Posts Tagged ‘ Countdown ’

I know that DC seems to be playing the ‘Countdown didn’t happen card’ as regards Final Crisis, but does it have to extend all the way to every character that went through it?

Jason Todd has reverted back to unrepentant mob-running tool while someone else runs around in his old Red Robin outfit.

Kyle’s back with the Lanterns, Donna’s back with the Titans and neither are watching over the Monitors like they were supposed to be doing.

And Jimmy Olsen? Super-power-sprouting, Darkseid-battling, dimension-hopping Jimmy Olsen?

On a road trip, wondering about why he has a lack of confidence.

What, did his memory fritz and black out everything that has ever happened to the character?

I get that it’s easiest to write to the most commonly-held public image of a character, and most people think of Jimmy as comic-relief, but it irks me no end that almost all character development that happens to the character gets wiped the next time the writer on the Superman books changes.

It’s not even like I have a particular fondness for the character; I just think that the potential is there to have him actually be a character rather than a cipher.

And if he is a cipher, can we all agree that seeing Jimmy Olsen post-coitus is just kind of icky?

Things I don’t need to think about in any way whatsoever: Jimmy Olsen getting laid.

I know this is a few weeks late, but with Final Crisis #2 scheduled to drop next week and the fact that I’m posting this into the future from last week as I’m currently vacationing…in fact today (that is the today that this is posted) I should be biking around the Napa valley taking in a couple of wineries…who says time travel isn’t possible?

Anyway…

I mentioned earlier that I wouldn’t let the continuity thing with the New Gods spoil my enjoyment of Final Crisis – and that’s because after the first issue I’m pretty much wondering whether to bother continuing with it.

It’s pretty dense, and all but impenetrable to anyone without a doctorate in the DCU. People can harp on about what a visionary genius Grant Morrison is all they want, and I’ll be the first to agree that the man has more ideas than a barrel full of monkeys, but I’ve always found the execution of them to be a little lackluster.

So far here’s what we have: Orion’s dead, the Question sends Turpin off to investigate Darkseid’s running of the Dark Side Club, Libra’s gathering villains together, there are power struggles in the ranks of the Monitors, and at the beginning of time, Anthro seems to have been empowered by Metron – and then seems to get pulled into Kamandi’s world somehow. It’s all very disjointed, not to mention…familiar.

Honestly there’s nothing here that jumps out as strikingly original. Another New Gods story, another Monitors story, another Villains United story.

Sure, he can try and up the stakes by having Children of the Corn-type kiddies (kids are the new Parademons!), by killing a god (seen it a lot in the past year), by killing Martian Manhunter – in one panel, no less – but it all seems rather desperate, kind of ‘look over here, this is a BIG DAMN DEAL!’ rather than actually being a big damn deal.

Oh, I’m sure there’s lots of hidden hints in the art and dialog we’re supposed to pick up on – like the fact that the marauding caveman in the opening is actually Vandal Savage, and such, but honestly I read comics to be entertained not to scour the page for clues.

And yeah, Martian Manhunter. Honestly, his death is probably the best thing that’s happened to the character since his excellent Ostrander-Mandrake title was cancelled about ten years ago. Funnily enough that title started around the time of Morrison’s DC One Million, which featured J’onn as a disembodied intelligence within Mars.

At least now people can have some time to miss the character before he’s inevitably brought back.

I’ve read some interviews that have people in the know saying things along the lines that this is all set up and we’ll be really excited when we get to the big pay-off in #3 or #4. So I guess we shouldn’t get too excited about #2, then, huh? In spite of the big return that’s supposed to be happening (one that I suspect was revealed a while ago) it doesn’t sound like even editorial expect a lot of positive feedback.

So…why should we continue to buy it, exactly?

Countdown #1…yeah, that was bollocks wasn’t it? After a year of weekly ups and downs, what exactly did we achieve?

1) A back from nowhere Ray Palmer who appears to have turned into a whiny self-doubting selfish tool. To be honest, I liked him better when he was gone.

2) A bunch of dead multiverse characters that it looks like might not have any impact anyway – especially as when one multiverse went and got destroyed, it seemed to reform pretty quickly into another shape.

3) The Monitors got turned into a bunch of Watchers with worse dress sense.

4) The New Gods did die, but in a very confusing way scattered across Countdown and the equally disappointing Death of the New Gods which didn’t actually sync up very well.

5) Piper’s inexplicably alive and back to being a hero after taking out Apokolips using the might of Queen*.

