History YMMV / New52

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: DC has shown that they could do reboots before with ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', so a reboot itself wasn't a bad idea. The problem, however, was DC's refusal to ''completely'' reboot their universe - not only did they later go and have stories that followed up on events from stories made ''before'' the reboot with a policy of "(insert story here) is CanonDiscontinuity until we say it's not", but in particular, they refused to reboot Batman and Green Lantern because of how popular the books featuring those characters were before the reboot, which would make it confusing for anyone who hadn't been reading those books before the reboot if they wanted to pick them up. Additionally, there was also DC jumping straight into crossovers less than a year after the reboot, which meant that audiences had relatively little time to get used to the new status quo before it was shaken up.

* SeasonalRot: One major criticism of DC is that they've allowed familiar brand names to languish under subpar creative teams for too long, despite poor sales and critical reception. Series such as Comicbook/SuicideSquad, Comicbook/TeenTitans, and Comicbook/RedHoodAndTheOutlaws are the most guilty of this. Other titles such as Comicbook/GreenArrow and Comicbook/{{Catwoman}} have been stuck with a highly disliked writer for so long that by the time the creative team changed, no one took notice, while titles like Comicbook/WonderWoman and Franchise/TheFlash declined greatly after their initial creative teams departed. There's plenty of backlash against DC for giving too many books to notorious writers such as Ann Nocenti and Scott Lobdell.

* DorkAge: Considered one for the DC Universe due to just how laughably bad the attempts were to be "dark and edgy". It barely clicked with the majority and was thoroughly mocked for its attempts to replace the old continuity. At best, it was commended for at least sticking with the idea and trying something new (not all of it was bad and some good stories came out of it), but it was obvious in the end that this wasn't the best direction to go for the company and was doing them more harm than good. DC wisely got the hint and brought things back to semi-normalcy with ''Rebirth'' which allowed the history of the previous continuity to return, kept some of the good parts of the New 52, re-injected some much needed levity to the comics again and re-railed a lot of the heroes' personalities back to their former selves.

** When ''Comicbook/DCRebirth'' came in, ''New 52'' became its own Old Guard; though ''Rebirth'' was ostensibly aimed at the Old Guard who lost interest in the New 52, it gained a number of new readers who were interested in the writing sensibilities that had came back (mostly, the kind of readers who the older DCU would have appealed to). As such, the New 52 fanbase butted heads with newer readers who liked the new directions.

** New 52's version of Tim Drake, who is InNameOnly [[spoiler:and considering how it's a false identity via the witness protection program, not even that]]. Doesn't help that both of the New 52's attempts at the Teen Titans (of which Tim is a member) are regarded as a DorkAge.
** The New 52's take on Jason Todd is not very well liked either (even among those that like the character as a whole), with many saying that in Comicbook/RedHoodAndTheOutlaws, he doesn't really seem to have grown from how he was back when he was killed off in Comicbook/ADeathInTheFamily or from when he first came back from the dead (some "attempts" at development have been made, but whether or not any of them are convincing or well-written is contested). The fact that most of his appearances in this verse are written by Scott Lobdell (generally regarded as one of the worst writers working at DC right now) just exacerbates this.

* TooBleakStoppedCaring:
** Specific storylines:
*** "ComicBook/DeathOfTheFamily" has ComicBook/TheJoker hogging the spotlight and being improbably successful after some time out of the spotlight and the Bat Family falling apart.
*** "The Pearl" ended with Damian's death and members of the Bat Family mourning him-plus Batman getting ''another'' Wangst period during which he gave the most violent NeverBeAHero speech to someone ever.
*** "The Culling" tossed the ComicBook/TeenTitans into a super-powered ''Literature/BattleRoyale'' situation which they (and two other teams) barely survived.
** The Superman/Lois Lane Ship [[ShipSinking gets torpedoed]], while the Superman/Wonder Woman relationship devolves from "super-powered couple which overcome problems by the power of trust" to "super-powered couple who can barely trust each other, with only a couple of Happier Times Flashbacks keeping them from being at each other's throats".
** ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}, having been a PluckyGirl pre-reboot, now has enough angst to give Franchise/SpiderMan a run for his money (and enough anger to ''become a Red Lantern''). You can count the number of times she smiles on one hand.
** The Blue Lantern Corps (which is powered by and represents hope) are wiped out.
** [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Earth 2]] Superman [[spoiler:being a brainwashed DragonInChief to Darkseid... though [[AuthorsSavingThrow he turned out to be a Bizarro instead]]]].
** ''Future's End'': All of the victories of the heroes, all of their happiness, all of those beloved characters, will be killed and turned worthless and the triggers are coming ever-so-inexorably closer... [[spoiler:and the time-travel shenanigans of the arc '''have not changed the chances of this future existing in any way whatsoever''', except for some more super humans running around playing resistance.]]

