What does it mean for the universe when a GOD DIES?
Eh, not so much.
In fact, if you glanced at this issue's cover, you've more or less read it. Dini might have overestimated the impact of offing characters most readers have never seen. I guess the argument could be made that killing off any Kirby character is a big deal, but plenty of the New Gods have done the death and rebirth thing. It's kind of what gods do.
The best piece here is the Karate Kid/Starman interaction. Starman's presence was enough to get me through the first five issues of "JSA" and these two pages might be enough to march me down to the comic book shop around the corner to pick up the JLA/JSA crossover after I catch up on these entries.
And best of all, no Rogues!
Since there's not a whole lot to say about this issue, let's step back and mention the pairings that are starting to crystalize.
Donna and Jason- The aberrations, who finally meet up this issue and look like they're set to spearhead the Monitor investigation. I've got to do a little more research into Donna Troy's backstory before I comment, but doesn't it seem a bit unfair that Jason Todd's getting hunted down just cause Superboy's wacky timepunching brought him back? How does that violate the integrity of the universes? The only integrity I can see getting damaged by the timepunch is DC editorial. Jason and Donna seem like they might develop a strong dynamic between them, if the writers can keep the buddy movie cliches in check and avoid the budding romance copout.
Piper and Trickster- Ditto on the buddy movie trap and budding romance copout. We know from the ads these two are destined to be chained together, but at this point I can honestly say I have no idea where the Rogues storyline is headed, how it plays into the other plots or why I should care. I have some lingering affection for Piper from Mark Waid's run on "Flash" but not enough to sustain my interest here and so far, there's not a single page of "Countdown" Rogue-ery I wouldn't rather see dedicated to something else.
Mary and Jimmy- Not so much partners as parallels. Mary searching for powers regardless of the explanations, Jimmy searching for explanations with little interest in powers. At this point, Mary and Jimmy are the most compelling characters in the mix, and I think the best thing Dini and the kids could do at this juncture would be to spend the bulk of a full issue fronting one or the other of them, while leaving the rest of the cast to stew for a bit.
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