We have now entered the dark times. We have entered…”Countdown.”
Written by Paul Dini, Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, Tony Bedard, Adam Beecham, and Sean McKeeverCover by Andy Kubert
Penciled by Jesus Saiz, Jim Califore, Carlos Magno, David Lopez, Tom Derenick, Manuel Garcia, Dennis Calero, and Keith Giffen
Inked by Jimmy Palmiotti, Mark McKenna, Jay Leisten, David Lopez, Alvaro Lopez, Andrew Pepoy, Jack Purcell, John Stanisci, Don Hillsman, and Dennis Calero
Colored by Tom S. Chu, Rod Reis, Guy Major, and Pete Pantazis
Lettered by Travis Lanham, Pat Brosseau, Jared K. Fletcher, Rob Leigh, Phil Balsman, and Ken LopezWhen a character dies, it sets off an unexpected ripple that will touch virtually every character in the DC Universe—from the villains to the heroes to those from other worlds! The countdown is on—and so begins the end!
If you’re unfamiliar with “Countdown,” I would recommend my friend Walter Richardson’s excellent coverage of the series from last summer’s Comic Binge. He tries, and succeeds, to give readers a sense of what a cacophony of shit “Countdown” really is. I’ve limited the scope of this column to just the Marvel family business, which is not great, but is at least somewhat consistent in its weirdness, as opposed to the tonal whiplash of the series as a whole.
If you recall, we last left Mary Batson in a coma after her powers left her in the “DCU: Brave New World” special. We pick up with Mary as she’s come out of the coma, with no way of reaching Billy or Freddy, nor the ability to transform into Mary Marvel. This situation obviously bums her out, and she goes searching for answers.
This story is about a 180 from the extremely problematic ‘Superbuddies’ stories (“Formerly Known as the Justice League,” “JLA Classified”), which basically had grown men doing a Tex Avery wolf howl over 16 year old Mary, and Mary being totally oblivious to what was happening. This story seems like a direct result of someone, perhaps someone whose name rhymes with Man MiMio, saying that Mary couldn’t be so old fashioned and innocent. And so, DC decided to do a 180, while still making the story as problematic as possible.
Here, Mary, ignoring the advice of Madame Xanadu, goes to Gotham City for no reason other than Xanadu said not to. When she gets there, some broad stereotypes attempt to rape her instantly, and she coincidentally finds refuge in a building Black Adam has been using for killing folks. They talk, Mary remains bummed out about her lack of powers, and Adam, who recently had his life ruined in the pages of “52,” gives Mary his powers. She gets a new black costume with the shortest skirt imaginable and a new attitude. Instead of having Black Adam’s righteous indignation, Mary just becomes a ‘bad girl’ in super lazy ways.
Lazy ways how? Well, she just straight up attempts to kill folks for crimes that even Black Adam would likely think twice about capitally punishing. She gets a tough attitude, she tells off Billy, and she basically spends all of her time bitching and moaning, despite getting exactly what she wants. It’s a lame road for the character to go down, especially as it is so different than the Mary we’ve seen before.
But more problematic than the scripting is the art. Just about everyone who draws her (of the approximately 184 artists on this book) sexualizes her at every turn. There’s nary a shot of her from behind or below that isn’t a full on upskirt shot. She’s drawn almost like Sandy at the end of Grease, though this makes that portrayal seem subtle.
Look, I understand that the point of his story is “Mary Marvel goes bad!,” but that’s a lame plot without better scripting, and there’s nothing interesting here. It’s a story we’ve seen dozens of times before, and Mary is not given any of her normal attributes or qualities, so it’s doesn’t even feel like the same character most of the time. Not that “The Trials of Shazam” is exactly Eisner-bait, but Judd Winick gave Freddy both a new status quo and a reason to fight for it. Mary’s characterization here is nonexistent, and so even when, around issue #41, she starts to realize that something is off with her, we have no baseline with which to work, so it doesn’t feel like a character’s revelation as much as another inconsistency.
The art in these issues ranges from ‘fine’ to ‘egad!’ In issue #44 when Mary goes to the Rock of Eternity to find Billy, Carlos Magno draws Billy like he’s wearing an ill-fitting Billy Batson mask, all stretches and scrunches in the wrong places. It’s the most egregious example of the art feeling rushed and sloppy, a theme we’ll be revisiting several times over these next few weeks.
Godspeed, and we’ll see you here next week. Thank you for not making me do this alone.
