Countdown #27 Review

COUNTDOWN #27
Story by Paul Dini
Breakdowns by Keith Giffen
Script by Sean McKeever
Art by Manuel Garcia

The Countdown continues with this week's issue. I found it was a drastic dip in the quality of the art this week, but the story was still fairly good, continuing the up trend of this once mediocre series.

I'll start with my current favourite storyline with the Challengers. The cliffhanger with Donna falling at the hands of Forerunner was taken care of pretty early with Kyle jumping in to save her and undoing the crisis. Was hoping for a little more out of that scene, but the rest of this story turned out pretty good with Jason Todd actually appearing interesting for a change with his killing of one of the Extremists, betraying the Challengers and offering to join Monarch after shooting Donna. He does a lot of, well, evil things in this issue and I'm not sure how this could possibly be played off as a ruse on his part. Interested to see where this ends up going. He's not powerful enough to backstab Monarch or Forerunner and I don't see how this could benefit the Challengers if he's doing it for them. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually liked Jason Todd this week with his sudden heel turn.

The opening act of this week's issue was dedicated to continuing the Karate Kid storyline. To be honest, I'm not sure who Buddy Blank is outside of these Countdown appearances and knowing that he's related to Kamandi, but where the heck did he get this highly advanced tech vehicle at? I know he's got Brother Eye in his basement, but this just seems like something completely random for him to have access to based on my limited knowledge of the character. Depsite that, they are finally in Bludhaven and we should finally get some developments on the Great Disaster and the virus that is affecting Kid.

The Amazon story continues to flounder about and fails to impress. Not sure where Harley went this week, but I'm pretty sure she wasn't in the group with Holly here. And after surviving mystical, eyeless sharks and other assorted creatures in the swim to shore, why are they running from a couple of normal dogs here? I'm sure Holly could easily take down 2 guard dogs with her Catwoman training. And what is the point of this Amazon training? Granny Goodness got rid of all the powerful, highly trained Amazons at the end of Amazons Attack in favour of training some female thugs and criminals for her army? Why exactly? This story brings down every issue it appears in at this point and I hope they do something to fix it soon.

Mary Marvel's story took an odd turn this week with her battle with Shadowpact. I read last week's Shadowpact and there was no mention of this fight or story and the next issue doesn't appear to be picking up on this, so I wonder if we'll ever find out how Mary and Eclipso ended up at the bar or what sparked this fight scene. And why is Mary calling Eclipso Jean? I know it's Jean's body, but she's never called her by that name before and Eclipso never refers to herself as Jean. Writer mistake maybe?

Finally, the Rogues meet up with Two-Face and we get some more Salvation Run information. Why they broke into the facility and freed Two-Face only to leave him behind and flee the facility is a mystery to me. I thought they were going to free everyone so that they will owe the duo and help them out as they evade capture? Was this all just a Salvation Run plug so people know about it when it launches in the coming months? Also, the gay jokes are getting a bit old as well. We get it. Trickster thinks, or knows, Piper is gay. Does he need to make a gay joke in every panel? These are the equivilent of a fart joke if you ask me.

Verdict - Check It. Another good outing for Countdown. Definitely the right time to get back into this series as all the stories heat up and the book prepares to change to Countdown to Final Crisis. Can't wait for the name change and promise of improved art on this book. This week's art was atrocious and an assault on the eyes.

Related Posts