* HilariousInHindsight: In preparation for the title role in ''Film/{{Joker 2019}}'' Joaquin Phoenix lost 52 pounds, ironic considering 52 is a major arc number for this series.

** Lois Lane exposing Superman's secret identity on the ''"Lies"'' arc in order to try to create a BlackmailBackfire against an unknown blackmailer who hadn't even asked much of Superman yet, let alone endangered him. The trouble the fans and reviewers have is that ''obviously'' the blackmailer would eventually use Superman to perform some evil act and/or endanger him... the question is whether or not it was a good idea, and if it ''was'' a good idea then whether or not she was too impulsive in going for said solution ASAP. The arc then has Superman's relationship with everybody else (''especially'' Lois and ''including'' Wonder Woman) souring up harshly (everybody else wants to help and doesn't mind, but Superman is on the quick track to superhero CowboyCop and insisting that "IWorkAlone"), the United States Government ''taking everybody he loves into custody'' (because one man wanting to have a secret identity ''[[SarcasmMode obviously]]'' means that those he worked alongside with on the Daily Planet ''must'' be members of his secret army wanting to conquer the world) and the DarkerAndEdgier piling up at a pace some people think is too hard and fast.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Despite how divided the fandom is with the whole reboot in general, some characters are quite well liked for their interesting characterizations and potential for stories, such as the New 52's take on Aquaman and Orm, Strix from Comicbook/BirdsOfPrey, and Billy Batson's five foster siblings.

* FandomRivalry: Between ComicBook/PostCrisis fans and New 52 fans. Fans of Post Crisis DC (both older fans and newer fans who discovered the older stories and preferred them) dislike how the New 52 erased so much history, gave characters new personalities and backstories, was obsessed with making everything DarkerAndEdgier, and erased many fan favorites. Fans of New 52 DC (both new fans who were introduced by the reboot and older fans who liked the changes) enjoy the darker storytelling and more streamlined universe, and dislike that the previous continuity was convoluted by legacy characters and history. As the New 52 was ultimately torn down by ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'', ''ComicBook/DoomsdayClock'', ''ComicBook/DarkNightsDeathMetal'', and ''ComicBook/DCInfiniteFrontier'', which eventually saw the timelines merge back into one with Post Crisis ultimately "winning out", fans of Post Crisis see this as an AuthorsSavingThrow while fans of New 52 see it as older fans RunningTheAsylum now[[note]]which is ironic considering it was Silver Age-era fans doing just that that made the New 52 in the first place[[/note]].
** Naturally the Marvel/DC fandom rivalry would continue, but New 52 was often pitted against ''ComicBook/MarvelNow'', Marvel's own line-wide relaunch that debuted a year after. Unlike New 52, Marvel Now wasn't a reboot, just a relaunch, that made no changes to continuity but rather created a blank slate for creative teams to start "new chapters" for the franchises so new readers could get on board. The general reception to both tends to tip into Marvel Now's favour; Marvel Now succeeded in bringing in new readers and with some exception, didn't alienate older readers too much, with most criticism being aimed at the MCU synergy that caused some major changes. The greater range of tone, styles, and content also helped.

