I must admit, I was skeptical coming into the New 52, mainly because I was a huge fan of Morrison's Batman run that was still ongoing, and I didn't want that to become redundant or just stop. And, with a few massive exceptions, I am quite impressed
From my experience with the New 52 (and I've only read at least one issue of about a quarter of all the series released) the change was mostly successful. Okay, there have been some real stinkers to emerge such as Detective Comics, which was having a fantastic run under the helm of Scott Snyder before the reboot, we have Superboy, we have Teen Titans, we even have Batman: The Dark Knight! These have been massive disappointments seeing how great they had been in the recent past. But we have so many fantastic books including Snyder's Batman and Swamp Thing, Wonder Woman, Animal Man, and Geoff Johns' Aquaman and Green Lantern.
Like many, I scoffed at Aquaman in the past. However, it seems to Geoff Johns' talent to take unappreciated heroes and turn them into A-level characters. It's hard to believe that Green Lantern was once thought of in the same light. Aquaman is now one of the series that I most look forward to picking up every month.
Another brilliant book is Scott Snyder's Batman. It's hard to believe that anyone could rise to the heights of Grant Morrison's long-run of tales featuring the Dark Knight, but this series is already shaping up to be as good if not better than Morrison's soon to end story. To actually get the reader to question the power Batman has over Gotham City, and introduce an organization that already feels like it has been there all along, is no less that a miracle on Snyder's behalf. If this is just the beginning, his long-form story is hopefully going to blow people away.
Even Animal Man, a character who has not made a truly significant appearance since Grant Morrison revived him in the '80s, has been a huge critical success. Both him and Swamp Thing have become my favourite books, second only to Batman. For moments that make me double take because of their sheer horrificness , which is near impossible to do in a comic, they have to be applauded.
There are many other notable series coming out of The New 52 I have had neither the time nor the funds to pick up: I, Vampire, All-Star Western, Nightwing, Catwoman etc. While some books, mentioned above, have failed to impress, overall this recent reboot of the DCU has brought much hope for the comics world. Sales are up, the titles are better than ever. And with Morrison hopefully doing for Superman what he did for the Bat, not to mention Batman Incorporated hitting the shelves to bring an end to his epic story, the future is bright.
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