52: Volume 4

A few true points on this book: *War World III has begun *Ralph Dibny is a chepo *Booster Gold is back and he's a keeper I loved this book from begining to end. You just can't miss it. The Final Crisis has just begun!. Get this piece of jewel now!

There were six major plotlines in this series, and this last volume gave us the conclusions to each one. Some succeeded, some didn't. Here's my list: Luthor vs. Steel gets a grade of 3 stars. This would have been higher if it had been slightly more believeable that Steel would actually survive the attacks upon his body that super-powered Luthor inflicts. Ralph Dibny's story gets a grade of 5 stars. Excellent, surprising, and emotionally satisfying. Montoya, The Question, Batwoman gets a grade of 3 stars. The build-up to the final showdown was worth 5 stars, but the awful art and narration for the big finale was the worst thing in the entire series. Animal Man, Adam Strange, and Starfire's story was superbly handled at the end; much better than it was in the beginning. Overall grade of 5 stars for the conclusion. Black Adam's story gets a grade of 5 stars. The deaths, battles, and ensuing conclusion were extremely well-done. Artistically and dramatically satisfying. Booster Gold's big conclusion was the 2nd weakest of all the plotlines. The explanation and solutions were weakly explained, and poorly edited and drawn. Overall grade for Booster was 2.5 stars. Well worth reading overall!

DC's 52 was highly ambitious, which made me more than a little nervous, since projects as big as these usually fall flat. With the big three missing, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, DC picks up some acilliary characters and kind of turns them into the modern age superheroes. Really DC is trying to kick start some other books. But they do a good job, especially since there is a book a week. Bravo gentlemen.

This is where it all comes to an end and all of the storylines meet thier conclusion. Booster really shines in this volume and he gets set up for his own series. Black Adam goes on the Rampage known as World War III. John Henry Irons and Lex Luthor face-off. This is worth picking up though only if you've read the rest of the series.