52 / Countdown

[Shire Le Buff]

52 just ended and Countdown started yesterday (I haven't picked it up yet, no spoilers) so I figured this would be a good space to talk about the two weekly projects from DC.

52 as a whole, was pretty enjoyable.   It had some great twists and a majority of the stories were interesting but (and even the editors admit this ) the direction of the series changed midway through the run.   Whatever happened to Batman? Lady Styxx only sends those two guys to attack Animal Man when she has a whole army at her disposal? These and other questions are never really answered because they just aren't important during the end of the series.

What was originally to be about a year without Superman/Batman/Wonder Woman turned into a series that made B-List superheroes relevant and restored DC's multiverse (a mistake in my opinion).

Countdown has a lot of potential.   It doesn't have the big league writers that 52 had but Dini's heading the project so I have faith.   52 also sort of proved that the talents of the big writers were going to waste anyway since they could only write a few pages an issue.   Plus besides some familiar flutterings of Mark Waid and Grant Morrison in the story, I didn't really feel the presence of the writers, just the editors.

Countdown's biggest plot point (in my opinion) will be the revelation of "The Great Disaster".   For those not in the know, The Great Disaster is an event frequently mentioned by characters from the future.   It has been the topic of various series for over a decade in DC.   So this revelation is one that has been building up for some time.   This is a dangerous thing then.   For when a plot is foreshadowed for this long (such as X-Men's "The Twelve") there is a lot of hype behind it (such as X-Men's "The Twelve"), and very little chance for the relevation to be as good as the hype (such as X-Men's "The Twelve").

"The Twelve" was a storyline so bad that it actually made me stop reading comics for two years, by the way.

[Shire Le Buff]

"Jimmy Olson Must Die"

[WWW.SETH.COM]

Jimmy Olsen can't die. He's still a virgin.

Countdown, huh? Man, I hope it's good. DC just needs something going on these days. Marvels been making moves left and right (not all of them great, but hey, at least they're moving) and it could be argued that DC's been doing the same with 52 and Crisis, but I still feel like the DC is just getting out-performed.

I don't know a whole lot about Countdown. Will it lead to the Great Disaster? Will that be another giant, series-spanning event? That seems to be pretty popular these days. What is the premise of Countdown exactly?

[Shire Le Buff]

Countdown starts at # 51 and then each week a new issue comes out it will "countdown" to #0 where the next big event will happen.  But Countdown itself is considered an event.   Promo art such as...



Suggests that the great disaster will occur DURING Countdown and that it will involve Darkseid.  

The Great Disaster is an event that rids the world of all superheros and leaves just one human boy alive: "Kamandi".   Kamandi was named after the bunker he's found in after The Great Disaster, Bunker Command D.   During DC's "The Battle of Bludhaven" which occured during the ending of Infinate Crises, Bunker Command D is clearly seen.

Kamandi himself has also been popping up all the sudden in other titles since a long absense.   During one reality hopping storyline in Superman/Batman, Superman and Batman find themselves saving Kamandi who acts like he knows Superman and then begs him to stay because "the world still needs superheros".

The Great Disaster is just one of the events of Countdown though, like 52 it'll have multiple occuring story archs.

Including:
"Seduction of the innocent" (featuring Eclipso and Mary Marvel)
The return of Barry Allen
The introduction of Kingdom Come's Red Robin
"The search for Ray Palmer"

A heavy focus on the characters Jimmy Olson, Mary Marvel, Pied Piper, and the Trickster.

Also, when asked what plot point would suprise it's readers the most, writers of Countdown said:

"Sue Dibny".

[TemporalRift]

I was actually wondered why Bart Allen (Former Kid Flash/Impulse, current Flash, sole holder and user of the Speed Force) didn't get involved at all during 52, I hope he shows up during Countdown cause I'm digging the everloving hell out of The Fastest Man Alive

[Shire Le Buff]

I loved Geoff John's Wally West Flash run, so seeing Bart acting as a kind of antithesis to Wally is kind of painful.   Wally was very Blue Collar, down to earth guy ("Superman flies above them. Batman hides from them. Wonder Woman preaches to them. Me? I run beside them.") and stuck to Keystone City (DC's version of Pittsburgh).   Bart almost immediately ditches Keystone for LA to train to be a police officer (a job already held by Nightwing at one point so this is not anything new for superheros).

But regardless.   Bart will probably make an apperance in Countdown ( he spent all of 52 without powers and dealing with his rapid age growth ) but it won't be as big as the return of Barry Allen.   Didio let it slip at a conference that the Flash pictured on Countdown posters was actually Barry.  

After this embarrassing slip he quickly said "But it might not be the Barry Allen you think it is."

He said the same thing about Jason Todd taking up the mantel of Red Robin "It's Jason Todd, but WHICH Jason Todd?"

Man, fuck the multiverse.

[WWW.SETH.COM]

Man, fuck the multiverse.

Agreed.

And they're doing something else to Sue Dibny? This woman's been raped and murdered. I hope they don't do anything worse to her this time around.

And Darkseid's involved in this whole thing? That should be interesting. He's one of those villains you probably have to know a lot about the DC universe realize he exists.