THE COUNTDOWN RUNDOWN DOUBLE SHOT: WEEKS 38 AND 37

WEEK 38: ALL HELL
written by Paul Dini and Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray; pencils by Jesus Saiz


WEEK 37: FORBIDDEN FRUIT
written by Paul Dini and Adam Beechen; Keith Griffen handles breakdowns; David Lopez & Mike Norton, pencillers


THE RECAP: Things go haywire world-wide, and the JSA, the JLA and others scramble to clean up a wave of computer attacks that cause nightmare scenarios all designed as a distraction, so the Calculator can get inside Oracle's mainframe. Sounds vaguely sexual, but I promise, it's kid friendly! While she fends off the attack on her system by her newest arch-rival, directs the world's heroes to battle the computer-related problems popping up across the globe, and chats up the all-new, all-different Question (who happens to be dealing with our favorite Rogues - more on them in a minute), the former Batgirl is also dealing with the break-in of Karate Kid and Una of the Legion of Super-heroes. Apparently, the Kid's dieing and he's come to Oracle for help.

After a full analysis however, Oracle can't determine what it is that's wrong with Karate Kid. Since Oracle can't make heads or tails of the situation, she points the Kid and Una to a man named Elias Orr (Rundown HQ is thinking Oracle is referring to Mr. Orr from the Superman: For Tomorrow storyline by Lee and Azzarello, but we could be wrong.) It seems that Una does have an idea what's going on though, and mentions again, in hushed tones, the ever-present Great Disaster . . .

With all this talk of the Great Disaster, preview images of toppled Statues of Liberty, and the Atomic Knights operating out of the decimated Bludhaven, its only a matter of time before Kamandi shows up!

Speaking of disasters, the Rogues Piper and Trickster simply can't catch a break. Fresh from escaping the new Task Force X/Suicide Squad in Week 39, they run smack into the latest Gotham dynamic duo: the Question and the Batwoman!

Although, for once they luck out: former homicide detective/current vigilante Renee Montoya just knows the two bumblers are "too stupid" to have been in on Bart Allen's death and the unlucky Rogues escape a beating from the lovely ladies. True to their poor decision-making skills, however, they decide to hole up in one of Gotham's abandoned botanical gardens. Which, obviously is the home of Poison Ivy! We'll see how they get out of this one in Week 36.

While this story is one that just seems to tread water with the not-so-smart Villains Defiant "Three Stooging" their way into every possible bad situation, it's actually their storyline that Rundown HQ is enjoying the most. They are being written true to their characters' histories, with a good bit of wit and the pacing of their scenes is almost always spot on. Obviously there are other story lines in Countdown more important, but its these incompetent bunglers that shine week after week.

Checking in on Mary Marvel and Zatanna, their run-in with the Deep Six ends with the amphibious Fourth Worlders dead at the hands of the god-killer, who we finally get a glimpse at (although, only in silhouette.) Looks a bit like Takion's powers to us . . . another DC character with strong links to the Source and the New Gods.

On a personal note, what editor has the heart to kill a character named: Shaligo the Flying Finback!??!

Mysteriously ignoring the fact that a super-powered being just killed six other New Gods, Mary and Z decide to go back to Z's place in Gotham for lunch and a chat.

Huh, what?? No Justice League distress call??

This is definitely a glaring hallmark of this series. There is a ton going on, and while it is plausible that Jimmy Olsen might not tell Superman that he watched Sleeze die a week before he watched Lightray get murdered, it's hard to believe that Zatana - a former member of the Justice League - wouldn't clue in the League to the murder of six New Gods from Apokolips!

Anyway, back to the stories at hand . . . While Mary shows more of her dark desire for power to Zatana, the Jean Loring Eclipso is still lurking in the shadows and really crushing on this bad-girl version of Mary.

Moving on.

Week 37 checks in briefly with Holly Robinson, who Harley is overjoyed to learn, has been invited to Athena's meditation group. Looks like Athena has some training in store for the former Catwoman replacement. Training that might lead to becoming a warrior in the Amazon Attacks war? Who knows . . . this story is the slowest and seemingly least important of all of Countdown's ongoing shenanigans.

The new Challengers of the Unknown (Jason Todd, Bob the Monitor and Donna Troy, along with Ryan Choi, the new Atom) continue on the hunt for the missing Ray Palmer in the nanoverse and continue to be stymied by weird inhabitants of that microscopic world. They also keep getting told that the Great Disaster is imminent, but none of the Challengers except for Bob the Monitor seem to be too concerned.

Kind of a recurring theme developing here of heroes who aren't concerned with the evidence of impending doom staring them in the face. I seem to recall a similar blase attitude towards a certain Blue Beetle's proclamations that things in the DCU were wonky. As you recall, that Blue Beetle ended up with a ventilated head and the DCU ended up with an Infinite Crisis.

Jimmy Olsen/Mr. Action has no luck joining the Teen Titans (really, would you let him into your super-hero club?!) and broods about it back in his office. Suddenly, he's hit with a thought that he can't quite understand how he got - he knows that Superman is really Clark Kent! Lucky Clark's in the room with him and Jimmy wastes no time ripping his shirt to prove himself right. This sudden investiture of knowledge might also be how he knew that Jason Todd was the Red Hood and that Dick Grayson is Nightwing from way back in Week 50 or so, but the hows and wherefores are still to be revealed.

The only other notable development in the last two issues of Countdown was a brief cameo by Darkseid at the end of Week 38, in which he proclaims that as the New Gods die like the Prometheans before them, only he will survive and rule over the "Multiversal Dynasty" to come. Big machinations afoot!

With Week 38, Dan Jurgen's History of the Multiverse twelve chapter backup feature concluded. The Monitors of the 52 universes come to a fateful decision: those with the bearded Monitor who killed Duela Dent in Week 51 stand against the lone Monitor of New Earth (this is the main Earth of the regular DCU that has been around since the end of the original Crisis on Infinite Earths, changed during Zero Hour, and survived Alex Luthor's manipulations during Infinite Crisis.) The lone Monitor a/k/a Bob the Monitor, as we've already seen, has decided to aid the heroes in their battle against the coming Great Disaster. So 51 against 1 doesn't look like great odds for Bob. Check out future issues of the Countdown spin-off mini-series, Countdown Presents the Search for Ray Palmer and the All New Atom for that story spanning the multiverse.Week 37 re-introduced a great back-up feature that was much missed from the issues of 52, The Origin of . . . series. These two page origin stories were one of the many high points of DC's previous weekly series, all written by Mark Waid and illustrated by some of the best artists in the industry (my personal favorites were Eric "The Goon" Powell on the origin of Metamorpho - see above - and Brian "Killing Joke" Bolland pencilling Animal Man). While the back-ups in 52 were focused squarely on heroes (Black Adam, Cat-Man, and Lobo were all nominally heroes in 52, smartguy), it looks as though (and word from DC confirms this) that all of the Origin Of back-ups in Countdown will be of villians.

