Countdown 39-35
Plotted by Paul Dini, layouts by Keith Giffen, covers by Shane Davis and J.G Jones
Countdown 39 by Sean McKeever and Jim Califiore
Countdown 38 by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Jesus Saiz
Countdown 37 by Adam Beechen, David Lopez and Mike Norton
Countdown 36 by Tony Bedard and Jim Califiore
Countdown 35 by Sean McKeever and Manuel Garcia
Countdown to Adventure: Forerunner by Justin Gray and Fabrizio Fiorentino
Countdown is finally heading to a Final Crisis finally and this might be a positive. The road to this event looks like it is starting to become clearer yet strangely requires the purchase of more comics to keep up. With that in mind August is a month where Countdown has produced some improvement in regards to story, plot and direction. This is almost exciting but more nerve racking than anything.
This month’s set of covers displayed an accelerated growth of one artist and a really bad day. New DC artist Shane Davis created a truly intriguing set of covers. From a Karate Kid cover of truly action packed proportions to the comical Trickster/Poison Ivy/Piper, Mr. Action and Mary Marvel pieces, Davis is figuring out his style and delivering some playfulness with his detailed line work, and he’s doing it well. The cover to week 35 by J.G. Jones is missing Jones’ shading, wash and tone work that makes a reader do a double take that this art is from the cover artist of 52. It’s not a bad cover regarding composition and color choice, but the detail lacking scared this long time fan.
The most amazing part of issue 39 is that it was really good. Maybe it is because I’m a sucker for the Question, Oracle, Donna Troy and Batwoman, but that helps. McKeever and Califiore are a good mix of character and action storytelling that kept reader interest. The events of the book have Karate Kid and one part of Duo Damsel on a search for Oracle. They proceed to break in and cause mayhem, while the breaking and entering is in action; Oracle is trying to stop the Calculator from stealing superhero identities. Why this is kept on computer bewilders. The Challengers from Beyond are in transit, in search of Ray Palmer where the action cuts into All New Atom #14 where an alien culture of the Palmerverse tell the Challengers that Ray Palmer is not here. Mr. Action is in dire need of a fashion makeover, saves a girl and decides to join the Teen Titans. Holly Robinson gets pitched by Athena, Holly is not impressed. If this was not enough, the Penguin calls the Suicide Squad on trickster and Piper and things go kablooey at the Iceberg lounge. We see what the chain does yet our Flash foes get away…Only to be found by Question and Batwoman. This was the best issue overall at this point in the series.
The Palmiotti, Gray and Saiz team bring wackiness and hijinks for our cast in issue 38. We see the fruit of Oracle’s interruptions by Karate Kid having the repercussion of nuclear strike. Whoops. Jimmy Olsen as Mr. Action tries to join the Teen Titans (What a terrible name for a superhero. Sounds more like an adult film star name. ). Much laughter ensues. Mary Marvel is still hanging with Zatanna on the cruise boat then the Deep Six cause some sea monster drama. One of them violates Mary’s outfit with an acid hand. She starts electrocuting the six and the possessed passengers, but some mysterious beam kills the Six and Eclipso acts like a voyeur looking for the mayhem to come. This for some reason makes Darkseid happy in his planning. The Monitors looking pensive realize things are not going well in the universe. The Question clears Piper and Trickster of the Flash murder because of a puppet show and on the count of them being stupid. Finally Karate Kid says that he’s dying to Oracle. Overall not a bad issue, but a tad busy. The puppet show was funny.
Things get very dodgy in issue 37 based on the last page where Jimmy Olsen pulls off Clark Kent’s shirt revealing the Superman outfit. Wow. That was just flat out weird. Also, Clark’s face gives the appearance of being outed is funny and terrifying in the same panel. Creepy. In other plots, our yuppies Trickster and Piper eat some fruit and this leads to an angry Poison Ivy being very annoyed with them. Mary Marvel goes to Zatanna’s house and after the grand tour, the house hints in a not so subtle manner that Mary needs to go. Holly gets picked by Athena for training. In Challengers subatomic action, this plot is on hold until the Search for Ray Palmer miniseries starts. Finally, after being diagnosed with a strange future disease Karate Kid and Una go south in search for a cure to an abandoned military base… Or is it. Adam Beechen and David Lopez work well together, but the last page just kills things dead. Also starting are the Secret Origins 2 pagers of DCU villains written by Scott Beatty. This week it’s Poison Ivy by Stephane Roux. The art is serviceable except for the first picture of Ivy lying down with the foliage covering certain anatomy. It makes this reader state some times more clothing or foliage is better.
