comics
DC scored critically and commercially with last year’s weekly comic, "52." It only makes sense that the comic company would follow it up with another weekly book, this one called "Countdown" and ticking down from issue 52 to zero. But while "52" featured a cabal of DC’s best writers turning second- and third-tier characters into fan favorites, "Countdown" has taken a much different creative approach—and has suffered tremendously for it.
 Final "Countdown": DC Comics’ latest weekly series lacks the power of brilliant writing. |
Rather than go back to A-list writing talent, DC’s editors selected one "show runner" for "Countdown"—Paul Dini, best known for the ’90s "Batman" cartoon series—and had him orchestrate the overall series of events. The actual scripting of each issue is handled by a rotating group of less-experienced writers. Bad idea. The inexperience shows, especially in the painful dialogue of the early run. Add a group of mostly underwhelming artists and you’ve got a mediocre book in its best issues.
Worse yet, nothing happens. We’re now more than four months into the series—a total of 17 issues—and almost none of the plots have gotten any traction. The sweet Mary Marvel, supposedly tempted by the dark side, mostly just wanders around commenting about how powerful she is. Superman’s pal Jimmy Olsen started manifesting random powers back in the second issue and still has no idea why it’s happening or what he should do with them. Flash villains Trickster and Piper continue to bop around the DC criminal underworld, basically hanging out with The Penguin or Poison Ivy. And replacement Catwoman Holly Robinson has been talking about maybe going to meet the goddess Athena for roughly four issues now.
While "52" had its slow moments, it was never as infuriatingly pointless as "Countdown." The series is supposedly leading up to "Final Crisis," a big DC event slated for 2008. That’s fine, but if you don’t have 52 issues worth of story to tell, don’t bilk your readers out of $12 a month for absolutely nothing. To add insult to injury, DC has added multiple "Countdown" tie-in specials and miniseries to the schedule; there are seven coming out in November alone. Here’s a thought: If nothing’s going on in your core book, maybe you should fold those stories back in rather than charging $2.99 per issue more.
A useless weekly comic book and all these unnecessary extras make "Countdown" one of the most creatively bankrupt, blatant money-grabbing stunts in recent comic history. DC needs to get its act in gear, because "52" proved that comic fans will happily support a well-produced weekly product. "Countdown" isn’t it.