So, with Week 37, we get the Origin of Poison Ivy by Scott Beatty with stellar art by Stephane Roux. These concise 2-page histories are a great addition to this series, and we at Countdown HQ look forward to the weeks to come (keeping our fingers crossed for a Bolland Joker origin!)

Next week: ISSUE 36 - Black Mary vs. Zatanna!
Winner = Eclipso!

THE COUNTDOWN RUNDOWN DOUBLE-SHOT! WEEKS 40 AND 39

ISSUE 40: SMALL WONDERS

Donna, Jason, the all new Atom, and Bob the Monitor get into a bruhaha with the residents of the Palmerverse, before seeing eye to eye. Finding out that they were only protecting the good Dr. Palmer himself, the warriors point the Challengers of the Unknown to a microverse beyond the Palmerverse.

Jimmy Olsen makes waves in Metropolis under the nom de plume, Mr. Action, even if Lois Lane shows a healthy lack of respect for his heroics.

Mary Marvel finds herself adrift in open waters, seeking the mentoring help of the mystical Zatanna - maybe not the best choice of role models considering the recent troubles the magician just got through. The meeting between the two will have to wait for another issue, however, as the two heroines never get together in this issue.

Next up we check in on Holly Robinson and Harleen Quinzel in the Athenian Women's shelter in Metropolis. It seems that the mission is only interested in single ladies and those with rugrats in tow need not apply. That doesn't exactly play well with Holly and we get more on her next issue.

Switching up a lot from previous issues, we next move all the way to Apokolips - the home of Darkseid and many other evil New Gods. It appears the master monarch is building an army of Parademons. He also shows a bit of a soft side to one of his many concubines, but quickly goes back to dastardly villain mode and aces her with his Omega Beams!

Also watching the parade of Parademons is a lowly, unidentified New God, who all clues point to being none other than Forager a/k/a The Bug!

For those counting, Countdown now has at least two characters building armies - Darkseid and Monarch. Plus, if the Monitors have more of Forerunner's people as their personal slaves, that might be one more. And don't forget Sinestro's Fear Corps! (check out recent issues of Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps for more on the Sinestro Corps War!)

Finally, Week 40 checks in on our two favorite fugitives - Piper and the Trickster! Freshly deposited in Gotham, the two go to the only hood they think will help them in the Bat's city, the Penguin. Man, those two are really not that bright . . .

The issue closes with even more bad luck for the rogue Rogues - Oracle clues the brand new Question (a/k/a Renee Montoya) onto their entry into Gotham. That can't be good.

ISSUE 39: DO NOT PASS GO

After 12 weeks of what many fans have called a book treading water, this week's Countdown seems to have finally hit it's stride. We here at Rundown HQ admit that there is still something to be desired in the scripting and artwork behind the book, but two major developments have finally made this book start to gel.

First, Keith Giffen has come on the book as layout artist/plot contributor with Issue 40. The significance of that cannot be overstated. With countless years in the industry, mastery of pacing and visual storetelling, and the experience of already having worked on a weekly book (the only one among the main contributors to Countdown), Giffen's experience, poise and attitude are just the injection of "freshness" this book needed.

Second, with Issue 39, the book has finally escewed the need to check in on all of the players in every issue, thus diluting the impact of those appearances with minimal page time. There are still a couple of interludes in this issue that probably could have been left out (we're looking at you, Mr. Action!), but overall, this issue finally felt like its own story and not a conglomeration of vignettes and news-brief style recaps.

So, what happened?

Karate Kid and the recently non-Triplicate Una, in an effort to find out what's wrong with the Kid and maybe why Brainiac 5 stranded them in the 21st century, break into the home of none other than Barbara Gordon, f/k/a Batgirl, currently a/k/a Oracle. For two kids from the future, that's not the brightest of moves. But the Kid proves he's as determined as Batman and makes it through all of Oracle's defenses to get to the mastermind. Too bad she's a little busy with another major security breach - someone's trying to hack a database that has every hero's real id! I smell a conspiracy.

Speaking of conspiracies, Trickster and Piper are still being hidden by the Penguin in Gotham City. Too bad they forgot the golden rule among super-villains: never turn your back on each other. Looks like the Penguin went to a higher bidder and called in the all-new, sort-of different Suicide Squad to re-capture the Rogues. As readers saw in All Flash #1, the new Suicide Squad (with team members Deadshot, Captain Boomerang II, the Bronze Tiger, and Plastique, among others) have been busy gathering up all the Rogues who took part in the murder of Bart Allen, the Flash IV.

Just as Boomer is about to layout the two misfit Rogues, they make a miraculous escape. Too bad they just jumped (yet again!) from the frying pan to the fire! Oracle and Batwoman are waiting for the two and they don't look happy. With Trickster the only straight man in that alley, things are bound to get awkward.

Finally, this issue also checked in on Mr. Action making another save and determining to get into the Titans; and it looked at Holly Robinson, confronting Athena of the same-named shelter about their acceptance issues. Nothing much there, but we should see more in the weeks to come.

Wrapping up both Issues 40 and 39 were more of Dan Jurgens's History of the Multiverse, but since that timeline is up to date, the story has concentrated more on the ongoing debate amongst the Monitors about how to handle so-called "reality jumpers" like the now deceased Duela Dent and the still at large Monarch, as well as how to face the oncoming Great Disaster. More on that in a special article coming in the next few weeks - Kirby created it and the 1970s DCU loved it - what was The Great Disaster!?

Next week: ISSUE 38, TITANS TOGETHER, IT'S ACTION TIME!

THE COUNTDOWN RUNDOWN - WEEK 41: ANOTHER FINE MESS

THE PLAYERS
James Jesse/The Trickster
Hartley Rathaway/The Pied Piper
James Olsen/Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen
Lois Lane
Kal El/Clark Kent/Superman
Mary Batson/Mary Marvel
Jean Loring/Eclipso
Ryan Choi/The Atom III
Jason Todd/Robin II/The Red Hood
Donna Troy/Troia
"Bob" the Monitor
Holly Robinson/Catwoman II
Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn
Val Armorr/Karate Kid
Luornu Durgo/Una/Triplicate Girl

ISSUE 41

So, lots going on in between the covers of this issue, but not really a lot happening. We start off where last week we left off - with the Trickster and Pied Piper freefallin' from 30,000 feet. Luckily, Piper grabbed a piece of luggage on the way out of the plane they were being held in and, lo and behold, within are Trickster's flying boots! Convenient for the pair, but still a little hairy. Good thing they were able to crashdown into Gotham Harbor.

