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So, the "Zero Month" has occurred for DC. Now that the much hyped month has gone by the question becomes, "Was it worth it?" Well, for me it's a mixed bag. The New 52 was quite a significant thing for me. Prior to the New 52 I read a fair amount of DC comics, but I was starting to whittle down the number of titles I read. I had given up on most titles of the major groups some time before the grand reset of the New 52. I could no longer take what was being done with the Justice League, the Justice Society of America or the Teen Titans. The New 52 allowed me to come back to those groups and characters I had already (or started) to give up on. Plus, it also allowed me to look at other characters that seemed to undergo a change that I found interesting, most significantly of them being Superman. However, as I read issues from these new titles it became abundantly clear that the new timeline was shaky.
When the New 52 started many elements of titles tied to Batman and Green Lantern stayed consistent. Events tied to both characters were apparently so significant that DC did not wish to abandon them. I also read that as being that those characters were the only ones that seemed to have an actual vision in mind. Of course, that comes from a large bias of giving up on titles and characters that seemed to have no direction. Anyway, the New 52 did what it was supposed to do with me in getting me to read more titles, but I'm also someone who likes to understand things, and as I said before the current timeline was not fulfilling that expectation.
The announcement of Zero Month was something I was looking forward to as I believed it would be something that would fill in the blanks for the new DC Universe. Well, I don't think it pulled it off that well. I'm still holding out on to the belief (and hope) that there will have to be a "History of the DC Universe" title at some time, and that time will be have to be soon. I'm not a Batman reader, but having read Teen Titans and getting the new origin of Tim Drake I still can't conceive of how Batman has had four Robins (one being a "Red" one) in about five years. My mind can't figure it out. I even talked to a friend that reads all of the Batman titles in the hope that they explained how it could happen, but he said it didn't and the confusion remains.
I was actually beginning to believe that during the Zero Month DC would fudge their new continuity a bit already and push out the origin of many characters to 10 years. I haven't seen it. The largest adjustment that I read was in Aquaman, where the events were six years before our current time (or the formation of the Justice League). So, that at least gave Aquaman some time to do things in the shadows and work with The Others. It's still not a lot of flex though. Then again, he doesn't need as much flexibility to his timeline as Batman or Green Lantern (any of them).
The Zero Month did offer some information on the new/revised origins of many characters though. Animal Man, Aquaman, Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, Flash, Green Lantern Corps, Justice League, Phantom Stranger, and Red Lanterns are the ones I found most interesting. While some character's origins in the New 52 have been alluded to, the Zero Month issues showed more elements. This is especially true for Guy Gardner in Green Lantern Corps. His attitude may be the same as it was prior to the New 52, but his origin is very different. The largest change of course was in the pages of Justice League, where we were given the last bit of origin for Shazam. Captain Marvel as we knew him in the DC Universe prior to the New 52 is gone. I'm not as fond of this version as I was of Captain Marvel (I like some idealism in a character now and then), but I'll see what happens with him.
There were also a few titles that worked to "reset" what has already happened to some characters after the New 52 or fill in gaps or finalize what has been alluded to. The titles that I thought fit this bill and did it well were Fury of Firestorm and Green Lantern: New Guardians. Firestorm has basically been rolled back to a version closer to what he was just prior to the New 52. The whole debacle with the "Firestorm Protocols" looks like it's going to be going away, and frankly I'm really glad for that. DC must have big plans for Firestorm because in all honesty I'm not surprised this title still has not been cancelled. I was about to drop it (yes, I held out longer than I should have), but when I saw a more "classic" Firestorm on the cover for the Zero Month issue, I decided I had to stay. The first twelve issues are still glorified lining for a bird cage though. While New Guardians has been so-so (leaning towards the lower side), I'm a Kyle Rayner fan and so I've stuck it out. The Zero Month issue puts the finishing touches on a major revision to the character that has been alluded to since the start of the title, and that is that Kyle is not just another human with a ring. Kyle Rayner was actually chosen by Ganthet now because of his ability to connect to other colors of the emotional spectrum. Kyle's title of "Torchbearer" of the Green Lantern Corps appears to have more significance in the New 52.
Then there were titles that seemed to be more focused on giving bits of information about what could be to come in the future of the New 52, or possibly shine lights on little elements of it. The titles I thought did this well were DC Universe Presents, Dial H, Earth 2, and Stormwatch. In DC Universe Presents we were given more information on the origin of Mister Terrific, but we were also shown a glimpse of his potential future. This potential future connects with what has been shown in Earth 2 previously and even more information was given in Zero Month. It should result in a "Terrific" showdown (yes, I said it). The Zero Month issue of Stormwatch appears to reveal that the Stormwatch team is the crossroads for the three main elements of the New 52. We now are shown how the group is connected to the more influential mystical aspect that came from Vertigo, the Damonite aspect that came from Wildstorm and where it now rests in the revised DC Universe.
Dial H had a small thing in its past tale of a Dial. It is possible that I read into it too much, but I still have to wonder. During the issue's tale we see four symbols that create a larger shield symbol if you connect them. Take the 'S' out of Superman's chest shield and put an 'H' in, and it's what the symbols formed. There is a part of me wondering if the Dials can connect to some kind of alternate universe, or even the Phantom Zone. It would be more obvious if the symbols were simply Kryptonian, but I don't think the symbol that is formed (which is never shown connected, only in pieces) being similar to Superman's chest emblem is a simple coincidence.
DC's Zero Month appeared to be an offering from DC to fans to show that they were working on the supporting structure of the new DC Universe. Unfortunately, it's going to take a lot of work to bring it all together. I still don't believe DC had the new universe completely fleshed out before it was implemented. By implementing the new DC Universe as they did, they now have to work forwards and backwards. They have to keep giving us new stories of this new universe, but they have to create a functional foundation that it rests on. I think there was a hope that certain things would happen this past month, but they didn't go as planned again. I noticed many of the covers of the planned issues changed. I didn't see anything on a new cover that would have amounted to a spoiler, so I don't see that being the case. I think that once again plans went awry. I think DC was hoping that they would be saved by Zero Month on a few levels. I don't think it went as well as planned. Very soon DC is going to have to get their new history together, or at least the five years prior to the age of heroes that started with the launch of Justice League. To continue to fail as they seem to be in various areas will only serve to disappoint readers that have placed their faith in their new universe.
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