When lead editor or whatever his current title is Brian Salvatore told me about the Multiversity Summer Comics Binge, I thought it sounded fantastic. I had so many ideas running through my head, especially considering DC had recently injected a massive amount of comics into their digital streaming platform, DC Universe. Should I revisit an old favorite, like “Starman?” Or should I dip myself into a legendary run I had yet to substantially experience, like Marv Wolfman and George Pérez’s “The New Teen Titans?” I wrote a list, checked it twice…
And I decided on “Countdown to Final Crisis,” hereafter referred as “Countdown,” the title it had for most of its run and has generally stuck among comic fans.
For those who aren’t in the know, “Countdown” is widely considered one of the worst ongoings DC has ever published. Indeed, that seems to be the only reason it is known at all anymore; due to various continuity complications it was quickly relegated to the dustbin of comics history, being barely relevant to the grander histories of its featured characters. Most hilariously, despite it nominally being a prelude of sorts to Grant Morrison’s “Final Crisis,” in the end the project had gone completely off the rails and was almost immediately contradicted in the pages of the event. At this point, one would only read “Countdown” to see if the legends were true and it was as bad as you heard, or if there’s some semblance of a good story in there. That’s why I picked it, anyway.
It’s impossible to talk about “Countdown” without first mentioning “52” (after all, Dan DiDio is infamously rumored to have referred to “Countdown” as “52” done right). Following the wake of “Infinite Crisis,” all of DC’s mainline books, plus a few new ones, were given the “One Year Later” banner and jumped forward a year in time. The exception was “52,” a weekly ongoing series co-written by superstars Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, and Mark Waid, layouts by industry veteran Keith Giffen, and finishes by a host of artists, many of whom were rising stars at the time and are now widely known. “52” filled in the gap year between “Infinite Crisis” and “One Year Later,” particularly following characters who were less famous and perhaps less likely to sustain their own series (though a few, such as Booster Gold, went on to have their own moderately successful spinoffs). “52” remains a favorite among fans to this day for its look at the broader DC universe, its focus on B, C, and D-listers that might not otherwise get much time in the spotlight, and, most of all, generally being an exciting ride from start to finish.
“Countdown” started immediately after “52,” with its first issue publishing the week after the final issue of “52” (and with the series starting to “count down” from #51). However, the series is the spiritual successor of “52” primarily as a publishing concept, and in that Giffen continued to do the layouts (meaning Giffen was working on layouts for a weekly series for approximately two years). Rather than a team of four co-writers, “Countdown” had Batman: The Animated Series alum Paul Dini in the role of head writer, with a rotating team of writers handling the scripts. Rather than being set aside in its own period of time like “52,” “Countdown” operated within the timeline of the other ongoing books (which would later lead to some continuity issues).
The writing team of “Countdown” may not have been the rock stars that Johns, Morrison, Rucka, and Waid were, but they were still mostly industry stalwarts with some decent work under their respective belts. Dini was in the midst of his acclaimed “Detective Comics” run with Don Kramer and Dustin Nguyen. Tony Bedard was wrapping up a long stint where he primarily worked at Marvel and just now beginning his tenure at DC, where he has primarily remained at ever since. Sean McKeever was wrapping up cult classic “Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane” and would soon begin his fairly brief exclusive contract with DC. Then there’s the extremely prolific duo of Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, with a wide range of solid comics to their names (though perhaps not exceptional). The only writer who could maybe qualify as “infamous” is Adam Beechen, whose characterization of Cassandra Cain in his concurrent work on “Teen Titans” would make certain corners of the comics discourse curse his name for years to come. Like I said, the star power that “52” had might not have been present, and perhaps the best one could hope for would that they would make a series that was somewhat entertaining, but on paper it’s not a lineup that would make the reader assume “hoo boy, this is going to be a disaster.”
Continued belowAs a quick note, I know, I know, #artcred and all that, but I like to think I’m doing the many artists who worked on this project a favor by not pinning the blame on them. More seriously, I think the weekly series is a perfect example of the current era’s overemphasis on writers over artists (and this criticism applies to “52” as well). In the American superhero publishing model, at least, a weekly publishing model seems to be a sure way to minimize artists’ creative contributions, relegating them to more of a production role than an artistic one. Having Giffen doing layouts for the entire series may give the series some level of visual cohesion, sure, but even then the finishing artists are merely playing second fiddle. I don’t say this to disparage the artists of “Countdown” before I even begin reading, but right from the outset I’m faced with the perhaps unfair assumption that none of the pages are going to wow me, simply because the production model doesn’t allow it.
The main thing that will be missing in binging “Countdown” will be the tedious slow burn of experiencing it unfold in real-time. I may not be spoiled in the sense of knowing exactly what happens, but I know that things do not, in fact, get better. Perhaps that will make things easier for me — after all, how many of us have held on to hope until the very end that the series we have been trudging through will all be worth it when all is said and done, only to reach the conclusion and be left with the upsetting realization that it wasn’t worth it? But then, what incentive is there to go on when I know nothing good waits for me in the end? Why am I consigning myself to this hell? Will it kill me to death?
Only one way to find out I guess.
As a final note, you can find my live comments on the series so far and particular panels that made me laugh on Twitter under the hashtag #52doneright (credit to the good boy of the DC3cast Zach Wilkerson for the hashtag name). At the time this post goes live, I’m a bit more than halfway through the series. A few weeks have passed since I wrote the majority of this post, and I can’t lie, for the most part I haven’t been pleasantly surprised. See you next week for my thoughts on #51-36, or get a sneak peek on Twitter @GoodbyetoaShoe.