* ContinuityLockout: With the near-constant BatFamilyCrossover flow of the various ''Franchise/GreenLantern'' comics from in the very least the beginning through "Godhead", it has become increasingly difficult to recommend the series to newcomers. Although this [[ComicBook/SinestroCorpsWar was]] [[ComicBook/BlackestNight already]] [[ComicBook/BrightestDay the case]] before, the common crossovers have become unending, especially with "Green Lantern" and "Green Lantern Corps", which some think may as well not be separate books at all for the amount of interconnecting they have. It was so bad that ''creators'' were confused. Creator/GeorgePerez quit writing for ''Superman'' because [[https://comicsalliance.com/george-perez-superman-experience-new-52/ he had no idea what aspects of the character]], especially with ''ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsActionComics'', were in canon or not.

* WTHCostumingDepartment: Quite a few of the redesigns, but especially Jim Lee's Justice League--and ''especially'' Jim Lee's Superman. The design's been blamed for seriously harming the Superman line, and the bizarre choices it makes (heavily armoring a character who's invulnerable, removing the UnderwearOfPower but not adding enough red or yellow to balance it out, excessive lines and seaming making it hard to draw and messy on the page, the weird Nehru collar and extended cuffs looking militaristic on a character who's really not supposed to have that vibe) have made it a fairly common example on the internet for what not to do when redesigning a character. After much pushing, his design was completely dropped after just three years, with none of the redesigns since taking much from it, and even people who like the era have claimed that Superman was easily the worst design in his own book. A fair number even wished that he'd kept the [[CivvieSpandex T-shirt and jeans]] in ''[[ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsActionComics Action Comics]]'', instead of "graduating" to his "modern" look--notably, when an alternate Superman clearly based on the New 52 version showed up in ''Sideways'', he'd gone back to the T-shirt and jeans.

* WTHCostumingDepartment: Quite a few of the redesigns, but especially Jim Lee's Justice League--and ''especially'' Jim Lee's Superman. The design's been blamed for seriously harming the Superman line, and the bizarre choices it makes (heavily armoring a character who's invulnerable, removing the UnderwearOfPower but not adding enough red or yellow to balance it out, excessive lines and seaming making it hard to draw and messy on the page, the weird Nehru collar and extended cuffs looking militaristic) have made it a fairly common example on the internet for what not to do when redesigning a character. After much pushing, his design was completely dropped after just three years, with none of the redesigns since taking much from it, and even people who like the era have claimed that Superman was easily the worst design in his own book. A fair number even wished that he'd kept the [[CivvieSpandex T-shirt and jeans]] in ''[[ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsActionComics Action Comics]]'', instead of "graduating" to his "modern" look--notably, when an alternate Superman clearly based on the New 52 version showed up in ''Sideways'', he'd gone back to the T-shirt and jeans.

* WTHCostumingDepartment: Quite a few of the redesigns, but especially Jim Lee's Justice League - and ''especially'' Jim Lee's Superman. The design's been blamed for seriously harming the Superman line, and the bizarre choices it makes (heavily armoring a character who's invulnerable, removing the UnderwearOfPower but not adding enough red or yellow to balance it out, excessive lines and seaming making it hard to draw and messy on the page, the weird Nehru collar and extended cuffs looking militaristic) have made it a fairly common example on the internet for what not to do in character design. After much pushing, his design was completely dropped after just three years, with none of the redesigns since taking much from it, and even people who like the era have claimed that Superman was easily the worst design in his own book. A few even wished that he'd kept the [[CivvieSpandex T-shirt and jeans]] in ''[[ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsActionComics Action Comics]]'', instead of "graduating" to his "modern" look.

