Six out of 22 pages dedicated to a conflict between two characters with no real tie-in to "Countdown". Not so keen, and once again Countdown gives us a repeat ending: last week we closed out with KK poised to ask Oracle for help and thie week we close out with...KK poised to ask Oracle for help.According to solicits, the Oracle vs. Calculator storyline will pay off in "Birds of Prey" in October. In case you're interested.
I vaguely remember the Deep Six from Peter David's run on Aquaman. Their appearance involved a spawning chamber and an explanation of how the characters managed to constantly resurrect themselves. Through spawning. But this runs up against the problem with the death of the new gods: almost all of these characters have already died. Multiple times. Which takes away a little of the impact of their deaths here. That and the fact they haven't appeared in a comic since I was in high school. The Monitors make reference to the New God death count hitting double digits, anyone know who the tenth is? I've got Lightray, Sleeze and the Deep Six. I feel as if there's one I'm forgetting, but not two. Any help?
The blinding at the hands of Mary Marvel was a little rough, however. At this point, Mary's lived through a couple lightning strikes and what looks a lot like an Omega beam. I like that Mary's moving magic around a bit, which should either set her up to accept a couple pointers from Zatanna or move even furher towards the Dark Side of the Force. Yet another ominous shot of Eclipso gives a little hint as to which it might be.
By the way, if the folks on Countdown want to see how to do an ominous villian shot, they should scope out last week's Superb...err, Prime appearance in Green Lantern. I know it's been said other places, but right now the Sinestro War storyline looks more interesting and potentially world altering than anything in Countdown.
There's something great about the idea that Trickster carries around a Trickster puppet in his coat. Maybe it's just that I'm waiting for the second season of the Muppet Show to show up from Amazon and have puppetry on the brain. Next month's cover is giving me the impression that the entire Rogue storyline might amount to a repetition of "They get caught, they escape in wacky fashion." In the hands of certain writers, this might work. Right here it's getting stale.
Jimmy's attempt to join the Titans was pretty well done and demonstrated the relative silliness of his superpowers. I'm actually glad the open mocking implied by the cover never actually came about and the confrontation with Tim Drake brought home what a well-developed and sympathetic character Tim Drake has become over the past couple years. I'd like to see someone do an Elseworlds-type story (although I guess Elseworlds no longer exist) that posits Tim as Batman. Either that or an in-continuity story of Tim finding a calling outside the cape-and-cowl set. It's just nice to be reminded that Tim is something more than a Dick Grayson clone.
And Darkseid's chessboard is taking on a little more importance as the big D makes his bid for Multiversal Dynasty. Good luck with that!
Overall, not a lot of progress in this issue, with antagonists slowly coming out of the shadows. Allow me to again recommend the Sinestro Corps War storyline for an all-stops-pulled epic, while Countdown continues the slow build.
1 comment:
Another entertaining entry. I look forward to each instalment. By the way, did you happen to notice the colouring blooper on Hourman's hood in the JSA scene - it was the mustard yellow of his father - the original Hourman's hood - not the black of Rick Tyler. And that computer hacker fight - any relevance to the countdown story? Also, I couldn't help wondering what use the Black condor might be in stopping intercontinental missiles. He was flying around there amidst the monstrous projectiles, looking serious. Undoubtedly,he's very handy in a bout of fisticuffs, even against a gun or two. But missiles? hmmm...
Post a Comment