Writers: Paul Dini, Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, Tony Bedard, Sean McKeever and Adam Beechen.
Artists: Jesus Saiz, Jim Calafiore , Carlos Mango, Tom Denerick and David Lopez
Publisher: by DC comics
Countdown #51-48
The first rule of any money dependant medium us that when you have a hit make more of the same. Countdown follows up on the momentum of the DC weekly series 52. The series follows the same rules of 52 in regards to taking B and C-list characters and trying to reinvent them into something greater than they were originally. Each writer of 52 loved their characters they wrote and the love showed.
What DC failed to do with Countdown is make a consistent series with energy, momentum and enjoyment. With the criticism placed on 52 where the astute reader can tell which of the writers were writing and in love with certain characters, DC decided that it would be better to have Paul Dini plot the series while four different writing teams told the tales in the series. Between the writers and the characters it looks like the love between talent and character might be a tough one. The love in the book feels overall like that of a one night stand: its fun, but you want to leave quickly.
Needless to say the quality of Countdown has veered from interesting to silly. If there is a coherent theme in Countdown is that it is the backbone of the current DC universe for good or bad, it tracks what happens in the DC universe. The thing that leaves this reviewer puzzled is what does Countdown count down to? I’m guessing countdown to apathy, boredom and a really lame DC universe just based on the first month of this new weekly series.
The first observation on this series is that Countdown does not bother with originality of cover design. Every issue looks to have the 52 logo design but counting backwards. It’s an ingenious way of scamming 52 readers to the book if not underhanded in execution. The second note on the series is that Countdown goes out of its way to pick hot button or back story heavy characters like the Red Hood, Mary Marvel, the monitors and Donna Troy as the leads for the series. Every B-list character is either dismissed or actively disliked by the larger DC readership.
The plot of the Countdown is about the abnormalities from the various multiverses have escaped fragments of time and lost souls enter on New Earth and the persistent thought that some DC characters who were dead or different before Infinite Crisis do not belong in this new Earth. While this happens to be the focus on the book, the series looks like it touches and adds context to over events in various mainline DC books.
With this mind now a break down of the action of the series thus far.
In Countdown 51 the villainous Darkseid is playing chess with pieces that looks like major and minor DC characters in his playhouse on Apokolips. We also see Mary Marvel waking up from her coma and having her hospital bill paid for by the New Captain Marvel and is left a Dear John letter telling her to go away. She is also left without her powers. Then the reader is introduced to the Trickster and The Pied Piper, two formerly reformed villains who want back in on the bad life as they look bored.
The action then jumps to Jason Todd the former Robin now the Red Hood. He is hunting down Duela Dent, The Joker’s Daughter who kidnaps a celebrity. After a confrontation in which he wants to bring justice to Dent’s actions, the battle is interrupted when a Monitor shoot Duela dent with a laser beam, making her good and dead because she and Todd did not belong in that universe. Another Monitor appears and tries and fails in the assassination. The late-to-the-party monitor apologizes for being too late to save Dent. Jason Todd carries the perplexed looks of wondering why he was even there. The tardy Monitor then leaves Todd to mourn and to get some help from the Source Wall and he is given a name of someone who can help with the current bad mojo, the Atom, Ray Palmer. The set up is decent enough, Dini uses great skill and leaves the reader wanting to see what was going on next and Saiz’s art was easy to look at.
Countdown 50 is where the headaches start. This issue’s main story involves Jimmy Olsen playing reporter investigating the death of the Joker’s Daughter. He goes and interviews Jason Todd who sounds really perplexed. Olsen then goes to Arkham Asylum to have a talk with the Joker. Joker being really confused about Olsen’s questions, and oh look, Killer Croc is hungry for reporter jerky. While the action with Olsen happens, the Rogues, the gang of Flash villains belonged to contemplate the return of Trickster and Piper to the fold. For a while, Trickster and Piper used to be buddies with the Wally West Flash. It looks like they have decided to do something else now. Mary Marvel has a discussion with Madame Xanadu about her missing power and the things she will have to do to get her special abilities back.
The really bad stumbling block is the re-enactment and lengthening of a fight scene between Batman and Karate Kid from Justice League America # 8. The issue by Palmiotti and Gray is not a step down but an introduction to other elements of the book that compliments Dini’s big ideas and Jim Califiore’s are is competent and strangely amusing.
