DC Comics is celebrating the one-year anniversary of the New 52 by releasing Zero issues, line wide, to fill in some key backstories and drop hints to what year two might entail for these titles. We wanted to take a look at each week’s releases and attempt to see themes, patterns, or trends in them, as well as assess the success of the issues on an individual level, and as a line. Also, every #1 issue of the initial New 52 had a Pandora sighting, so we wanted to see if this trend was going to continue with the #0s, so we scoured as hard as we could to try and spot her if she was there. So, without any further ado: Week 1!
Number of Zero Issues Released on 9/5: 13
Action Comics #0
Is this an origin story? No
Is the originally solicited creative team the team responsible for this book? Yes
Is there a Pandora sighting? No
Best moment: Superman inspires a little boy through his heroism
Worst moment: A dull backup.
A review in one sentence: “[If put] together with a stronger backup, this would have been, hands down, the best issue of the run so far.” – Brian Salvatore
Animal Man #0
Is this an origin story? Yes, as well as a brief tale of a prior Animal Man.
Is the originally solicited creative team the team responsible for this book? Yes
Is there a Pandora sighting? No
Best moment: A scene proving that the right retcon can work just fine.
Worst moment: The realization that Cliff likes “Penalizer” comics.
A review in one sentence: “A fun issue that, while not completely re-working the character from the ground up, goes back and stabilizes the foundation of who the character is.” – Brian Salvatore
Batwing #0
Is this an origin story? Yes
Is the originally solicited creative team the team responsible for this book? Yes
Is there a Pandora sighting? No
Best moment: The reveal of the Batwing armor.
Worst moment: Death Jack’s name and diaper.
A review in one sentence: “If you’ve been reading Batwing, this is almost totally unnecessary; if you haven’t, this will catch you up.” – Brian Salvatore
Detective Comics #0
Is this an origin story? Sort of – it goes back and fills in some of Bruce Wayne’s overseas training
Is the originally solicited creative team the team responsible for this book? Not quite – the main story is solicited correctly, but the backup, by James Tynion IV and Henrik Jonsson, was solicited as being by Daniel and Szymon Kudranski.
Is there a Pandora sighting? Nope (seeing a trend yet?)
Best moment: The twist, because I certainly didn’t see it coming
Worst moment: The twist, because it feels cheap
A review in one sentence: “In yet another failed attempt to make Bruce’s pre-Batman years interesting, this issue isn’t terrible, but it isn’t great either.” – Brian Salvatore
Dial H #0
Is this an origin story? Not quite.
Is the originally solicited creative team the team responsible for this book? Yes
Is there a Pandora sighting? No
Best moment: The reveal that the dialer is not just a sun dial, but that it takes four days to dial.
Worst moment: The rather confusing way that the story is told; I know this is a high concept book, but it is pretty ridiculously obtuse.
A review in one sentence: “Unfortunately, a month of “Dial H” feels tossed off, and I’m not sure this wonderful, struggling book can afford it.” – Vince Ostrowski
Earth 2 #0
Is this an origin story? Not quite.
Is the originally solicited creative team the team responsible for this book? Yes.
Is there a Pandora sighting? No
Best moment: The tease of “another” hero on Earth 2 that hasn’t yet been revealed.
Worst moment: Sloan’s plan seems a little too Ozymandian for my tastes.
A review in one sentence: “Continued world building from James Robinson, with fine fill in art by Tomas Giorello” – Brian Salvatore
G.I. Combat #0
Is this an origin story? Sort of.
Is the originally solicited creative team the team responsible for this book? Yes
Is there a Pandora sighting? No
Best moment: A possible, kinda sorta, return of the Dreaming?
Worst moment: All of the “War that Time Forgot” part of the issue. It was a continuation (and conclusion) of the story that has been running since issue #1, which was also pretty terrible.
A review in one sentence: “The Unknown Soldier’s mythology is opening up big time, but that doesn’t necessarily make it interesting” – Brian Salvatore
Green Arrow #0
Is this an origin story? Yes
Is the originally solicited creative team the team responsible for this book? Sort of – there were numerous waffles between Judd Winick and Ann Nocenti, as for who was actually writing. Winick got the gig.
Is there a Pandora sighting? No
Best moment: The realization that Winick isn’t the series main writer, so we’ll never have to get any more of this.
Worst moment: Just about all of it.
A review in one sentence: “Ugh” – Brian Salvatore
Green Lantern #0
Is this an origin story? Yes
Is the originally solicited creative team the team responsible for this book? Yes
Is there a Pandora sighting? No.
Best moment: The one page epilogue to “Green Lantern Annual” #1.
Worst moment: The uneasy way that Johns goes overboard to make this Muslim-American not a terrorist, yet insists on giving him terrorist things to do.
A review in one sentence: “In time Johns may regain his mojo and Baz may grow to be a very endearing character within the DCnU – but between that horrendous cover and the subpar sequence of events that are contained within the issue, your $2.99 will be much better off staying in your wallet for now.” – Matthew Meylikhov
Stormwatch #0
Is this an origin story? Not quite.
Is the originally solicited creative team the team responsible for this book? No – Will Conrad provides pencils, instead of the solicited Ignacio Calero.
Is there a Pandora sighting? No
Best moment: The appearance of Jenny Sparks in the DCnU – whether it leads anywhere or not, it shows that DC is at least not opposed to certain books breaking the “5 years” rule.
Worst moment: The slightly cheesy last couple of panels.
A review in one sentence: “All in all, “Stormwatch” #0 is a solid read – not the best, but good.” – Matthew Boren
Swamp Thing #0
Is this an origin story? Yes and, like “Animal Man,” we get a view of a prior Green avatar.
Is the originally solicited creative team the team responsible for this book? Yes
Is there a Pandora sighting? No
Best moment: Much like in “Animal Man,” the retelling of the origin is tweaked to make it fit better in the New 52, but nothing about it is bothersome.
Worst moment: Arcane eating babies. That’s just cold.
A review in one sentence: “Why do I need to keep selling you on Swamp Thing?” – Brian Salvatore
The Phantom Stranger #0
Is this an origin story? Yes
Continued belowIs the originally solicited creative team the team responsible for this book? Yes
Is there a Pandora sighting? Yes!
Best moment: The approach of having the Stranger have to help “ordinary” folks could be an interesting one.
Worst moment: The cramming of approximately 4,000 religious metaphors of different faiths into 20 pages, and not done very well.
A review in one sentence: “Perhaps in better hands than DiDio’s something like this could honestly be a hit.” – Matthew Meylikhov
Worlds’ Finest #0
Is this an origin story? Yes
Is the originally solicited creative team the team responsible for this book? Yes
Is there a Pandora sighting? No
Best moment: The concept that Superman wants to keep Supergirl as his “secret weapon,” both to protect her, and to protect himself, is a great one.
Worst moment: The cheesy last line by Robin.
A review in one sentence: “Kevin Maguire and Paul Levitz do good work here, even if the saccharine factor is a little high.” – Brian Salvatore
Final Verdict of the Week: Overall, this was a pretty good week, with a couple of glaring exceptions (“Green Arrow” and “GI Combat”) and a couple of shoots and misses (“Green Lantern” and “The Phantom Stranger”). This week was bolstered by the Rotworld books, as well as by writers, smartly, trying not to do too much in each issue. Next week features “Deathstroke” and “Grifter,” so the Liefeld factor will certainly be one that should allow for more zaniness, if not better comics. See you next week!
