A whole lot of action in the DCU this week, most of it Flash-related and very little of it reflected in the DCU's backbone title. But let's look at what's here before we look at what isn't.
The Donna Troy vs. Forerunner throwdown isn't bad and Jim Califore's art is solid throughout. The machine gun bit seems a bit needless, especially with the conveniently placed bodies that show up on this page to remind us that the Amazons have apparently Attacked. It would be nice to hang around with Donna long enough to find out why she isn't involved in the melee, but maybe this has been explained in the miniseries.
The idea of the Monitors breeding a race of living weapons might be interesting if we had any idea what the protocols they keep babbling about are. My understanding at the moment is that Bearded Monitor was violating protocols by breeding Forerunner(s) and violating protocols by not using her to kill Duella Dent, and Mutton Chop Monitor is now violating protocols by saving Donna and Jason. Did I get all that?
The hints of Forerunner's history (the prophecy, the thousand wars) are interesting and I hope they're followed up here in "Countdown".
Donna and Jason joining up with Mutton Chop Monitor would be pretty exciting, if it weren't for the "Countdown Presents" solicit released earlier this week. Donna, Jason and Kyle Rayner are being spun off into an unnumbered miniseries to Search for Ray Palmer (weren't they already doing that in the All New Atom?). I think the idea of these characters bopping from universe to universe is great. It's exactly the kind of kickass project the return of the multiverse opens up. So why isn't it going to be included in "Countdown"?
Jimmy's right, by the way, his talking into a tape recorder taking a full page to recount five pages of action that appeared LAST WEEK is kind of idiotic. One of the perks of the weekly format is you really don't need to recap things we read seven days ago. And the two page spread of the New Gods doesn't even scratch the surface of these character's relationships with one another or their connection to Earth. A little history on Jimmy' connection to the New Gods could have filled this space much better.
The Karate Kid section is lagging about three weeks behind the "Lightning Saga" crossover, which came to its conclusion elsewhere this week. But the film reference jokes on the Justice League Satellite are lagging even further behind. I'm sure the DC superheroes are busy, but have any of them seen a movie this decade? Unless...the outdate movie references are a clue?
Now that I type that, I'm wondering how much of a joke it is. Tomorrow I'm combing through all the jokey cultural references we've seen so far to find out if any of them would be lost on someone reading "Crisis on Infinite Earths" in 1985.
Also, a mysterious figure is watching Jimmy Olsen. And a mysterious figure is watching Holly Robinson. And a mysterious figure is watching Forerunner. At least we get to find out who that is. The appearance of Monarch, whose character history is only slightly more intelligible than Donna Troy's, means pretty much all of DC's signifiers of big cosmic level things to come have made an appearance in "Countdown". I keep saying this, but the set-up for cool things to happen in this series is certainly there, but so far we've been given lots of promises and very little payoff.
Like all but one of the characters on this issue's cover, the big happenings are not in the issue but outside it. I think it's almost offensive that the big moment for the Rogues, who we've been forced to endure in every issue so far, isn't so much as referenced here. Without spoiling things that have certainly been spoiled everywhere else, I'll say this was a very exciting week for fans of Mark Waid's run on "The Flash". And was that Barry's reflection in the Lightning Rod?
3 comments:
Missed opportunities for Countdown to catch up. All these events it's supposed to bridge finally came to a head in the last few weeks.
I wanted Karate Kid on the run in the 20th century. Or the rouges celebrating their victory over the flash.
Frustrating.
For me, the most annoying part is the Countdown label on JLA 10 that -implied- that it happened at the same time as Countdown 45. If it didn't have that, I could grin and bear with the timewonkyness, but having it there is a slap in the face.
It's amazing to me that the Flash and JLA/JSA storylines managed to synch up so nicely, almost by accident according to Geoff Johns, and Countdown can't seem to stay on pace. Equally amazing is Mike Marts' assertion that Countdown has been "blowing shit up" since the beginning. And if Jimmy can eat up five pages of Countdown recap, couldn't they throw in two panels worth of exposition on Amazons Attack, which not all Countdown readers are buying? I'm getting worried this series is only going to serve as an ad for more interesting books.
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