There were soap operas – there still are — and then there were space operas, and now to top it all– we have the comic book opera. DC’s 52 week long extravaganza – aptly named [tag]52[/tag] – combined incredible writing talents to deliver one of the strongest episodic performances of last year. Better than most television or films that I consumed in the same period.And each issue had a cover that was sex on toast. Iconographic poster art ! 52: A year without Superman; a year without Batman; a year without Wonder Woman…but not a year without heroes. With the universe as its canvas, you saw the journey of men and women who become heroes, and those who fall from grace. I didn’t know too many of these characters – at best you can describe them as bit players in regular comics. Yet, i got enticed by them and engrossed in their journey. I felt joy at their victories and despair at their failings. And, it has been a long, long time since fictional characters involved me to that level. Great concepts, wonderful writing, strong characters, involving storylines, wonderful art — and a scope and scale that is truly operatic. I liked the sense of old fashioned ‘heroism’. In the world where the [tag]Jack Bauer[/tag] and [tag]James Bond[/tag] kind of amorality rules — it was nice to see the [tag]journey of a hero[/tag] in the truly old fashioned sense of the world. My copies of the trade paperbacks are booked, I wonder whether there would be a collection of just the covers — here is a covers gallery to drool at.