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: Many things about the reboot just ''scream'' this.
** Storylines like:
*** "ComicBook/DeathOfTheFamily" (ComicBook/TheJoker hogging the spotlight and being improbably successful after some time out of the spotlight and the Bat Family falling apart).
*** "The Pearl" (which ended with Damian's death and members of the Bat Family mourning him-plus Batman getting ''another'' Wangst period during which he gave the most violent NeverBeAHero speech to someone ever).
*** "The Culling" (which tossed the ComicBook/TeenTitans into a super-powered ''Literature/BattleRoyale'' situation by a JustAsPlanned UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans-preachy VillainSue called "Harvest", and that the Titans (and two other teams) barely survived).
** The Superman/Lois Lane Ship [[ShipSinking getting torpedoed]] (for how long nobody knows-but it would require the Superman/Wonder Woman ship to get sunk for it to get fixed).
*** The Superman/Wonder Woman relationship having devolved from "super-powered couple which overcome problems by the power of trust" to (during the "underpowered Superman/Lois Lane exposes his secret identity" storyline of "''Lies''") "super-powered couple who can barely trust each other and only what remains of their previous happiness (including Happier Times Flashbacks) keeps them from being at each other's throats".
** [[ComicBook/{{Batgirl 2011}} Barbara Gordon]] becoming a borderline {{Failure Hero}}ine.
** ComicBook/{{Shazam}} being a cynical boy (but only at first).

** The Blue Lantern Corps (which is powered by and represents hope) being wiped out.
** The HostileShowTakeover of Villain's Month.
** The following "ComicBook/ForeverEvil" event and forced NothingIsTheSameAnymore regarding several titles.
** [[TrueArtIsAngsty Dan DiDio's]] [[ExecutiveMeddling mandate]] (which had at least [[WriterRevolt one writing team]] [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere quitting]]).
** [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Earth 2]] [[TropeCodifier Superman]] [[spoiler:being a brainwashed DragonInChief to Darkseid... though [[AuthorsSavingThrow he turned out to be a Bizarro instead]]]].
** A [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks whole lot of things big and small]] [[BrokenBase changing]].
** ''Future's End'': All of the victories of the heroes, all of their happiness, all of those beloved characters, will be killed and turned worthless and the triggers are coming ever-so-inexorably closer... [[spoiler:and, oh yeah, the time-travel shenanigans of the arc '''have not changed the chances of this future existing in any way whatsoever''', except for some more super humans running around playing resistance—and heaven only knows if the writers won't come around to turn this into a mere HopeSpot.]]

** The New 52 Superman to many people. The vast majority of his New 52 run had the Man of Steel as a Dark and Brooding character who heavily fell back on the "Superman is real, Clark Kent is fake" mentality of the Silver Age and a good layer of Batman on top. They also shilled the hell out of the Superman/Wonder Woman pairing like crazy, as if trying to force readers to forget about Superman and Lois Lane. This obviously backfired when they released ''ComicBook/SupermanLoisAndClark'' at the same time the ''ComicBook/SupermanTruth'' storyline was in full swing as readers, turned off by ''Truth''[='s=] heavier DarkerAndEdgier tones ran towards the pre-''Flashpoint'' Superman with arms wide open. By the time ''ComicBook/SupermanSavageDawn'' came to an end, the damage had already been done, even as they finally got Superman acting ''like'' Superman.

* ReplacementScrappy: While Cyborg is by no means hated in general, many preferred him as a member of the Teen Titans and would rather have Martian Manhunter stay as a member of the Big 7.

** As stated above, new Lobo was derided as an [[Literature/{{Twilight}} Edward Cullen knock-off]], a straight version of what Lobo was created to parody, or, in the words of the [[ComicBook/{{Lobo}} the REAL Main Man himself]], a "nancy boy bastich".

