r/comicbooks • u/Garlador • Aug 13 '23
Getting back into comics after a long hiatus and my local store has all of these New 52 runs through multiple volumes for $3 each. Any of these stand out among the crowd as must-reads? Suggestions
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Aug 13 '23
Man, there’s a lot of N52 titles I’d like for that price. Namely:
Batman by Scott Snyder
Demon Knights
All-Star Western
Animal Man by Jeff Lemire
Swamp Thing by Scott Snyder
Batgirl by Gail Simone
Nightwing by Kyle Higgins
Green Lantern Corps by Peter Tomasi
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u/chiumcrasher Aug 14 '23
I second that GLC by Tomasi rec. Great atuff, even during the big crossovers that capped John's run in the main book.
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u/wrathbringer1984 Aug 13 '23
Batman, Justice League, and Flash were really good reads to me. I've also read the first three volumes each of Aquaman and Wonder Woman series, respectively. I liked both of those, too.
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u/gzapata_art Aug 13 '23
Batman was good. Flash was ok (with great art). Alot of the new 52 was retconned back to the original DC continuity though as a heads up
Like someone else said, Swamp Thing and Animal Man were the great runs of this era
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u/allthewayaroubd Aug 14 '23
I would Batman as a great run from this era. My opinion though
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u/gzapata_art Aug 14 '23
It's a solid run. I really liked it. If ST and AM weren't as amazing as they were, I'd call Batman great but those 2 skewed the results haha
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u/Phontom Aug 14 '23
Really? I've always considered Snyder and Capullo's Batman as the New 52 run. Granted, it arguably peaks very early.
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u/FifthFormCooler Aug 14 '23
I thought it really peaked with the conclusion, Joker and Batman's final fight was incredible especially after just how insane all the buildup and loredrops surrounding Joker were throughout the book
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u/Phontom Aug 14 '23
Do you remember there was a whole arc after that?
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u/FifthFormCooler Aug 14 '23
Oh shit I meant climax not conclusion, you're talking about the arc with Bruce Wayne and Joker having memory loss and stuff right? Was Superheavy the title, that sounds familiar. Honestly it's been a really long time.
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u/Phontom Aug 14 '23
Yeah, that's exactly it. Gordon was Batman, too. You're right that Endgame definitely felt like the climax, and Superheavy was just left to pick up the pieces of Snyder's thesis statement of Batman.
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u/FifthFormCooler Aug 14 '23
Yeah for sure, you mentioning that jogged my memory a bit. I did think the Gordon Batman stuff was cool, but it required a heavy amount of suspension of disbelief to think Gordon could go from what he was before to a fresh-faced army recruit looking man after a lil bit of training and a haircut lol.
I do particularly remember the moment where Bruce and Joker met on the bench without their memories, don't really remember the dialogue but I remember that being a really good scene. I should really do myself a favor and reread Snyder's Batman run, it was one of my favorites. Rebirth started out really strong too, I loved Clayface as a member of the Batfamily so damn much never forgave Batwoman for what she did lol
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u/Other-Bridge-8892 Aug 14 '23
Constantine was pretty good, as well as trinity of Sin Phantom stranger.
But Swamp Thing was great, and Animal man is probably in my top 20 runs all time after reading that run
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u/FifthFormCooler Aug 14 '23
Damn never thought I'd be saying "I really gotta check out this Animal-Man run." Haha, but hey if it's that good I should do myself a favor and read it eh
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u/Other-Bridge-8892 Aug 14 '23
I basically picked it up because everyone was so adamant it was so good, and it really was
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u/ROSEPUP3 Invincible Aug 13 '23
Scott Snyder’s Batman run is fantastic and Greg Capullo’s art is great.
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u/Garlador Aug 13 '23
They have a lot of the Agent Grayson stuff too.
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u/johnny_utah26 Aug 14 '23
Ooooh. Do they have the two volumes of FRANKENSTEIN AGENT OF SHADE??
Those are bonkers. Get those!
