23 skidoo...

Hobbyist or Terrorist?

On Nov 22, 2007 5:28 PM, xxx wrote:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101040524-638410,00.html

Interesting article. Paranoia strikes deep into the heartland. I know they want to make sure nobody's doing anything nefarious, but a lot of these folks seem to have forgotten (or just don't seem to care) that going for a wander, with or without cameras, is a legal activity. I swear, sometimes it seems just like what we used to be told about the evils of the Soviet Union. *sigh* Personal freedoms sure seem unimportant to the decision-makers; of course, their personal freedoms aren't the ones being taken away. And remember never to go hunting with Dick Cheney.

I'm pretty sure you guys don't celebrate anything like our Thanksgiving holiday (after all, it was to commemorate the early settlers freedom from youse guys!), but ours went pretty well. Piper and I basically stayed in, cooked, watched movies, and played with our various computers. Piper left for work a little while ago (which is why I'm doing email at 4:00 AM); but then again today is Black Friday here, the biggest shopping day of the year. Her store is opening at 5:00. Ick!

Hey, that whole "warrantless surveillance" thing is supposed to be snatching and reading all contacts between US citizens and dem furriners. You suppose someone (or at least some server somewhere) is wasting time with this email? Welcome to the magic world of Carnivore or Magic Lantern or whatever they call the durn thing nowadays. That last sentence alone is probably going to make someone waste their time looking at it. *shrugs* Oh well, hourly work. If they weren't snooping into my mail they'd prolly be reading someone else's Viagra ad. *LOL*

Gee, do you think I'm a bit ticked at the whole attitude that 'we can't afford any longer for people to do what they want or have privacy nowadays -- it's too dangerous a world out there'? Have they forgotten what it is they're supposed to be protecting? If it weren't for the fact that it's the Republicans behind all of this -- and God, how they've changed from the days when they decried the 'nanny state' -- I'd have sworn these folks were the remnants of the '60s "Better Red Than Dead" faction. *sighs*

So much for my ranting. I guess it comes with being retired -- I get to sit on the sidelines and bitch and moan about how the country is going to hell in a handcart.

Anyway, before I head back to bed, Piper mentioned that you've got a compilation of Gaby, Book Four? Would you be willing to send a copy? That's the one thing that's stopping me from reading Four; I don't want to go through the effort of grabbing all the separate chapters.

Thanks. I'm going back to bed, as the whining puppy is trying to encourage me. Unless, of course, she wants to go outside. *groans*

Love,

- Kim ;)

Counting away...

I'm sure you've noticed a distinct lack of postings over the past month. Sorry 'bout that.

I haven't lost interest in Countdown or anything, it's been an issue with my health. As you can guess, my health hasn't been particularly good of late, and, sadly, things aren't really looking up just now.

I'm going to continue reading Countdown and its related crossovers, and thinking about what I'm seeing, but I'm going to be taking some time off from posting until I'm in somewhat better shape.

'be seeing you!

29 and counting...

One page? ONE LOUSY PAGE? You can see the cover to this issue, over there to the right. Notice it features Karate Kid? Attacking Brother Eye? So, HOW MUCH space does it get in the book? One grifing page!

And yeah, my earlier HAL-9000 comment was pretty much dead on.

The Challengers are now on Earth-8. They're captured, the 'evil' monitor meddles, resulting in their escape, and the Jokester is killed. Monarch shows up to recruit someone or other.

The Jokester's death is a shame. He'd been developed as an interesting character, and I'd have liked to see him hanging around for a while, to further explore him and the differences from the Joker.

Jimmy Olsen meets the Newsboy Legion in the sewers. He's happy because he's finally among friends.

Maybe. They say they're in the sewers looking for Jimmy, thinking he's gonna need help. The main flaw in this is that he's only been in the sewers for five minutes. Truly amazing they could find out about his 'escape' from Cadmus and get there so fast.

I'm reminded again of a major theme of the title: Not everyone who opposes you is your enemy; not everyone who helps you is your friend.

Holly Robinson is still fighting sea serpents. Um, last issue wasn't she fighting sharks? Was there a timeslip between issues? Remember, "Time is broken."

Piper and Trickster are having lunch at a truck stop with their new friend. It turns out the threat to slit Piper's throat was just, um, a misunderstanding. Yeah, I can't explain it, either.

Mary Marvel, well, she's getting good at abusing her power. That's about all need be said about her this issue.

Recent issues have been pretty good, and this week was quite a disappointment. There seemed to be lots of continuity glitches this week. I'll be back next week when I'll hopefully find something worth writing about.

30 and counting...