Countdown 49 is where the quality takes a big dip. The issue has whining Monitors bickering and crying about what the gun crazy Monitor did, and he’s not only proud but has a list of who else he wants to go and make dead. It sounded almost inventive back when kids complained back in grade school. Here it looks dumb. Cosmic beings should not snivel! In other events, Red Arrow trades some words with the caged Karate Kid, Jimmy Olsen does not get digested by Killer Croc because he turns stretchy. This event is so amazing even both Jimmy Olsen and the audience has a collective WTF response. Mary Marvel then goes to the Khandaq embassy and stumbles on dead bodies and a very cranky Black Adam. The action with Trickster and Piper involve a test of their criminal intentions that display that even though Piper is a rogue he still wants to be a good guy and this will likely lead to some future problems with the Trickster in specific and the Rogues in general. With this issue Dan Jurgens begins a tour guide thought the Multiverse using the Monitors.
Tony Bedard and Carlos Mango bring no joy. The issue acts like a place holder more than anything as it sets up the next set of events. The cover by Andy Kubert was also terribly misleading since none of the characters on the cover appear in the book.
Countdown 48 has some strange moments. First off Black Adam and Mary Marvel talk about power and have two different views on the issue. Adam feels that power has destroyed his life and has been committing murder without his old abilities while Mary is desperate for her powers to come back or if not, she’s willing to have something new. Meanwhile in Metropolis Jimmy Olsen is debriefed by his boss at the Daily Planet, Perry white about why did the lizard man try to eat him and how did he survive. Jimmy plays dumb. As this happens things are falling out from the sky and Superman is paged by Jimmy Olsen to investigate. This will lead into Jimmy using another super ability, (?!!!!) Superman goes to the skies and chases someone with alien technology. Among the things that fell from the sky was the New God Lightray. Whatever beat him down was powerful enough to kill a God! This issue had some conversations between Karate Kid and Starman, the artist formerly known as Starboy and a strange grave side conversation between Jason Todd and Donna Troy. The feeling that either a team up or a date happening looks probable. Adam Beechen makes effective use of talking heads and David Lopez shines with the work he has on the table.
Countdown month one delivers the DC universe as a broken thing in need of some fixing. Hopefully over the next year, Paul Dini and company can go and make the DC universe readable. Yet for some reason the sneaking suspicion in the context of the series is that DC will continue its long road of disappointment with their concepts being pushed into oblivion.
Countdown #47-44
The month of June continues the madness of Countdown in a manner where some plots are starting to make sense, but the quality is dire, things happen, but are a bit dull and new fashion victims are born every week.
Week 47 is the premiere of Sean McKeever to the DC universe and even though he is a new writer for DC, his lack of knowing up from down may be his saving grace. In this issue Countdown adds a cast member in the guise of Holly Robinson from the Catwoman series. It seems that Holly is being hunted by the police for something that happened in the Catwoman monthly. The scene establishes the character clearly for the Countdown reader and delivers a slight spoiler for upcoming Catwoman events. This obviously is a sign that the sales on Catwoman are not well. Jimmy Olsen has a nightmarish dream that involves the Source Wall and a premonition that Jimmy might get trapped there if he’s not careful. Clearly he may need to pick better friends in the future.
The Monitors decide that hunting down the universal anomalies is a sound plan. The decision is made in a manner that makes gladiator movies reserved. The Piper-Trickster story finally shares the motivation for their renewed interest in the rogues: Middle class yuppie boredom. For some reason this maybe the most solid reason ever to go back to a life of crime. The cover story this month is Mary Marvel and Black Adam finally stop the pity-party and realize that the reader is sleeping. Adam hangs up his powers and gives them to Mary. Adam starts to apologize for his decision. Mary looks like she got a sucker deal. McKeever was entertaining and Tom Denerick was a good stable artist and the cover by this month’s cover artist Ed Benes was creepy in good and bad ways.