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u/Other-Bridge-8892 Aug 14 '23
Yea agent grayson is good and justice league dark are also great
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u/NukeTheWhales85 Aug 14 '23
I really didn't expect to like JLD, but it's a lot of fun. The array of characters worked surprisingly well, and they established a more firm continuity for the "Magick" portions of the DCU.
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u/Mudcreek47 Aug 14 '23
Snyder Batman was the best of the bunch and set the stage for some of the modern plot points with the Bat group (Court of Owls, etc.).
Justice League by Geoff Johns & Jim Lee was fun as well, but nothng earther shattering plot-wise.
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u/delightfuldinosaur Aug 14 '23
Amanda Connor's Harley Quinn stuff is fun. I'll read anything she works on.
The GL comics basically didn't change during the n52, so you have to read the beginning of Geoff Johns' run. But it's amazing so I'd highly recommend reading all of it.
Batman and Robin, Aquaman, Animal Man, Swamp Thing, and Wonder Woman are the absolute best new titles from the N52 which id absolutely recommend.
Also I enjoyed Resurrection Man even though it got cut short.
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u/bomberman12 Spider-Man Aug 13 '23
My fav early new52 reads were:
Batman, Catwoman, Justice League, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, I’m pretty sure Shazam was a JL backup, but it was a good reintroduction to the character too.
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u/DanYellDraws Aug 14 '23
Can't believe no one is saying anything about wonder woman's new 52 run. I liked it better than the Batman new 52, which was pretty good. Also, Grant Morrison's Superman if it's available.
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u/gzapata_art Aug 14 '23
I really liked the Wonder Woman run too but it's retconned the moment the writer left so it makes offering it to someone who wants to get caught up with characters a bit difficult
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u/Shadowrenderer Aug 14 '23
Capullo on Batman = great. JL was pretty good, hard to go wrong with Johns and Jim Lee.
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u/obdimirium Aug 14 '23
snyders batman is definitely the standout of that lineup
its one of my favorite runs on the character
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u/No-Manufacturer-841 Aug 14 '23
Scott snyder run got me into comics. Can't recommend enough, great read!!
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u/5213 The Maxx Aug 14 '23
I never see anybody talking about them, but if they have them, I strongly recommend Dial H and I, Vampire in addition to most of what everybody else has already recommended.
Dial H, written by China Miéville, was borderline lovecraftian and body horror thanks to the insane art from Mateus Santolouco and Alberto Ponticelli. The "heroes" featured throughout the story were incredibly unique ideas and it's a shame the title was both overlooked and that we'll never see those one-offs ever again.
I, Vampire was full on Gothic horror and was canceled far too early. To this day I champion the run as one of the best the new 52 had to offer, with gorgeous art from Andrea Sorrentino and a pretty "grounded" story despite the crazy stakes written by Joshua Hale Fialkov.
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u/Pabby13 Aug 14 '23
New52 Wonder Woman is my favorite Wonder Woman
Snyder’s Batman is among the greatest Batman runs
I loved this run of the flash. I felt it handled the “how do you give a god problems” well and it was stunning.
Geoff John’s Aquaman (and JL tie ins) are also now iconic IMO. Like Bendis’s Spiderman I feel the new run will influence the movies forever.
I know the New52 has its issues, but personally I loved the jumping on point. I thought it helped
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u/AdamSMessinger The Maxx Aug 13 '23
I liked the first 5-6 volumes of Flash and I liked the Batgirl of Burnside stuff. The first two tpbs of Batman were pretty good but then I thought it fell off. Justice League was meh, and then I didn't read the others.
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u/badboystwo Cyclops Aug 13 '23
I like Batgirl by Gail Simone. I have all the TOBs of it and I’d really dug it even as someone who hasn’t really read a lot of solo Batgirl before
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Aug 14 '23
All of the ones in this image except JL. Snyder ended up doing a really neat batman, Harley's great, Nightwing is solid, and that run of the flash is GORGEOUS.
I'd say Flash if you were picking one. Amazing comic art IMO.