The numbers are getting smaller, and the stories are getting bigger. In another month we'll reach the halfway point, and at that mark the title changes to "Countdown To Final Crisis". The storyline is getting more cohesive, less a random series of events and more a story that's going somewhere. If only the book had started this way.

Jimmy Olsen is still being tested by Cadmus, and things are still out of control. He seemingly splits in two -- Stretchable Olsen and Giant Ghostly Olsen. They're both sharing the same mind, but the stretchable one feels he has to escape, and leaves via the sewers. Big Immaterial Olsen confirms that it's as gross as it sounds.

The big Ghostly Olsen just jogged my memory. DC once had a feature called "Cave Carson - Inside Earth". One of the stories dealt with people being split, the ghostly half looking much as Jimmy does here. I'm wondering if the writers might have delved back that far and connected this to that? If so, kudos.

I'm wondering how he could so easily escape through the sewers. First of all, you'd think they'd have precautions against just such a thing, and second they'd want to avoid infiltration through the same means. It's been obvious for decades that Cadmus has crappy security, but I had no idea they were this sloppy. Three million dollar robot guards and yet they leave the drains uncovered. Sheesh!

Karate Kid and Una are taken to Brother Eye by Buddy Blank. Brother Eye (who comes across in this incarnation as somewhat like HAL-9000) immediately diagnoses the problem. Val (Karate Kid) has been infected with the OMAC virus. It's in an incomplete form, but still enough to prove fatal. However, there's a second virus there, which seems to be interacting. Brother Eye closes with an enigmatic "It seems the great disaster has come to me."

It's probably worth noting that I'm somewhat irked as I write this. Due to my computer doing a choke-n-puke, I lost everything I'd originally written beyond this point. Ah well, such is life.

Holly Robinson reaches Themyscria at last, or at least almost reaches it. The warrior candidates end up having to swim for land while fighting a school of extremely large, vicious, eyeless sharks. I know Holly has been suspecting that something is off-kilter, but this, if naught else, should be a flare-lit tip off that something is seriously wrong.

Piper and Trickster are hanging around the battle between the Justice League and the villains, mainly to make sure the league took their warnings seriously. Foolhardy at best, they manage to do some good when they destroy the Joker's plan for ruining the wedding while they get their revenge on Poison Ivy.

In making their getaway, they are taken by the Ace Of Spades from the Royal Flush Gang. He's apparently a fan of Dexter, since he copies a scene from the very first episode of the series. Good taste in television, not that it's likely to please Piper.

Which brings us to the last storyline seen this week. The Challengers have now reached Earth-15, where they meet other versions of themselves. This world appears to be what we once all envisioned for the future of the DC Universe, back in the days when everything seemed simple.

Donna Troy has become Wonder Woman, and Jason Todd has grown up to be the Batman. (By the way, this version of Jason is a prick, too, though it works better with the Batman costume.) Ray Palmer's daughter (?) has become the Atom, and Kyle Rayner is, um, Green Lantern. This is pretty much back in the seventies how we thought the future would unfold .

Seeing this, there's a bit of nostalgia for what never was, and I'm glad that somewhere there's an earth where the dreams from a more innocent time came true.

31 and counting...

Countdown 31... and I am feeling better, thank you very much.

We begin this week, with the Challengers. Now on Earth-3 and looking for the long-missing Ray Palmer, they immediately run into the Crime Society.

The Crime Society is an intriguing new version of Grant Morrison's Crime Syndicate, itself an update of the old Earth-3 Crime Syndicate. All these, of course, are alternate versions of the Justice League.

They fight the Society, and spend about as much time bickering amongst themselves, finally leaving when "Bob" determines that Ray Palmer isn't there. When they leave, they have an addition, the Jokester.

This is one time when I wish there wasn't so much advance promotion. Between the internet news sites and DC's own site, we have a fairly good idea what's coming up -- heck, I've already read next week's Challengers segment, where they visit Earth-15. The problem with all the promos and advance peeks is that there's very few surprises left. We know the broad outlines of what's coming, and just wait for it to play out.

The Jokester could have been quite a delightful surprise dropped into the mix, but we already know he's a 'good' version of the Joker, going to join the team, and the father of the late, lamented, Duela Dent (aka The Joker's Daughter also aka Harlequin). Kinda takes the edge off those revelations, doesn't it?

I'm not suggesting going back to the old model of telling us nothing until the book is released, but there has to be a happy medium. Doesn't there?

Monarch, by the way, stops by Earth-3 to recruit the Crime Society to join his forces. Countdown: Arena tie-in?

Oh, by the way, Captain Carrot (pictured somewhere to the right if all works correctl;y) is part of the Countdown mix. I'm not sure which earth is his, but the coming Captain Carrot And The Final Ark miniseries is a Countdown tie-in.

