August 31, 2011 was a normal day for most of the world. People were jamming to “Party Rock Anthem” and “Moves like Jagger”, People were STILL talking about Ned Stark dying in the finale of “Game of Thrones” first season, and people were going to watch “Rise of The Planet of The Apes”. Over at Marvel, Miles Morales would make his real debut in “Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1”. But there was also a weird thing going on in comics: For the first time in decades, only two issues of DC comics came out this week. These weren’t any ordinary comics, however. These were “Flashpoint #5” and “Justice League #1”. These two issues fundamentally changed the nature of the DC Comics universe, and marked the most important moment in comics of the last 15 years: The Birth of the New 52.
The New 52 marked the most radical and large scale attempt to bring new readers into the medium. DC cancelled literally every comic they had, and restarted the entire comic line with 52 #1 issues. The hope was to give new readers a clean starting point to get into comics.
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the New 52, and it felt like a good time to take a look back at the successes and failures of the New 52, what it brought to comics, and how it holds up a decade later. We’ll primarily be focusing on the first year of the New 52, from September 2011 to September 2012. We’ll be looking at the Good, the Meh, and The Bad. This time, we’re going to go in reverse: What didn’t work, what kinda worked, and what absolutely succeeded. This will be followed by my ranking of the 52 New 52 Titles based on the 12 issues that came out during that first year.

What Failed

For such a large scale, ambitious undertaking, most every failure of the New 52 can be traced back to a single fact: The incredible quickness of the decision to relaunch. There was VERY little heads up about the New 52 relaunch. From what I’ve been able to piece together on twitter and various creator podcasts, with the exception of Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns, both editorial and creative were given no more than two months notice for the relaunch. This meant editorial and creatives only had at MOST two months to decide which titles to create, which creators to make the comic, make up a pitch, accept or decline the pitch, and then write, draw, ink, color, and letter a whole comic in time to get it to the printers and shipped off to comic book shops! For comparison, the Rosenburg run on the X-Men, which lasted about a year, was done specifically to give Jonathan Hickman, Pepe Larraz, RB Silva, and Marte Gracia enough time to make the 12 issues “House of X/Powers of X” as successful as possible.
As a result, the first stories of the New 52 were almost all nearly made up on the spot, with no long-term plan. While there were a LOT of very good stories that came out of this mad dash, the titles and stories that DIDN’T work and flopped could have had much stronger debuts if given the average lead in, which is 3–4 months.
In addition to this rush. It’s been commented on that Editorial did NOT let creators talk to each other during the first 8 or so issues, leading to stuff like famed comic creator George Perez not being able to tell his Superman story properly, since he didn’t know what Morisson was planning over in Action Comics, where he was detailing Superman’s new origin story 5 years in the past. As a result, there was a lack of communication across certain comic lines that prevented certain stories or characters from feeling cohesive during the first year of The New 52. That being said, upon discussion with creators, this practice was discontinued by the time the first year of the New 52 was wrapping up.
The other major structural flaw with the New 52 came with continuity. Previously, one of DC’s great advantages over Marvel was a sense of Legacy. There was a history of costumed heroism in the DC universe spanning the 30’s to today, with multiple generations of characters such as Green Lantern and Flash instilling a sense of history and weight to these heroic roles. In order to provide an utterly clean slate, DC made the decision to jettison most of this history.
The New 52 was meant to start fresh at Year One, with characters such as Superman and Batman having only been active at MOST for five years. This want for a clean slate ran into two roadblocks: Geoff Johns Green Lantern Saga and Grant Morrison’s Batman Epic. These two runs are celebrated as among the best comic runs ever, with Grant Morisson’s Batman in particular in regular conversation for the all-time best Batman saga. The issue is that both runs are HIGHLY dependent on the history of major DC events like Crisis on Infinite Earths, Zero Hour, and Final Crisis, none of which would have happened in the New 52. For one simple example, Batman’s 10 year old son, Damian, was Robin at the start of the New 52. Yet Bruce Wayne didn’t meet his mother, Talia al Ghul, until he was already Batman. So if Bruce Wayne has only been Batman for 5 years, how does he have a 10 year old son? In short, you can’t do a full reboot while holding on to the vestiges of Morrison and John’s Batman and Green Lantern, both of which are SO intertwined with DC Continuity. These runs inherently complicated the New 52 and the history of some of DC’s most important characters, and made many long time fans feel like they destroyed much of what made DC comics unique while half assing the fresh start. There are fans who to THIS DAY are still upset about this.
These are the 3 biggest criticisms of the New 52, and moving forward it took DC Comics nearly a full decade to undo every last continuity snafu through events such as Convergence, DC Rebirth, and Death Metal. Ultimately, none of these flaws ended up hurting DC in the long run.

