Customer Reviews

Countdown to Final Crisis, Vol. 1

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

After the surprise success of 52, DC decided to do another year long weekly series. The series would count down and lead into Grant Morrison's Final Crisis event, and basically promised to follow the same formula that made 52 so good. Sadly, Countdown to Final Crisis doesn't deliver, at all, in many of the departments that made 52 so enjoyable. Like 52 before it, Countdown follows a list of lower-tier DC characters like Karate Kid, Mary Marvel, and Jimmy Olsen. What made 52 work so well was the superstar team of writers behind it (Morrison, Geoff Johns, Mark Waid, and Greg Rucka) using characters we actually did care somewhat about (Steel, Elongated Man, Booster Gold, The Question, etc.). With Countdown, the script from Paul Dini just comes off as overly boring. Karate Kid and co. are not remotely interesting in the least, with Mary Marvel's possible descent into darkness being the only thing that makes this series worth reading, for now that is. Not to mention that unless you so happen to follow a few series' and mini-series' that were released alongside Countdown, you will find yourself clueless (seeing Black Adam re-powered and Bart Allen dead will confuse you if you haven't been keeping up). The varying artwork here looks overly rushed overall as well, which while 52 suffered from this from time to time, still managed to look halfway decent at the least. All in all, Countdown to Final Crisis is a major disappointment compared to 52, and skipping this on the way to Final Crisis won't hurt you much at all.

No...just...no. Countdown supposedly follows up on the threads that were left off from Infinite Crisis and 52 as the product description will lead you to believe. Grant Morrison, the writer in charge of DC's current event that this series was counting down to, Final Crisis, had plotted Final Crisis out nearly two years ago. He had said he'd laid down the threads for Final Crisis in Seven Soldiers and in 52. He gave these plots out to Paul Dini and his cavalcade of D-list writers for Countdown. Within this first volume, we see nearly all the plot details Mr. Morrison had laid down realized by the writers of Countdown. But after that? These writers decided they would go off on their own tangents, because they had the obligation of filling twenty-four pages per week for a year straight, due to the nature of the book. The editors of the book failed to let Paul Dini know what Grant Morrison intended, and we ended up with Countdown. Had Grant Morrison been involved with this book, and had DC put a staff of A-list or B-list writers on this book, things certainly might have been different.

The good things I can say for this volume? Well, it's the first 13 issues of a weekly series, and it takes the threads Morrison had put down and begins to run with them, being the first few issues and all. It moves relatively slowly, and you think you'll have high hopes for the series, that it will end up being good at the end. But trust me when I say this, the quality only gets worse from here on out. By the end of the last issue, you will be kicking yourself for spending $80 on the collected version of this, and asking yourself "Did anything really change?". By the end of this book, nothing has changed.

If you intend on reading Final Crisis, ignore Countdown. Ignore Death of the New Gods. Ignore Salvation Run. Read 52 (52, Vol. 1, 52, Vol. 2, 52, Vol. 3, 52, Vol. 4), which Grant Morrison had a hand in, and is a much better weekly series (due to the fact that they had an A-list writing staff on the book), and read Morrison's "megaseries" Seven Soldiers ( Seven Soldiers of Victory, Vol. 1, Seven Soldiers of Victory, Vol. 2, Seven Soldiers of Victory, Vol. 3, Seven Soldiers of Victory, Vol. 4), which is one of the most adventurous writings in modern comics (seven four issue mini series' bookended by a zero issue, and issue one).

A weekly comic featuring B and C listers? Who would have predicted it to be a thrilling ride? I heard wonderful reviews for 52, Vol. 1 as it was making its one-year run. When it became available in trade paperback, I bought it immediately and loved it.

With "52" such a success, why not ride the lightning a second time? DC tried, but "Countdown" doesn't come close to being what "52" was. My biggest problem with "Countdown" is that the big action does not happen in the series. It happens in the tie-in books. When a main DCU character is killed, we see the funeral, not how the character died. In fact, how the character was killed is never explained in this book, although how the death affects two characters in the book is a big part of their storyline.

I was so disappointed with the first trade paperback in this series, I cancelled my pre-orders for volumes 2, 3 and 4. I didn't want to give up on "Countdown", but not having read the tie-in books, I felt like I was missing half the story.

