Maybe it was just an overflow of DC-related goodwill after readind "All Flash #1" (about which more shortly), but I really liked this issue. I really did! A little scattershot, sure, but there were jokes that were successful and I actually didn't feel that a single page was wasted. Let's get into it.
Two people falling out of a plane together is a great way to start a story. Just ask Salman Rushdie. While it's probably too much to ask that the "Countdown" writers move the Rogues storyline in a "Satanic Verses" direction (although a hospital for characters who've been written over would work perfectly here. Read your Rushdie, kids!), the flying boots save was nice, if predictable. And the "You wear one, I'll wear the other" solution is exactly the kind of begrudged teambuilding this storyline is going to need to make it work. The image of Piper and Trickster walking down a Gotham street in ridiculous, soaked costumes in broad daylight is pretty brilliant and since the villians teaser image links Trickster and Penguin, it'll be interest to see what comes out of their meeting.
Thank god for these two Jimmy Olsen pages. I was starting to worry that Jimmy's story was going to move in a serious direction. Not that the inherently silly Silver Age material can't be used in serious storytelling, butit takes the gentle hand of a talented writer to carry it off. Since Mary Marvel's clearly marked for the grim and gritty treatment, I'm all for Jimmy spending a couple weeks as Mr. Action, with the amazing superpower of narrowly avoiding getting killed. Granted, this power seems limited applications, but the narrative possibilities of a character who only has superpowers when he's about to die are practically endless. Jimmy dropping himself out of a plane above a kitten stuck in a tree, maybe. Should we assume Clark can see Jimmy's costume? I remember reading a rather amazing article regarding the operation of Superman's x-ray vision that suggested Superman, having grown up with the ability to visually penetrate surfaces might have developed an entirely different concept of "surfaces", such that objects would not be so much encased in visual "shells" as they'd be a series of perceptible layers. Which is to say, looking through Jimmy's clothes would be somewhat natural and not superpervy.
After reading the most recent issue of "Blue Beetle" (which was a kick and has me planning to pick up more issues), I'm a little confused about the Eclipso storyline. In "BB" Jean is trying to pull a David Bowie by Eclipsoing a magic baby (there's a sentence I never thought I'd write) because Eclipso's weakness has always been the moral flaws in its hosts. Maybe Mary isn't morally flawed just yet, but you've got to think that vacuuming someone into space for robbery doesn't necessarily go down in the ethical plus column. Eclipso better get to seducin' if she wants to catch Mary in the innocent phase.
I am so far from understanding the cosmology and politics related to the Wonder Woman/Amazons Attack stuff that I don't feel I should even touch this storyline just yet. Yes, having the power of Athena on your side is a good thing, but can anyone sound off on where Athena (or any other member of the Greek pantheon) fits into the "Amazons Attack" story?
Bob the Monitor, Jason, Donna and Ryan go down the Rabbit Hole of Mutual Appreciation. You want to know why I like the fact they named the Monitor Bob? Because he's travelling with superheroes named Jason and Donna. It's a post code-name team-up! Throw Kyle in there in a couple issues and you'll have the least exciting line-up names ever. Jason, Donna, Kyle and the unimaginable power of Bob! Together, they are the Challengers of Suburbia! When Bob was talking about the Nanoverse (I will not call it the Palmerverse, I just won't), I kind of thought it would be...well, supertiny. Not that "slightly smaller than a blade of grass" isn't plenty tiny, but I wanted atoms to look like pumpkins. If "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" taught me anything, it was that shrinking to slightly smaller than a blade of grass does not lead to transuniversal travel. Ryan must be getting tired of being assaulted by tiny frogriders at this point in his short career, but wait...these folks are riding BIONIC frogs. Much more terrifying.
I keep trying to read up on the history of Legionaires (a word I can't use without thinking of the disease and the Decemberists' song), but I get through about a reboot and a half before my head explodes. Karate Kid's storyline finally catches up to where it should have been a month ago. Note to DC Editorial: since you've started printing the Countdown numbers on tie-in titles, readers might start to expect some sort of correspondence, maybe. Anyway, we get a replay of the escape to the future from the last issue of Justice League and the new fact that KK's partner will be Una the Singular Girl. Wait, if we've got an Una and a Troia...oh forget it. I spend a part of this afternoon trying to figure out if one-third of Triplicate Girl had any kind of powers at all, but the above mentioned cranial explosion occurred.
I've already heard complaints about this issue being too scattered, that a couple storylines should be backburnered for each issue to give others room to breathe, but frankly, I would be happy with this style of pacing so long as each two or four page check-in advanced the storyline in question. This issue felt quick, light and was fun to read, which is more than can be said for a lot of the previous issues. I'm waiting til thirteen issues in to give a first quarter evaluation, but if this is the end of the first act, I might be willing to forgive a lot of the initial pacing missteps. If this is Mike Carlin's hand at work, someone give that man a raise.
Oh, and DC released yet another teaser image. It's a poorly rendered portrait of some of the big DC heroes (Supes, Bats, WW, Flash, Hawky and GL) looking big and heroic. It confirms that we're counting down to something called "Final Crisis" which pretty much anyone who cared knew already. It sports the tag line "Heroes die. Legends Live Forever." Which I'm not mentioning because I think it's a good tag line (it isn't) or because the teaser gives any hints related to "Countdown" but because it segues into the post I'm about to write on "All Flash #1". And I do love me a good segue.
No comments:
Post a Comment