Countdown: Fifty


Let’s recap. Jimmy Olsen finds the Red Hood and questions him about events in the last issue. Red Hood directs him to the Joker. The Joker claims he’s never had a daughter. Killer Croc escapes in the last page and looks to be ready to go Sobek on the little guy. Elsewhile, Mary Marvel still has no powers and is instructed to stay away from Gotham; Batman and Black Lightning beat up Karate Kid in the Batcave; the Flash’s rogues are preparing for a big confrontation, as well as snorting some blow for fun; and that’s it.

If this keeps up, there is very little chance I’ll be staying with Countdown beyond ten issues. I’ll give it ten. That’s the least I can do. Unfortunately, it being the spine of the DCU for the next year means I may have to swear off all DC comics. Not likely, but here’s why I’m annoyed. The fight between Batman and Karate Kid already happened. In Justice League of America #8. It’s pretty close to being word for word, save a few minor details. In this issue, Karate Kid doesn’t have the magical knowledge to know he just gave Batman a hernia, for instance.

Meanwhile, in this week’s issue of Flash: Fastest Man Alive, the Rogues actually go ahead with their plan. And it’s quite successful. They remove the Speed Force from Bart Allen, and it looks like he’s a goner. Since the solicits for next month state that there is going to be a huge run (no pun intended) on Flash #13, a relatively unpopular series, my guess is we’re in for some big changes. What doesn’t change is the fact that there is absolutely no point in including the scene with the Rogues in Countdown since their grand scheme has already been hatched within the pages of Flash.

52 had a unique ability to really go wild with its characters, because it was set in a year free of continuity, and the characters were relatively unimportant ones, meaning that they were able to hold off on including any of them in any OYL books. So they were able to tell a nice little self-contained story without worrying about crossing over with every other book in the entire DCU. I don’t enjoy reading the same thing twice, and I don’t enjoy being told a story where I’ve already read the outcome.

This issue really put me off this whole Countdown thing.