Well . . . maybe not a good thing, since every cape in the DCU is going to be hunting them for their role in the murder of Bart Allen a/k/a the Flash! And since Gotham is home to the greatest manhunter in the world, a/k/a the Batman, a very bad future awaits our two favorite Rogues.

Especially since the first place they head for help in the big bad city is to pre-eminent Bat villian, the Penguin. Bad choices seem to be plaguing these two. Being cuffed together isn't helping.

Next up, the issue checks in on Mary Marvel and Jimmy Olsen. The former is contemplating the Riddler's sage advice about finding a mentor (and someone with a bit of dual personality - Jean Loring, a/k/a Eclipso - seems more then ready to take on the position!) The latter has created himself a costume and a super-hero name . . . get ready for MR. ACTION!

Moving on . . .

Holly and Harley are still with the Athenian Women's Shelter, but now are apparently in the Gotham extension. I could have sworn they were in Metropolis last issue! Hmmm. This seems to be the first of many continuity/consistency gaffs that plagued this issue (and some of the previous ones to a lesser extent.) Anyway, Gotham doesn't like their newest Amazonian guests, especially since Wonder Girl and Supergirl just took out Air Force One over in the mini-series, Amazons Attack!

Over in Ivy City, the Atom is getting small with the newly named, Bob the Monitor (yeah, I know), Donna Troy and Jason Todd. Heading into the micro-verse to find Ray Palmer, their first stop doesn't exactly look friendly - robotic amphibians and mutant micromen abound!

Finally, the book closes on Karate Kid in a scene that seems to have happened some time ago in the rest of the DCU (remember those continuity gaffs we mentioned a little while ago?) Completing their mission to resurrect Wally West and his family into the 21st Century, the Kid and his fellow Legionnaires get gone. But Brainiac Five tells the Kid his mission in our time isn't over. Anyone reading Justice League of America and "The Lightning Saga" already know this, but what we didn't know is that the Kid gets some help sent to him - Triplicate Girl! Or, more accurately, Una, one-third of the Triplicate Girl persona. What's their mission here? Wouldn't you like to know! For some clues, check out the latest issue of Justice Society of America where Superman asks the very same question of the Legion's Starman.

Well, it feels like it is about time for we here at Rundown HQ to give some deeper commentary on Countdown so far. While we've been enjoying some aspects of the story - specifically the Rogues' adventure and Mary Marvel's journey - a lot of the rest of the book, especially in recent weeks has felt like filler. More accurately, it's felt like a series of recaps for the same stories happening in other books. We understand that the book is attempting to tie together the continuity of the entire line of DCU titles, but the focus of Countdown itself is starting to get lost in the scramble to "fill in the blanks."

This week seemed to be the weakest of all the issues so far, with only a few pages advancing the stories of the lead characters and even worse than that, the issue was filled with head-scratching continuity flubs: Is Clark Kent/Superman really just sitting around at his office when Air Force One is taken out by Amazons (who by the way have been ransacking Washington, DC for the last couple of weeks)?? Is Karate Kid just getting to the point of trying to leave our universe, days after Bart Allen's funeral that happened in the last issue of Countdown? Did Piper and Trickster fall to Earth from Mars? Because if not, they must be defying gravity to give Holly and Harley enough time to get from Metropolis to Gotham between the Rogues exit from the plane 'til the first page of this issue.

Being diehard DC heads, the Rundown hates to harp on these "fanboy-ish" continuity issues, but when the gaffs take you so far out of the story, it's hard not to address the problems with a critical eye. And to go one further, the less said about this week's art, the better. There isn't a single consistent countenance on any character that appears in this issue.

In closing, the Rundown isn't giving up hope on this title. Quite the opposite, with 12 issues published, Keith Giffen on board next week for layouts, and the talented writing pool and veteran editorial team now on the book, things should only improve. It's just the hope of all of us here at Rundown HQ that some of the continuity rubs are a little less obvious and that DC focuses more on story-telling than story-recapping. If this title is truly meant to be the "spine of the DCU" - as it was so often touted - then let it tell its own tale and build off that base. Don't just use the title as a bridge between disparate storylines throughout the rest of this gigantic shared universe; use it to BUILD THAT UNIVERSE!

Next week: Issue 40: Tiny but DEADLY!

THE COUNTDOWN RUNDOWN: WEEK 42 - SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM

THE PLAYERS

James Jesse/The Trickster
Hartley Rathaway/The Pied Piper
Floyd Lawton/Deadshot
Danton Black/Multiplex
Edward Nigma/The Riddler
Mary Batson/Mary Marvel/Black Mary
Clayface
Holly Robinson/Catwoman II
Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn
Ryan Choi/The Atom IV
Donna Troy/Wonder Girl/Troia
Jason Todd/Robin II/Red Hood
The New Earth Monitor
Bruce Wayne/Batman
Val Armorr/Karate Kid
Lois Lane
James Olsen/Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen

ISSUE 42
(written by Paul Dini with Sean McKeever & Tony Bedard; pencils by Carlos Magno)

This week starts off with the continuation of Trickster's and Piper's capture by Deadshot and Multiplex. Now, bound together by a taser-inducing gauntlet, the two sort-of villains find themselves in confined quarters. Always one to jump before he looks, Trickster pulls one final trick out of his sleeve (actually, his tooth!) in a last ditch effort to free himself and Piper. The plan works in freeing the two from their predicament, but takes them from the frying pan to the fire - they blew their way out of a speeding jet and the issue closes with them freefalling to certain doom.

The other major development this issue focuses on the so-called Challengers - Donna Troy, Jason Todd and their erstwhile Monitor. Following up on last week's conversation about the nano-verse, the three find themselves in Ivy Town, the home of the Silver Age Atom, Ray Palmer (just a reminder: he's been missing since the end of Identity Crisis), as well as the home of the current Atom, Ryan Choi! Even a Monitor doesn't have the power to get to the nano-verse alone, and it seems if these new Challengers are going to stop the coming Great Disaster (as predicted by the Source wall back in Issue #51), they have to find Ray Palmer to do it. Who better to take them to that microcosm than the new Atom? Choi readily agrees and they proceed to shrink down to atomic size! While the rest of their story will be touched on in the coming issues of Countdown, to get a more thorough view of their adventures, readers will have to check out the series of one-shots titled, Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer, expected in stores in September.