Holly Robinson is leaving for Paradise Island. She knows something is wrong here, but can't quite put fer finger on it yet. She sends a letter containing her suspicions to Selina Kyle (Catwoman), but makes the tactical error of mailing it from the shelter's front desk, where it's promptly destroyed.

One suspects she should be a little less trusting of those whom she's suspicious. One ongoing theme buried in the subtext of Countdown is the question of "Who can you trust?". Who are your friends and who are your enemies? As we've seen amply demonstrated, everyone who helps you is not your friend, and everyone who thwarts you is not your enemy.

Mary Marvel would do well to realize this, but I'm thinking it's a bit too late for that at this point. She kills three security guards by turning them to stone. It's pretty much done without remorse and without reflection. Yeah, in theory she (or some other magic-user?) could reverse it, but that's a false argument. Eclipso makes sure one is really dead by breaking off his head with the flick of a finger.

One thing -- in comics, how can things like this be reversed? Once they're dead, well, turning their bodies back to flesh would just leave you with fleshy corpses, wouldn't it? Think of how many times the Spectre has killed using just this kind of transformation. (I'm especially reminded of the Michael Fliescher/Jim Aparo days in Adventure Comics -- what I consider pretty much the definitive Spectre run.)

Jimmy Olson is being tested at Cadmus. Ever noticed these things always go wrong?

We've got a first look-in at Mxyzptlk walking his, um, fish and chatting with his girlfriend. For those who came in late, Mxy is a resident of the 5th dimension, and has this thing for amusing himself at Superman's expense. He gets, well, sucked through the 'walls' of his dimension and vanishes.

One thing I'm trying to figure out, there once were two of him. You had Mxyzptlk and Mxyztplk, one from the fifth dimension of Earth-1 and one from the fifth dimension of Earth-2. So, nowdays are there still two fifth dimension and two Mxy's? Or is it just the one?

Karate Kid and Una find the home of Buddy Blank, and ask for information about Omac and Brother Eye. They also meet (and scare) his grandson. The grandson looks suspiciously familiar. Suppose he might be the once-and-future Kamandi?

Finally, the Monitors meet (or, conceivably, are still meeting. Don't these folks ever go to the bathroom?) and discuss the Jokester's joining the Challengers. I dunno, though. I've been wondering about the Monitor who has this monomania for stopping the Challengers and the "aberrations".

I think he's one of two things: either a proxy for Darkseid, or a new (alternate?) incarnation of the Anti-Monitor.

Dexter... (aka 32 and holding...)

My review and comments on Countdown 31 will be slightly delayed because of health issues. In the meanwhile, here's a little plug for Dexter, a great TV series airing on Showtime. The first episode of season 2 will be on this next Sunday evening. Check it out!

32 and counting...

Welcome to the batchelorette party... But first:

Mary Marvel discovers she can't trust Klarion. Why she jumped to the snap decision that she could in the first place is a mystery, considering she just met him moments before. Her emotional reactions have, as we've seen, been regressing from a reasonably mature level towards those of a small child... Or, to put it into somewhat politically incorrect terms, those of a severely emotionally retarded person.

Now, having seen in the past how Black Adam (the source of her powers) viewed the world in stark black and white, and was always hyper-sensitive to taking offense at the least provocation, one can't help wondering if this emotional immaturity is endemic to this version of the powers? Somewhere, I'm thinking, one of the "gods" who contributes their powers isn't quite what (or who) we've been led to believe.

Eclipso finally reveals herself, and I'm guessing she knows more about the nature of Mary's powers than anyone else. How? Not sure, though since Eclipso's powers themselves are rooted in God's powers, it may be a carry-over from that. I don't usually comment on the back feature, but in this case it (the backstory of Eclipso) it's quite pertinent. And, I'll note, it does go into some depth on the Godly source of Eclipso's abilities.

Jimmy Olson, who's looking increasingly frazzled, winds up at our old friends The Cadmus Project (another Jack Kirby creation). He starts to unburden himself of the reasons he wants to be a super-hero. You can feel the earnestness, and the feeling that he's an outsider wanting to join the fraternity. It's interesting how his storyline here careens between low humor and pathos. I'm sure it's on purpose, but it certainly complicates getting a handle on his storyline.

The Challengers of the Undefined take a wrong turn at Albuquerque and end up on Earth-30, in which there's a Soviet-era Superman. They get out of there posthaste, and end up on Earth-3, the home of the Crime Syndicate. This is the world where their equivilant of our heroes are evil and rule the world.

Of course they immediately run into the Syndicate.

When did Kyle Rayner change from the Crab-Face to the more traditional Green Lantern garb? One suspects there was a degree of miscommunication on the art side. Either that of there's been a degree of miscommunication on the reader side. Isn't this why there's supposed to be editors? Perhaps they should be less involved in the plotting of the story (Leave it to the writers? What a radical idea!) and more involved in making sure the product is ready to go out the door?