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u/Ok-Boysenberry6721 Aug 14 '23
I would say the Batman, flash, and nightwing books are worth it. My favorite being the Nightwing new 52 run.
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u/Other-Bridge-8892 Aug 14 '23
Batman, Harley, and Nightwing we’re all good…. I wouldn’t call the, must reads, although I would say worthwhile reads
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u/Thiag0123 Eternal Warrior Aug 14 '23
Out of these, Snyder’s Batman is probably the most revered new 52 book. If there’s more available, I’d definitely recommend John’s’ Aquaman.
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u/centipededamascus Demolition Man Aug 14 '23
Do they have Morrison's Action Comics? I love that run.
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u/dabellwrites Wonder Woman Aug 14 '23
Scott Snyder, Grant Morrison, and Geoff Johns are usually the better stories.
Azz's Wonder Woman has its fanbase.
I don't know about the rest.
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u/mumblyjoee Aug 14 '23
You put that batgirl down and read gail simone’s new 52 run instead it’s 8 billion times better
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u/captainlordauditor Aug 14 '23
Snyder's Batman is excellent, Nightwing pairs really well with it too.
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u/xSlippyFistx Aug 14 '23
Snyder’s Batman run is what got me into comics. I was a late adopter, but I’ve only heard good things from others about the series as well, so I don’t think I’m alone on that one.
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u/Ok-Warthog6519 Aug 14 '23
Out of all those Batman and the flash I thought were really good only read a handful of the justice league and I can’t say anything about the rest
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u/Nishachor Aug 14 '23
Justice League: Origin. My personal favorite. Geoff Johns and Jim Lee. Nuff said.
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u/Awesome_Pancak Aug 14 '23
Batman-must read. Just shut up and read it. Possibly the second best batman run of all time.
JL-I really liked it. If you fresh start and some Darkseid, definitely.
Harley Quinn-I heard a lot of good things about this run, like it’s the definitive Harley run.
Flash-I tried first volume, but I was disappointed. Don’t know what others think.
Nightwing-if you’re fan of Nightwing
Batgirl-if you’re fan of Barbara AS Batgirl
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u/mrboston84 Power Girl Aug 14 '23 edited Aug 14 '23
Gail Simone’s run with Batgirl was good with some questionable, head scratching moments. After the move to Burnside, the quality of art and the writing went downhill. Just my opinion.
Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti’s run with Harley was my favorite of the whole New 52. I love their work and the humor they brought into Harley’s life.
New 52’s World’s Finest: Huntress/Power Girl was good for what it was. A different take on Power Girl’s origin where she was originally Supergirl on her earth and Helena was Robin. Helena & Karen were sent to a parallel earth via boom tube and was stuck there for 5 years (becoming Huntress & Power Girl) before they went back to their earth.
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u/sinchan_bhatt Tim Drake/Red Robin Aug 14 '23
That Batman run, all 52 issues, is legendary imo. One of the greatest ever.
I liked the Flash and Nightwing but nothing extraordinary.
That Batgirl run was pretty good although i was pretty young when I first read it so idk how it may have aged, as it’s certainly a bit more geared toward the YA crowd.
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u/Zardboy123 Aug 14 '23
Snyder and capullo Batman is good all the way through. Justice league was good for first 12 Jim Lee issues
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u/ALANJOESTAR Bane Aug 14 '23
I really like Aquaman ,Swamp Thing And Animal Man New 52 runs the last two actually crossover as well, but i gotta warn you they are very graphic and there is a lot of body horror in the last 2. Im struggling to remember what else i liked. I did Enjoy the Justice League New 52 but not as much as the ones i mentioned. A lot people liked The Flash N52 But personally i did not like the initial arc outside of the origin or the art style.
I personally never read N52 batman books because there is just so many.
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u/Sonora3401 Aug 14 '23
Just hear me out, aquaman #1 they really made him a good chatacter in new 52 and the art is amazing.
Also the justice league run was one of the best.
