DC Weekly Titles - 52 and Countdown...any good?

JonesyAZ · Post by **JonesyAZ** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 3:22:24 pm

Hey all,

I have been thinking about either buying or trying to find a reading copy of the trades of DC's two weekly year-long books:

52

Countdown

Are these worth getting?

BruceReville · Post by **BruceReville** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 3:33:15 pm

52 - Yes - Countdown - No!

xodacia81 · Post by **xodacia81** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 3:34:30 pm

52 was a damn good read. Countdown is horrendous.

vikingspawn · Post by **vikingspawn** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 4:02:16 pm

52 is good. The best part of "Countdown" was a Superboy-Prime fight issue somewhere passed issue #25 I think. But not worth buying as a whole series. A chunk of that series was a mess.

JonesyAZ · Post by **JonesyAZ** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 4:31:51 pm

Should it be easy to assemble a reading set of the 52 comics?

BruceReville · Post by **BruceReville** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 4:34:44 pm

Unless someone on here has a set cheap Ebay it normally runs around 20-25 with shipping included.

xodacia81 · Post by **xodacia81** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 4:40:39 pm

BruceReville wrote:Unless someone on here has a set cheap Ebay it normally runs around 20-25 with shipping included.

Not a bad price. However, I purchased the collected editions and I am glad I did because of the extra material in them, ie, the interviews/recollections of the creators. Yes, you don't get the small "origin" stuff, but that has been collected as well and really adds nothing to the books. In fact, I think it detracts, as those origins were presented rather poorly.

So, Jonesy..I'd just get the collected editions if all you want to do is read them.

superman-prime · Post by **superman-prime** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 8:27:08 pm

same here 52 rocked if you know a lot of dc history its even better

countdown sucked bad

chisumwomack · Post by **chisumwomack** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:43:18 pm

What everybody else said x2.

ian_house · Post by **ian_house** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 4:13:37 am

Can't really add much more. 52 pretty much got me back into comics after a little drought.

Drift · Post by **Drift** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:20:21 am

Make sure you get Trinity as well as the other 2. after 52, countdown is bad. After Countdown, Trinity is awful. After Trinity, anything else is a literary masterpiece.

BruceReville · Post by **BruceReville** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:27:44 am

And I almost forgot - with Countdown you'll need all the various Countdown Mini-Series that goes along with Countdown and then you'll really want to *SQUEE* scream!

xodacia81 · Post by **xodacia81** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:28:54 am

Drift wrote:Make sure you get Trinity as well as the other 2. after 52, countdown is bad. After Countdown, Trinity is awful. After Trinity, anything else is a literary masterpiece.

I forced myself through the first volume of Trinity, back around August of last year. I think I might STILL have a headache from that thing. Just awful.

JonesyAZ · Post by **JonesyAZ** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:38:18 am

Thanks for the input guys

I will keep an eye out for the 52 TPBs

vikingspawn · Post by **vikingspawn** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 10:58:59 am

xodacia81 wrote:
Drift wrote:Make sure you get Trinity as well as the other 2. after 52, countdown is bad. After Countdown, Trinity is awful. After Trinity, anything else is a literary masterpiece.
I forced myself through the first volume of Trinity, back around August of last year. I think I might STILL have a headache from that thing. Just awful.

I was curious about Trinity. I never did get around to reading the start of the whole thing. I can't get into Busiek's writing when he's on DC characters (Superman, Aquaman).

ian_house · Post by **ian_house** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 1:29:32 pm

vikingspawn wrote:
xodacia81 wrote:
Drift wrote:Make sure you get Trinity as well as the other 2. after 52, countdown is bad. After Countdown, Trinity is awful. After Trinity, anything else is a literary masterpiece.
I forced myself through the first volume of Trinity, back around August of last year. I think I might STILL have a headache from that thing. Just awful.

I was curious about Trinity. I never did get around to reading the start of the whole thing. I can't get into Busiek's writing when he's on DC characters (Superman, Aquaman).

I caught the first few weeks and quit pretty quickly. I agree about Busiek.

xodacia81 · Post by **xodacia81** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 3:46:52 pm

vikingspawn wrote:
xodacia81 wrote:
Drift wrote:Make sure you get Trinity as well as the other 2. after 52, countdown is bad. After Countdown, Trinity is awful. After Trinity, anything else is a literary masterpiece.
I forced myself through the first volume of Trinity, back around August of last year. I think I might STILL have a headache from that thing. Just awful.

