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If I’m being honest, the ’10s weren’t a great time to be a DC fan. There were definitely some great comics in the decade, but the New 52 was the harbinger of some very bad stories and the loss of everything that DC had built in the ’00s. The ’10s were a roller coaster ride for DC fans; you were never sure if you were going to get something great or something terrible. However, there are some books from the decade that stand tall, and these ten are the best of them.
10) Forever Evil
The Justice League was a major part of the New 52. Looking back on the various Justice League comics of that time there aren’t a lot of them that would be categorized as great. Some were good, some were okay, and some were mediocre at best. However, there were some cool ideas behind the Justice League comics, and the best of them was the invasion of the Crime Syndicate of Earth-3. This led to the best event comic of the New 52 — Forever Evil, by Geoff Johns and David Finch. The Crime Syndicate had smashed the Justice League and set their sights on the rest of the world. They blitzed the heroes with the help of the villains, but not everyone joined them. Lex Luthor created a team of villains — Sinestro, Black Adam, Black Manta, Captain Cold, Deathstroke, and a Superman clone Bizarro named B-1 — that worked with Batman and Catwoman against the Crime Syndicate. It’s an exciting, action-packed story that shows a new side of Lex Luthor. DC has some amazing events, and this one deserves its place among them. It shows off why DC has some of the best villains in comics, and gives readers everything they could want from a story like this.
9) “Zero Year”
Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman run is one of the few bright spots in the entire New 52. It was the one book that you could go to and always get a sumptuously written story with brilliant art. A lot of people like “The Court of Owls”, others like “Death of the Family” and others enjoy “Endgame”. All of the stories are pretty good, but I would say the best one is “Zero Year”. The New 52 universe was a mixture of new and old ideas, and DC kind of did a terrible job of establishing what was canon and what wasn’t. “Zero Year” showed us the beginning of the New 52 Batman, as Bruce Wayne figured out how he would save the city that he loved so much. However, the Red Hood Gang, the Riddler, and a massive storm have other ideas for a city. “Zero Year” is Snyder and Capullo going wild with the ideas they’d been building up over their run and showing that while the New 52 was a different world with events, some things never change — the heroism of one man trying to fix a corrupted city.
8) Doomsday Clock
Doomsday Clock doesn’t have the best reputation, but it’s better than it gets credit for. There are multiple reasons why Doomsday Clock is controversial in DC fandom. Some people hated the fact that Watchmen was going to crossover with the heroes of the DC Multiverse, and wouldn’t give it a chance. The book’s delays were also a huge problem with the book, as was writer Geoff Johns’s tendency to mine Alan Moore’s DC work for ideas, going so far as to try and ape his writing style with mixed results. However, if you take all of that away and just read the 12-issue series, it’s actually quite good. It gives readers a crossover between two disparate universes in the best possible way, revealing the secrets of how the New 52 happened and the differences between Superman and Doctor Manhattan, placed on collision course by their differing ways of looking at the universe. Doomsday Clock has some tremendous issues and the last half more than makes up for the slower, more Easter Egg laden beginning. Seriously, Doomsday Clock #12, on its own, is one of the best single comics that came out in 2019.
7) Omega Men
Writer Tom King is a controversial figure in DC Comics history. This is the first time he appears on this list, yet not the last, and it’s for one of the better books of the latter stages of the New 52 — Omega Men. King and artist Barnaby Bagenda take readers back to the Vega Sector — DC’s premiere sci-fi location of the ’80s (there are some excellent Alan Moore shorts set in Vega in DC Universe by Alan Moore). Omega Men follows the titular group of rebels waging a guerilla war against the powers of the Vega Sector, with White Lantern Kyle Rayner getting dragged into battle. Omega Men is prime DC sci-fi, and this twelve issue format is where King has always shined. This book had a decent buzz when it was coming out, and deserves way more credit than it gets.
6) “I Am Suicide”
Tom King’s run on Batman is one of those runs where you either like it or hate it. Personally, I enjoyed the way it dug into who Batman is, and while there are definitely some disappointments in the run (Batman (Vol. 3) #50, “The Gift”, Batman (Vol. 3) #56-57), there are also some excellent stories. “I Am Suicide” is one of those. This story saw Batman deciding to use Psycho-Pirate’s powers to cure Gotham Girl’s madness. However, there’s one simple problem — Bane has the Psycho-Pirate in Santa Prisca. Batman gathers his own Suicide Squad and the group of them attack the prison that Bane calls home. This story is phenomenal. It digs deep into the trauma that is Batman brilliantly, and the art by Mikel Janin is amazing. Seriously, go look up some pages of this story if you don’t believe me. This is Batman at his finest and it’s a story that will stick with you for years.
