Ok. I’ve got to issue my caveats first: I am STILL behind in my Countdown reading (I’m at about 15 in the countdown), so maybe…just maybe…this lil’ book that couldn’t will get better. Still, even if it does, the comments below apply. If a book takes almost fifty issues to get seriously interesting, there’s a problem, agreed?
5. It’s not 52.
There. I said it. 52 was something new on the market – a weekly comic (not new to DC, given that they developed the idea back in the 80s with the failed experiment of Action Comics Weekly) that featured none of the classic canon of DC heroes, instead focusing on B and C-list characters. What made 52 special was not so much its content, but the writers who crafted that content: Greg Rucka, Grant Morrison, Geoff Johns and Mark Waid. No, the stories were not always as coherent as they needed to be, and yes, the weekly format gave rise to any number of continuity glitches here and there, but the BIG ideas of the series held it together, and the writers worked really, really well together.
What does all of the above have to do with Countdown? Nothing, except to say that Countdown has failed at pretty much everything 52 got right.
4. It started so strong!
Within the first pages of the first issue of Countdown the Joker and Darkseid both made grand appearances. For all intents and purposes, this signaled that Countdown would truly differentiate itself from 52. No more small-scale stories featuring has-been or wanna-be-has-been characters. Countdown would be epic!
Except that it wasn’t…
3. Characters you can’t even learn to love.
Sorry, but I cannot bring myself to like Donna Troy or Jason Todd. One is a vaguely-defined Wonder Woman; the other was murdered by so-called comics fans, dead and needed to stay that way. Jimmy Olsen is cool as Superman’s pal, but without the Big S, Jimmy’s playin’ minor league ball (and sitting on the bench even then). And don’t even get me started on the whole mess with the Amazons and Harley Quinn and….. you get the idea.
2. Inconsistent Artwork.
Say what you will about 52, but it was very clear that the editorial staff worked hard to keep the artwork consistent. This was not always a success, but DC got it right at least 95% of the time, and that’s pretty good with a book as experimental as 52. And there were always those spectacular J.G. Jones covers to give the series a consistent, powerful look. Again, the same cannot be said for Countdown. Art of varying qualities is bad enough, but frequent, frequent continuity glitches and characters whose hair can’t even stay the same length or color from issue to issue just seems sloppy and unforgivable.
1. A Monitor named Bob.
More than ’nuff said.
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