The rest of the issue checks in on the other players in the story so far: Mary Marvel is still in Gotham, oddly enough teaming up with the Riddler to stop Clayface after a bank robbery. Her enjoyment of her new found Black Adam-induced super-powers garners the attention of Batman, and that's never good.

Speaking of Batman, Karate Kid stops in to tell him that he hopes the Bat doesn't have any hard feelings about the beating the Kid handed him back in Justice League of America Issue #8. If you know Batman, you know how that conversation went!

Finally, both Holly Robinson and Jimmy Olsen get brief page allotments this issue - Holly gets a little more insight into the Amazonian hostel she crashing at from new gal-pal Harley Quinn. Olsen gets caught by Lois Lane while sketching costume ideas for his plan to put his new-found powers to some good use. She tells him not to quit his day job - what a be'atch!

So, while the story of the Rogues and the Challengers brought us to the brink of their previously advertised plots (a/k/a Villains Defiant and the Search for Ray Palmer), the rest of the book was more set-up and throughlines for the entire DCU. It's still only 10 weeks into this yearlong series, so there's plenty of time for things to kick into high gear, but we here at Rundown HQ think the writers on Countdown might want to take a page from the 52 playbook: instead of giving a few pages to every storyline/character arc each week, spend more time on one or three of those plot lines a week, and leave the others out. It worked well in 52. Even if you weren't the biggest fan of, say, the Black Adam/Isis storyline, you knew in the next week or two, you'd be getting a whole lot more about Steel vs. Luthor, or the demise of the Question. It kept you reading, and begging for more.

Right now, Countdown feels like its treading water a bit too much, waiting for other regular DCU titles to catch up, or spin-offs like Countdown to Adventure and The Search for Ray Palmer to kick off.

Next Week: Issue 41 - things aren't looking good for Piper and Trickster in a story that only Tom Petty could call . . . Freefalling!

THE COUNTDOWN RUNDOWN: WEEK 43 - THE FUNERAL

THE PLAYERS
Most of the DCU!
James Olsen/Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen
Donna Troy/Troia
Jason Todd/Robin II/The Red Hood
Hartley Rathaway/Pied Piper
James Jesse/The Trickster
Floyd Lawson/Deadshot
Holly Robinson/Catwoman II
The New Earth Monitor
Nathaniel Adam/Captain Atom/Monarch
Forerunner
. . . and, from beyond the grave, Bart Allen/Impulse/Kid Flash II/The Flash IV

ISSUE 43

(written by Paul Dini with Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray; Pencils by Manuel Garcia w/ David Lopez)

This week starts off with the aftermath of DC's Flash #13 in which the One Year Later title came to a tragic conclusion with the death of Bart Allen, the latest hero to wear the crimson uniform of the Flash! Reporting from the funeral is the Daily Planet's Jimmy Olsen. Also attending are a veritable Who's Who of the DCU, including Robin (Tim Drake), Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark), the original Flash (Jay Garrick), Cyborg (Victor Stone), and many many others.

Listening to the eulogies of the heroes who worked with Bart Allen, Jimmy comes to a fateful decision - with all the new abilities he's been manifesting, he feels a responsibility to use those powers for a greater good. Hmmm . . . sounds similar to another urban newspaper's resident photog over at the Marvelous Competition.

The book looks in on Holly Robinson, recently taken in by an Amazonian hostel in the Suicide Slum area of Metropolis. Holly has an interesting conversation with one of the spa/shelter's other newest residents, Harleen Quinzel, a/k/a Harley Quinn!

Back at the funeral, Piper and the Trickster are surreptitiously paying their respects to their fallen arch-nemesis. But a case of the jitters sends them packing, leading them right into the arms of Deadshot! When the crack-shot has you in his sights, things can't be good. The question remains, though, who's the assassin for hire working for? His old taskmasters in the Suicide Squad? The Society? Whoever it is, they mean business.

Also attending the funeral are Jason Todd, Donna Troy, and their new Monitor ally. This Monitor (the same who witnessed events at the Source Wall back in Issue 51) explains that before they can even begin to battle the coming threat to the DCU, they must first travel to the nanoverse to find the one person who can assist them - Dr. Ray Palmer, the original Atom! Remember, Ray Palmer has been missing since the events on Identity Crisis, when he discovered that his ex-wife, Jean Loring, was a cold-blooded killer!

Finally, this issue also checks in on the Monarch and his new ally, Forerunner. They seem to be in a place bathed in red light (possibly the Bleed from the WildStorm universe) where the former Captain Atom recently traveled through in his adventures outside the DCU. It's also revealed that he's gathered an army in this secret location and he needs Forerunner to train and command that army. What against or where he plans on using that army is yet to be revealed.

All in all, this week brought closure to the Bart Allen/Full Throttle storyline, celebrating a hero that DC may have killed right before he grew into a hero that fans could have embraced. The story also took some nice leaps forward, pushing characters towards the much-teased scenarios promised during last summer's convention season (The Search for Ray Palmer, Villains Defiant). Finally, we got more of a glimpse into the mysterious machinations of the Monarch - a story that has yet to reveal if we the readers should be rooting for or against the convoluted anti-hero.

Next week, come back for Issue 42: Stuck in the Clay!

THE COUNTDOWN RUNDOWN - WEEK 44: CHANGES OF ADDRESS

Due to a family vacation, this week's Rundown is super-short:

ISSUE 44

Jimmy Olsen plays tough and discovers more super-powers in his mystery box - this time another blast to the past with Porcupine powers!

Holly Robinson (a/k/a Catwoman II) hooks up with a bunch of Amazons in a very good-looking homeless shelter!

The man formerly known as Captain Atom, now parading through the Multiverse as Monarch, entices a recently fired Monitor lackey to join him. Forerunner takes the deal . . . for now!

The Trickster and the Pied Piper realize that they are now in a world of hurt, having participated (however tangentially) in the death of The Flash (Bart Allen). The whole world is going to be gunning for the Rogues, and they know it!

Mary Marvel finally finds her brother, the former Captain Marvel and current keeper of the Rock of Eternity. Billy isn't too happy with Mary's choice of powers (she inherited them from Black Adam!) and the two don't exactly see eye to eye on Mary's future!

Plus, Dan Jurgens's recap of the history of the DCU Multiverse back-up feature hits is midway point with a look at the original death of the Multiverse in Crisis on Infinite Earths!

Next week, the Rundown will be back to full capacity, the promised side-article on Captain Atom/Monarch will be up, and the lowdown on Issue 43 promises: A Funeral for a Friend!

