On hand to sign the books were DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns, who was the writer of both titles, and co-publisher and writer/artist Jim Lee, who illustrated Justice League.

Each title would feature a gatefold cover and storylines and moments that will leave readers in a state of shock, including the return of Booster Gold.

[23] In February 2013, it was announced that DC Comics would launch two new politically motivated books as parts of the Fifth Wave: The Green Team: Teen Trillionaires and The Movement.

[24] A wave of cancellations was also announced for May 2013, including The Savage Hawkman, The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Man, Sword of Sorcery, Team 7, Deathstroke, and The Ravagers.

[25] In March 2013, DC announced that it would launch four new titles in June 2013, making up the rest of the Fifth Wave: Superman Unchained, Batman/Superman, Larfleeze, and Trinity of Sin: Pandora.

[48] The cancellation of Katana and Justice League of America's Vibe was also announced, with the titles' final publication in December 2013, while Green Team: The Teen Trillionaires would end in January 2014.

[55][56] In January 2014, DC announced Aquaman and the Others, Justice League United, Secret Origins and Sinestro ongoing series and Forever Evil Aftermath: Batman vs Bane #1 for publication in April 2014.

In addition, DC revealed that Justice League of America, Nightwing, Stormwatch, Suicide Squad, Superman Unchained, and Teen Titans would end in April 2014.

[60] DC later announced that as part of the celebration of The New 52's third anniversary, all ongoing titles published in September 2014 would feature stories that tied into The New 52: Futures End.

[62][63] In March 2014, DC announced the launch of Infinity Man and the Forever People, the one-shot Harley Quinn Director's Cut #0, and the cancellation of Larfleeze for June 2014.

[65] DC also revealed two new publications for July 2014: an ongoing series Star-Spangled War Stories and a one-shot Harley Quinn Invades San Diego Comic-Con.

[71] April also saw the official announcement of The Multiversity, which began publication in August 2014;[72] the 8-issue limited series was first mentioned by writer Grant Morrison in April–May 2009 intended for a 2010 release date.

[74] In June 2014, DC announced six new titles for their Ninth Wave: Arkham Manor,[76] Deathstroke,[77] Gotham Academy,[76] Klarion,[78] Lobo,[79] and Trinity of Sin[80] for publication in October 2014.

[117] Writer and ComicMix columnist Glenn Hauman wrote that relying solely on Diamond's numbers, to the exclusion of newsstand, overseas and digital sales, does not provide a complete measure of the relaunch's success.

Corrina Lawson of Wired dubbed the New 52 "a big, fat failure" from a reader standpoint, noting that the same stories could have been told without rebooting the fictional universe.

[131] The launch of the New 52 was criticized for the lack of female creators, which had dropped from 12% to 1%, the latter figure represented by writer Gail Simone and Amy Reeder, an alternating artist on Batwoman who would not debut on that title until issue #6.

"[133] In an editorial responding to DiDio, ComicsAlliance editor-in-chief Laura Hudson wrote, "Women are half of the world, and a significant percentage of the DC Comics character stable, and yet only 1% of their creators.

[135] Hudson called the letter "an enormous and very positive departure from how DC Comics has dealt with controversies about gender and race in the past, which was almost uniformly not to comment", adding, "While it remains to be seen what sort of meaningful changes in either attitudes or hiring practices will follow, it certainly leaves me feeling more optimistic than I have in some time, or maybe ever.

"[136] DC also received criticism for its handling of certain female characters during the relaunch, sparking discussion of exploitative overtones in titles such as Catwoman #1 and Red Hood and the Outlaws #1.

[139] Keith Phipps and Oliver Sava agreed with the observations of Catwoman and Red Hood and the Outlaws,[128] but opined that Voodoo was a positive example how to incorporate a female character's sexuality as a relevant aspect of the story without appearing exploitative.

[124] Wheeler also complained that retconning Barbara Gordon's paralysis as a temporary injury from which she recovered,[95] and restoring her as Batgirl, to the exclusion of Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown, made the DC Universe less diverse and inclusive.

In June 2011, DC announced that Barbara Gordon would be returning to the role of Batgirl in September 2011, in her own eponymous monthly comic, as part of a company-wide relaunch of all of their titles.

[144] However, part of her reasoning for reversing her decision and writing Batgirl with Gordon as the title character was that:[a]rms and legs get ripped off, and they grow back, somehow.

Role model or not, that is problematic and uncomfortable, and the excuses to not cure her, in a world of purple rays and magic and super-science, are often unconvincing or wholly meta-textual.

"[145] A number of editorial controversies emerged in the wake of The New 52, prompting Topless Robot, a genre website owned by The Village Voice, to publish an article in September 2013, "The Eight Biggest DC Creative Screw-Ups Since the New 52 Began".

[146] Writer/artist George Pérez, who left Superman after six issues, explained his departure in July 2012 as a result of the level of editorial oversight exerted on the title.

[150][151] Other reasons he cited were frequent rewrites of his material, and the overall corporate culture that was more prevalent now that both DC and Marvel were owned by large media conglomerates.

[152] In response to these events, artist Pete Woods defended DC editorial, stating that the restrictions placed on creators was the result of a plan they had for all 52 of their titles that required them to be consistent with one another.

Diggle had previously signed as ongoing writer of Action Comics starting with issue #19, following Grant Morrison's run on the title.

[161] In September 2013, J. H. Williams III and Haden Blackman announced their intention to leave Batwoman with issue 26, citing last-minute editorial changes as the reason.