COUNTDOWN #28
Story by Paul Dini
Breakdowns by Keith Giffen
Script by Tony Bedard
Art by Al Barrionuevo
Countdown continues to impress this week with another strong outing. I'm going to come out and say it right now. Countdown to Final Crisis will be the book everyone expected to come out of 52 based on the last month of Countdown. All the stories are finally in motion and even the most annoying characters or storylines are becoming tolerable at this stage of the game.
This issue actually delivered on the cover image. Last issues Karate Kid cover had me convinced Forager wouldn't even show up this issue, let alone be featured for several pages.
Apparently the New Gods want Jimmy Olsen to help figure out who is behind the string of deaths of the New Gods. Forager reveals, to me at least, that even Barda was recently killed. I haven't read this week's Death of the New Gods issue, but it would suck if she was killed off panel when there was plenty of space in just about any issue of Countdown to feature it.
Only complaint I have with this storyline was the Newsboy Legion. They randomly find Jimmy in the sewers, know all about his condition, the New Gods and Mary Marvel and it is never explained how they came upon this knowledge or why they were randomly searching the sewers when Jimmy fled Cadmus. I can only guess they were a contrived plot device to move the story along and explain the situation to new readers.
The Rogues storyline started moving again with the Suicide Squad attacking the diner and capturing Double Down. Trickster and Piper fled during the chaos using one of Tricksters convient light bending camoflauge tricks. Even Piper shares my confusion as to why Trickster was a Rogue in the first place and not selling these 'tricks' and making millions.
The Challengers continue to be my favourite storyline since Kyle joined up with them. I don't mean to say Kyle has anything to do with it, however, he just happened to show up in time for the universe jumping to commence. Monarch outs the Challengers, who were hiding in the balcony above the Extremists from last issue. The ensuing fight saw the surprising return of the Crime Society to help Monarch subdue the Challengers and combat Lord Havok's team. This was another great melee that even saw Forerunner get in on the action for a change. I wonder if this will be reflected in the Extremists mini-series coming out or even the Forerunner back ups in Countdown to Adventure. Surprisingly, Monarch claims he is far more powerful than the 52 Monitors, which seems evident since Bob was crying for help when he was attacked by the Dr Octopus-like Gorgon Extremist member.
On the Mary Marvel side of things, Shadowpact is set to try and take her down and share my concerns that it might not have been Black Adam who gave her her new powers in the first place based on her application of said powers. Adam never used them in the ways Mary currently does and I've always hoped they weren't Adam's in the first place, as he is one of my favourite characters in the DCU ever since his role in 52. Nice to see there's a slight chance of this being true, however slight, in Shadowpact's assessment of her.
Finally, the Karate Kid stuff finally moved forward this issue. Apparently all Hal-2000, er, I mean Brother Eye wanted was a friend and little Kamandi decided to exchange e-mail links with him and everyone became friends. Eye sent Kid off to Bludhaven to find more answers in Bunker Command-D. Never followed Bludhaven's destruction, but isn't that place radioactive now or something?
All-in-all, another good issue of Countdown, a disturbing, but welcome, trend. Aside from the Newsboy Legion thing, I can't really think of any major complaint with this week's issue. This is probably a great time to jump on as things are shifting into high gear and should get even better with the name change and improved art coming with it.
Verdict - Check It. Check it out, it took a while, but you might just enjoy this book now.
This issue actually delivered on the cover image. Last issues Karate Kid cover had me convinced Forager wouldn't even show up this issue, let alone be featured for several pages.
Apparently the New Gods want Jimmy Olsen to help figure out who is behind the string of deaths of the New Gods. Forager reveals, to me at least, that even Barda was recently killed. I haven't read this week's Death of the New Gods issue, but it would suck if she was killed off panel when there was plenty of space in just about any issue of Countdown to feature it.
Only complaint I have with this storyline was the Newsboy Legion. They randomly find Jimmy in the sewers, know all about his condition, the New Gods and Mary Marvel and it is never explained how they came upon this knowledge or why they were randomly searching the sewers when Jimmy fled Cadmus. I can only guess they were a contrived plot device to move the story along and explain the situation to new readers.
The Rogues storyline started moving again with the Suicide Squad attacking the diner and capturing Double Down. Trickster and Piper fled during the chaos using one of Tricksters convient light bending camoflauge tricks. Even Piper shares my confusion as to why Trickster was a Rogue in the first place and not selling these 'tricks' and making millions.
The Challengers continue to be my favourite storyline since Kyle joined up with them. I don't mean to say Kyle has anything to do with it, however, he just happened to show up in time for the universe jumping to commence. Monarch outs the Challengers, who were hiding in the balcony above the Extremists from last issue. The ensuing fight saw the surprising return of the Crime Society to help Monarch subdue the Challengers and combat Lord Havok's team. This was another great melee that even saw Forerunner get in on the action for a change. I wonder if this will be reflected in the Extremists mini-series coming out or even the Forerunner back ups in Countdown to Adventure. Surprisingly, Monarch claims he is far more powerful than the 52 Monitors, which seems evident since Bob was crying for help when he was attacked by the Dr Octopus-like Gorgon Extremist member.
On the Mary Marvel side of things, Shadowpact is set to try and take her down and share my concerns that it might not have been Black Adam who gave her her new powers in the first place based on her application of said powers. Adam never used them in the ways Mary currently does and I've always hoped they weren't Adam's in the first place, as he is one of my favourite characters in the DCU ever since his role in 52. Nice to see there's a slight chance of this being true, however slight, in Shadowpact's assessment of her.
Finally, the Karate Kid stuff finally moved forward this issue. Apparently all Hal-2000, er, I mean Brother Eye wanted was a friend and little Kamandi decided to exchange e-mail links with him and everyone became friends. Eye sent Kid off to Bludhaven to find more answers in Bunker Command-D. Never followed Bludhaven's destruction, but isn't that place radioactive now or something?
All-in-all, another good issue of Countdown, a disturbing, but welcome, trend. Aside from the Newsboy Legion thing, I can't really think of any major complaint with this week's issue. This is probably a great time to jump on as things are shifting into high gear and should get even better with the name change and improved art coming with it.
Verdict - Check It. Check it out, it took a while, but you might just enjoy this book now.
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