This month marked the one-year anniversary of DC COMICS—THE NEW 52. It's hard to believe a whole year has gone by, but times flies when you're having fun and reading some rad comics. Also when you're playing video games. You think, "One more level and then I'll go to sleep," and next thing you know it's 4 a.m. so you might as well play through till morning.
Excuse us for the ramble. We're a little sleepy...
Anyway, over the past twelve months comic readers saw the early days of the Man of Steel as he rose from champion of the people to the world's greatest super hero, the formation of the world's premiere super team, a Bat punch the heck out of some Owls, a war of the gods, the rise of the Rot and much, much more.
It's been an insanely fun journey so far—but it's only just begun.
As much as we loved Year One, we're incredibly excited for what comes next and so, this week, we're giving our fans 5.2 Reasons to Look Forward to Year Two of The New 52!
1. Comics' Power Couple: Superman and Wonder Woman
In the Justice League arc "The Villain's Journey," two of the world's most powerful heroes began a relationship—one that's sure to have lasting consequences and repercussions throughout the entirety of the DC Universe. We're rather excited to see their relationship unfold and the impact it will undoubtedly have on the rest of the team. And there's also the fun of coming up with couple names: Dian-El... Kaliana... Dialark... Then again, maybe we should leave that to the professionals.
2. The Rise of the Third Army
We spoke about the awesomeness of the Green Lantern Universe previously, but it absolutely bears repeating. Over the past year writer Geoff Johns built an amazing story featuring (among so much more) the almost buddy cop-like relationship between Hal Jordan and Sinestro, the introduction of a new Green Lantern of Earth, and the decent of the Guardians into near kitten-punching villainy. And as fantastic as that's been, we know it'll only keep getting better:
3. Earths of the Multiple Variety
Writer James Robinson and artist Nicola Scott launched Earth 2 as part of the New 52's "Second Wave" of titles and introduced readers to a whole new world of super heroes similar, yet vastly different from our own. From the very first issue it has been a thrill ride filled with unexpected twists and turns—from the sudden death of the Trinity to emergence of a new breed of heroes—and there's literally a whole world of possibilities still out there to explore!
4. Girl Power
Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Supergirl, Batwoman, Worlds' Finest, Birds Of Prey, Catwoman—there are a number of phenomenal books currently on shelves that are written and drawn by all-star creative talent and headlined by female heroes, and this month Amethyst joins those ranks with SWORD OF SORCERY #0. Not to mention brilliant characters like Sir Ystin and Exoristos in Demon Knights, Zatanna and Black Orchid in Justice League Dark and more! Plus, one of our favorite female characters, Stargirl, returns in January in the pages of JLA!
5. Aquaman's Revenge
For quite a while Aquaman held a pretty bad rep. Even just recently he was lampooned in the extremely hilarious Robot Chicken DC Comics Special. But when writer Geoff Johns relaunched Aquaman last year, he accomplished something incredible: he made Aquaman one of the best-selling comics out there, period. It's been a breakout year for our aquatic hero and earlier today USA TODAY broke the story of what's coming next: the "Throne of Atlantis" crossover with Justice League! We can't even begin to imagine the depths of awesomeness this new storyline will take us, but we are more than ready and willing to take the plunge (puns!).
5.1 New Gods
5.2 The Joker's Back
What have you enjoyed most over the past year of The New 52? What are you looking forward to in the coming year? How much pickled peppers can the Pied Piper pipe? Let us know in the comments below!