On a positive note, I really like the Mary Marvel storyline in this first book and it's the only thing that made me think twice about cancelling my pre-orders for the other three books. Still, her story was not enough for me to spend the money for the rest of this trade paperback series.

...and try DC's prior weekly series "52" by star writers Grant Morrison, Geoff Johns, Mark Waid and Greg Rucka. "52" follows one year in the lives of various third tier DC characters (Black Adam, The Question, Detective Renee Montoya, Doc Magus, The Elongated Man (yes, he IS cool), all of whom have fascinating arcs. Alas, COUNTDOWN, for whatever reason, is not very effective: loose, at times random plotting, thin characterization, why go on? There are some great writers involved, but the whole project failed to gell in slowmo train wreck fashion. Only scribes Jimmy Palmiotti and partner Mick Gray emerge with dignity intact.

I do not like bagging on books, but I really do wish to suggest skipping COUNTDOWN and trying "52" instead, but DC's latest (2008) weekly TRINITY, which will be collected in 2009.

Before reading any heavily discussed story like Countdown, and especially one marred by mostly negative reviews, an open mind is certainly advisable and probably a prerequisite. The positive approach to employ is that it can't possibly be that bad, can it? Upon completion, it did not quite warrant the bad baggage that it carries, but the cracks are certainly apparent. In this case, it has more to do with the original premise and format than the execution of it, although its' concluding loss of momentum is a concern. Having a half dozen concurrent storylines featuring many C-listers without any initial cohesiveness or connectivity can be troublesome, as is the constant switching back and forth between them. Of course this is a year long story, so patience is required. The use of lesser known characters, which for many was one of the more appealing aspects in 52, may float the boat for some, but they cannot carry a story by themselves without a compelling narrative to support them. One more possible miscalculation, especially after the passage of time, was the decision to crossover with major events from other comics, such as Amazons Attack and the death of Bart Allen. Indeed, the story was promoted as being the spine of the DCU and this was probably unavoidable and inevitable, but they came across as forced diversions without naturally blending in, and also dated it as well. Even major sagas work best if they can always be read as timeless stand alones. For new readers not steeped in DC history, or even long term fans without extensive collections, this use of non-stars and references to crossovers and previous events may be confusing. Despite these criticisms and its' lackluster finish, for now enough intriguing seeds have been planted to hold my interest until the next installment. Whether or not the story further degenerates into the painful disappointment that many people have harped on remains to be seen.

Although I don't agree with the other reviewers who were disappointed with the Countdown series (I really enjoyed most of the stories), there is no doubt Countdown has more than a few frustrating failings. The focus of the book is split into six separate stories spotlighting several characters usually featured only as supporting cast to DC's more prominent icons. Some of the stories get much more attention than others, but thankfully the stories I feel are the strongest and best written get the most ink.

The Jimmy Olsen story feels like it could have been part of 52. We see Superman's pal develop several mysterious powers while covering the murder of a former Teen Titan for the Daily Planet. While initially Olsen's tale focused on his investigation, his pipedream of becoming a superhero quickly takes over, and although I personally find his misadventures amusing, his murder investigation seems to be the only element giving his inclusion in Countdown any relevance. Overall, I found Olsen's tale amusing but if it had been utterly removed it would not have impacted the meta-plot very much.

Holly Robinson, a former Catwoman and longtime friend of Selena Kyle (the original, actual Catwoman) gets caught up in a confounding situation with the Amazonians and Harley Quinn, the Joker's former side-kick. I get the feeling almost everything going on in this story must be taking place in another book, as virtually every single time the book cuts back to her plot I feel like I walked into a theater in the middle of a David Lynch film. Everything happens "off camera" and we just see the characters discussing part of what is going on, and the only interesting part of this story, the Amazon invasion of the USA, is hardly talked about and unexplained. For example, at one point a news report mentions that Air Force One has been shot down by the Amazons, and yet a few pages later the Daily Planet staff is discussing the weather as opposed to the invasion of the country by a mythical army of 7-foot-tall super-model-esque warrior women. It is as if the entire Holly Robinson plot is happening in a totally different universe. If you can't already tell, I feel this is hands down the worst of the six stories (and possibly one of the worst pieces of fiction I have ever read). Frankly I'm amazed blood doesn't shoot out of my nose every time I even THINK of Holly Robinson's chaotic and yet somehow overtly dull plot. The only positive thing I have to say about it is that the other plots dwarf this one in length as much as they do in quality so you don't have to waste too much time reading a story that is being told somewhere else. I love the idea behind this plotline, but the execution is best described as an abortion.