Pied Piper and Trickster manage their escape from Zatanna's house, but in the process they manage to create a fair amount of pandemonium at Black Canary's batchelorette party. I wonder whose Porsche they stole?

At to the party itself, there's way too much going on for me to even begin to summarize. The highlight for me was Supergirl and Stargirl's attempts to get their hands on some alcoholic beverages. Heh.

Buy it. The party itself is worth the price of the issue.

----------------
Now playing: Bread - Mother Freedom
via FoxyTunes

33 and counting...

Starting with the cover, there's a new element in Countdown 33. Kyle Rayner is on the cover, and he's back wearing the 'crab-face' version of the Green Lantern uniform. Am I the only person who liked the crab-face mask? Back when he was the only Green Lantern, and his original costume didn't match the traditional Hal Jordan version, there was a lot of flack tossed DC's way. I liked the different costume. It looked good, and in the time-travel issues (where Kyle fights side-by-side with a young Hal Jordan) Kyle's design stood up well against the traditional model.

Inside? Yes, it's Kyle! The Challengers Of The Whatever are trying to get Donna Troy back from the evil Queen Belthera, and failing, when Kyle drops from the sky seemingly out of nowhere (durn, the Guardians Of The Universe really are omniscient!), he grabs right into the portal and drags Donna back.

It seems Kyle has been sent by the Guardians to tell Bob The Monitor that Ray Palmer (the previous iteration of The Atom) has left the nanoverse and headed out into the multiverse. Given that Bob is a Monitor, and the departures don't seem to have been all that recent, Isn't Bob supposed to know all this already? After all, monitoring things is supposed to be what the monitors do best. Between Bob and the rest of the Monitors, there certainly seems to be a pronounced lack of omniscience. Good thing the Guardians are on the ball.

Kyle seems awfully friendly to Donna Troy, considering that, last time I looked, he was her ex-boyfriend. Gee, it's nice to know they still get along so well.

Ryan Choi (The.. oh, you know who he is.) get snagged up by a giant hand. Where the hand might be coming from, I dunno. Considering they're in the nanoverse, at least two levels deep, it can't be someone from "our" level of reality. They've not bug sized, they're sub-atomic in scale. So where's the hand coming from? More importantly, who? If not for the bare skin on the hand, I'd almost suspect The Spectre. But no, despite the Neal Adams-inspired art this issue, I seriously doubt he'd be brought into this mix, especially at this late date.

Once The Atom is taken, the majority opinion is to forget him and move on in the search for Ray Palmer. I understand how important finding him may be, but I tend to agree with Kyle that one doesn't just leave a man behind. For good or ill, it comes across as much too cold. It definitely tends to prejudice me against the team. I thought a big part of the reason for the series of crises was to remove the moral ambiguities from the heroes, and let them be heroes again. This certainly isn't helping.

The art, by the way, has picked up in the last week or two, and the Neal Adams style rendering isn't bad, though there's a few panels with some clumsy interpretations of Keith Giffen's layouts. All-in-all, though, they're improving greatly in the art end of things.

Turning away from the sub-atomic realm, Wally West (The Flash) is still dealing with Trickster and Pied Piper. He becomes convinced of their innocence, takes them to a safe place, and warns them to stay put -- or else. Of course, Trickster's first instinct is to escape, and, well, that turns out about as well as anything else he does.

Mary Marvel and Klarion -- I'm having some trouble following just what happened here. Mainly what I got from it is that he's being controlled by Eclipso.

Jimmy Olsen is running for his life from folks who turn out to (arguably) be his friends. Not much more to say here.

The editors are finally throwing us a bone with a page of notes on story crossovers so far. It's a big help in finding where stuff is going on that's not shown in the book. I'd still like to see embedded editor's notes or a regular page of notes, but this is at least a big step in the right direction.

34 and counting...

And then there's Piper and Trickster, hanging upside down many stories above the streets of Gotham. As we all know, that's going to be the least of their problems. First a confrontation with the Batman, followed in quick succession (sorry!) by the Flash. To say Wally's pissed would be quite an understatement. After all, Pied Piper was his friend, and to have Piper participating in Bart's death was beyond unforgivable.

Still, Wally's reaction seems a bit -- off. When they claim that Bart's death wasn't their fault, and they were acting undercover; then tell Flash what Poison Ivy and Deathstroke are up to, he turns darker and angrier, possibly on the verge of murder. So, is this really Wally? Our Wally? What's really up here?