At this point, it must be said that “New Gods” from the 90’s die terribly as Darkseid’s illegitimate son Gravyn gets a hole in his chest in the Outsiders Two of a Kind #3 and Knockout gets a deadly body modification in Birds of Prey #109. The Gravyn death was just silly. The Knockout death was sad and truly disturbing. Tony Bedard wrote both stories here and even though uneven in characterization these are vital to the story of Countdown. Also, in New Gods action it turns out that Athena is not who she says she is, but it turns out the Greek gods were taken off the map deliberately and it is revealed that the Athena we have seen as of late is actually Granny Goodness. Will Pfeifer’s Amazons Attack #6 brings this hum dinger home in a way that could be tacked on, but somehow it makes everything look cohesive.
Now back to Countdown. Issue 36 by Bedard and Califiore is mildly amusing but it treads water for the most part. The challengers get ambushed by bug people. Karate Kid and Una have a tussle with Orr and Eqqus from the Superman: For Tomorrow story. This was a beautiful fight and Califiore did a great job drawing this fun tussle. It also acknowledges Superman: For Tomorrow and as one of the three people who liked it, it was nice to see. The Mary Marvel/Zatanna housing arrangement ends terribly as Mary Marvel decides that literacy is not good and that grabbing mystical talismans and acting like a Hollywood Starlet would be more amusing. It is then revealed that that classy cougar the Jean Loring Eclipso is watching and enjoying her manipulative greatness. Mr. Action tries out for the Justice League and it’s just sad. On the yuppie idiot front Trickster and Piper get interrogated by Poison Ivy about why they are at her place. Trickster tells her it is because they were told by a boss that this was the place to meet. Ivy contemplates the issue as she waits for the boss, and wonders why her pheromones are not working on Piper; this is funny because it looks like not everyone knows that piper is gay. The boss is Deathstroke, who is not pleased with our yuppie friends with their appearance. Deathstroke is the origin of the week with art by Tony Daniel who looks really good here.
The back up feature for Countdown to Adventure features the origin of Forerunner, former Monitor puppy substitute, current Monarch lieutenant. Sure with the Countdown brand being attached to the main story to make it sell DC has to produce at least a back up tale to justify the title and the Forerunner back up justifies the name. In this substantial back up by Justin Gray and Fabrizio Fiorentino, they deliver the origin of Forerunner. The reader will find a complete origin in about 14 pages that give the reader everything they need to know about the character. The context of the Forerunner’s existence, a possible future grudge with the Martian Manhunter and a reason that makes sense for her motivation to side with Monarch helps build the character significantly. By using a conversation Justin Gray tells a flashback tale that should be a model for telling origin tales. The art by Fiorentino is beautiful, alien, and detailed. Hopefully DC keeps him and develops this artistic talent. Overall the first Forerunner back up is a decent start to the development of a potentially throwaway concept.
The last issue of the month is a bit of a let down. Sean McKeever and Manuel Garcia bring us something resembling treading water sad to say. The captured Challengers are informed that their tormentor Queen Belthera that she plans to escape the destruction of the multiverse with Bob the Monitor, who has a shady moment. Atom gets turned into an insect and life looks bad for our team. Speaking of our team upcoming new member Kyle Rayner is being observed by the Monitors and they plot to get Kyle, who is possessed by Parallax, dealt with soon. Also, Zatanna throws out Mary Marvel from her place, Mister Orr apologizes to his rude dealing with Karate Kid and Una after Eqqus gets beaten like a mangy dog. He looks like he is offering him an offer he should not refuse. Also, Holly Robinson gets her Gladiator on as he beats up some Amazon substitutes. In Mr. Action business, his powers go off when he gets JLA tested. Ha Ha! Overall, an okay issue, but the wait for the spin-offs starts. Parallax is the secret origin this week with Ivan Reis art. This origin was needed because even after multiple explanations it still makes no sense.
So in the four months into Countdown to final Crisis, it appears that things happened. Yet with things happening Countdown still embraces its biggest liability. The cast of characters that are regulars have not gone through any sense of development. Sure things happened like Mary Marvel behaving bratty is less of an evolutionary character development in context to character history, but a plot point. The book continues to get the characters to plot, yet the absolute lack of character work is part of why in comparison to 52, Countdown appears inferior because there has yet to appear a moment where the reader can care about the character. Instead of character growth you have holding action where the event is so active that any character could do their laundry and be more compelling.
Here are some tips for DC on how to improve Countdown to Final Crisis.
1) Pay off a plot point, any of them. The sooner the better.
2) Start give character moments that make the reader, particularly the new reader not vested in DCU history a reason to care for your cast.
3) A list of notes in the indicia page informing readers of pertinent points in the DCU affected by Countdown would be great.
4) Stop the over saturation of tie in product. It just burns out completists particularly if note number 2 is not adhered to.
Hopefully this will help make the series better, and it is improving, but it needs to get better in order to make Final Crisis a financial winner as opposed to being treated as the evolutionary dead end of DC comics.
- 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.