I cheated a bit. I've been reading 52 for the past little while but I skipped a couple steps and ventured into the 52 tie-in entitled World War III. Looking back, I'm almost wishing that I hadn't. Not to say that WWIII is bad but it's just not up to the Geoff Johns / Grant Morrison standards that were set in 52.

World War III didn't really do it for me. There's a number of reasons for this but I think the main would have to be the overall telling of the story. It almost seemed to be going nowhere and, to be completely honest, was almost pointless...sort of. I understand the need to tell Black Adam's tale of revenge but it was told in a way that really didn't make much sense. Characters died that didn't need to die and it almost felt that they were being killed off just for the sake of killing off characters. While I'm all for cleaning up comic rosters, I like when deaths are used to build the story or take it in an interesting direction. Unfortunately, that's not how they do things in WWIII.

The artwork was really nothing to write home about. Not to say that 52 has had the best of art but it's definitely been better than what I saw in WWIII. The first page of Call to Arms (WWIII part 1) features a close up shot of Black Adam that just doesn't quite look right. It might be the angle or the shading but something about it just smells fishy to me. As with the rest of the issue, the art just doesn't seem to work well. The covers are an exception to this rule as they're well drawn and put together.

I think the biggest flaw with WWIII is the fact that, if you hadn't read 52, you'd have been completely and utter lost and confused. There was no attempt made to make this mini-series stand on it's own which is a shame. Not to mention, there was already a JLA story a long time ago called World War III. Wouldn't this technically have been World War IV?

Overall, I wouldn't really recommend this title unless you've read everything from 52 and are looking to add a little bit more to your collection or knowledge base of the DCU. Otherwise, steer clear. You're only going to be confused, disappointed or maybe a little of both.