Jimmy Olsen, meanwhile, is being examined by John Henry Irons (aka Steel). They're using machines that are supposedly CAT scanners, albeit "metaphysically different", that look more like iPod-enabled barber chairs. Things, ahem, go wrong, and Jimmy, with swollen head (one suspects this is an evolved Future-Jimmy from the silver age) overloads and 'attacks' the machines. I'm just guessing here, but I think the core of Jimmy's issue is that he's carrying the Anti-Life Equation around in his head. This can't be good.

The Challengers of the Clueless are still dealing with Queen Belthera. There's a fight (You don't say!) and Donna Troy pushes the Queen into a portal into which the queen wanted to go anyways. At the last instant, Belthera grabs Donna and drags her through the portal with her. Why? I don't know, he's on third, and...


Aside from the senselessness of dragging Donna with her (and leaving Bob the Monitor behind), there's the question of when/how/why was Ryan Choi turned human again. One senses that Queen Belthera might be powerful in her magic, but isn't the brightest bulb in the fixture.

Aside from that, though, the change back obviously did happen, somewhere between issues. A lot of elements in Jimmy Olsen's story have been happening between issues, as well. Jimmy rips Clark Kent's shirt open, exposing the Superman Suit, and next we see, Superman is introducing Mister Action to the Justice League of America.

The Powers That Be say that what happened between wasn't shown because it was too obvious. Well, yeah, we can guess most of what happened, but why should we have to? Many things, interesting happenings and even discussions might have happened. After all, Jimmy now knows Superman's Secret Identity. Maybe they did in one of the Superman titles. I wouldn't know. I'm way behind on reading them, and shouldn't need to in order to know what's going on. This is just basic storytelling, people.

Again, here's where either an editor's note or a page-of-references would be invaluable. In a title like this, I'd really like that page. Something like Kurt Busiek did in Power Company. It'd point to the backstory elements and where they came from, as well as pointing the reader to connected happenings in other titles. I know Dan Didio doesn't like them, but they are really needed in order to make the book accessible, and to help it be the 'spine' it was meant to be.

Holly Robinson is still fighting in the arena, and her foe turns out to be, as expected, Harley Quinn. Athena tells the two of them that they've 'passed', and they're to be taken to Paradise Island to become full Amazons.

There's just one little detail. It's been revealed elsewhere, but not in Countdown, that this isn't really Athena.

Athena is being impersonated by Granny Goodness, one of Darkseid's minions, who's recruiting humans to form a new Female Furies. Kind of important stuff to know, and it's not as though it was being held as a surprise. After all, it's already been revealed in another title. Editor's note, anyone?

Mary Marvel encounters Klarion, and at least there's enough in the dialogue to tell us what's going on. To be continued...

Finally, Karate Kid and Una finish their meeting with Elias Orr, who tells them of Brother Eye, and directs them to a scientist named Buddy Blank. We're obviously getting closer to the world of Earth A.D.

Once they go off on their merry way, we discover who's Orr's employer. It's Desaad, another of Darkseid's minions. Seemingly on New Earth, all roads lead to Apokolips.

35 and holding...

It didn't strike me until today that comic shipments were going to be late this week because of the holiday. Whups! More tomorrow...

35 and counting...

We've arrived at Countdown 35. Please return your seatbacks and tray tables to their upright and locked position.

In the Palmerverse, um, nanoverse, our heroes (The Challengers of Whatever) awaken to find they're prisoners of Queen Belthera, who claims to rule the dimension. She transforms the Atom, Ryan Choi, into a bug creature. Malicious or uncaring and capricious? Umm. I'm going for malicious.

Perhaps a tad predictable, especially her 'turning' of Bob the Monitor, but then again, it does fit in with the Darkseid plot. Looks like he's going to have some competition for ruling the multiverse.

Mary Marvel, still under the influence of Eclipso, continues her battle with Zatanna. Now, however, Zatanna has regained her footing, and she wipes the floor with Mary. She not only shows her the door, she makes it impossible for Mary to ever find Shadowcrest again.

Jimmy Olsen, once again, has had his dreams shot down. Auditioning with the Justice League, his powers failed because he wasn't truly in danger.

Karate Kid and Una get their face-to-face with Elias Orr, who's apparently working for Checkmate. He claims to have the answers Val needs, but time will tell (so to speak).

The Monitors (or, as I prefer to think of them, the Legion of Righteous Self-Important Arrogant Busybodies *, fret about Kyle Rayner (formerly Green Lantern, Ion, and now Parallax) and the possibilities for chaos if a certain low-probability event happens. So, of course, they decide he should be killed, which attempt will presumably precipitate the very event they fear.

* It just occurred to me that the title could also rightfully belong to the Guardians of the Universe. Maybe that'll be another Countdown spin-off? Monitors Versus Guardians?