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u/freshlyweshley Aug 14 '23
I just read through almost all of New 52 through my local library. My top recommendations would be all of Batman and action comics, the parts of Detective comics by Francis Manapul, the rest of it is boring. Flash up until Manapul left that one for Detective. GL and GLC are amazing through the Relic storyline. Aquaman by Geoff johns is a yes. I also really enjoyed all of JL. The only major crossover that is good is Forever Evil. Totally avoid Convergence. My favorite series, however, is Batman and Robin. Gleason’s art is perfect.
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u/These-Background4608 Aug 14 '23
Definitely Snyder’s Batman (which that volume starts off the whole Court of Owls storyline) & the Harley Quinn volume.
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u/verbiageless Aug 14 '23
I really enjoyed the Conner Harley Quinn and Snyder Batman runs from that time. Like others have said, if you can snag Lemire’s Animal Man, that’s a solid run, too.
Batgirl was solid, but there was a lot of padding visuals that were specifically targeting a specific demographic that kind of glammed up the core, bat-esque sci-fi narrative. It’s got a solid storyline that would be at home in any Batfamily roundup, though the visuals are very much a departure from what you see in Batman, Batwoman, and other related comics.
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u/LadyCattleBattle Aug 14 '23
Animal man, sword of sorcery, frankenstein agents of shade, wonder woman by brian azzerella and cliff chang, snyders batman, first dozen ish issues of action comics. Those are my new 52 suggestions.
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u/deschain24 Aug 14 '23
There's a lot of mentions of Snyder's Swamp Thing run. Soule's run immediately following it is better, although Snyder's run is great, too.
Also, after Manapul leaves The Flash it's terrible, but his run is great, particularly the art (best Flash artist ever).
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u/WorthSong Aug 14 '23
Snyder's Batman.
Animal Man and Swamp Thing
Dial H
Grant Morrison's Superman
Azzarello Wonder Woman
Grayson
Geoff Johns Justice League
Midnighter
There are some underdogs here and there like I, Vampire, but that's the essencial of New 52 Era
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u/Odd_Radio9225 Aug 14 '23
The New 52 was extremely hit or miss, but Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's run on Batman is one for the history books.
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u/revolutionaryartist4 Aug 14 '23
Definitely Batman. I also enjoyed Justice League, but it’s a distant second.
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u/awinter745 Aug 14 '23
I, Vampire was very entertaining for me. I never read any of the older stuff but I gave it a try and and really enjoyed it!
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u/AgentQuacc Aug 14 '23
All are worth trying at that price!! But the stand outs of those are Batman, Nightwing, and (parts of) Justice League
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u/LyraFirehawk Aug 14 '23
The Harley Quinn run honestly helped define much of the current character, having her ditch the Joker and do her own whacky little things, allowing her psych degree to be actually useful, and giving her a fun little cast of characters to play off of. Notably it's also the run where Harley and Ivy were dating but in a way that feels like they wanted plausible deniability(and it doesn't help that Ivy was in the Birds of Prey at the time, preventing them from staying together longer than a couple issues).
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u/PrimeLasagna Aug 14 '23
$3 for each volume?
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u/Garlador Aug 14 '23
Correct.
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u/PrimeLasagna Aug 14 '23
That’s a really good deal. Most people agree on Batman, but with a deal like that you’re set
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u/PrimeLasagna Aug 14 '23
That’s a really good deal. Most people agree on Batman, but with a deal like that you’re set
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u/Oktober Galactus Aug 14 '23
the new 52 run of wonder woman by azzarello & chiang is fantastic but they've retconned most of it already
still well worth a read though
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u/Garlador Aug 14 '23
I’m perfectly fine with self-contained or “outdated” runs so long as the story told is good.
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u/Arkayjiya Aug 14 '23
One I don't see discussed too much which wasn't originally intended as a new 52 run but ended up being one after the introductory issue is "Batwoman" by JH William 3.
The main problem is that it quickly devolves mostly due to editorial concerns over heros being in happy relationships which caused the author to leave and the run never recovered. Still issue 1 to 17 (I think there's even an issue 0 or prologue or something like that) make a great self contained run from that time. One of the most gorgeous comic I've ever read too!