What was Meh

If I had to pick any one thing that was Meh, it’s the handling of Pandora. Pandora, newly introduced in the last pages of Flashpoint #5, and implied to be the cause of the New 52, is meant to be the Pandora of Greek Myth. Throughout the first two years of the New 52, the mystery surrounding Pandora and “The Trinity of Sin” was arguably the central plotline throughout the New 52. This was so hyped up that Pandora was hidden in EVERY FIRST ISSUE of the New 52. All 52 of them!
The problem was that this mystery never really paid off. This story line stayed in the background until July 2013’s Trinity War event. In this, Pandora, along with the other two members of the “Trinity of Sin”, The Phantom Stranger and The Question, recruited the Justice League, the Justice League of America, and The Justice League Dark into uncovering the secret of Pandora’s Box, which is supposed to be the root of all evil.
The climax of the story reveals that Pandora’s box is NOT the root of all evil, but rather the portal to Earth 3, a universe where the moral laws of good and evil are inverted. Therefore, evil is the inherent state of reality, heroes are villains, villains are heroes, vice is celebrated over virtue, etc. This leads into the major DC event “Forever Evil”, which is still one of the best Comic Book Events of all time.
Following Forever Evil, however, Pandora’s plot thread, again, ostensibly THE central plot thread of the New 52, is unceremoniously dropped, and Pandora herself disappears until DC Rebirth, where she shows up only to be murdered by Dr. Manhattan, who is retconned as the REAL reason for the New 52 reboot, 5 years after the fact.
While some wonderful stories came out of this mystery, especially Forever Evil, this plot line ended up being an unsatisfying long term mystery that was abandoned in favor of a DC/Watchmen crossover that was resolved in December 2019, nearly a decade after the start of this plot.
This plot is indicative of what happens when, as we talked about earlier, editorial and creatives are given VERY little time to create a plot. Something similar happened to the linewide mystery surrounding Helspont and the Daemonites that ultimately was dropped. Good came out of it, but ultimately not AS strong as it could have been!

What Succeeded

The good news is, a LOT of things went right during the New 52.
DC, when relaunching, did their utmost to try and make sure they weren’t making superhero comics. In the 52 titles included War comics, Sci-Fi comics, Horror comics, Noirs, and more! This attempt, while not fully successful, set a precedent for both DC and Marvel comics to spend the next decade making significant investments in diversifying the types of comics, TV, Film, and games they made. Movies such as “Joker” and shows like “Lucifer” wouldn’t be around if not for this push.
In addition, there was a real push for books with LGBT, Black, Asian, Latino Leads. Batwoman remained the marquee and most important LGBT title not just at DC, but in all of comics during the New 52. Almost every team book was retooled to include LGBT and minority representation. Queer plots were most notably followed in titles like Demon Knights, Stormwatch, and Teen Titans. Cyborg, fresh from the Teen Titans cartoon, was upgraded from a founding Titan to a founding member of the Justice League. In addition, popular characters from comics and films were given opportunities to lead their own titles in books like Static Shock, Blue Beetle, and Voodoo. Some of these books succeeded and others floundered, but no one can say DC didn’t make a real effort to give marginalized characters a greater role in the DC universe. Nowadays, the percentage of minority and queer led comics has drastically increased not just at DC, but across all of comics.
Finally, This is speaking from a strictly brand point of view, but I think absolutely the most important characters and flagship title of DC comics (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Justice League) all had A-List creative teams creating genuinely great runs. As much as the New 52 attempted to make space and audiences for underrated characters, if their most important characters and titles are failing, then it’s inevitable the rest will fail. Instead, DC had a minor miracle that these rushed pitches created 7 well regarded comic book runs, several of which are considered all-time greats!
Now that we’ve looked at what worked and what didn’t during the New 52 Launch, let’s take a look at the titles themselves! I’ll be ranking the books from 52 to 1, with a brief review of the title and why it landed in the spot it did. This ranking reflects the first 12 issues of each title, from September 2011 to September 2012. I’ll then go into a brief history of the book through the rest of the new 52

