Happy New Year and welcome to the first edition of 5.2 Reasons in 2013! After taking a week off for the holidays, your favorite DCComics.com number-and-decimal-based weekly column is back and ready to list the heck out of things!



We all survived the impending apocalypse, drank copious amounts of eggnog, stayed up all night to watch the ball drop, and then passed out for 12 hours out of sheer exhaustion and enthusiasm over counting down the numbers (the Count and us need to hang out more often). But now we're awake and excited for the brand new year! Why? Well, we're about to tell you.



Last year was a great year for comics, with some all-around fantastic moments. But as awesome as 2012 was, 2013 is already shaping up to be a great one, which is why we're giving you the 5.2 Reasons to Look Forward to 2013 So Far!



1. Joker's Last Laugh

Writer Scott Snyder simultaneously put a smile on our face and a scream in our throat when he brought the Joker into the spotlight and kicked off the "Death of the Family" crossover event running through the various Bat-books. Systematically and psychotically, the Joker has personally attacked every member of the Batman Family, striking them at their deepest core. However, that was all the setup to the punchline that finally plays out in BATMAN #17.







2. Jeff Lemire Goes Green

Since the launch of DC COMICS—THE NEW 52, writer Jeff Lemire has been dealing with the Red in the pages of Animal Man. Starting in February, he'll be adding another color to his repertoire by picking up the bow as the ongoing writer on Green Arrow. We've long been fans of Lemire's work, so seeing him take aim with Oliver Queen gets us all aquiver. Oh, also, yadda yadda yadda, something about a bulls-eye. (We're required to do that whenever we talk about archery.)







3. The Wrath of the First Lantern

First introduced in the GREEN LANTERN ANNUAL #1, the mysterious First Lantern enters the galactic playing field in a big way following the conclusion of the "Rise of the Third Army" crossover currently running through the various Lantern titles. Not much is known about the "Wrath of the First Lantern" arc, which begins in GREEN LANTERN #17, but if Johns' previous work is any indication, it's sure to be game-changingly brilliant.







4. Morrison, Exit Stage Awesome

In a very, very bittersweet moment, writer Grant Morrison wraps up both his Action Comics run and his Batman magnum opus in 2013. While we greatly look forward to seeing how his two epics—starring the two biggest characters in comics—conclude, we're even more excited to be able to go back and read both from start to finish in what is sure to be one mind-bending, awe-inspiring sitting. We can only imagine afterward that it will be like in "2001: A Space Odyssey." Only, instead of stars, it’ll be, "My god. It's full of awesome."







5. Justice League of America

Geoff Johns brought together the World's Greatest Heroes in the pages of Justice League. Now, he's bringing together another team, consisting of heroes like Green Arrow, Stargirl and Green Lantern, along with some other characters with more questionable moral standards (we're looking at you Catwoman—really, who could blame us?). The reason behind this new team and the role they'll play remains an enigma for now, but the cast of characters and the teaming of Johns with artist David Finch already has us intrigued.







5.1 Anyone Else Notice SHAZAM! in This?







5.2 Vibe. Clearly.







Seriously though, we're actually pretty excited to see what Geoff Johns and Andrew Kriesberg can do. What are you all excited for this year? Let us know in the comments below!