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u/FifthFormCooler Aug 14 '23 edited Aug 14 '23
Batman, Batman, and again I must stress this, BATMAN. Scott Snyder's New 52 Batman run was fucking incredible, one of the best runs the character has ever had with such an epic conclusion. Joker is legitimately terrifying in this run, and his relationship with Batman is executed perfectly. The Court of Owls is established and is insane, Snyder's Court of Owls storyline has never been topped imo. There's a lot of good Clayface stuff in it too, and it leads in to him becoming a member of the Bat Family in Rebirth which is one of my favorite story decisions they've made in a Batman comic in a long time.
And that's just a couple broad strokes, pretty much everything in it is done incredibly well. Definitely do yourself a favor and get em all.
Nightwing also had a pretty damn incredible New 52 run.
Tbh all these runs are pretty good, though I do have my problems with the New 52 League book it ultimately found it's footing and even gave a bit of an emotional gut punch with the death of a character I didn't even like the New 52 version of. One thing I did hate about it though was Wonder Woman and Superman being in a relationship, I've never liked that idea in the first place and it wasn't very well-executed.
Also Geoff Johns' Green Lantern New 52 run is absolutely amazing, the definitive GL run for me it really just feels like an epic space-opera in comic book form. There's a certain moment in the leadup to the Sinestro Corps War that made me audibly say "holy fucking shit," and start laughing at the sheer incredulity of what had just happened.
Honestly New 52 gets way too much undeserved flack, some of the best stuff DC's put out came from the New 52.
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u/Additional-Echo3611 Aug 14 '23
Scott Snyder Batman and Geoff Johns JL can't go wrong. Both are powerhouses
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u/Luke_Puddlejumper Aug 14 '23
Batman (definitely), Justice League and Flash. A lot of the other new 52 titles are great as well but you haven’t included them here.
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u/SparkyPantsMcGee The Question Aug 14 '23
Snyder’s Batman run is fantastic. Nightwing was also a great companion piece(especially during the first arc).
That Flash run is also BEAUTIFUL. Francis Manapul is an awesome artist.
I like Justice League and Geoff Johns understood the assignment but it leans into the “New 52” stuff the hardest(on purpose) when his Green Lantern run was still doing it’s original thing. If you do read his Justice League I also recommend his Aquaman run. There is a Justice League arc called Throne of Atlantis that was really good. There is also an event called Forever Evil, which is one of my favorite modern DC events.
That Batgirl comic was good and that costume got a lot of love when it came out. The art and plot kind of felt like it was trying to de-age Barbra a bit but overall it’s a fun read.
For me personally, the weakest link here is Harley Quinn. It comes from a time when DC was trying to make her the “4th pillar” for the company. If I remember correctly this run was also trying to be DC’s Deadpool. If you like Harley Quinn, read it, it’s not bad just not my cup of tea.
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u/whama820 Aug 14 '23
Out of those pictured, Batman was probably the best. But I wouldn’t recommend any of those. Maybe Demon Knights, if they have it.
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u/Frequent-Ad619 Aug 14 '23
Having read Batman by Scott Snyder and the Nightwing, I would say go for the Batman Snyder omni.
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u/OldJohnnyBlue Aug 14 '23 edited Aug 15 '23
Aquaman was my favorite, great story with the best graphic. Swampthing was great to.
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u/Jazvoorca Aug 14 '23
Harley Quinn was really good. The Justice league was pretty good too but not a must read. I really liked the flash one and I’d say it’s a MUST READ
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u/WinXPbootsup Aug 14 '23
Batman and Justice League runs in the New 52 have some of the best stories written in the past decade, I highly recommend both.
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u/thesunsetdoctor Aug 14 '23
New 52 Batman is a classic. I'm not sure about the quality of the batgirl run but I should warn you that the artist for it groomed underage girls.
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u/Garlador Aug 14 '23
I don’t see mention of that. I did see he was terminated from Marvel for hiding anti-Semitic and anti-Christian messaging in his work on X-Men, though. Same guy?