** ''ComicBook/{{Convergence}}'': The possible rebirth of the pre-Flashpoint DC Universe, the possible last hurrah of the pre-Flashpoint DC Universe, or just one more possible PlayerPunch from DC to those who are vocal about wanting the clock to be turned back in order to make it understood that the New 52 is here to stay and they better deal with it? Doesn't really helps that it's being advertised as a "last universe standing" kind of CrisisCrossover event.
*** The results of ''Convergence'': On one end, it undid ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' and now ''all'' stories published by DC are canon someplace -- they can be expanded upon in a future time. However, many liked AlternateUniverse characters ended up coming BackForTheDead (some with more respect than others) and the stories were advertised as the GrandFinale of whichever arcs were left in the air before ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}'' occurred, so maybe they will ''not'' be visited again in some time (if ever), and the one revisit we had, ''ComicBook/TheButton'', had a Universe once again come BackForTheDead. On the other side of things, ''Comicbook/TheMultiversity'' went ahead and completely restructured the DC multi-verse, with some universes and characters from that multiverse coming BackForTheDead ''also'', [[spoiler:and the story introducing an EldritchAbomination that ''eats universes'' (and ''is still digesting the Pre-ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}} DC Universe''), is the ''physical manifestation of the growing RealLife DarknessInducedAudienceApathy in the comic book audience'', and the story ends with it not being destroyed, but held back for the time being... which means that if someone comes along in the future and wishes to create ''their'' version of ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths''...]]

** As stated above, new Lobo was derided as an [[Literature/{{Twilight}} Edward Cullen knock-off]], a straight version of what Lobo was created to parody, or, in the words of the [[SelfDemonstrating/{{Lobo}} the REAL Main Man himself]], a "nancy boy bastich".

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Martian Manhunter told off his Stormwatch teammates for referring to him as a Justice League member, which is apparently shorthand for "established superhero", despite the fact that the Justice League has never had more than seven members (until JLI). So when any author wants to refer to, say, Metamorpho or Green Arrow as "Justice League heroes", ''that's'' what it refers to.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Martian Manhunter told off his Stormwatch teammates for referring to him as a Justice League member, which is apparently shorthand for "established superhero", despite the fact that the Justice League has never had more than seven members (until JLI). So, any author wants to refer to, say, Metamorpho or Green Arrow as "Justice League heroes", ''that's'' what it refers to.

** {{Franchise/Superman}} and Franchise/WonderWoman as a couple, [[ShipToShipCombat especially from the Clois fans and the Batman/Wonder Woman shippers.]] Those who like the relationship enough to at least give it a chance hated the brutal devolution it got in the arcs of the ''Superman'' and ''Superman/Wonder Woman'' comics.

** Now that some of these fan favourites have been incorporated into the New 52, opinions are divided regarding how these characters have been handled and whether or not the changes made to their histories work.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: Many things about the reboot just ''screams'' this.
** Storylines like:
*** "ComicBook/DeathOfTheFamily" (ComicBook/TheJoker hogging the spotlight and being improbably successful after some time out of the spotlight and the Bat Family falling apart).
*** "The Pearl" (which ended with Damian's death and members of the Bat Family mourning him-plus Batman getting ''another'' Wangst period during which he gave the most violent NeverBeAHero speech to someone ever).
*** "The Culling" (which tossed the ComicBook/TeenTitans into a super-powered ''Literature/BattleRoyale'' situation by a JustAsPlanned UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans-preachy Villain Sue called "Harvest", and that the Titans (and two other teams) barely survived).
** The Superman/Lois Lane Ship [[ShipSinking getting torpedoed]] (for how long nobody knows-but it would require the Superman/Wonder Woman ship to get sunk for it to get fixed).
*** The Superman/Wonder Woman relationship having devolved from "super-powered couple which overcome problems by the power of trust" to (during the "underpowered Superman/Lois Lane exposes his secret identity" storyline of "''Lies''") "super-powered couple who can barely trust each other and only what remains of their previous happiness (including Happier Times Flashbacks) keeps them from being at each other's throats".
** [[ComicBook/{{Batgirl 2011}} Barbara Gordon]] becoming a borderline {{Failure Hero}}ine.
** ComicBook/{{Shazam}} being a cynical boy (but only at first).
** ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}, having been a PluckyGirl pre-reboot, now has enough angst to give Franchise/SpiderMan a run for his money (and enough anger to ''become a Red Lantern''). You can count the number of times she smiles on one hand.
** The Blue Lantern Corps (which is powered by and represents hope) being wiped out.
** The HostileShowTakeover of Villain's Month.
** The following "ComicBook/ForeverEvil" event and forced NothingIsTheSameAnymore regarding several titles.
** [[TrueArtIsAngsty Dan DiDio's]] [[ExecutiveMeddling mandate]] (which had at least [[WriterRevolt one writing team]] [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere quitting]]).
** [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Earth 2]] [[TropeCodifier Superman]] [[spoiler:being a brainwashed DragonInChief to Darkseid... though [[AuthorsSavingThrow he turned out to be a Bizarro instead]]]].
** A [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks whole lot of things big and small]] [[BrokenBase changing]].
** ''Future's End'': All of the victories of the heroes, all of their happiness, all of those beloved characters, will be killed and turned worthless and the triggers are coming ever-so-inexorably closer... [[spoiler:and, oh yeah, the time-travel shenanigans of the arc '''have not changed the chances of this future existing in any way whatsoever''', except for some more super humans running around playing resistance-and Heaven only knows if the writers won't come around to turn this into a mere HopeSpot.]]
* DorkAge: Considered one for the DC Universe due to just how laughably bad the attempts to be "darker and edgy" tried to make the comics be. It barely clicked with the majority and was thoroughly mocked for it's attempts to replace the old continuity of the DC history. At best, it was commended for at least sticking with the idea and trying something new (not all of it was bad and some good stories came out of it). But it was obvious in the end this wasn't the best direction to go for the company and was doing them more harm than good. DC wisely got the hint and brought things back to semi-normalcy with ''Rebirth'' which allowed the history of the previous continuity to return, kept some of the good parts of the New 52, re-injected some much needed levity to the comics again and re-railed a lot of the heroes' personalities back to their former selves.