Week 46 continues on with Jimmy Olsen investigating the strange happenings with the Fourth World. Olsen goes and interviews the former Darkseid minion Sleez for answers and right before he gets to reveal some thing interesting Sleez gets destroyed in a ray of light. Mary Marvel fights a demon made of dead babies. EEEWWW! That is all needed to be said. EW! A fight between Piper and Mirror Master is based on the topic of waiters at restaurants and how they should not be abused. The Rogues continue to sound like yuppies with too much time on their hands and it’s becoming unintentionally funny probably against the author’s reasons. Donna Troy and Jason Todd meet up for what looks like a first date at the Washington Monument in between the strangeness of Amazons Attack. Jason Todd tells Donna Troy about the Monitors. Donna, not having the pleasure to meet up with the new Monitors is insistent that Jason is confusing them with the Anti Monitor. Todd stays firm on his thought that action is needed and like a wiretapped drug deal the Monitors send in their clean up person to deal with this event. When we see Troy and Todd clubbed like seals and stand above them is the newest DC sensation FORERUNNER.
The design of Forerunner is supposed to be spooky. Instead it looks like the TV show Farscape vomited up one of their unused alien designs. Instead of intimidating, Forerunner makes Troy and Todd look silly and worthy of deletion from reality. The creative team of Palmiotti Gray and Siaz first worked together in the Wildstorm series 21 Down. It is not their best hour. This issue really drives home the point that DC editorial views Donna Troy as a punching bag. As a long time fan of said character, please stop the cruelty.
Week 45 of Countdown read like Cliff Notes to literature. The main spotlight to the issue was Jimmy Olsen’s audience catch-up tools on the New Gods and Darkseid. This could’ve been more helpful at week 49 before Lightray went splat like a bug on a car windshield. It tells the reader the basics on the characters and it works. Karate Kid gets the cover and a couple of pages on moping about life with Drama Girl and Starman. It’s funny to see everyone mope. Also Holly Robinson gets picked up by a shadowy figure.
Fortunately with Palmiotti and Gray writing the issue it goes into a really well done fight between Donna Troy and Forerunner. It was compelling and scary because Forerunner does not play around. Really she is that powerful… At least until the good Monitor shows up, stops Forerunner from killing Donna Troy. The Monitor treats Forerunner like a bad puppy and goes and saves Donna Troy and Jason Todd. The other Monitors have a fit; Forerunner is humiliated and rips out some of her hair and at the end of the issue Monarch leaves the Bleed looking for a lost pet. He might be willing to adopt.
Palmiotti and Gray deliver a better issue than the previous week, defining what Forerunner does clearly and giving a context to her actions, also, it was a great Donna Troy spotlight. And Jim Califiore delivered a beautiful issue visually. So far creatively it has been the winner thus far.
Week 44 is an issue that literally requires the reader to be aware of four other DC titles, the last issue of Flash: The Fastest Man Alive, Amazons Attack, The Trails of Shazam and Catwoman. In the issue, it covers the plot points that were not covered previously.
Jimmy Olsen has a superpowers flare up while being roughed up by some pedestrians who do not like his choice in sports teams. Mary Marvel visits her brother Billy, The New Shazam at the Rock of Eternity. It is them detailed that he is Shazam temporarily because Freedy Freeman, The former Captain Marvel Jr. is supposed to be the new Shazam, but has to go through training first. Billy has a discussion about how Mary took out the baby demon from two weeks back, which revealed that Mary was never supposed to be a superhero again. Then Mary let the news that she has Black Adam’s powers. Billy gets angry and Mary leaves.
In the lost and found section of Countdown: The recently abandoned Forerunner is lost in the city and Monarch, the hero formerly known as Captain Atom gives her a better offer than the Monitors and tells her that the Monitor’s hubris will be stopped. Holly Robinson finds a place to stay at an Amazon shelter. These shelters act like care agencies with the emphasis on the Amazon life.
Not to be outdone by the rest of the cast the Trickster and Piper’s tale weave back into Countdown covering the after effect events from the June issue of Flash. It looks like they are in trouble. Guilt by association has got them implicated in the murder of the Bart Allen Flash. It comes off as yuppie guilt for taking something too far, so they flee the Rogues and go on the run. This is what happens when you start hanging around the wrong crowd, things get to silly and cops get called.
The pacing by Beechen works like a TV show. A-plot, followed by B-plot, and going back to where it all started and Mango’s art is getting better. Not a great issue, but it was a better piece than Beechen’s previous chapter.
Overall, Countdown for June is starting to live up to its intent of being the roadmap for the DC universe, but it’s still too jumbled for it to feel like it’s going to deliver a great tale.
- Francis Davis a career drunk with a love of comics and movies, lives in and works for the City of Chicago. Confidentiality agreements prevent him from saying exactly what he does, but it is important.