52 week 2
John Jack
Recap
We open on Ralph Dibney surveying his wife's vandalized gravestone. He discusses the situation with a groundskeeper and tells him this was clearly a message for him in the one place he was sure to find it. His nose wiggles at the mystery in a slightly campy nod to his past.
We cut to Booster Gold having Skeets checked out by Will Magnus of Metal Men fame, Magnus finds nothing wrong with Skeets to indicate the memory errors he's been having lately. Magnus rides with Booster to visit T.O. Morrow, man of the future and creator of Red Tornado, currently serving time for mad science reasons. Morrow tips Magnus off that it seems that Mad Scientists are being rounded up for reasons unknown.
We cut to Montoya lying with a woman, likely a hookup from a bar but it's never addressed directly and I don't like to assume. She awakens to The Question standing over her, like any veteran GCPD officer she pulls her gun and fires without a second thought, but hits nothing. As she tries to figure out what happened she notices a note with an address.
We jump back to Booster and Skeets, preparing to stop a plane crash indicated in Skeets historical records. Although the records indicate the plane is coming from the North it comes from the South, another glitch in Skeets' Files. Booster barely manages to get the plane down safely.
Montoya goes to the address The Question gave her, in typical Vic Sage fashion he gives her almost no answers then vanishes
Meanwhile at Superboys funeral Ralph Dibney confronts Wonder Girl about the graffiti on his wife's grave, revealing that the iconic Superman S was spray painted upside down on her grave, the Kryptonian symbol of Resurrection.
Review
Wow! A ton happened this issue as the series focuses a little, only running three plots at once this issue and setting things up to come very neatly. I really appreciate the writers giving the story more room to breathe and it helps flesh things out a lot more. Booster Gold in particular is given a lot of focus and I really appreciated small nods to Skeets malfunctioning like the android mixing up the numbers on the plane.
The pacing has picked up in this issue quite a bit compared to the last thanks to the focus adjustment although I was a little put off that last issues cliffhanger wasn’t even mentioned with the bulk of the issue going to Booster and Skeets. The renewed sense of purpose given to Ralph Dibney is interesting and the final page is very exciting.
The foreshadowing with Morrow and Magnus is masterful and sets up one of my favorite plots in this entire series, so it’s very exciting to see unfold.
I’ve always had trouble picking out which writer did what in these types of issues but the Question/Montoya plot smacks of Rucka’s masterful slow burn style which served to great effect in Gotham Central.
The art by Kieth Giffen and Joe Bennett is spectacular, with Booster catching the plane being the highlight although I either might have liked more visual explanation of what was happening or written description as I wasn’t super clear what was happening in the moment.
Also this Gil Kane esque grundle shot is a choice someone made on purpose
This continues to be one of the best weekly series ever made, stay tuned for more next week!
Final Thoughts
Week 2 is where 52 really starts to shine, now that the stage is set the plot can unfold. Very excited about what's to come.
52 @eek 2: Next Week Tonight
- Writing - 9/109/10
- Storyline - 10/1010/10
- Art - 8/108/10
- Color - 9/109/10
- Cover Art - 8/108/10
