Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Official '52' Discussion Thread ... SPOILERS!

I was just looking at the 52 chalkboard picture in Wizard, and, this is probably my imagination, but does the image on the bottom left of the board where the Earth is resemble the L* symbol to anybody else?

The 52's going down and across coupled with "Who is Super Nova" form the L. The "Earth" circle and arrows form the starburst.

I may be reaching because of the recent Legion sightings, but it just struck me.

I missed the Wizard article...

So this week is Black Adam and WWIII, next week is Skeets and Booster. That live 52 for the wrap up issue.

Any dangling plots you want to see covered in these last 3 weeks?

Can't wait for WWIII. Nice to see a big event taking place all in the same week again. My wallet will hurt but what the heck.

CJ, did you see something that says the Booster and Skeets thread winds up next week? That's not much story leading to the ending of one of my favorite parts of the series.

Maybe we'll see a snippet this week with more in week 51 and this story will wrap the series in week 52. After all, doesn't it seem like Skeets has been a major baddie in this and he's probably the one who knows the most about the multiverse.

Gonna be a wild few weeks.

I just figured, with the remaining issues and unresolved storylines.


So- WWIII?

WWIII - Eh. I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't this. Most of the entire war is told through J'onn J'onzz' perspective as he tries to understand who he is, etc.

DC tried to cram all of the reasons for OYL into the books and I think it ended up flat. The titans deaths (yes, plural) were gruesome and unnecessary. We already know that Black Adam is a powerful bad @$$ without these scenes.

At least Booster does come swooping in a few times and we're set up for the end of his storyline.

On a character note, I have really liked Black Adam and his anti-hero persona since his involvement in JSA. There will no redeeming him after all this.

I have to agree. World vs Black Adam doesn't feel like WW III - what they should have done was have the non-Chinese heroes become aware of the Chinese government's complicity in the Four Horsemen thing and then you'd actually have countries, and representatives thereof, fighting one another - and making Black Adam less alone. This was just another basic villain fight, albeit with a massive team-up (like Crisis or Zero Hour were), not WW III.

The tie-ins weren't well done; Jonn has been on Earth too long to suddenly be disturbed by the paradoxes of Earthling life.

Booster's and Rip's re-appearance was good, coupled with the fact that Morrow and Reddy have not been overlooked.

My two cents:

Yeah it is a crowded story. Also read WWIII before reading issue 50 of 52.

I read issue 50 first and was slightly annoyed that I knew how they took down Black Adam before I even read WWIII. An imperfect method of telling the story IMHO.

what's the deal with Atom Smasher? I can respect that the guy wants to give his friend the benefit of the doubt. however, helping him escape(twice) is just wrong.

if you truly think he is innocent, you bring him in and let him explain his side of things. true the world governments would be screaming for blood, but I find it hard to believe that he doesn't think the rest of the JSA(at least GL) would ensure that a fair trail resulted.

That's my point. And there is a cover blurb on issue 50 that reads "WWIII starts here". Ends here too.

There should have been points where narration broke in and said "read WWIII part 2 now" or somesuch.

It may be, but he feels sympathy for the guy. He knows he's probably the only friend Adam has left, and he doesn't want Adam to feel betrayed by him.

It's not the most heroic of actions, I suppose, but it's a very human one.

WWIII was a let down in scope, if not execution. I did enjoy this week's issue of 52. It had some great moments for Cap Marvel, Alan Scott, and even Black Adam (in a villianous way.)

But having fought one man shouldn't be a war. Seeing the JSA sit on a border rather than take out Black Adam seemed contrived. And how many people jumped him? At some point, it becomes too many people to effectively combat the man.

The specials were nice, but low on story. They sort of served as 52:Secret Files and Origins. All the stories could have been covered in backups to the last four weeks of 52, much the same as the DCU history in the earlier weeks.

WWIII was disappointing because it seemed too contrived as a way to wrap up the "mysteries" of the One Year Gap and to promote other series. It didn't seem like a story as much as a clearing house of ideas. Most of the One Year later changes were just thrown at us with little dramatic effect. Just, "ok, so this is how that happened" then boom, on to the next.

I've been pretty happy with 52 and where it was going but I was apprehensive about getting all four installments of WWIII at once and I feel like I should've known better - it was a rip-off. If anyone has any questions about it, having someone else tell you would be just as enjoyable as seeing it happen in the book for the most part for all the drama that was lacking.

I haven't read these yet, but it's still fun to speculate about why all this was done.

1) 52 was originally supposed to be about the year with Supes, Bats and Wondy. Presumably, it would have included some stuff on Clark, Bruce and Diana, how they were doing. We saw some of that. It's also realistic to think it would include a fair amount of the other big name heroes -- Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Captain Marvel, Donna Troy, the Titans, JSA, etc. But almost none of that.

2) DC also decided, via one year later, to radically alter some of its characters--Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Captain Marvel most prominently. Captain Marvel the've done a pretty good job explaining in Trials of Shazam, which in my mind is what should happen. If you want to mess up a character, explain it in his/her own book. There's no reason Aquaman's transformation shouldn't have been addressed in the Aquaman book, since it seems an integral plot point. If Wonder Woman had been published, instead of trickled out, it could have devoted some pages to exploring Donna.

3) At some point early on, the "52" creative team decided it would chiefly be about Black Adam, Montoya, Question, Ralph Dibney, Booster Gold and the space heroes (sort of). As much as I have enjoyed these stories, the neglect of the rest of the DCU is regrettable. Also, I really don't believe that in 2 issues you can successfully wrap up the storis of Black Adam, Montoya, Adam Strange, Starfire, Animal Man, Ralph Dibney, Booster Gold, Rip Hunter and Skeets. I am preparing myself for a severe letdown.

4) Realizing how it has messed things up, DC rushes WWIII into production. It is, as Drake aptly puts it, a clearing house of continuity/plot points, rather than a compelling, coherent story.

I really hope DC can get it's act together and start publishing its books on schedule with coherent stories, but I am not optimistic at this point. Makes me further appreciate that Mark and Barry and the fill-in artists were able to get S/LSH out pretty much as planned. Yes, the plots dragged (probably because of calibrating with 52 revelations), but it still hit the stands.

you are going to be disappointed on at least one point Doublechinner. word has it that Black Adam will addressed in a future mini. so I think #50 was the end of his story for now.

I would say that the plots with Black Adam, Ralph Dibny, Montoya & the Question, and Dr. Magnus & the evil scientists have been wrapped up. All we have left is the space heroes (Starfire, Adam Strange, & Animal Man) and Booster Gold, Rip Hunter & Skeets.

I feel a little cheated with Batwoman. I'd like to have known more about her.

I'm the first to admit that I'm way behind on 52 but it seems to be we haven't yet got the promised Legion back-up. So, has it been dropped or are we going to see it with only three weeks to go?

LL, with the Legion popping up everywhere lately my guess they may be the last issue.

I'm still bubbling with fury at the lame ending to Ralph Dibny's story!

Ok, so any guesses as to what Black Adam's new magic word has been changed to??

I guess .... CHILUPA! (well, I don't think he'd ever guess that...)

I was thinking "Forgiven"

I'm thinking it still has to be some anagram of the Egyptian gods, which coincidentally was also Shazam. Isn't that how it works for Marvels? They say the name(s) of the ones who gifted them? The Egyptian gods didn't revoke their blessing from Adam, so they're still the source of the powers that he needs to access somehow.

I think the magic word is "I'm sorry"?

What if Black Adam says, "I will never say I'm sorry"