Everything is Infinite.

Prologue & Set Up: Infinite Crisis

So in order to understand what's going on in 52 #1 it might help to go back to the event prior which was the earth-shattering Infinite Crisis (IC). IC ended the first week of May 2006 and then the series 52 immediately began afterward.

IC was written by Geoff Johns, a major up and comer at the time, and drawn by Phil Jimenez, George Perez, Jerry Ordway, Ivan Reis, and Andy Lanning. I think because there were so many artists the issues came out basically on time. Johns was the perfect choice for this event, since he is known for revitalizing old comic concepts. At the time he had already started/completed successful runs on JSA, The Flash, Hawkman, Teen Titans and Green Lantern. He was matched with the top artists at the time in Perez and Jimenez who were known for work on X-Men and Teen Titans. These were team books with a lot of different characters on a page which is necessary in an event book.

Infinite Crisis is a sequel to the legendary Crisis on Infinite Earths (CIE) from 1985. CIE was DC's attempt to clear up it's already convoluted continuity. Trust me there's been plenty of discussion on that event as it is. But the most important thing to remember about CIE is that it wiped out DC's multiverse, trimming down the universe to just Earth-1.

Then in IC Batman, Superman and Wonderwoman are at odds with each other. These pillars of the DC Universe have each made choices that are ethically sketchy. It is because of the judgment that is laid down in IC by Alexander Luthor, Superboy Prime, and Kal-L, that these three take a year off. 52 is about what happens in the year that these three are gone, hence we get to follow some great side characters.

Here's some other key things from IC:
*Booster Gold reappears with Skeets and finds Jaime Reyes, the new Blue Beetle. Blue Beetle is then able to aid in the destruction of the Brother Eye satellite.
*Black Adam appears after being captured by Alexander Luthor, who is impersonating Lex Luthor of Earth-1. Black Adam is allowed revenge on a de-powered Alexander Luthor in Gotham.
*In deep space Animal Man, Adam Strange, and Star Fire are marooned.
*The death of Superboy, Connor Kent, who is mourned by his girlfriend Wondergirl.
*All the villians in the DC universe have trashed Earth-1. Time to rebuild everything again!

Next time: 52 #1!