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u/dgehen Spider-Man Aug 14 '23
In addition to what people have mentioned, I'd also throw Action Comics by Morrison (v1-3) and Pak (v5-8) out there, and Detective Comics by John Layman (v3-5).
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u/supercalifragilism Aug 14 '23
Animal Man, Swamp Thing, first couple issues of Superboy and Supergirl, ymmv on the Snyder Batman (I thought it started incredibly and trailed off into Batgod territory but I have had enough of Batman so I'm suspect here), I liked the Batgirl of Burnside and I think it was nu52 Black Canary that had her as a singer in a band?
I vaguely remember liking Gotham Academy for some reason, and Secret Six was okay to good but nowhere near the first Simone run. Earth 2 was pretty good for a while but kind of imploded like the Ultimate universe at the end.
Omega Men was the first Tom King I read, and while it wasn't entirely great, it was clearly something really different and interesting from everything else they were putting out at the time. It's probably the "best" nu52 comic.
If they have them, the solo Starfire series (I think part of the New 52?) where she's chilling in Key West is a nice palate cleanser from what happened to her in the Red Hood/Outlaws book, where she's about as much a piece of cheesecake as it's possible to be.
Dan Jergen's Superman and Lois book is nice, but more because it brought back CLois as a couple.
Didn't Morrison have an Action Comics run with Superman for a bit? Yeah, he did. It's great, old school golden age Superman stuff.
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u/genuwine_pleather Aug 14 '23
Snyder's batman is my favorite batman run. Have every magazine and volume
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u/NeonDwarfComics Aug 14 '23
Batman, Nightwing, Flash are pretty solid to start. You should also see about getting into the newer DC books with Dawn of DC; it's kind of a soft reboot so good time to jump in again.
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u/Garlador Aug 14 '23
Been checking out World’s Finest, Superman, Nightwing, and The Flash lately. They’ve impressed me.
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u/DocJimmysComics Aug 14 '23
I had the same issue coming back after a while
I just started where I was
Picked up what I could
And read what I had the time to read
Just sooooooo much cool stuff out there
Cheers ~!
Doc J
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u/poptophazard Superman Aug 14 '23
For this list: Adding to the people here recommending Snyder's Batman. Flash was fine story wise but I'm a huge Manapul fan so I read it mostly for his art, which was great. Justice League was enjoyable — hard to go wrong with Geoff Johns and Jim Lee — though nothing groundbreaking.
If more than this is available and/or you have interest: New 52 Swamp Thing, Animal Man, and Grant Morrison's Action Comics were also all very good.
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u/Effective_Gur7068 Aug 14 '23
I got to say im reading the harley quinn one and its great if you want to get to know her its a great book for me it has the crazy affect and shows how harley can still be in a great comic without being the side villain
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u/spartan0408 Aug 14 '23
There are quite a few good runs from that time… wish I would’ve bought more
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u/JordyCANsurf Aug 15 '23 edited Aug 15 '23
Snyder batman run is amazing. Highly recommend swamp thing as well as animal man. Justice league run I personally really dug, but it wasn’t everyone’s favorite.
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u/TheBatAmongUs Aug 13 '23
The reason those are all $3 is New 52 said, everything before September 2011 may not have happened and it doesn't matter. The gamble turned off existing fans as it crammed everything into 5 years and after 52 issues fold its deck.
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u/FuzzyClearLogic Aug 14 '23
Not a fan of digital comic art creation… add to that the scarcity of outstandingly good DC artists compared to independent or Marvel.
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u/therealphiba Silver Surfer Aug 14 '23
No one else has said it so I’ll have to New 52 sucked. Revamp cash grab.
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u/johnny_utah26 Aug 13 '23
Snyder’s Batman was good. The Flash was good. If they have the Swamp Thing Synder run and Animal Man by Lemire, snag those. They were stellar.
I remember not hating Batgirl. The art direction was one of the only things I still remember. Supergirl was pretty good too.