Countdown Presents the Search for Ray Palmer: Wildstorm

If you’re still buying Countdown, I’d be willing to bet you’re either a) a masochist, b) a fan of watching slow motion car crash videos, c) illiterate, or d) highly delusional of the comic’s worth. It has none. However, if you still are buying Countdown, my guess is that you’re not enjoying it enough to buy all of the tie-in serieseses, like this one, the first issue of a multi-part presentation, coming from the pages of Countdown, titled, “The Search for Ray Palmer.” Ray Palmer, is, obviously, the former Atom, who left the scene a couple years ago after finding out that his ex-wife, Jean Loring, was the person responsible for the murder of Sue Dibny, wife of Ralph Dibny aka the Elongated Man, at the close of the stellar mini-series Identity Crisis (which was an amazing story, but, unfortunately presented other future storyline possibilities, most of which led directly into the Infinite Crisis, a fact so forward-thinking and well-planned that it knocks the book down to a solid C+). Anyway, after Ray disappeared, we didn’t hear of him again until the beginning of Countdown, when Bob the Monitor came to the Sourcewall (not exactly sure what that is) and it told him of a Great Disaster that’s on its way, which can only be stopped with the aid of Ray Palmer. Thus, the Search.

So far in the pages of Countdown, the search has involved traveling through the Palmerverse, a subatomic world that the Atom traveled to directly after he disappeared from the pages of comics. He leaves an energy trail wherever he goes, which Bob the Monitor can trace. After being traced to the Palmerverse, the new Challengers from Beyond (the Monitor, Donna Troy, Jason Todd, and Ryan Choi, who was recently replaced with Kyle Rayner) followed him, only to be confronted by bug creatures, bug creatures, and more bug creatures. How original. They eventually met Queen Nobody Cares, who messed with them for awhile until she left. The trail went cold, and they left, too.

Which brings us, whew, right into this issue. That was a lot of explanation for something that could have easily been summed up as follows: Ray Palmer left after Identity Crisis, some people need to find him to avert a Great Disaster, and they’re having a hard time doing it. Nothing of note has happened in the pages of Countdown, so I figured there’s a better than average chance that something maybe would happen in this supplemental mini-series. Any luck?

Kind of. This issue is told from Kyle Rayner’s perspective. He and Jason don’t get along because they both want to bed Donna Troy. Classic alpha-male (see: stupid and childish) behavior follows. When the team eventually splits up, Kyle finds himself in the Bleed, having been summonsed by Monarch, aka Captain Atom. He repeats the offer he made Kyle in the pages of Ion, a mini-series that nobody read, and rightfully so. Elsewhere, Donna travels the underworld, Jason gets a one-panel fight scene in the rain with Grifter, and, when they all meet back up, they find somebody who has the mark of the Atom. Right before they can get some answers from him, Midnighter shows up and kills him. The rest of the Authority follows, and there’s a fight, which is finally broken up by Majestic. Ray’s trail is cold, and the group leaves the Wildstorm Earth (Earth-50) for a different destination. At the end, it’s revealed that some bitch that looks kind of like Eclipso and kind of like Queen Nobody Cares is looking for somebody or other that she kind of looks like. I’m guessing it’s one of those two. She makes the mistake of asking a couple of stoned (and chiseled!) teenagers on a picnic, and they don’t have any answers, surprise, surprise.

What an odd twist. I actually enjoyed this issue, a little, which is something I can’t say for the rest of Countdown. I mean, it’s a fun idea, to explore the Multiverse with a team of interesting death-cheaters. If only their interactions were a bit more fleshed out and engaging. It just seems like an early episode of Saved by the Bell, when Preppy and Slater were still vying for Kelly’s love. With a big bearded guy in a metal suit and a cape following them around.

Not a bad issue. The art sucks, but, hey, that seems to be going around these days. Worth leafing through.