* FandomRivalry: Between ComicBook/PostCrisis fans and New 52 fans. Fans of Post Crisis DC (both older fans and newer fans who discovered the older stories and preferred them) dislike how the New 52 erased so much history, gave characters new personalities and backstories, were obsessed with DarkerAndEdgier, and lost many fan favourites. Fans of New 52 DC (both new fans who were introduced by the reboot and older fans who liked the changes) enjoy the darker storytelling and more streamlined universe, and dislike that the previous continuity was convoluted by Legacy characters and history. As the New 52 was ultimately torn down by ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'', ''ComicBook/DoomsdayClock'', ''ComicBook/DarkNightsDeathMetal'', and ''ComicBook/DCInfiniteFrontier'', which eventually saw the timelines merge back into one with Post Crisis ultimately "winning out", fans of Post Crisis see this as an AuthorsSavingThrow while fans of New 52 see it as older fans RunningTheAsylum now[[note]]which is ironic considering it was Silver Age-era fans doing just that that made the New 52 in the first place[[/note]].

** A common gripe with the New 52 is that despite a large number of changes, the ContinuityLockOut that was typical for the old DCU did not disappear, and many characters (such as Green Lanterns) still require extensive knowledge of their old DCU stories to understand what is going on, instead of having a fresh start. What made things even worse was that many older fans who would otherwise be immune to ContinuityLockout got confused as well, due to the fact that whatever continuity that ''had'' been retained was very hazily defined. For example, according to the new "superheroes debuted five years ago" compressed timeline, Batman started his career and took on all four male Robins within ''six years''. In the end, all that it had accomplished was making everyone, even long time fans, confused by what's going on.
** ComicBook/{{Earth 2}} has received this kind of complaint, since it eventually turned from a different team of superheroes similar to those from ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica fighting against the onslaughts of new villains and a different member of the forces of ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} to [[spoiler:Batman's team vs. Superman's team]].

** There's been phenomena of what's referred to as 'House Style', where creative teams tend to make each book look and feel almost identical. Artwork tends to be similar to Jim Lee's art, with the colourists using the same techniques, and writers sticking to writing and characterizing the heroes in a similar TrueArtIsAngsty way; because of this, many feel that the bulk of the line-up isn't really bad, just ''boring'' because they all feel generic. The few books that succeed to escape this 'House Style', either by unique artwork, creative writing, or some combination, tend to get more interest online for actually being different.

