THE FINAL COUNTDOWN (TO DC'S COUNTDOWN #51)

After releasing a series of buttons, a very mysterious and ominous teaser image, and a lot of dropped hints and innuendo at conventions and through online interviews, DC Comics finally started their advertising campaign for their next yearly series only a few months before its release. Working off the slogans on the convention exclusive buttons, DC showed the following in most of their main-DC Universe books as well as Wizard Magazine over the last couple of months:

The Jimmy Olsen Must Die ad only added a dubious-looking Jimmy to the already released slogan.

I Found Ray Palmer was changed to The Search for Ray Palmer and a great image was used of the Atom under the microscope!

The next advertisement not only changed the slogan, but also added the first hint of a story element. Sharp readers knew immediately that the arm floating in from off page belonged to a pivotal character in both the Marvel Family's history and that of one of the other main players in the coming Countdown series! The use of the title of Dr. Frederic Wertham's infamous book that nearly brought an end to comics in the 1950s stirred even more interest in many a fan's chest.

The next image pointed again with even more definitive proof of the Kirby characters involvement in the upcoming DCU events:


"The Great Disaster" is a direct reference to events in Kirby's Kamandi series.

Finally, DC released one advertisement in this campaign that was not used previously as a button:

This image features two of the Flash's classic Rogues, the Trickster and the Pied Piper bound together a la the classic Tony Curtis/Sidney Poitier film The Defiant Ones!

So, now you've seen the hype, the build-up, and the marketing, tomorrow, Countdown #51 hits the stands and it promises to be the start a wild year-long ride. Be back here Thursday for the first of a year's worth of The Countdown Rundown - I promise, it'll be a blast!