6) Jason Todd’s back to being a slash-happy fool.

7) We’re left with a team of characters monitoring the Monitors, protectors of reality – but they consist of busy-with-the-Titans Donna Troy, busy-with-the-Lanterns Kyle Rayner, a busy-with-whining Ray Palmer and a busy-with-Jimmy Forager. None of whom will appear together in a team book – so it feels like the whole set up was simply for a book we’ll never see.

So even the payoffs were lame – or negated, in Piper’s case. Having him go out with a bang was a great end to his character’s arc, but having him reappear in Gotham just didn’t make sense.

It’s not all bad, I suppose. A few good things came out of it too -

1) We’ve now got a bad Mary Marvel in a short skirt. Sorry, a bad Mary Damn Marvel.

2) We got an OMAC back that’s more in line with original, dorky mohican and all.

3) We got the Holly and Harley roadshow. I remember a rumor about a Gotham Girls spin off starring them…wonder if that’s been nixed now?

4) Jimmy Olsen didn’t die! So can we be treated to more of this please?

Evil Jimmy!

But other than that…honestly, not a great deal to show for it – other than the reimagined Extremists, I guess. They were pretty good.

Oh well, roll on Trinity…

*Okay, that was good.

Newsarama have released the cover to the upcoming bridge issue between Countdown to Final Crisis and Final Crisis itself – DC Universe #0 – ready for a roll-call?

Sigh.

Earlier today I mentioned that I thought we’d seen the beginning of Kamandi’s world in the spreading of the Morticcus virus across an Earth in the previous issue of Countdown to Final Crisis…and I just saw this week’s cover:

Of course, that particular image isn’t reminiscent of another iconic image from some four years previous…

Piper’s journey has been a long and tortuous one through the pages of Countdown (some might argue that’s getting a bit meta), but this week he at last takes the centre stage….

First off, we have the revelation that Desaad was behind the whole thing with Piper and Trickster so he could break Piper’s spirit (note the OMAC’s comment – now s/he’s getting a bit meta!). Personally I’m wondering if just hauling him off to Apokolips and indulging in a bit of good-old fashioned torture mightn’t have been easier.

…which Desaad’s none to happy about…

…and splat!

Yep.

Desaad, chief torturer of Apokolips and Darkseid’s creepy right hand just got offed by a normal guy with a flute. More specifically, this guy:

But the show ain’t over yet, folks, because next Piper turns his attention to Brother I – who, if you read last issue, you may recall took over Apokolips.

Piper starts to play, wondering what tune he’s going to play in order to take down a sentient machine the size of a city who’s taken over a hell-planet full of dark gods…and hits on the perfect one.

Unlike a lot of people, I’ve been quite enjoying Countdown. It’s not perfect by any means, and it relies a little too heavily on knowing a lot of minutiae about the DCU.

Even so, there are elements that I’ve enjoyed from a fanboy perspective – particularly all the flitting between alternate Earths that the badly-monikered Challengers of Beyond have been doing.

Thing is, even that has been slightly annoying because Jason Todd is such a tosser. It doesn’t help that he’s now adopted a costume that looks good in theory and terrible in practice if illustrated by anyone but Alex Ross.

And then you have the dialogue. Specifically this week, the internal dialogue of formerly-snarky Red Robin as he, powerless human that he is, swings across Apokolips…

Yes, Jason muses…

I need time to clear my head and fill it with the compact sound of leather fists cracking jawbones.

What?

Honestly, I like a lot of Palmiotti and Gray’s work – Jonah Hex is fantastic and I’ve liked almost everything they’ve produced in the past five or so years but this is terrible.

Terrible.

I’m off to fill my head with the slightly off-kilter sound of fingers tapping keys…

There’s always something that slips past an editor’s eagle eye – nobody’s perfect. Something that is, basically, a cock-up…

Take Countdown #14, for example…

First you have your generic faceless stormtrooperssoldiers of Monarch’s army attacking an outpost held by Earth-51′s Monitor, Earth-51′s Batman and the new Red Robin (our Jason Todd). Only in comics would that sentence make sense.

Then you have Earth-51′s Batman (even more of an arrogant ass than plain old Batman) acting all cocky and smug:

Now, let’s turn our attention to Red Robin who’s having a snark at Batman when something happens out on the – hey –

- that’s not Red Robin – he’s colored as Batman even though the dialogue clearly makes him out to Todd.

D’oh!