* SeasonalRot: One major criticism of DC is that they've allowed familiar brand names to languish under subpar creative teams for too long, despite poor sales and critical reception. Series such as Comicbook/SuicideSquad, Comicbook/TeenTitans, and Comicbook/RedHoodAndTheOutlaws are the most guilty of this. Other titles such as Comicbook/GreenArrow and Comicbook/{{Catwoman}} have been stuck with a highly disliked writer for far too long that by the time the creative team changed, no one took notice, while titles like Comicbook/WonderWoman and Franchise/TheFlash declined greatly after their initial creative teams departed. There's plenty of backlash against DC for giving too many books to notorious writers such as Ann Nocenti and Scott Lobdell.
* TaintedByThePreview: Since DC released fifty-two first issues in one month, even people willing to buy all fifty-two #1s were unlikely to give anything they didn't like a second chance. (How many #2s are you going to buy of comics you already have a bad impression of? When there might be ''dozens'' of them?) Ergo, any writer who put something controversial in the first issue, expecting readers to ''stick around'' for justification in later issues, was making a grave mistake. Several of the series died due to their first issue not being as good as later ones.
* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The announcement of the relaunch drew a very large amount of vitriol from a lot of people. To this day, the [[BrokenBase base is still broken on whether the relaunch is still good or not]].
** One of the reasons for this reaction was that quite a few titles suffered from an AbortedArc in their cancellations - although most of them wrapped up fairly smoothly, there was still a small forest of dangling plot threads left behind, presumably now never to be resolved.
** The fact this line abolished the UnderwearOfPower trait of the main DCU was also controversial.
** One of the most controversial examples of this in fandom is giving ComicBook/ThePhantomStranger a definitive origin.
** Lobo's [[TallDarkAndHandsome new]], ''Literature/{{Twilight}}''-esque design has not gone over well with fans.
** Mr. Freeze's backstory's alterations have come under fire, partially because they screwed up his TragicVillain background, and partially because, in the original, the CorruptCorporateExecutive who caused all the problems was a disgusting asshole who was just such a good liar and fake that everyone loved him. Both the original episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' and the adaptation of it in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'' were highly praised, and the episode won an Emmy. So, what did they do? Changed it so that, instead, it was Bruce Wayne and have it that Mr. Freeze was delusionally in love with random frozen woman. Even most of the people who like the New 52 harshly panned this change!

** Wally West, who has been rebooted as a 12 year old delinquent and whose RaceLift is handled in a manner that to many readers smacks of WhiteMansBurden.

** The rebooted ''ComicBook/BirdsofPrey'' introduced the character of Starling (real name: Ev Crawford). Starling was a rarity: a breakout character from the New 52 era, a quick shot with a gun, a devil-may-care attitude, and cool tattoos. Plus, she was a bisexual character, and the reboot was supposed to be more diverse in its character roster. Starling became a fan favorite... so naturally, she was revealed to be a traitor in 2013, tossed into comic book limbo, and has been forgotten ever since.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: The New 52's reset button smashing was this to many fans as it took away characters from both ends of the LegacyCharacter spectrum, no matter if they were old fogies like those on the ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica or new characters donning old names such as the Stephanie Brown ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} or Ryan Choi's version of ComicBook/TheAtom and essentially saying everything that came before it never happened. It also didn't help that many storylines went heavy on the DarkerAndEdgier to the point where it didn't feel like there was anything worth cheering for.

** {{Franchise/Superman}} and Franchise/WonderWoman as a couple, [[ShipToShipCombat especially from the Clois fans and the Batman/Wonder Woman shippers.]] Those who like the relationship enough to at least give it a chance are now hating the brutal devolution it's getting in the arcs of the ''Superman'' and ''Superman/Wonder Woman'' comics.

** When ''Comicbook/DCRebirth'' came in, ''New 52'' became it's own Old Guard; though ''Rebirth'' was ostensibly aimed at the Old Guard who lost interest in the New 52, it gained a number of new readers who were interested in the writing sensibilities that had came back (mostly, the kind of readers who the older DCU would have appealed to). As such, the New 52 fanbase butted heads with newer readers who liked the new directions.