They also, by a 'wink and a nod', decide that Bob the Monitor must die, as well.

No Piper and Trickster segment this issue, but based on the next issue's cover I'm guessing they have a major role in that issue.

Holly Robinson begins her "purification ritual", and as she realizes she's being armored but not armed she grows increasingly uncomfortable with the situation. Once the battle starts she kicks butt. Not too big a surprise, since at one time she was Catwoman. The only person she doesn't wipe the floor with is a masked competitor whose mask carries a sort of smirk. I think I'll go out on a limb here and guess that behind the mask is Harley Quinn.

You've probably noticed that this week I haven't groused about the art. It's nothing spectacular, but good solid workmanlike drafting. I didn't see anything particularly eye-catching, just good solid art. It's kind of a shame that it's worth remarking on that the art is competent.

Again, the story this week was nothing to write home about, but the pacing was much better than in the early issues. Not trying to cover every story in every issue is a good move. It gives the story more room to breathe, allowing it to feel more like a story and not just an unconnected series of events. I still feel the difference is in the editorial side of things. Mike Carlin and his assistants have a much better feel for the material than the previous editorial folks.

Sean McKeever has a good touch with the dialogue and captions. My only objection is that he's overusing one transition technique, where in the last panel of one scene we get the first thought of the next scene. It's a technique that works, but by the time it's noticeable it's been overdone.

What can I say, if that's my biggest kvetch with the issue then the book is on the right track.

Don't forget, go out and spend that three dollars a week for Countdown. Despite it's faults, I believe the book is well worth your money. Let's show DC that there's a demand for this type of book.

Please remain seated until the blog comes to a complete and full stop. Thanks for flying KimAir, and have yourself a great day!

Lies, Damn Lies, and Previews

There's been a tendency in recent years for both DC and Marvel to lie about forthcoming developments. Both Dan Didio and Joe Quesada have done this and been caught repeatedly, and basically taken the attitude of 'got one by you, didn't I?'.

Gone seem to be the days where they'd just shut up about things they didn't want to reveal, or even being truthful but allowing the listener/reader to make wrong assumptions. It now seems to be accepted that lying is an acceptable tactic to keep plotlines secret.

I know that, with the pervasive communications about what's coming up, it takes more creativity to keep the wraps on. We've come a long way from waiting for the next issue of Mediascene or The Comic Reader to get a few tidbits, but that doesn't give the companies license to lie to the fans.

36 and counting...

DC's Countdown hits issue 36 this week. For those of you who haven't been paying attention, that doesn't mean we're 36 issues in. It means we have 36 left to go.

Now that that's settled:

We begin this week with the Challengers of the Beyond (or Challengers of Beyond, or Challengers from Beyond, or Challengers from the Beyond. It's all kind of confusing, since they were named in convention panels rather than in the book, and there's several versions of the name circulating. Some direction here, please?)...

Um.

We begin this week with the Challengers of the Whatever, still down in the nanoverse, seemingly stuck and fighting a party of insectoid creatures. They're pretty much defeated, Atom can't reach his belt controls to shrink his way free, but he can reach... Eh?

Is it just me, or is there a slight gap in logic here?

Oh, and a mystery (and english-speaking) armored character holds the "bang stick" in question. How? Where is the character speaking from? The visible forearm appears to be 'framed' by, um, tree limbs? The perspective of the scene makes it appear that he (?) is watching them on a screen (or in some sort of scrying portal). I'm wondering whether Giffen's layouts more clearly showed the character in front of a viewer and the penciller misinterpreted it. And the 'tree limbs'? There's indication in one panel (page 2, panel 2) that there's trees around, maybe. They could as easily be part of some floating rocks in this Brunner-inspired level. I'm deliberately not looking back to Countdown 37 to see whether there were trees around. If I have to do that to find out, the artist failed.
I've got a lot more criticisms of the art in this issue. I'll mention some elsewhere, but it looks like the artists just aren't very good. I'm sort of used to their slotting some second-tier artists into the mix on the weekly books, but this past two weeks we seem to be dredging down to the third-tier. I'm sorry if this offends anyone (mainly the artists in question and their wives and girlfriends), but it's true. They're just not ready for prime time -- a major book from one of the 'big two'.

At least this week we can see that the artists did render the book instead of tracing over the layouts. Some of the linework shows up a bit, well, strange. It's not that the artist has a quirky style, it's just a lack of experience. More on this later.

Aside from the art, nothing much has gone on with this plotline for a while. They've shrunk to a world which looks kinda like the Amazon-ish jungle where Ray Palmer used to live. They've shrunk from there to the Frank Brunner inspired cosmos where they got some hints to the Great Disaster. I know DC has faith in this 'team' -- there's a number of specials scheduled, and rumors of a regular monthly title later, so shouldn't they be having more happen than acting as a placeholder waiting for the specials?