Narrowly beating the competition…Countdown #15

The Pledge

Take two Donna Troys – one, ours, who’s been traipsing around the multiverse for months and not having much fun and another psychotic version, trapped in her old Wonder Girl duds who’s taken up with Monarch’s army under the banner of Queen Belthera, who nobody really remembered from earlier in Countdown.

Donna-Two seems to be making it her own personal mission to kill Donna-One, and preach Belthera’s wonderfulness while she does it. Makes me wonder if Belthera was the Tom Cruise of her world, leading the masses to salvation…

The Turn

Donna-One has clearly had enough of Donna-Two’s rantings and lets her fists do the talking (it’s just one fist actually)…

The Prestige

Donna-One knows exactly who she is, thank you very much (although I can’t help but think this would have been better served if the dialogue had been switched around a little so the punch-line was delivered while we could see Donna’s face instead of her feet*.

Even so…best of the week!

Juggernaut’s got nothing on Donna Troy!

*I’m thinking:

PANEL ONE: “I know exactly who I am.”

PANEL TWO: “I’m Donna Troy, bitch.”

Hey, everyone else is doing it…

Superman- A new place to call home- in the March solicits, Clark, Lois & Chris are looking for a new place to live after the events of Insect Queen

Superman Prime- A time to call my own. – We know he’s looking for his hom; maybe he could head into some kind of phantom zone recreation of his last days on Earth Prime so that he can be happy.

Batman- More time. – The most cryptic of them all. More time someone he loves who’s going to die, or more time because he’s about to die? (Because you just know that’d stick…)

Robin- A memorial for Stephanie Brown Can’t do – Because she’s back as Violet, or because Didio likes to poke people with a stick. Or both.

Red Tornado- A new body and a family to call my own. – Well he is a disembodied entity right now, so that makes sense. Hopefully then he’ll head off to limbo.

Green Arrow- My son back. – Well duh, because Conner’s dead, apparently.

Darkseid- The Fifth World. – We know that one Fourth World character will survive – and then he’ll want a pantheon in his own image.

The Rouges- Revenge. (A sentiment shared by all villains in Salvation Run.) Revenge on Suicide Squad and Checkmate, presumably. And probably the JLA for good measure. And maybe everybody for the hell of it.

Mongul- A ring collection – He’s already picked up a yellow ring…

Geo-Force- Rock Samples from another planet. – Maybe the Outsiders are heading to Salvation?

The Question- A visit from an old friend. – Batwoman is showing up in #3 or #4 of her current mini.

Booster Gold- The Blue and Gold back in action. – March solicits have Booster and Ted together again, causing a whole heapload of temporal problems.

Lord Satanus- Control of Hell.
Neron- Control of Hell. (Uh Oh, this could be a problem.) – Keith Giffen’s War in Hell, anyone?

A few weeks ago Mike Carlin said something in one of the weekly Newsarama interviews; namely:

Or am I asking too much?

Wow, there’s a lot going on that looks good – or if not good exactly, at least interesting – in DC’s November solicits. Lets get to it…

COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS #25-22 – The Countdown train runs on – but it seems to be picking up speed now. In retrospect, I’m not entirely sure that the whole ‘showrunner’ approach was the right one.

SUPERMAN #670, SUPERMAN ANNUAL #13 – The Third Kryptonian storyline ties up. Wonder who it is?

ACTION COMICS #859 – Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes? They should make a cartoon about that!

COUNTDOWN SPECIAL: JIMMY OLSEN 80-PAGE GIANT -Not getting this but I do find it interesting that it’s reprinting Jimmy’s dealings with the DNAlien and Cadmus – maybe that’s a hint as to Jimmy’s current troubles?

SUPERGIRL #23 – Another new creative team. I may check it out, I may not.

THE ALL-NEW ATOM #17 -Wonder Woman guest stars hot on the heels of Countdown tie-ins; not usually a good sign for a book!

BIRDS OF PREY #112 – Now I wasn’t going to stay on board but this sounds like it might be a Lady Blackhawk spotlight…

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #8 – Flash and the Doom Patrol! Probably picking it up in trades, but then #6 was all kinds of fun…

THE FLASH #234 – I found #231 oddly flat and disappointing but I’ll give Waid and Acuna some more time.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #15 – This sounds so much better than Meltzer’s yawn-fest!

TEEN TITANS #53 – Looking forward to McKeever taking this book on – and kicking off with the Titans of the future is a good start!

SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #36 – I’m officially on trades now but I am so pleased that this solicit didn’t read ‘Final Issue’!

TEEN TITANS EAST SPECIAL #1 – Picking up the special; like I’ve said before, I doubt the team on the cover is the one that will make the final cut in the ongoing.

WONDER WOMAN #14 – To trade or not to trade? The past two or three years of WW have left a sour taste in my mouth. Gail gets one issue to convince me.

WONDER GIRL #3 – Eh, I like Cassie and I’m weak. So I’ll probably get it.

TALES OF THE MULTIVERSE: BATMAN — VAMPIRE TP – I’ve noticed a trend of DC to plumb their Elseworlds and alternate Earth stuff since Countdown kicked in and its a good idea; this collection of Batman/Dracula: Red Rain, Batman: Bloodstorm and Batman: Crimson Mist is a nice catch up if – like me – you missed these first time round.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: SAGA OF THE SUPER SONS TP – Again I say the plumbing of alternate world stories continues! This is actually pretty tempting…now can we have all the Wonder Woman/Hippolyta/Wonder Girl/Wonder Tot impossible stories please?

HEROES HC - A no-brainer. I may have been disappointed by the ending of the season but this is a mighty tempting proposition. Not having a Tim Sale cover seems like a missed opportunity, though.

TRANQUILITY: ARMAGEDDON #1, WETWORKS: ARMAGEDDON #1, GEN13: ARMAGEDDON #1,THE AUTHORITY: PRIME #2 – Honestly, the whole clusterfuck of a Worldstorm relaunch soured me on Wildstorm – but handing the reigns over to Christos Gage is almost enough to get me interested again!

FREDDY VS. JASON VS. ASH #1 & 2 – Raise your hand if you’re a fanboy and this sounds simply awesome!

Is it just me or did nothing of merit come out of the DC and Marvel panels yesterday?

Okay, you had Jon Favreau and Adi Granov doing an Iron Man limited series – that was interesting, but aside from that?

Lots of stuff about Countdown that amounts to ‘trust us, we know what we’re doing and it’ll get really good at some point, honest‘.

Lots of stuff about JMS’ new series about forgotten Timely and Atlas heroes, The Twelve. I liked it better when it was called Agents of Atlas. Or possibly Watchmen.

Darwyn Cooke’s leaving The Spirit and sounds kinda grumpy about it.

Brian Reed’s writing a Captain Marvel mini series that I can’t get enthusiastic for.

DC, uh, has team books and apparently don’t give information about them.

And David Gallaher got heckled for asking about carbon footprints.

Outside of Marvel and DC, IDW still has the Star Trek license and Dark Horse have kicked off an online version of Dark Horse Presents on MySpace (exactly how do they make money on this?) Joss Whedon contributes to the first issue which is online here.

One interesting point – Zachary Quinto is Spock in JJ Abram’s Star Trek movie – and I can only assume that Leonard Nimoy will be reminscing over Kirk’s grave in order to pass the torch. Hey, he wouldn’t do Generations because of the script so I have some hope here, in spite of my feeling that there are certain characters who should never, ever, ever be recast – and the original Enterprise crew are amongst them.

Although can I suggest Daniel Dae Kim for Sulu and Greg Grunberg for Scotty?

A while ago I ran through some looks at the original Countdown teaser (which is by far more exciting than the actual series, sadly) – and Dan Didio ran through what the images meant on Friday over at Newsarama.

Today, the second image has been released – (click on the image to enlarge) – at Newsarama. So what can we glean from this one?

Well, let’s take a look:

1. If people on the ground weren’t safe in the first image, maybe the ground’s important here. The only person on a different type of ground is Lex Luthor – and he’s crying with blood on his hands. Symbolic blood? And what would make Luthor cry? Combine this with Superman crying on the previous image and all of a sudden instead of worrying about the Kents, I’m worrying about Lois. They had better not kill Lois or…or…or else!
2. Other people on the ground are Granny Goodness, Mary Marvel and Eclipso. Mary looks like she might be floating slightly. Still, the eeeevil expressions on Eclipso and Granny’s faces suggest that Mary’s flirtation with the dark side is going to get worse before it gets better.
3. Hey, isn’t that Hippolyta’s shield behind Granny? That could suggest exactly why she’s so out fo character in Amazons Attack…
4. Over on the right of the image you have Trickster (with Piper’s flute – not boding well for him) talking to Desaad and the Penguin – while they stand on Superman and Batman’s capes and what looks to be Wonder Woman’s sword. Trickster and Penguin’s feet aren’t touching the floor – perhaps symbiolizing that they aren’t fully corrupted by what’s going on?
5. Joker, Catwoman and Martian Manhunter – the presence of J’Onn here makes me wonder what’s coming up with him – especially when he holds a bloody dagger. This could signify a couple of things – he’s betrayed someone (maybe figuratively stabbed them in the back) or he’s about to do so. Catwoman seems to be being swayed by the Joker’s words so perhaps she’s going to be tempted back to a life of crime following events in her own book and whatever happens to Holly in Countdown.
6. The trifecta of Supermen is intriguing – Kingdom Come Superman appears to have a glowing yellow something in his hand – perhaps he’ll be joining Sinestro too? Or perhaps that symbolizes something else – the glow around the Atom when he changes size? Will the Atom be found on the Kingdom Come world?
7. The Cyborg is in his Sinestro uniform but seems to be listening to a third who, mullet aside, seems to beth Emperor Joker Superman – so perhaps that’s another world in the multiverse too? The mullet might itself indicate that this isn’t who you think; hell, maybe it’s another version of Black Zero. The fact that he has his back to us might suggest that he’s not evil. It’s worth noting that the Cyborg is one of only a handful of characters to have been imprisoned in the Source Wall and escape, which brings us to…
8. Darkseid – his crashed head doesn’t bode well for the lord of Apokolips. Remember the first image, where lots of people were looking to the sky? Could Apokolips have fallen at the hand of Granny and Desaad, setting fire to New York?
9. On the ground we have a number of objects – a broken Green Arrow; and Dinah was partnered with Conner on the cover of Green Arrow/Black Canary #1. Things may not be too bright for a Green Arrow soon…
10. The Black Racer’s skis are broken on the ground alongside a Mother Box – further suggestions of the fall of Apokolips (and perhaps New Genesis?). A book also lies next to them – although at the moment you can’t tell if it’s a Crime Bible or the Book of Destiny currently showing up in The Brave and the Bold.
11. That ‘Kirby device’ is also next to Lex Luthor in a not dissimilar position that it was in in the first image. Hmmm……
12. Then there’s that quote…and the symmetry with the first image…

What if…what if…what if Lex does something with the Kirby device that somehow creates a parallel Earth – one ‘inherited’ by villains – but at the cost of that world’s population? Nah, wild speculation.

But like I said still more interesting than the book that it’s teasing…

So that’s where the ‘Super Brain’ed Leader got his look!
And wouldn’t Kryptonite eyes be kind of…radioactive?

So Jimmy’s happy to keep Superman away from I don’t know, saving the world just so he can impress his sarge? Way to go Jim!

But why would they give the gorilla a typewriter and a desk with Jimmy’s nameplate if they didn’t already know it had Jimmy’s brain?!? Other than that: Awesome!

It’s national ‘play a trick on Jimmy’ day! And he’s falling for it!

Seriously, that’s the best he can come up with to detect which one is Evil Jimmy Olsen? Spock would find another way!

Well that’s irrefutable evidence. A rock and a cape. No body, no motive. Yessiree, open and shut.

…because he hates you?

First you want to be his brother, then you want to marry him, then you want to be his son? No wonder Superman’s a dick to you!

I don’t know what’s more disturbing: shirtless Jimmy or Superman fixing a boxing match.
On second thought, its the fact that Supes is happy to let Jimmy take a pounding instead of going undercover himself. Dick.

Invisible? First thing I thought was “Randall and Olsen, Deceased”! It’s Jimmy’s attitude that’s solid gold here: “I’m intangible, invisible and trapped in another dimension…oh, what’s the use?” Plus, Perry has a really dull office.

No, Jimmy, you’re just high on ‘shrooms.

It was going well till one of the rednecks back-woods folk told Jimmy to squeal like a pig…

Jimmy Olsen, Speed Demon! On a five gear? Really?

You can tell Jimmy’s radioactive because he’s glowing! And what was wrong with a hospital, Supes?

Just don’t put him in the microwave, Jimmy!

But…but Jimmy – that makes no sense at all!

So many questions! Why is Jimmy a merman? Is this what that diving helmet came in handy for? Why have Superman and Lois just been watching him play checkers? Are the checkers made out of lead?

And yes, I know Superdickery did it first and best – but I’m just playing around here. And hey, the world needs more Google hits for Jimmy Olsen!