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!