Zatanna is still training Mary Marvel in magic, until Mary explodes over nothing. It turns into a major battle, tearing up Zatanna's house and unleashing various magical energies. Mary is operating on a level of pure emotion, not intellect, but there's more than that. It's not unlike Lindsay Lohan being told that she can't get plastered, do lines, and have semi-public sex on the riverboat in Disneyland. What's that you say? Reports are that she did just that? I'm sure it's just a pernicious rumor.

It's all about the sense of entitlement that means there's a blow-up when anyone tells her "no". She's been increasingly unstable since gaining Teth Amon's (Black Adam's) powers, but this time it's way over the top. Is it the levels of power that're hard to adjust to, or something intrinsic in the powers? You might think so, but no.

It's Eclipso. Jean Loring must have found her way free. Where did this happen? Is this a new development, or did I miss it in a title I don't read? She's manipulating Mary, freeing her from moral constraints and all maturity in her responses. Why? We'll find out, though I suspect this thread may yet converge with the impending Great Disaster plotline.

Speaking of which, last week the book was rife with foreshadowing. This week, nothing. It might be coincidence, but it reads to me like someone made the decision that they should be inserted last week to please the fans, and this week it's been forgotten. There's a lot of improvement in the pacing recently, but this seems awkward. The references, maybe, could be sprinkled a tad more evenly? Larding one issue with it, then dropping it next issue just seems clumsy.

There seems to be lots of folks around 'New Earth' who have more than an inkling of the Great Disaster and what it all means, but aside from cryptic comments they haven't shared their knowledge, even among the hero community. Why? There must be a damn good reason, but we haven't a clue what the reason might be.

Jimmy Olsen is living inside his own head, thinking he's about to be admitted to the Justice League of America. Dream on, Jimmy.

The art here is particularly weak. Jimmy, when he's shown, looks 'flat'. I'm thinking this is another of those 'inexperienced artist' issues. It's as though the layouts called for certain perspectives, and the artist isn't quite up to the task of illustrating the shots. I'm really thinking DC needs to re-evaluate who they're assigning to the art duties on Countdown. They don't need to lock their A-list artists on the book (although it'd be fascinating to see), but they DO need to use artists who are at least competent. At the very least what about assigning inkers who are able (and authorized) to 'fix' the art when it falls short?

One nice touch, done by someone with a wicked sense of humor (whom I suspect to be Keith Giffen) is the 'Last Supper' arrangement of the JLA. Any significance to Batman being in the Jesus position?

Karate Kid and Una arrive at the hidden base of the 'legendary' Elias Orr. He was identified to me as being a former henchperson of Lex Luthor. Maybe so -- was he one of the scientists in 52? Here's another of those places where a scorecard is needed. I know they're resisting it fiercely (though they've done it at least once) but either editor's notes or a text page are needed to point readers to needed background info. They seem to feel it's both unnecessary and disruptive to the book, but it is really annoying when those moments arrive (in every issue to date) where we need to know more about who these people are and why we should care (and in some cases, how did they get into their current situation).

There's been a fair amount of criticism on the title, and DC (or at least Dan Didio) has been quite defensive about their handling of Countdown. I like the book a lot, but there are some things that need fixing (such as the art) and listening (and maybe even taking action) won't hurt. Don't be defensive. The criticism isn't to impress with our incisive wit, but to help evaluate and improve the book. Happy readers are ones who will return to spend more money on the product, so why not try and please them just a tad?

Maybe it's just the way the art was done in this issue, but there's more than a passing resemblance between Elias Orr and R. J. Brande. Given this is a Legion of Super-Heroes thread, that's an interesting coincidence.

There's no Holly Robinson / Harley Quinn segment this week, which is a bit of a shame, since the Holly segments and Piper / Trickster segments are my favorites.

Speaking of Piper and Trickster, they left off last issue as prisoners of Poison Ivy, and this issue they talk their way out of it by pretending to have been sent by her new (and unnamed) patron. They manage to string her along until the patron shows up, and boy, he's pissed!

It's Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke, the Terminator.

This (along with the Holly / Harley plot) where I have no idea where the story is going. It doesn't look like it's going to lead into Salvation Run, but then again who knows?

37 and counting...

The tone of Countdown is evolving. No longer just a series of unconnected events, the story is finally moving forward. Karate Kid is told that whatever disease he has, it's either an alien virus or one from the future. Both, maybe?