THE COUNTDOWN RUNDOWN: WEEK 45 - MONITOR DUTY

THE PLAYERS
Donna Troy/Wonder Girl/Troia
Jason Todd/Robin II/The Red Hood
Forerunner
James Olsen/Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen
Holly Robinson/Catwoman II
The Monitors
Val Armorr/Karate Kid
Thom Kallor/Starman V
Nura Nal/Dream Girl
Pieter Cross/Dr. Midnight III
Nathaniel Adam/Captain Atom/The Monarch

ISSUE 45
Written by Paul Dini with Tony Bedard (incorrectly credited as Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray); Pencils by Jim Calafiore

This week opens right where last week left off – with the Monitor’s agent of destruction, Forerunner, continuing to drop a beating on Donna Troy and Jason Todd. Just as Todd’s about to go down for the final count (again!), Donna steps it up and brings the battle to the mysterious Forerunner. The intergalactic enforcer proves more powerful than even a woman with the powers of the gods, however, and if not for the interference of a rogue Monitor, Donna and Jason would have been toast.

We learn a little bit about the origins of Forerunner from her encounter with the Monitor, and about her races' unique relationship to the Monitors. Mysteries still abound here, but it looks like the Monitors have been active for quite a bit longer than anyone’s previously considered.

We’ll get back to the end result of Donna’s and Jason’s run-in with Forerunner and the rogue Monitor a little later, but first let’s hit the other players of this week’s issue.

Jimmy Olsen is trying to wring some answers out of the wreckage of the building where Sleez was attacked and in so doing gives a brief rundown of the New Gods. Holly Robinson is also still skulking around that same building in Suicide Slum and before the book leaves her, she encounters a mysterious character shrouded in shadow. More on those two in coming weeks.

Next, the book checks in on Karate Kid and his Legion of Super-Heroes compatriots meeting with Dr. Midnight on the Justice League Satellite. This interlude is a bit behind the rest of the DCU books, as over in Justice League of America and Justice Society of America, the crossover story, the Lightning Saga, reached its conclusion this week. Check out those books for more info on the appearance of the 30th Century heroes in our time period and the ramifications of that story on the entire DCU – next week the Rundown will take a closer look at those developments.

Finally, this week’s issue ends with a beaten Forerunner and a new alliance forming between the rogue Monitor, Donna Troy and Jason Todd. With the defeat of Forerunner – who is apparently powerless against the Monitors, genetically bred by them over centuries in accordance with a mysterious prophecy – the Monitor disappears with Troia and Red Hood. Alone, stranded on Earth, disgraced by her defeat and failure to complete her mission of assassinating Troy and Todd, the Forerunner severs her physical link with her masters, the Monitors.

Alone, however, isn’t quite right, for in the final panel of the issue, it’s revealed that none other than Monarch is watching over Forerunner! The former villain seems about to put Forerunner to his own uses, claiming she is too valuable to discard. Hmmm . . .

Who is Monarch, you ask? In simple terms, Monarch is Captain Atom. Now he is, at least. But the history of the character is more convoluted than a study of the human genome.

In 1991, DC Comics rolled out its latest summer crossover event, Armageddon 2001. Originally conceived as a simple event comic involving a dystopian future ruled by a former super-hero who had destroyed all of his fellow heroes and become a powerful dictator, the story behind the story became the bigger pageturner!

In the year 2030, the DCU is ruled over by the Orwellian Monarch – a powerful entity that ruled with an iron fist. Once a hero of the DCU, the Monarch had turned against his allies, destroying them all, and taking over the world. The crossover event consisted of two bookends, spanned by stories through that summer’s DCU Annuals. When a rebellious scientist named Matthew Ryder uses time travel technology to escape the world of 2030, he is transformed into Waverider.

Upon reaching the year 1991, Waverider vows to use is temporal powers to discover, and then destroy, the present-day hero who will be corrupted and eventually become Monarch in the year 2001. Over the course of a dozen Annuals, Waverider glimpsed into the futures of DC’s most popular heroes and villains, all the while revealing clues to who would become Monarch. Finally, in the summer’s last annual before the bookend, Armageddon 2001 #2, was released, Waverider encountered Captain Atom and their physical contact ripped a whole in the space-time continuum allowing Monarch to travel from 2030 to the then present-day DCU.

As Monarch rages against the assembled DC pantheon, he beats and kills Dawn Granger, a/k/a Dove of Hawk and Dove! Now without the counterbalance of Dawn's pacifism, Hank Hall, her lover and the warlike Hawk, attacks with the full force of his power. As the battle ensues, Monarch is killed by Hawk and his armour is damaged, revealing that Monarch is really. . . Hank Hall!!??? Suffering a psychotic break, Hank Hall instantly takes the armour of Monarch and becomes him!

Huh-wha??

Apparently DC had been planning to reveal Captain Atom as the time-traveling Monarch, but word of the decision leaked to the fan press, and an editorial decision was made to change the reveal to Hawk, so as to keep the surprise of the event intact. The problem was that in the course of the summer's annuals, Waverider had looked at Hawk & Dove's future which showed them actually battling against Monarch, therefore ruling either of them out as the future villain! The fan and creator outcry against the change to the story was loud and clear.

The story ends with a guilt-ridden Captain Atom (since it was his power that ripped the timehole open and let Monarch back to the 20th century to kill Dove) takes on the villain one-on-one and the two tumble through time in a battle that was shown to readers in the pages of Armageddon: The Alien Agenda. The two eventually are caught in an atomic blast during WWII and while Captain Atom is sent to the present day by the blast, the fate of Monarch is left open ended.

So, how does that bring Captain Atom to the point where he is wearing the Monarch armour? What happened to Hank Hall/Monarch?? Be here next week for another Countdown Rundown Special Edition looking at the parallel histories of Captain Atom and Hank Hall and their fates within and without the DCU!

And then, be back on Friday for our regular installment: Countdown #44 in stores on Wednesday June 27th! Return of the Monarch!

Oh, and if you are wondering what happened to the Rogues in this issue -- they were a little busy over in Flash #13, the final issue of the series!

COUNTDOWN RUNDOWN - WEEK 46: WEAPON OF WAR

THE PLAYERS
The Monitors
Jason Todd/Robin II/The Red Hood
Donna Troy/Wonder Girl/Troia
Flash’s Rogues/The Rogues
Mary Baston/Mary Marvel/Black Mary
James Olsen/Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen
Lois Lane
Holly Robinson/Catwoman II
Forerunner
Sleez

ISSUE 46
Written by: Paul Dini with Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray; Pencils: Jesus Saiz

This week opens on the Daily Planet’s intrepid photog, Jimmy Olsen who is determined to find out more about the death of Lightray (the New God who died last week in Metropolis) and the visions he had of the Source Wall. Jimmy receives a mysterious note and heads into Suicide Slum to meet with someone. That someone turns out to be Sleez, self proclaimed “former servant, aide and counsel” to Darkseid, who informs Olsen that he has finally figured out how to destroy the Master of Apokolips. Before he can reveal that secret to Jimmy though, someone or something appears in a blaze of light and kills Sleez - and it wasn’t Darkseid. The only thing the reader is left with is the tagline DC had been using in the advertising campaign prior to Countdown’s launch - “So Begins the End!”