I was curious about Trinity. I never did get around to reading the start of the whole thing. I can't get into Busiek's writing when he's on DC characters (Superman, Aquaman).

My experience with Busiek is limited to Marvels/Ruins, Ninjak volume 2, an issue or two of Astro City and the little bit of Trinity that I read. He is a very hit or miss writer.

Jersen · Post by **Jersen** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 4:57:44 pm

I originally read 52 in the TPBs that have been mentioned, and I loved them alot. The little retrospectives from the creators after every issue are some nice little gems that enhance every issue. I've since gotten a collection of the individual issues from eBay.

I never read Countdown simply because I've never heard ANYTHING good about it!

Trinity was OK IMO when it started out, but by the end I was glad to be done with it.

geocarr · Post by **geocarr** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 5:20:01 pm

xodacia81 wrote:
vikingspawn wrote:
xodacia81 wrote:
Drift wrote:Make sure you get Trinity as well as the other 2. after 52, countdown is bad. After Countdown, Trinity is awful. After Trinity, anything else is a literary masterpiece.
I forced myself through the first volume of Trinity, back around August of last year. I think I might STILL have a headache from that thing. Just awful.

I was curious about Trinity. I never did get around to reading the start of the whole thing. I can't get into Busiek's writing when he's on DC characters (Superman, Aquaman).
My experience with Busiek is limited to Marvels/Ruins, Ninjak volume 2, an issue or two of Astro City and the little bit of Trinity that I read. He is a very hit or miss writer.

I enjoyed Busiek's Aquaman run, but am a big Aquaman fan and enjoyed a writer doing a different take on the character and thought it worked well as a stand alone story arc.

JonesyAZ · Post by **JonesyAZ** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 9:34:28 am

My LCS has a cheap set of "52" that I will be trading for today

I'm excited!!!!!

Savant · Post by **Savant** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 5:52:40 pm

vikingspawn wrote:52 is good. The best part of "Countdown" was a Superboy-Prime fight issue somewhere passed issue #25 I think. But not worth buying as a whole series. A chunk of that series was a mess.

I thought the Piper/Trickster storyline in Countdown was alright, for the most part, but everything else was horrible........Countdown should definitely be avoided.

52 was excellent.

JonesyAZ · Post by **JonesyAZ** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 9:41:19 am

I just finished week 14 last night of 52. Y'all are absolutely correct that this series is VERY well done

I particularly love the stories with Elongated Man in them. Since I have previously read "Blackest Night" and know Ralph's ultimate fate, it's cool to see how he goes down this path.

ian_house · Post by **ian_house** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 10:31:53 am

JonesyAZ wrote:I just finished week 14 last night of 52. Y'all are absolutely correct that this series is VERY well done

I particularly love the stories with Elongated Man in them. Since I have previously read "Blackest Night" and know Ralph's ultimate fate, it's cool to see how he goes down this path.

Poor Sue and Ralph...

The Booster sections were always my favourite.

xodacia81 · Post by **xodacia81** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 10:56:58 am

ian_house wrote:
JonesyAZ wrote:I just finished week 14 last night of 52. Y'all are absolutely correct that this series is VERY well done

I particularly love the stories with Elongated Man in them. Since I have previously read "Blackest Night" and know Ralph's ultimate fate, it's cool to see how he goes down this path.
Poor Sue and Ralph...

The Booster sections were always my favourite.

Booster was awesome. I pretty much liked all of it. I came to really like The Question and the whole Cult of Evil story. It was just a fascinating progress.

Savant · Post by **Savant** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 8:59:06 am

JonesyAZ wrote:I just finished week 14 last night of 52. Y'all are absolutely correct that this series is VERY well done

I particularly love the stories with Elongated Man in them. Since I have previously read "Blackest Night" and know Ralph's ultimate fate, it's cool to see how he goes down this path.

Some may disagree with me, but I felt the only drawback for 52 (Aside from the space story, which I didn't care for) is the storyline seemed rushed somewhere towards the end.