Countdown: Forty-Eight
Well, folks, I’m pretty drunk, so you know what time it is. It’s time to review the newest issue of Countdown and talk about what happened in it and stuff. Let’s run through the quick-and-dirty real quick. Mary Marvel meets with Black Adam, newly re-powered, in the remains of the Kahndaq Embassy in Gotham City. Mary says something, and Black Adam laughs. Trust me, it’s pretty stupid. Meanwhile, Jason Todd meets with Donna Troy to talk about what it’s like living on borrowed time. Again, it’s just filler, and it’s boring nonsense. Elsewhere, Starman is watching the cage that the JLA/JSA have been keeping Karate Kid in, and he talks about a lot of stuff that doesn’t make much sense. I’ll get back to that. The real meat and potatoes of this issue, though, is the part where a bunch of meteorites (or is it meteors?) crash land in Metropolis. Jimmy Olsen displays yet another new power (of super speed) to save some pedestrians, and then we learn that one of the New Gods has crash landed, and he’s dead. I didn’t know who he was, so go here to learn more. He’s dead. That is the important part. And whoever killed him escaped through a Boom Tube.
Okay. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk reactions. I’m cool with Jimmy gaining new powers. That’s a fun little story. And I’m cool with Black Adam being back, although he laughs way too much and seems he’s lost his darker edge from 52. Oh, and why doesn’t Mary call him out on killing EVERYBODY in Biayla? He’s kinda like, uh, Public Enemy Number One. She should know that. That’s a digression. My real beef with this issue is the scene with Starman and Karate Kid. First of all, I have no idea when this scene takes place according to the current JLA/JSA crossover. Second, I have no idea what’s happening in that crossover. That’s a big complaint. Seriously, I have been reading DC comics for quite awhile now, and I’ve read every big DC Event since Crisis on Infinite Earths (mostly through TPBs), so I should have some clue who the heck these guys are and what the heck they’re doing, but, yet, I really don’t. If this is supposed to be tying into Crossover, color me confused.
I’m not sure if any of that made any sense, but I’ll leave it alone and cover a rumor I heard the other day. Keith Giffen is apparently writing, currently, the Final Crisis, which is what all of this nonsense is counting down to. I really hope that’s not true, but I don’t know what else to say about it. We should all storm the DC offices and murder the top brass and take the place over.
Who’s with me?
I’ll bring the whacking sticks.
They were meteorites, which are small pieces of meteors, which are very large.
Also, I’m with you on the Jimmy Olsen storyline being the only thing that remotely interests me about this whole she-bang.
What’s the point of even buying an issue when they tell you the big event on the cover? A New God dies, and then we see which one lying there. This series has returned to its stupid status.
“Oh, and why doesn’t Mary call him out on killing EVERYBODY in Biayla?”
Umm…because she values her life?
Also, I agree that this series has been frustrating so far, as has the Lightning Saga in JLA/JSA. I just want DC to explain to me the New history of New Earth so this crap makes some sort of sense. I had a lot more to say about that, but then I realized I’m not going to have anything to rant about on Monday since nothing much came out this week.
Yeah, because didn’t COIE eliminate Superman’s career as Superboy? Since Superman now refers to his time spent with the LOSH, do we assume that his whole Superboy past has been restored?
What I don’t get is, if all the reality-meddling has changed the past, why do people recall these Crises as if their pasts – and thus their memories and experiences – haven’t been affected? They react to these things as if they’re sitting here reading them.
I don’t think anyone gets that.
The conversation between Jason Todd and Donna Troy was weird on so many levels. The only thing that could’ve made it more self-conscious would’ve been if Ambush Bug had popped up, screaming, “We are all figments! Imaginary stupidity! Bad plotlines! Wu-Tang!”
And how does Perry White know that Jason Todd was Robin and the Black Hood? Doesn’t that kind of compromise Batman’s identity a bit?