It looks like there’s about to be a major war among the New Gods - but who’s hunting whom is a question that still needs to be answered.

A side note to Jimmy’s encounter with Sleez in the Slum, is the appearance of a girl outside the building who saves a homeless man during the attack which drops half of the burned out building onto the street. The girl is wearing a variation of a Hello Kitty t-shirt and in Rundown HQ’s opinion its none other than Holly Robinson, recently transferred to Metropolis from Gotham. With Holly in Metropolis it’s only a matter of time before her and Olsen cross paths.

Switching gears, the book also continues to follow Mary Batson’s adventures in Gotham. Now invested with all of Black Adam’s powers, Black Mary (as the fan press has named her, if not the comic itself) is patrolling the skies over Gotham, trying to ascertain the fluctuations she senses on the magic wavelength. She comes across a group of pregnant woman performing a demonic ritual that results in the summoning of a demon with a body made from dead infants (a wee bit distasteful, to be honest.) Mary makes short work of the demon and leaves him for the authorities, revealing that she is definitely more powerful than ever before and a bit harsher than her normal sunny self. The effects of Black Adam’s powers are obviously more than just to her new fashion sense.

The Rogues interlude is more of what’s all ready been displayed these last few weeks - they are out drinking and yet another fight breaks out between the Pied Piper and Mirror Master. It’s understandable, since Mirror Master is responsible for the death of Piper’s parents! While Rundown HQ is definitely happy that some of the best written villains in comics are getting a lot of page-time, we are getting a bit worn down by the decompression this particular plot thread is going through. It’s been six weeks and really the Rogues are in about the same position they started at in Week 51. Only readers of regular Flash comic know that Inertia (the current Flash, Bart Allen’s imperfect clone from the 30th Century) has sprung a huge trap for the Flash in an attempt to take the Speed Force from him; but in the pages of Countdown, the Rogues (including Inertia) have done little more than get their drink on!

The final pages of this week’s issue are dedicated to Jason Todd - a/k/a The Red Hood - meeting again with Donna Troy, this time in Washington, D.C. in the middle of the Amazons’ attack on the capital city (see the Amazons Attack mini-series for more details on that story!) Jason is trying to get Donna to realize the gravity of their situation in that they are similarly situated to the murdered Duela Dent as anomalies on this Earth - they’ve both died and been brought back. They just don’t belong in the universe. The former Robin's done some homework and discovered that the alien who killed Duela was none other than the Monitor (note to readers: the characters don’t yet know that there is a new Multiverse with 52 universes and 52 corresponding Monitors for each universe.) Donna can’t believe that the Monitor is even alive (she remembers the original Crisis on Infinite Earths, unlike most DCU characters), never mind that he would murder someone in cold blood. That’s when the Monitor’s newest weapon is unleashed on the pair with devastating results.

Obviously an analogue to the original Monitor’s agent on Earth - Harbringer (see pic above) - Forerunner (see pic to the right) seems to be fiercer, more vicious, and invested with more powers than Harbinger ever displayed. She easily (and quickly) takes out both Donna and Jason, leaving readers with another cliff-hanger ending.

As solicited, Forerunner will be appearing prominently in DC’s upcoming Countdown to Adventure series that will star Adam Strange, Starfire, and Animal Man. Her future role as hero or villain is unclear at this point, but right now things don’t look good for those deemed unacceptable to the Monitors. That list, while obviously containing Jason Todd, Donna Troy, and Kyle Rainer, could also contain a lot of other characters who have died and come back to life. A-list characters like Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Green Arrow Oliver Queen, and most importantly, Superman!

If the Monitors truly are waging war on these so-called anomalies, and there is a burgeoning battle brewing amongst the New Gods, the entire DCU could be in for quite a ride. So begins the end, indeed!

Next week: Enter the Justice Legion(?!) of America!

THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY (MARVEL)

First Appearance: Captain Marvel Adventures #18

Key Appearances: Wow Comics #9;
Mary Marvel Comics #1;
The Power of Shazam #4;

The Power of Shazam #28;
Formerly Known as the Justice League mini-series;
Countdown weekly series

SECRET ORIGIN

Mary Marvel made her first appearance in 1942's Captain Marvel Adventures #18. Born Mary Batson, the twin sister of Billy Batson was seperated from her brother after the death of their parents. The Batson's nanny, a woman named Sarah Primm, substituted the baby Mary for another baby she was nanny to, when that baby suddenly died. Raised as Mary Bromfield by rich parents, Mary never knew about her brother Billy, who had been raised in an orphanage until he met the Wizard Shazam and was given the powers of the gods as Captain Marvel.

Years later, Billy was the host of a radio program and secretly Captain Marvel. The show, The Mental Marvel Quiz, featured the young Mary Batson as a contestant. The former nanny of Mary and Billy, Sarah Primm, in a death-bed confession tells Billy of his long lost sister and her substitution for the Bromfield baby. Before the two are able to reunite, Mary is kidnapped. When Billy and Freddie Freeman - as Captain Marvel and Captain Marvel, Jr. - rescue Mary, they also reveal their secret identities to her and the fact that Billy and Mary are twin siblings.

The kidnappers, now revived, take advantage of the transformed Marvels, trapping them. In a chance use of phrase, Mary utters the magic word, Shazam!, and is instantly tranformed into Mary Marvel! She saves her brother and Freddy and the three travel to the abandoned subway home of the Wizard Shazam, who reveals that it was destiny that the twins be reunited and share the power of the gods. The wizard further reveals that Mary's powers are derived from the following gods:

S - Selena for grace
H - Hippolyta for strength
A - Ariadne for skill
Z - Zephyrus for speed
A - Aurora for beauty
M - Minerva for wisdom

HISTORY

Created by Otto Binder with art by Marc Swayze, Mary Marvel went on to many adventures with Captain Marvel and Captain Marvel, Jr.

One of the first female spin-off/derivations of a male super-hero, Mary proved popular quickly, becoming the lead character in Fawcett Comics' Wow Comics and eventually getting her own series, Mary Marvel Comics, all while still appearing monthly in Captain Marvel Adventures and The Marvel Family series. Eventually, Mary Marvel would have a fan club of her own and even rivaled the Big Red Cheese's popularity. The character set the standard for later female iterations of popular super-heroes like Batgirl and Supergirl (also co-created by Binder) and could arguably be said to have been as popular or more so than Wonder Woman in the late 1940s.

