Last Wednesday, in recognition of the second full week of DC Comics’ New 52 promotion, I recommended the five new DC titles that I thought were most likely to be worthy of your attention and your money sight unseen. Now that we’ve had a week to digest them, the question is how did I do? I think it’s safe to characterize the entire promotion as a monster success for DC at least in terms of PR for month one: tons of sellouts, reprints and series being ordered in the six figures. Overall, I can honestly say the quality of the actual product has been stronger than I was expecting. The books I personally recommended for week two in order of expected quality were as follows: Batwoman, Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E., Green Lantern, Batman and Robin, Deathstroke, and Superboy. So how were they in reality?
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So tonight’s the night. At midnight, DC Comics releases Flashpoint #5 and Justice League #1 and the DC Universe as we’ve known it will be washed away to some currently unknown extent and replaced by 52 new titles; many with brand new continuity.

I don’t know what to think about all of this. I’m excited to see what DC has up its sleeves, but I’m sad to know some piece of this universe I’ve loved for twenty years can never really ever quite be the same again. I have a great deal of distrust for DC publisher Dan Didio and his personal tastes. I know they don’t align with mine. But I love the grand ambition behind all of this. This is a giant gamble and I dig that.

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J. Michael Straczynski. JMS as he’s commonly called. I don’t even pretend to know the dude’s name or how to spell it were it not in front of me. Everybody knows something he’s written, whether its the Spider-Man comics that erased 20 years of continuity, Babylon 5, The Changeling… Something.

He’s been at DC for awhile now writing their team-up book The Brave and The Bold. I’ve picked up the occasional issue, but while it’s fun, the book had been nothing particularly special. The stories are all told in a single issue. Cliff Chiang’s art is solid but not spectacular. Also, the fact that they’re telling lost stories plays a part in the book’s blandness… Nothing feels like it counts. Issue 33 isn’t one of those issues, however.

The issue teams up Wonder Woman, Zatanna, and Barbara Gordon as Batgirl. It seemed like an oddball team up if I’ve ever heard of one and yet somehow it was impossible to ignore. The story starts out strangely with Zatanna and Wonder Woman deciding to enjoy a night out on the town.

Half-way through the second act it becomes chrystal clear where the story is going. There’s only one moment it can be leading up to… and yet when we get there the book manages to be surprisingly uplifting.

I don’t know how else to say it… this issue is something really special. If JMS keeps writing stories like this, I’m on board.