* SeasonalRot: One major criticism of DC is that they've allowed familiar brand names to languish under subpar creative teams for too long, despite poor sales and critical reception. Series such as Comicbook/SuicideSquad, Comicbook/TeenTitans, and Comicbook/RedHoodAndTheOutlaws are the most guilty of this. Other titles such as Comicbook/GreenArrow and Comicbook/{{Catwoman}} have been stuck with a highly disliked writer for far too long that by the time the creative team changed, no one took notice, while titles like Comicbook/WonderWoman and Comicbook/TheFlash declined greatly after their initial creative teams departed. There's plenty of backlash against DC for giving too many books to notorious writers such as Ann Nocenti and Scott Lobdell.

* TrueArtIsAngsty: Apparently, Creator/DanDiDio [[http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/09/why-couldnt-batwoman-be-married-and-miserable/69200/ thinks so]], and has an actual mandate ''enforcing this''.

* TrueArtIsAngsty: Apparently, Creator/DanDiDio [[http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/09/why-couldnt-batwoman-be-married-and-miserable/69200/ thinks so]], and has an actual mandate ''enforcing this''. Ironically, [=DiDio=] had to disclose the existence of the mandate in order to stave off people who were raging at DC for being apparently homophobic (the quitting team mentioned above being the one working on Batwoman, and they quit because the enforcing of the mandate meant that the titular character (who is a lesbian) and her beau were not allowed to get married (the linked article explains the FridgeLogic behind it-why not allow them to get married and ''still'' make them miserable somehow?)).
-->'''[[https://www.therobotsvoice.com/2013/09/8writer_andy_diggle_quits_action.php Robots Voice:]]''' Creative team J.H. Williams and W. Haden Blackman announced they’ll be leaving Batwoman, citing DC’s editorial interference and the company’s total refusal to allow characters Kate Kane and her girlfriend Gotham City police officer Maggie Sawyer, to marry each other.Earlier this year, Batwoman proposed to Maggie twice, and the fact that DC didn’t make a big public thing about it should have been a warning sign that they were never going to go through with it. “We were told emphatically no marriage can result,” said J.H. Williams via Twitter. Although he felt that the idea “was never put to us as being anti-gay marriage” it just seems DC doesn’t want any of their heroes – be it Superman and Lois, or the Flash and Iris – to be married. Because marriage is for old people, and we all know [[SarcasmMode no-one over thirty reads comic books]].

** This backfired even harder when ''ComicBook/TheFinalDaysOfSuperman'' came out, [[KilledOffForReal killing off the New 52 Superman]] (and the first issue of the following ''Action Comics'' arc with the pre-''Flashpoint'' Superman in the starring role pretty much setting in stone that (at least for now) he's DeaderThanDead). The way how New 52 Supes went and [[FaceDeathWithDignity Faced Death With Dignity]] was a strong enough TearJerker than people [[AlasPoorScrappy who didn't liked this version of Supes really mourned seeing him go]].

** However, the "add something controversial to hook in fans" thing was a double edged sword. ''Catwoman'' and ''Red Hood and the Outlaws'' drew in massive amounts of outcry and drama over scenes of sexualization (Catwoman having rough sex with a hesitant Batman, Starfire in some cheesecake poses and having sex with Roy Harper despite not being able to tell humans apart). While Judd Winick's Catwoman run was short-lived, Scott Lobdell's Red Hood and the Outlaws ended up being a rallying cry from readers rebelling against "social justice warriors", whereas it probably would have been cancelled otherwise. Thus, proving NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity.
** Superman was reintroduced as a man who in his early twenties was violent towards non powered criminals, openly mocking the police as he ran from them and a few years later in the timeline, choke slams Batman in a fight when he already knew nothing in Batman's arsenal could hurt him. Even the more grown up version introduced in issue one of a parallel series was shown to be a more angry brooding figure than Superman had ever been.

%%%** Joker's Daughter.