This sets Una off, with under her breath mutterings about the coming of the Great Disaster. We're seeing a lot of recent indications that it's upon us, and I suppose it's about time. as I recall, when Jack Kirby originally created stories involving the disaster, it was supposed to have arrived in August of 1984. If that's wrong, it's my swiss-cheesed memory to blame. But I'd swear I once read a story back in the Kirby era that set the Great Disaster for August 28, 1984. Any verification -- or corrections?

By the way, Oracle appears to have an MRI unit in her hidden base of operations. Even for the ultimate data geek, this seems a bit much. It's not like she used to be a physician or something (and even if she had been it would be a bit ludicrous). Barbara Gordon was a librarian who wound up in Washington as a congresscritter. Normally members of congress aren't known for keeping MRI gadgets in their offices. Even Bill Frist passed that opportunity by.

Oracle comes up with the dossier on a 'mythical' biotech whiz named Elias Orr, who just might be good enough to help Karate Kid. I'm not sure why, but that name feels like it should be ringing a bell somewhere. Does anyone recall seeing a character of that name somewhere in the past of DC or it's ancestor companies? (Fawcett, Charlton, Quality, Wildstorm, etc?)

Mary Marvel and Zatanna arrive at Zatanna's ancestral home, which seems to be a mixture of the House of Mystery and Hogwarts. Her home, Shadowcrest, seems to be designed along the Tardis lines, that is, much bigger on the inside than the outside. I almost expected to find Skeeve and Aahz backing through a door while escaping some sort of pickle.

I have to note, by the way, that throughout this issue, the women all seem to have overly-large eyes and big heads. I know that neotony is a commonly-used way to make characters seem more cute, but it's done to excess here. Zatanna, on page 5, goes from a raven-haired Mary Jane Watson to someone who's had about three times too much botox in the course of two panels. What happened here? I'm suspecting that someone tried following Keith Giffen's layouts a bit too slavishly, without drafting the characters themselves, and wound up thoughtlessly following lines that were never intended for a final rendering. Whatever happened, it looks grotesque.

(I should probably mention that the art accompanying this article is NOT from this issue of Countdown.)
Who Dat?

Donna Troy, Jason Todd, Bob the Monitor, Jason Choi (aka The Atom) are now, I understand, considered to be the group Challengers of Beyond. The impression I'm getting is that, after Countdown, this may become it's own title. In the meantime, they've already announced some specials featuring the Challs.

Down at another level of the Palmerverse (which still sounds stoopid to me; anyone mind if I just settle for calling it the nanoverse?) they've found a group of, um, wizards who're performing some sort of ceremony. They chat with one (small) witch, who looks suspiciously like someone from the Levitz/Giffen Legion of Super-Heroes.

In short, Ray Palmer has been and gone, and now the Great Disaster is nearly here, which is why the wizards are scarpering off Right Now!

Piper and Trickster have a knack, doncha know, for being able to fall into a flower bed and end up deep in the fertilizer. That's actually an apt simile, because here they break into a greenhouse to steal vegetables (lo, see how the mighty have fallen) and discover it's the lair of Poison Ivy. As to the question, "what are the odds?", Trickster says it best. "This is Gotham! You can't swing a dead sidekick here without hitting a super-villain! We shoulda known the odds'd be pretty damn good!"

Speaking of Poison Ivy, her erstwhile partner, Harley Quinn is showing more signs that she's not over the thing that made her idolize and copy the Joker, she's just transferred her allegiance to Athena. There looks to be, possibly, a bit of a crush on Holly Robinson, as well.

Finally, Jimmy Olson is mulling over his attempt at joining the Teen Titans. Knowing it didn't go at all well, he tries to think through how his powers work. And, in mid-mull, he makes a discovery... He realizes that Clark Kent is Superman!

How? Dunno, but I'd guess it has much the same mechanism by which he knew who Jason Todd was when he saw the Red Hood.

The penciling in this issue is credited to "David Lopez with Mike Norton". Inks are "Don Hillman II with Rod Ramos" The only one here that's much familiar to me is Rod Ramos. I know he's better than what I'm seeing here. By and large I don't think the problem is with the inkers. The penciling, though, looks like someone just enlarged Keith Giffen's layouts and did a light penciling on top of them.

One strong indication is that a lot of things I'm seeing look much like Keith Giffen's type of raw layouts. A lot of the time, his layouts aren't so much drawn as cartooned, to give the person doing pencils an idea of what to draw. I'm seeing an awful lot of that bleeding through. Page 12 has a good example. In the first panel, Piper and Trickster are running, and Trickster is rendered like someone out of the old Mad, back when it was a comic. It looks like, instead of interpreting the layouts, they're tracing them and just adding detail, some of which isn't appropriate for a finished page. See again the Zatanna faces back on page 5.

Something needs to be done to prevent this in future issues. The art teams aren't having to race to do every issue, so why does the art look like it was done in incredible haste?