Customer Reviews

Countdown

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

 

 

While the Countdown comic series was pretty maligned by the fandom, I thought the novelization did a good job with the story. Unfortunately several story lines are cut for length that I would have liked to have seen, but what is there is well done.

The New Gods live on two different worlds: the paradise New Genesis and the hell hole Apokolips that makes Dante's description seem mild. The ruler of Apokolips is Darkseid, who intends to destroy the multiverse that consists of fifty-two universes; in the end he plans to rule over a new multiverse. There are opposition forces trying to prevent his cataclysmic scheme from happening, but he is currently maneuvering former super humans as expendable chess pawns furthering his chances of success.

Jimmy Olsen suddenly develops super powers that activates when his life is in danger. The Monitor Solomon kidnaps Donna "Wonder Girl" Troy and former Robin, Jason Todd, a bitter young man,. They need to find Ray "Atom" Palmer who vanished due to grief after his wife became mentally insane and became a killer. The Atom holds the key to the survival of all fifty-two multiverses.

This follow-up to INFINITE CRISIS and 52 continues the story of the War between the New Gods with the COUNTDOWN to the end of the multiverse as "we" know it. There are several subplots besides those above including one involving Mary Marvel coming out of a coma and Catwoman coming out of enforced retirement (as did Todd and Troy). Fun and exciting especially for DC fans of the older Crisis on Infinite Earth saga and the Jack Kirby's New Gods pantheon will enjoy the latest novelization of the end of the multiverse; newcomers will be as confused as the original baby boomers were back in the post Silver Age.

Harriet Klausner

Though I don't follow the comic books, I wound up with this, and it's simply Excellent!

First, let me say, I've heard that the comic book version of this story was poorly reviewed, but this is not the same story.

With that out of the way, I'll start gushing :) I'd never even heard of Donna Troy, Holly Robinson, or Mary Marvel before, but the latter two turn out to be profoundly interesting. Their journeys are both engrossing to say the least, and sooo unpredictable. I couldn't even compare Mary Marvel's quest to any other superhero it is so unique. Both Mary and Ray Palmer (the Atom) had me misty-eyed in multiple scenes.

The big final battle is a little odd, and only scarcely involves the main protagonists of this book, but the character development is really the strongest I've ever seen in a superhero story.

I highly recommend the GraphicAudio adaptation, which is more a play than AudioBook as they utilize a cast of a dozen professional actors, and pro sound effects with amazing results.

UPDATE: I should probably mention Jimmy Olsen too, since he's technically the star here. Let's just say I always liked him, but had low hopes about his contributions to this story. It far surpassed my expectations, but it's more odd than creative, so of the four intertwined stories, I enjoyed his least. Like Donna Troy (Wonder Woman's former protege) and Jason Todd (Batman's former protege), Jimmy Olsen's circumstances change, but he's basically the same guy by the end. With Mary Marvel and Holly Robinson, their journeys have changed them irrevocably.

I want so badly to like all the Comic-based novels, but this one just falls flat. While 52 was a bit better, Greg Cox just had too little to work with on this one.

Following sidekicks and understudies, we see the pratfalls and missteps taken by such luminaries as Jimmy Olsen (who has mysteriously developed essentially-useless powers when watching a New God die), Mary Marvel (who gets Black Adam's powers and makes a great idiotic, super-powered murderer, Harley Quinn (about whom I cannot say anything bad, as she's the best part of the book and is dead-on to her character at all times, being essentially unchanged despite the travails she undergoes), Jason Todd (was anyone unhappy with him being dead?), Donna Troy (who seems to be along the ride purely to save Todd's life when his homicidal tendencies continually get him in trouble), and Holly Robinson (the reject Catwoman who cannot seem to assert herself ever).

Most are linked in unlikely pairings for whatever random mission the universe seemed to assign them. Jimmy ends up on Apokolips while Troy and Todd take a tour of the multiverse seeking the Atom. Holly and Harley join Amazon bootcamp on Themyscira. Mary Marvel tours the planet and murders various people in amusing ways for minor or perceived violations of her personal code. Sadly, the stories jump around so much you cannot get into any of them. The fact that we are not seeing the headliners of the DCU does not help at all. We get occasional glimpses of them, though most of those are of the various alternate reality versions encountered by Todd and Troy with their Monitor tour guide.

This story might have been good as a comic series but fell flat as a novel with all the storylines coming together in a pretty clunky fashion to wrap things up.

Wow, I thought 52 was bad, but Countdown was possibly worse. The only thing that saved it to two stars was the ending, which involved Superman and the Justice League, the logical people to oppose Darkseid.
Basically, a Monitor guides Donna Troy and Jason Todd (can we please either figure these two out or get rid of them?) on a quest for the Atom, missing since Identity Crisis. The Atom is the key to a plot by Darkseid to take over the universe (of course).
Meanwhile, Jimmy Olson starts developing strange powers when he is in danger, and Holly Robinson meets Harley Quinn at some women's shelter trying to train new Amazons.
These convoluted plotlines all come together at the end, but this was probably better left as a comic series instead of trying to cram the main parts into a novel.

Greg Cox's COUNTDOWN is based on the DC Comics series and provides a cast of comic book figures, from Jimmy Olsen and Mary Marvel to Jason Todd and ex-superheroes forced to retire and rejoin humanity - until all the superheroes are called upon to save the world.