revealed to be Daniel Carter in this incarnation, rescued by Rip from oblivion.  Booster reunites briefly with his old pal, the late Blue Beetle Ted Kord.  Sivana, the initial cause for Mister Mind's rampage, also becomes the solution.  Booster becomes the greatest hero history never knew.  There's a montage with Green Lantern Alan Scott, Steel, Natasha Irons, Wonder Woman, and Black Adam.  Ralph Dibney is reunited with his wife Sue as ghost detectives.  Renee Montoya settles into her career as the Question.  Batwoman, Kate Kane, has recovered from her ordeal.  "Are you ready?"  Art is supplied by Justiniano, Barrows, Batista, Oliffe, Robertson, and Mike McKone.  Waid and Siglain provide some concluding thoughts.

The end!