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.