With the disintegration of Fawcett Comics, however, after a years-long legal battle with National Comics (later DC) over likenesses to Superman (National v. Fawcett), all of the Captain Marvel comics and characters were gone from comic racks and dime stores before the middle of the 1950s. It wouldn't be until the early 1970s, when DC paid for the right to use the Marvels, that Mary would see print again. Those appearances were in the short-lived Shazam! comic that featured both new and reprint stories of the Marvels by C.C. Beck, Dennis O'Neil, Elliot S! Maggin, Kurt Schaffenburger and others.

After the cancellation of that title, reprints continued to appear sporadically in both Adventure Comics and World's Finest Comics, but no new Marvel adventures appeared until 1985's Shazam! The New Beginning which followed DC's epic Crisis on Infinite Earths maxi-series. Mary and the rest of the Marvel Family, however, were absent from that mini and wouldn't appear again on the printed page until 1994's graphic novel, The Power of Shazam! (written and drawn by Jerry Ordway.)


THOROUGHLY MODERN MARY

Only appearing as Mary Batson in the graphic novel, it wasn't until the fourth issue of the follow-up series of the same name (The Power of Shazam!) that Mary changed into Mary Marvel. Re-christined as Captain Marvel (and often referred to as the lady Captain Marvel by the series' characters), Mary went on to be as important a character to the series as her brother Billy, the original Captain Marvel. Mary's new origin in the post-Crisis DC Universe involved her gaining her powers before Freddie Freeman became Captain Marvel Jr. and the use of Mr. Talky Tawney as her spirit guide to finding her brother Billy. The revised history still involved the seperation of the twins after their parents' death, but this time made the nanny, Sarah Primm, the sibling of Captain Marvel's arch-nemesis, Theo Adam/Black Adam!

After the cancellation of Ordway's Marvel title, Mary appeared sporadically over the next decade, showing up as a powerful ally to the Justice League, the Teen Titans, and others. Eventually, the charater was used as a replacement for her brother in the "Bwa-Ha-ha" mini-series Formerly Known as the Justice League by Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and artist Kevin Maguire. Mostly a comedic look at the heroes of the 1980s version of the Justice League written and drawn by the same creative team, the book placed Mary Marvel as an extremely powerful character and established that she was a 16 year old girl when not in Marvel form. Mary appeared breifly in both of DC's status-quo shattering mini-series Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis.







COUNTDOWN TO COUNTDOWN

As part of the tie-ins to Infinite Crisis, the mini-series and one-shot Day of Vengeance established a new age of magic in the DCU. With a mad Spectre rampaging throughout the known universe and beyond, it fell to the Wizard Shazam to stop him before the Spectre destroyed all existence. While the Wizard was succesful, it cost him his life and his home, the Rock of Eternity which was destroyed in the battle. The Spectre was beaten, but magic in the DCU had been thrown into a state of flux.

Post-Infinite Crisis, the DCU shot ahead one year (in comicbook time) and quickly established a new status quo for all of its heroes. In the world of the Marvels, it was revealed that Billy Batson had reassembled the Rock of Eternity, but in order to maintain the Rock, he had to become the new Shazam. As a result, Billy was invested with ALL of the Marvel gods' powers, leaving both Freddie Freeman and Mary Batson powerless. Unfortunately for Mary, that loss of power happened when she was three miles above Earth in the middle of a fight with a demon. She survived her fall, but was in a coma until the first issue of the weekly series, Countdown.

The first few weeks of this year long weekly series (check out all my Countdown Rundown articles for a recap!) have featured Mary prominently. Awakened from her coma, she finds herself powerless and with no one to turn to. She has no idea that Billy is now the replacement for the Wizard Shazam or that he is going by the name Marvel and is stuck on the Rock of Eternity. Freddie Freeman has also abandoned Mary, leaving only a note that asks her not to try and find him (he's on his own journey to regain his godly powers in The Trials of Shazam!)

Alone, powerless, penniless, and desperate, Mary has started a journey to find her missing powers and the people she cares most about in the world. So far, that journey has taken her along a darker path than she has ever traveled before. In the most recent issues of Countdown, Mary has crossed paths with Black Adam in Gotham City and in a surprise to readers, Black Adam actually handed all of his gods-given powers to Mary!

The future doesn't exactly look bright for Mary Batson, but it certainly promises to be interesting for readers! This article covers far from all of the adventures and trials that Mary has faced, but hopefully it has intrigued you as readers to seek out more on the erstwhile teen hero and her Marvel-ous family!

Tune in tomorrow for my regular weekly column, The Countdown Rundown!

Reading suggestions: The Trials of Shazam (curently published bimonthly by DC Comics; written by Judd Winick with art by Howard Porter); Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil (4 issue mini-series by Bone creator Jeff Smith); DC Archives: Shazam and Shazam Family (3 volumes and 1 volume, respectively); Countdown (weekly from DC Comics until May 2008; various writers and artists)

Sources: Wikipedia; The Marvel Family Web (the best Captain Marvel website on the entire interweb!); Don Markstein's Toonopedia Mary Marvel entry; years and years of reading DC Comics!

THE COUNTDOWN RUNDOWN: WEEK 47 - BRICKS IN THE WALL

The Players

James Olsen/Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen
Mary Batson/Mary Marvel/Black Mary
Teth Adam/Black Adam
Holly Robinson/Catwoman
James Jesse/The Trickster
Hartley Rathaway/The Pied Piper
The Monitors

Issue 47

This issue opens with Jimmy Olsen again, in the midst of a vision/nightmare, looking a lot like Lightray of the New Gods. He is glowing and apparently has become part of the Source Wall, the ancient edifice prominent in Jack Kirby's Fourth World saga that is made up of fallen gods and warriors and binds the universe. With so much New Gods action in Countdown so far, its more than a little ominous that Jimmy is having visions of that great barrier to the unknown. Interesting to note is the appearance of one of the alien Dominators who are playing a prominent role in current issues of the Legion of Super-Heroes book.

Next up, we return to Earth (or at least one of the 52 Earths) for a very brief encounter with Holly Robinson, friend of and former replacement Catwoman/Selina Kyle. Holly shows up in Metropolis and a newspaper article reveals that she is wanted for the killing of a police officer in Gotham. While we here at Rundown HQ know little about current goings on in Catwoman, head writer Paul Dini has said that Holly will play a major role in Countdown. Originally introduced in Frank Miller's classic Batman: Year One, Holly Robinson has always been an intriguing character and in the hands of such a well-versed Batman writer as Dini, her inclusion here holds great promise.

