Countdown to Final Crisis, Vol. 2 [Paperback]

Paul Dini (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics (July 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401218245
• ISBN-13: 978-1401218249
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 0.5 x 11.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #403,979 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Paul Dini is the multi-award-winning writer of many scripts for Batman: The Animated Series, and has also written for the Superman and Justice League animated series. His comics work includes Batman: Black and White and Batman Adventures. Dustin Nguyen has pencilled the critically acclaimed WildCats 3.0 and The Authority.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Counting to none, August 3, 2008

By 

N. Durham "Big Evil" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Countdown to Final Crisis, Vol. 2 (Paperback)

Countdown, DC's second attempt at a weekly, year-long series, is supposedly an attempt at detailing the events leading up to Final Crisis, but like the first collected volume before it, the second volume of Countdown is a boring failure. As this collection picks up, we are once again focused on the developments of Jimmy Olsen, Mary Marvel, Flash rogues Piper and Trickster, and more relatively minor characters besides. Believe it or not, the most interesting story element of Countdown are the developments with Karate Kid. The Legion of Superheroes member destiny appears to become a little more apparent here, but a majority of Countdown just seems woefully paced, and ever-boring. Considering that the usually talented Paul Dini layed out the groundwork of Countdown, there just isn't enough here to hold your interest. Even the adventures of Kyle Rayner, Donna Troy, Jason Todd, and Bon the Monitor as they search for Ray Palmer across the various Earth's come off as lame. Between the boring developments, rushed artwork (which looks worse than anything in the much better 52), and uninteresting characters; Countdown is a supreme disappointment. All in all, if you've been closely following the developments leading to Grant Morrison's Final Crisis, Countdown may be worth looking at, but it can also be easily avoided for practically everyone else.

1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible. :(, May 6, 2011

By 

Henry West "I Love Movies" (Chicago, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Countdown to Final Crisis, Vol. 2 (Paperback)

Countdown To Final Crisis Vol. 2 was as bad as Vol. 1. Jimmy Olsen being the central character was the only upside of the mini-series but above all that, the book was unreadable. Don't waste your time with this book.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Grand ideas flawed by lackluster execution, August 19, 2008

By 

Jon Repesh (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Countdown to Final Crisis, Vol. 2 (Paperback)

After a somewhat respectable first volume that admittedly exhibited areas of concern, this second installment of Countdown subsequently wears down under the ever increasing strain from those areas. It's obviously problematic when you have a group of C listers featured in barely interesting and rapidly edited storylines with no apparent association or direction, consequently compounded by the necessity of a concluding expository issue which encapsulates in a few pages what all of the previous issues combined struggled to tell themselves. This is the literary equivalent of an economic enigma, a project that appears promising on a macro level, but seriously underachieves in its' micro execution. The basic premises remain sound. Who is killing off the New Gods? Is the return of formerly dead heroes endangering the multiverse? Where is Ray Palmer, and why is he such an invaluable piece of this perplexing puzzle? And just what is the Great Disaster, and how are all of these disparate threads connected to it? Grand themes indeed, although scarcely touched upon, with most of it instead focusing on mundane minutiae saddled with pedestrian players like Karate Kid, Holly Robinson, and Mary Marvel. No offense intended to fans of these characters, but they certainly cannot carry a substandard story by their intrinsic appeal alone. The book is an excellent example of modern comics' primary problem, decompression, a sorry state of excessive filler only occasionally punctuated by something substantial. Yes, this is a year long weekly, but excuses are reserved for mistakes. When discussing a vast voyage such as this, even if the final payoff is impressive, it is imperative that one enjoys the journey, and despite a well designed map, it has thus far been a rather rocky ride.