Publisher: DC Comics Creative Team: · Geoff Johns · Jim Lee · Ivan Reis · Kenneth Rocafort · Gene Ha Grade: A

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May 5, Free Comic Book Day, has become a tradition as much fun as Christmas for the comics fan. And while it used to be the case that the larger publishers would give readers a brief preview or a reprint of something from earlier in the year, DC has given us a story that leads into a peek into the upcoming year of the New 52!

DC has already made a point of making sure we all saw the mysterious character, Pandora, who's been with the New 52 since it spawned out of Flashpoint. With The New 52 #1, we learn how she came to be -- by opening a box, of course -- and what other familiar characters in the DC universe shared their birth alongside her at the court of the wizard Shazam! But Pandora has begun to defy her curse, and is now seeking a path toward redemption, leading her to the Justice League -- or rather, their high-security storage warehouses, such as the Red Room and the Black Room (one for Justice League tech, one for Justice League Dark artifacts). Along the way, JL liaison Steve Trever clues readers in that there are other such rooms, with mysterious names that make this reader eager to see where they are and what they hold.

The story ends with a glimpse into "the near future" which finds Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg in pitched battle with other DC characters, some of whom I haven't seen yet in the New 52 universe: a new Green Lantern, a Marvel family member, an Atlantean, and others -- including a clue about where that stolen Orb of Ra may have ended up!

This FCBD issue also includes sneak peeks at upcoming titles, Batman Incorporated, Dial H, Earth 2, World's Finest, and The Ravagers.