THE RANKING

52 is Hawk and Dove, by Sterling Gates and Rob Liefeld. This book is easily the worst of the bunch. Rob Liefeld and Sterling Gates have both made good comics, and Rob clearly likes Hawk and Dove and does his best to try and make something interesting, but it just doesn’t work. The art-led, action heavy style feels 20 years old, and digital coloring does NOT do Liefeld’s linework favors. This book was cancelled after 8 issues.
51 is Green Arrow, by JT Krul, Keith Giffen, Ann Nocenti, Harvey Tolibao, and Dan Jurgens. As you can see, there are a LOT of hands on this title, and believe it or not, there’s not a lot of tonal inconsistency. Instead, everyone is focused on an action heavy book featuring a young and brash Green Arrow who is still a spoiled billionaire playboy. While the book does have an interesting concept tracing Ollie’s origins into the more mature, populist, and progressive hero he’s known to be, it’s just NOT fun. While Green Arrow floundered Year One, 2012 would bring the Arrow TV show that would spark the decade long CWVerse and Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino would take over the title at Issue 13 to create what is considered one of the absolute best comics of the New 52. This run would be followed by Ben Sokolowski, Andrew Kreisburg, and Daniel Sampere taking over at issue 35. At Issue 41, Benjamin Percy, Patch Zircher, and Simon Kurdrsky would lead the title, seeing it through to the final issue 52 before the DC Rebirth relaunch. This is the first of our titles to make it to all 52 issues.
50 is Resurrection Man by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Jesus Saiz and Fernando Dagnino. Resurrection Man is a VERY interesting concept, a character with healing abilities who gains a new power every time he is resurrected from the dead. All the creators are also involved with many incredible runs. Unfortunately, this book just doesn’t gel or feel interesting beyond the premise, and so the book feels like it’s spinning wheels instead of telling a story. Resurrection Man was cancelled after 12 issues
49 is Grifter by Nathan Edmonson, Carlos Urbano, Frank Tieri, and Rob Liefeld. Grifter is a fan favorite character from the Wildstorm Universe, here given a fresh start in the DC universe. There are a lot of good concepts here: Helspont and the Daemonites are given prominence not just in Grifter, but other titles including Voodoo and Superman! Grifter is pivotal to the early years of the New 52, and is given an important role. Unfortunately, this never plays out as well in the execution. Action comic veterans Frank Tieri and Rob Liefeld were brought onto the book to try and salvage sales, but ultimately the book was cancelled after 16 issues.
48 is The Savage Hawkman by Tony Daniel, Philip Tan, Rob Liefeld, Tom DeFalco, and Joe Bennett. Hawkman is a NOTORIOUSLY difficult character to make work due to his byzantine continuity, lack of appreciable fanbase, and conflicting media representations. If any character could benefit from a clean slate, it was Hawkman. To Daniel and Tan’s Credit, recasting him as an Indiana Jones type character hunting the dangerous mythical and ancient artifacts of the DC universe is a REALLY good hook. Philip Tan also used a more watercolor style of coloring that complimented his pencils a lot more than traditional digital coloring. Unfortunately, the book just didn’t land with audiences, and Liefeld was brought onto the title to try and salvage sales. While the book lasted a bit longer, it was ultimately cancelled after 20 issues, and Hawkman was moved to the Justice League, where he thrived more strongly as an ensemble character.
47 is Green Lantern: New Guardians by Tony Bedard and Tyler Kirkham. This book was led by Kyle Rayner, who works with a leader of each of the 7 Lantern Corps to solve a murder mystery that implicated Kyle as the culprit to all 7 Lantern Corps! The real problem is that this year felt like it was treading water until Geoff Johns wrapped up his Lantern epic in Rise of the Third Army and Wrath of The First Lantern. Until then, you get some very meat and potatoes superhero action stories. Nothing inherently bad, but nothing to write home about, especially when the other Lantern Titles are doing better stuff. Green Lantern: New Guardians would last for 40 issues, with Justin Jordan writing issues 21 through 40.
46 is Mister Terrific by Eric Wallace and Gianluca Gugliotta. Mister Terrific is a wonderful character that was long overdue for a solo series. Wallace and Gugliotta do good character work examining what makes him tick and why he WANTS to be a hero. This book unfortunately just didn’t connect with fans, and was also subject to multiple plot threads surrounding Power Girl and Earth 2. Ultimately, the title was cancelled after 8 issues, and Mister Terrific found a home as a player in the events of Earth 2.
45 is Legion of Super-Heroes by Paul Levitz and Frances Portela. There is actually nothing at all wrong or bad with Legion, but it ranks lower for a very specific reason: it takes place largely outside the New 52 continuity. Instead, the Legion is reeling from the cosmic aftereffects of Flashpoint causing timequakes and stuff. As a result, Legion feels VERY disconnected from the rest of the New 52, confuses continuity points, and ultimately is self-contained. This title lasted for two years before being cancelled at issue 24.
44 is Deathstroke by Kyle Higgins, Joe Bennet, Eduardo Pansisca, and Rob Liefeld. Remember how Slade was a huge fan favorite character who had a breakout moment in the Teen Titans cartoon and was long overdue for another shot at a title? And then remember how they squandered it with a basic “grim n edgy” assassin title that stripped out many of the best character traits of deathstroke? Higgins Deathstroke was so unpopular that they brought on Rob Liefeld to salvage the title, but it was ultimately cancelled after 20 issues.