The issue briefly touches on Flash's Rogues (again partying!), and while the story of the Trickster and Pied Piper has, so far, been the slowest to develop, the characterization of these villains (or sort-of villains in the case of the Trickster and Piper) has been spot-on. Not since Geoff Johns' run on Flash have the Rogues been as interesting or as unique. Another promising storyline that looks like it's just about ready to bare bitter fruit.

The remainder of the book focused on two major developments. First, the Monitors (led on by the exterminator of Joker's Daughter) make a major decision - the eradication of all multiverse anomalies. Since the ones they seem most concerned with - Donna Troy and Jason Todd - are at the top of the list, it looks like times are about to get very dicey for the former Titans. The final page of this issue also throws Countdown smack into the middle of the Amazons Attack event (more on that next week!)

Finally, let's address Mary Marvel. Picking up from last issue, we find Black Adam questioning Mary's purpose and her innocence. The villain turned hero turned walking tragedy turned mass murderer is clearly at his most desperate and darkest hour.

Without readers knowing how, Black Adam is back in full possession of his powers, but confesses to Mary that he doesn't want them; that they have been nothing to him, if not a curse. Mary - whether in desperation or foolish bravado - clearly desires that power, and Adam is more than happy to impart it to her.

The twist comes, however, when Adam gives all of his power to Mary, transforming the young hero into a more mature, more menacing and a lot less innocent version of what can only be called, Black Mary. Sporting a new outfit akin to Black Adam's, Mary looks devastating in the black miniskirt and high-booted outfit. While word on the internet is split on this "seduction of the innocent" development, it seems that one thing can be agreed upon: this is a Mary Marvel that the DCU has never seen before.

Mary's story has developed the fastest in Countdown, and since we are only five mere weeks into the year-long ride of this title, the future looks bright for fans of the Marvel Family. As we spoke last week about The Question, we have to address the complaints about Mary's changes in the same way: when was the last time you read a really good Mary Marvel story? You may not like the transformation of Mary Marvel to Black Mary, but besides Jeff Smith's The Monster Society of Evil (a modern classic in the making, by the way!), Rundown HQ would say these have the best Mary Marvel appearances the DCU has ever had. Not since Fawcett Comics' The Marvel Family has Mary been portrayed so prominently, or so strongly.



To be fair to the other side of the argument, however, here are some comments by Jerry Ordway, writer of the excellent 1990s DC title, The Power of Shazam on the darkening of Mary Marvel from the Comicbook Resources Blog, Comics Should Be Good.

With all this focus on the character, next week The Countdown Rundown will feature a History of Mary Marvel alongside the weekly column - be here for the first of a series of articles focusing on the stars of Countdown, then come back on Friday for Countdown: Week 46 - a Forerunner of adventures to come!

THE COUNTDOWN RUNDOWN: WEEK 48-DEATH FROM ABOVE

The Players*
Mary Batson/Mary Marvel
Teth Adam/Black Adam
James Olsen/Superman's Pal
Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman
Jason Todd/Robin II/Red Hood
Donna Troy/Wonder Girl/Troia
Lightray of the New Gods
Thom Kallor/Starman
Val Armorr/Karate Kid
*previously appearing characters are linked in earlier columns

WEEK 48

This week opens on Mary Marvel at the mercy of Black Adam in his new digs - the abandoned consulate offices of the Middle Eastern nation of Kandaq, where he was once ruler. Few answers to Adam's return to power are answered, but it is quite obvious that he does have them back. Meaning, somehow, Teth Adam learned the secret word that Captain Marvel chose for him at the end of WWIII. Also, from the preview of next week's cover, it looks like Black Adam is about to make Mary Marvel the latest member of the Black Marvel Family! That can't bode well for Mary considering what happened to the last two members of Black Adam's family - Isis and her brother, Osiris.

The story continues with a look at Jimmy Olsen back in Metropolis at the offices of the Daily Planet, after his harrowing and unexplained transformation during his attack by Killer Croc at Arkham Asylum. It's still unclear if his use of his former Elastic Lad powers is something he doesn't know he ever had, or somehow something he never really did have on this New Earth, post-Crises.

When a battle breaks out above the clouds of Metropolis, Jimmy races outside to get the pics - and again, somehow kicks in with new meta-powers (superspeed) to save a doomed family from falling debris. Before he can even think about where all these extraordinary powers are coming from, though, Lightray of the New Gods crashes to the streets.

Before dying in the crater that he landed in, Lightray speaks a single word to Jimmy - "infinite." Encapsulated in a mass of light/energy, Jimmy emerges unharmed, but Superman poses the question: "What does it mean for the universe when a God dies?!" The Man of Steel might want to amend that to "universes."

Karate Kid again appears in this issue - still a prisoner of the Justice League of America on their space station - this time talking to fellow time-lost Legionnaire, Thom Kallor a/k/a Starman! The slightly crazy future Starman has been hanging out in the pages of the relaunched Justice Society of America lately and only recently remembered that he was from the 30th Century and a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Not much new information is revealed from their exchange, but the Apokalytian villain Dr. Impossible is mentioned and mysteriously referred to by Starman as "she" - the character's previous (and only) appearances in Justice League of America presented the villain as a man. Hmmmm . . .

Finally, this issue again touched on the Jason Todd/Red Hood storyline, following him to the Teen Titan's memorial service for Duela Dent/Joker's Daughter. Todd has a conversation with the Titan's Donna Troy (the former Wonder Girl and then more recently Wonder Woman, and now back to Troia of the Titans of Myth) revealing to Donna what the Monitors who killed Joker's Daughter said to him. It seems Jason is trying to ally himself with similarly seated cosmic anomalies. Both characters have died and come back, and in a very real sense, do not belong on New Earth.

Much speculation and mystery still surrounds this title. Now through its first month, the book promises to answer some of those questions soon, but the answers will most likely lead to more questions. While Issue 48 did seem a bit light on new developments, the inclusion of one of Jack Kirby's New Gods in such a dramatic role certainly fills in for a lack of forward movement.

Death in the DCU has become pretty commonplace in the last few years and while many a fan can't get behind it, here at Rundown HQ we're down with anything that moves a story to a new place and treats the characters with respect.

The recent death of The Question in the pages of 52 resulted in an outcry from angry fans of the Steve Ditko creation. However, it had been years since the character was used so prominently or written so well. It can be argued that the character had been creatively dead since his much-acclaimed series in the mid-80s and his recent resurrection was a swan song that any Question fan should be thankful for.

Next Week: Issue 47 - Black Mary??!!