Mary Marvel's plot is one of the best in the series. Once she was a sweet and innocent young heroine, as Sacrin and swell as any teen-aged girl one might see in a 1950s sitcom, and so her descent into darkness and depravity is all the more entertaining.

For unknown reasons the Karate Kid has come back in time from the Legion of Super Heroes far-flung future, and discovers he might not have much longer to live. At first this plot was almost as choppy and incoherent as the Holly Robinson story, but eventually the Karate Kid's tale picks up steam and gets quite interesting.

Dona Troy and Jason Todd, Wonder Girl and the 2nd Robin/Red Hood, have one of the more amusing stories in the series, which is the closest to being what I would consider the main/central plot of Countdown. The two heroes are targeted for extermination by the collective of Monitors, and thus end up on a fantastic quest through various alien worlds in search of Ray Palmer, the Atom. This plot is definitely one of my favorites in Countdown, and easily the most relevant to readers interested in the build -up to Final Crisis.

The sixth and final plotline involves two Flash Rogues, the Pied Piper and the Trickster (both some-what reformed), who are on the run after a plot by the gathered Rogues to take down the newest Flash makes them the targets of every law enforcement agency and hero group on the planet. The only complaint I have about this particular Countdown story is DC's immensely poor decision to feature the actual pay-off of the Rogues' plot in a different book, which probably serves as the main reason so many people were turned off to Countdown early on. Aside from this however, I can easily say the Piper and Trickster plot is my favorite of the whole series. The dialogue between the two Rogues is classic and their flight from heroes and villains alike kept me wanting to see what insanity they would encounter next. It really is a shame DC fell victim to greed and almost ruined the whole Countdown epic in an effort to sell more books, but thanks to the prowess of the writers, this plotline managed to recover from the anti-climactic pay-off of the Rogues' plot happening "off camera". Unfortunately, comic book fans aren't anywhere near being the most forgiving of audiences, and many felt justifiably let down and deceived and gave up on this great story before it really took off.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Countdown to Final Crisis, and I guess I'm in the minority in saying that I liked it more than 52, which was an amazing, great story ruined by a rushed and uneventful ending. If you can get past the gaps in the story caused by critical events happening in OTHER books, causing the first volume to feel chaotic and disorganized, this is a great read. If DC would have just completely left out the utterly incoherent and pointless Holly Robinson "story" all together and handled the Flash Rogues' story better in the beginning, I would say this could possibly be one of the best epics in recent comic book history.

A slow start the the 52 part prelude to Final Crisis. It starts off slow but towards the end of the 1st paperback it starts to get into the main plots of the stories for all the characters.

The antics of piper and the trickster are fun and somewhat enthralling. It takes a little bit longer to get caught up in the story with Jason Todd and company. But when the sliders esque dimension jumping begins the novelty and fun kicks in!

The story line with the amazons I don't find too interesting, but its nice to have Harley have her own story of sorts. As is Karate kids and Mary Marvels tales if not a tiny bit confusing to new readers.

Not as good as 52, but still a laugh! A good purchase and worth the money!

- James

Yeah, yeah, yeah... So far it's not as good as 52. It's still very interesting. I guess you can't beat human expectation, though :) We'll see where it goes from here...

What it could possibly become one truly memorable storyline (like 52 was), became a booooring and really inconsistent sequence of events. It seemed to me that since dc did great with 52, they said "hey, let's repeat it"... but Countdown is slow, not really coherent at all and has just a few memorable moments (SPOILERS -the return of the atom, mary marvel in black... and the "death" of a great villain). But these moments really last 2 or 3 chapters of the total 52 issues, and i don't really think they are worthy the $$$ and the read you invest in this serie.
If you're a HUGE fan of DC, want to have and undestand ALL the "final crisis" storyline and really CAN'T live without seeing how the atom returned... then buy it; otherwise you'll be JUST fine reading the resume in any website.

The DC Comics mini-series did not lived up to the hype. It was confusing and the plotlines was so one-dimensional. It is not worth the money.