43 is Catwoman by Judd Winick and Guillem March. Catwoman’s first issue is where the infamous “The Costumes Stay On” image is from. The first year had Winick and March see Catwoman go through the gauntlet in the Gotham criminal underworld, trying to carve out her niche as a thief. While there is a compelling story in these issues, March’s art and cheesecake with Catwoman has not aged as tastefully as some other books of the era, leaning into exploitative every so often. Of course, Catwoman is supposed to be a sex positive character and alluring, but here it fails to find the balance between seductive and pornographic. There’s also a bit too much brutality. I use brutality instead of violence or action because there are plenty of scenes where Catwoman is kicking ass and holding her own in fights, but there is more than one scene where women, including Catwoman herself are beaten for the sake of being victimized. This run on Catwoman would be followed by Ann Nocenti’s infamous run, before Genevieve Valentine’s celebrated Catwoman saga rehabilitates the title. Finally, this volume is wrapped up with Frank Tieri. Catwoman is the second of these titles to last the full 52 issues of the New 52.
42 is Justice League International by Dan Jurgens, Aaron Lopresti, and Matt Ryan. Justice League International is a simple basic, “Superheroes saving the world and getting to know each other better” book. Many fan favorites such as Booster Gold, Guy Gardner, and Ice are on this team. The first story, Signal Masters, is a lot of fun! Unfortunately, after this arc, many of the team is killed and injured in a bombing, and the latter half of the book becomes a dour rumination on the victims left in the wake of superheroics, before the team is utterly dismantled in the concluding Annual issue. Booster Gold literally disappears after seeing Wonder Woman and Superman kiss and is not seen again for years, with very little thought going into his plot. He would not be seen again until 2014’s Future’s End storyline.
41 is Superman by George Perez, Jesus Marino, Nicola Scott, Keith Giffen, and Dan Jurgens. Superman as a title is a completely standard Superman title as you’d expect from the likes of veterans like Perez and Jurgens. As mentioned earlier, the real issue with this title is that it’s constrained by the events of Action Comics, and so the title can never really take the creative swings it wants to during the first year of the New 52. Scott Lobdell and Kenneth Rocaforth would take over for Issues 13 through 25, where Lobdell gets to tell more interesting, if melodramatic science fiction stories. Kenneth is replaced by Ed Benes through issue 31, where Lobdell finally leaves as well. After this, Geoff Johns and John Romita Jr take over at issue 32 and Johns stays on through issue 39. Romita Jr stays on art through issue 44. Finally Gene Luen Yang wraps up the series form Issue 40 to 52. This series is the third to last the full 52 issues.
40 is Legion Lost by Fabian Nicieza, Tom DeFalco and Peter Woods. This series focuses on members of the Legion of Superheroes stranded in the New 52. This book would be HEAVILY tied into the plots of Teen Titans and Superboy, ultimately culminating in “The Culling” crossover storyline, and launching The Ravagers. After this, the Legion returns to the future, where a few more stories happen until the book is cancelled at issue 16. This series is another bread and butter superhero series, with nothing particularly remarkable to recommend about it.
39 is Red Lanterns by Peter Milligan and Ed Benes. While undeniably well drawn and competently written, Red Lanterns feels like a bygone relic of the “grim and edgy” era of the late 90’s and early 2000’s, and does not take advantage of interesting characters such as Atrocitus and Dex-Starr. Instead, it’s highly focused on the angst and ennui of being a Red Lantern. After the first year, Issue 13 sees Miguel Sepulveda take over the art and give the book a distinctive stylized edginess that works. Where the book really takes off, however, is Issue 21, where Charles Soule and Allessandro Vitti have Guy Gardner take over as the lead of the book, and turn Red Lanterns into a fan favorite action-comedy book. Landry Q Walker would take over for the last 3 issues before ultimately ending at Issue 40.
38 is DC Universe Presents. This is a showcase title, where C and D list characters are given story arcs to hopefully launch them into greater popularity. While the initial Deadman arc is a great success, the subsequent Challengers of The Unknown and Vandal Savage arcs are less so. The book has two more arcs featuring team ups between Black Lightning and Blue Devil and Starfire and Arsenal before being cancelled at 19 issues.
37 is Blackhawks by Mike Costa and Ken Lashley. This title sees one of the best World War II era aviator comics transformed into a 21st Century GI Joe style sci-fi unit. It’s a lot of fun, but unfortunately does not find an audience, and is cancelled after 8 issues and a single story arc.
36 is The Fury of Firestorm by Evan Van Sciver, Gail Simone, and Yildiray Cinar. Firestorm is a fan favorite character given another chance here, co led by Jason Rusch and Ronnie Raymond. Here, the jock and the nerd have to get along to become Firestorm, who with the power to manipulate atoms is one of the most powerful superheroes ever. This book, while a strong premise, was unfortunately hampered by several real life tragedies that befell the creators during this time, as well as a plot that didn’t execute as well as they’d hoped. Ultimately, Dan Jurgens would take over before the book was cancelled at issue 20.