Writers: Paul Dini with Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray
Artists: Tom Derenick (p), Wayne Faucher (i)
Publisher: DC Comics
Committed to counting down everything you need to know about Countdown to Final Crisis #24!
11. Wait, What Just Happened? Surprise, surprise. Interesting story beats, expansive scenes, solid dialogue, and competent art all combines to make this week’s issue one that I think will stand out among others and be referenced in months to come. I found myself pleasantly surprised to be engaged in what was going on and feel good about the proceedings. This one’s a keeper, folks.
10. Making the Jump. The insertion of Superman Prime into the Countdown scene was a very smart move on DC’s part, to my way of thinking. Recently crafted to be a villain to watch by writer Geoff Johns, Prime is one of the better things about the thoroughly enjoyable “Sinestro Corps War” over in the Green lantern books and he adds a delicious touch of mayhem and excitement that this title has lacked since its inception. Prime is a fascinating character, a child born on the “real” Earth of the old Multiverse, the so-called Earth-Prime, and shoehorned into the role of a Superman. Pulled from many sides, he’s become one of the most horrific engines of destruction the DCU has ever seen, and I’m proud to report that he has been transferred seamlessly into the action of Countdown. Kudos must go to writers Palmiotti and Gray on their embracing of Prime and their retention of the character’s, err, prime traits: innocence, petulance, longing, single-mindedness, and murder. Oh yes, murder.
9. I Dig Him the Most, Man. Prime operates big, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t follow along in morbid fascination as he single-handedly laid waste to an entire Earth and all its people. It's not just that he wantonly murders almost everyone he comes into contact with, but that he often does so with juvenile cleverness and wit. Why just kill someone when you can drive them through the atmosphere and burn them to ashes? Why just destroy a group of heroes when you can also belittle their clothes and hair at the same time? And why just destroy a planet when you can dive clean through it and ignite its core to the point of complete immolation? This is Prime. This is Destruction. This is the Big-Big-Big that Countdown needs. This is the deadly peril to the Multiverse that should make us sit up and take notice on regular occasion.
8. One’s Place in the Universe. Is Prime the new Black Adam? Adam was World War III. Is Prime the Great Disaster? We’ve been told that Karate Kid’s virus plays a part in the Disaster, but what if that’s only a catalyst to set Prime on a bullet course to Multiversecide? That’d be cool. I’d buy that for a dollar.
7. Season to Taste, Mix Thoroughly. As much as I scratched my head last week over Desaad and Firestorm’s hijacking of Countdown, I have to also admit that their battle against Karate Kid & Co. this week had me greatly amused. Why so amused? It was when the scope of the thing hit me that I smiled to myself and said “huh!” Kirby’s Desaad fused with the Bronze Age creation Firestorm, duking it out with original 60s Legionnaire Karate Kid, aided and abetted by the sublime Silver Age Atomic Knights. Only in comics, and possibly only at DC. Did it make any sense? Not really. Do I hope it will make any sense in weeks to come? No, not really, but that sure was a cool thing the Knights did to Desaad. That bastard had that and more coming to him.
6. Better Run, Little Girl. Over on Apokolips, Mary Marvel seems to have gained back some semblance of her former self and made a healthy spit right in Der Fuhrer’s, err, I mean Darkseid’s face. I almost cheered. I can’t really say there was anything particularly logical about Mary’s wake-up call, but she removed herself from some pretty evil clutches and apparently trying to wrest her destiny back from the brink. Good on her. She’s got a helluva lot to atone for, in my opinion, but first let’s get her away from badness and see what’s what.
5. Cock of the Walk. Is it just me or did Darkseid actually pale in comparison with Superman Prime in this issue? That’s not a very happy moment for me, big Kirby fan that I am, but in a way it's terribly interesting to see a relatively new baddie come into such prominence as to almost eclipse a legendary no-goodnik like Darkseid.
4. Check My Math. Kyle plus Donna removed from Jason equals relief. A nice, short scene away from burning and obliterating and I for one dug it. It was a good point, one that’s fairly difficult for us comic fans to come to grips with: things change, people change. I know I’m sure the hell guilty of ignoring that little bit of wisdom every so often.
3. Visually Significant. There were some really great moments from artists Tom Derenick and Wayne Faucher. I'm not too familiar with Derenick, but he had so many panels that felt BIG, and he has a really wonderful Neal Adams vibe going on – look at pages 2-3, 15, 18, and 20 to see what I mean. Faucher has long been a solid inker (he’s great teamed with Don Kramer), and he makes a good match for this penciller. Congrats, guys!
2. Show Me Where It Hurts. The Origin of Desaad was very nice, and I really hope those of us who may not be overly familiar with Kirby’s New Gods welcomed it. Beatty, like Waid before him, has made a sort of cottage industry out of boiling characters down to bare essentials and leaving us with an entertaining couple of pages. That Simonson art sure doesn’t hurt, either.
1. Gift Horse. What are we left with after issue #24? Some good will, I think. Now I feel like the Multiverse is in true, honest-to-God peril and it took a slimy brat like Prime to do it. I wish this had happened much sooner, but at this point I’ll take it and run with it. You should too.
Liftoff!
Major Tom to Ground Control: What’s that I spy on the cover for next week’s issue? A certain 5th-Dimensional imp? Send me up some of that stuff, baby. Let’s get gonzo, let’s get crazy, let’s let everything hang out and ask DC to open the coffers and let the entire cache of seventy-freakin-years of funky weirdness spill out and wash over us. Go, dog, go!
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